Corrente has been operating for the last month under something of a threat, something in the nature of an implied possibility of legal action that could be taken against us, at least Lambert and myself, as the “owners and managers” of the website, for not exercising “due care,” in that we allowed one of our commentators, “Bringiton,” to publish a post, “Lies, Damnable Lies And Political Commentary,” to which one of its several subjects, Stephen Diamond, took strong exception.

Mr. Diamond is a professor of law and political science and teaches both at Santa Clara University Law School. [...]

In view of its previous public circulation, we assume that Mr. Diamond will not object to our posting his original email as it arrived in Lambert’s Inbox.

From: Stephen Diamond
Subject: Post on Lies, Damnable Lies
To: lambert_strether.corrente@yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, June 12, 2008, 7:57 PM
Dear Mr. Strether and Ms. Appet,

I am writing to you to request that you remove the post by an individual known as “Bringiton” entitled “Lies, Damnable Lies and Political Commentary” on the Correntewire.com website, together with the associated comment sections and the follow up posts by each of you. In addition, in conformance with California Civil Code Section 48a, I ask that you publish a correction and retraction.

I do not believe that you have exercised the due care that is expected of the owners and managers of a website.

I believe these posts to be defamatory of me and my professional work and of my reputation as a lawyer and a professor of law, which depends heavily on my widely established and long held reputation for veracity and accuracy.

As long as those posts remain on your site where they are accessible to the wider public, they damage my reputation and thus my ability to earn a living. The”Lies, Damnable Lies” post claims that my blog posts on Global Labor, which state that 1) there is a relationship between Senator Obama and Bill Ayers, are “unfounded accusations” and “bullshit”; 2) that I am a “demagogue”; and 3) that I have an undefined relationship to an entity Bringiton calls the “vast right wing conspiracy.”

As to the first claim, I have not “accused” anyone of anything. My statements about the relationship between Senator Obama and Mr. Ayers are factual. There is ample evidence of the longstanding relationship between the Senator and Mr. Ayers, particularly the fact that they worked closely together on the $110 million dollar Chicago Annenberg Challenge grant program as detailed on my blog, Global Labor from as early as 1995. On my blog I am fastidious about qualifying statements that are speculation or conjecture.

As to the second charge, there is no evidence provided by “Bringiton” that I am a demagogue. Nor is there any proof of the existence of a right wing conspiracy or that I am associated with it in any manner whatsoever. I have been on the left in a very public manner my entire adult life. To suggest otherwise is, as I stated, at the outset, damaging to my reputation.

While I will consider the matter settled if you remove the blog post by the end of today, I reserve my right to pursue any and all other claims against you or the website. If your site is represented by legal counsel, please refer this letter to them and provide me with their contact information. In addition, I request that you provide me with the name and contact information for Bringiton so that I may write to him or to his legal counsel.

Sincerely,

Stephen Diamond, J.D.
Associate Professor of Law
Santa Clara University School of Law

Admitted to practice in New York and California

The folks at Corrente, to their credit are not allowing themselves to be intimidated, by what I consider to be a frivolous threat of legal action. I applaud them for standing up for their community of posters and for themselves. They aren't going to remove Bringiton's post, nor should they. And Professor Diamond's attempt to make them do so with threats of legal action if they refuse is beneath contempt.

As for Professor Diamond, all I can say is "Get a life." Oh, and don't try sending any damn cease and desist letters to anyone else on the internet unless you have a legitimate claim that they have actually slandered or libeled you. Having someone call you a demagogue on the internet is not actionable. It's an opinion protected by the First Amendment. Your complaints about the "New Authoritarian Left" (of which anyone who doesn't agree with you is apparently a card carrying member) sounds suspiciously like some serious projection on your part.

Indeed, I can't think of anything more reminiscent of authoritarian, McCarthy-ist tactics than threatening to sue someone because you didn't like a blog post criticizing your own blog post attacking Obama. The irony here is that the people you are lambasting and accusing of defamation are not Obama supporters for the most part. Just like you, they were Clinton supporters. But maybe you're not big on recognizing irony. Considering what you've previously posted about Obama that certainly seems like a very real possibility.