First, my condolences to Messrs. Warren and Lorne Kinsella on the passing of their father some months ago. My own father passed away and I do know the pain of that. I had no idea that the Kinsella’s lost their dad recently.
Having said that, Mr. Kinsella seems to have a different interpretation of what I wrote, in his special email to me. It seemed to sail right over his head. And with that, I will be seeking legal advice.
I ain’t rich, but I’ll go and get one of those free “half hour” consultation things. I’m just a little guy that won’t be bullied. If my legal advice suggests I was a bad boy that has broken laws, I’ll fix it up. If my legal advice suggests otherwise, I’ll post my special email.
What I wrote may have been mean. But I don’t believe it was what is being claimed it is. But I’m not a lawyer.
And no Warren, I’m not “trying to get at you.“
The Real Person!
I saw Mr. Kinsella walking around the Progressive Conservative leadership convention in Toronto last month. I gestured to introduce myself to him, and he walked on by. But anyways, this is ridiculous. I wouldn’t even bother hiring a lawyer. I can’t see for the life of me how any reasonable judge would even hear his case against you in a courtroom. It’s regrettable to hear about the passing of his family member, however, his actions in this regard will ultimately win him no respect or sympathy. I have contacts in the media, and you can rest assured, if he tries to bring tort against you, I will do everything in my power to bring media attention to this. I’m very interested in seeing the e-mail he sent you, in order to see just what crazy position he is coming from.
The Real Person!
I too was threatened — by a newspaper to take down a post where I questioned whether a journalist had plagairised me. I took the post down in good faith — because I actually respected the columnist. But the fact is, I never actually made a statement that directly accused them of anything. Therefore, I was prepared to go to court over it. I am not a law student but a student of the law. And I can not forsee you ever losing a lawsuit for thinking someone is retarted. Kinsella, after all, appears to people of similar mental deficiencies (as demonstrated on BlogsCanada) or deficiencies based on race. This is not to say that his possible hypocracy means that your statement is legally legitimate, but that you should not be discouraged by threats when you write something that you know is not defamatory.