Spivak & Bice gleefully note the closing of a website due to a libel lawsuit, and comment to the Cheddarsphere, "Hey, Wisconsin Web heads, welcome to the real world of libel law." Hey, Spivak & Bice, if you actually read a blog or two like you're paid to do, then you might discover bloggers have been interested in libel law before, and just recently.
Of course, instead of sneering at bloggers, maybe you could've taken some time out to actually look at the implications of the lawsuit and the judge's decision. But then, it's not your ox getting gored, is it?
But let's say Senator Feingold doesn't like a letter to the editor and sues the Journal Sentinel. (Pardon my ignorance. Would he have to file suit in West Milwaukee for jurisdiction?) The judge, in a rare sense of community service, shuts down the Journal Sentinel, preventing them from publishing a newspaper or on the internet. I know, the horror, the horror. I bet Spivak & Bice and the rest of Journal Communications would care about the First Amendment then, wouldn't they? Remind me to cry for them when it happens.
Update! Owen at Boots and Sabers looks at the issues in this case and determines it's a judge run amok.
Update! 4/4/06 Full of Bologna is back up.
