Brian Blair Threatens Libel Suit Against Blogger

I'm late to the party. I just read about St. Petersblog 2.0 blogger Peter Schorsch being threatened with a libel suit by former Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair. This is an absolutely frivolous lawsuit.

Blair is infamous for lawsuits. He filed suits against political opponent Kevin Beckner and Carrabba's Italian Grill. In the latter suit, Blair claimed an injury at the restaurant impaired his career as a professional wrestler. Blair wrestled in Japan after the alleged incident. Blair's explanation was tag-tag matches were less strenuous. Blair's blood-alcohol level was 0.089 90 minutes after the accident. Blair claimed he only had one sip of wine.

Blair has hired the law firm of Barker, Rodems and Cook to possibly sue Schorsch.

Dear Mr. Schorsch:

Our law firm represents Brian Blair. We have reviewed your web posting dated February 1, 2010. , at http://saintpetersblog1.blogspot.com/2010/01/fraternal-order-of-police-endorses.html.

We write today to serve written notice under section 770.10, Florida Statues which provides that "[b]efore civil action is brought before publication or broadcast, in a newspaper, periodical, or other medium, of a libel or a slander, the plaintiff shall at least 5 days before instituting such action, serve notice in writing on the defendant, specifying the article or broadcast and the statements therein which he or she alleges to be false and defamatory.

The Supreme Court case Times v. Sullivan found that actual malice must be proven to meet the standard of "false and defamatory." Blair's attorneys make claim there are several factual errors in Schorsch's post. The Supreme Court ruled that doesn't meet the standard of actual malice.

(c) Factual error, content defamatory of official reputation, or both, are insufficient to warrant an award of damages for false statements unless "actual malice" -- knowledge that statements are false or in reckless disregard of the truth -- is alleged and proved. Pp. 279-283.

Then we have Sticks of Fire blogger Tommy Duncan attacking the day after Schorsch announced he is being sued by Blair. Duncan wrote the post "brian blair threatens loose blogger," with barely mentioning Blair's lawsuit against Schorsch. Duncan defended Blair by stating the charges were dropped (true) and calling Schorsch "juvenile" for bringing up the arrest. Tommy goes into a Bill O'Reilly "I'm really a moderate" diatribe to diss Schorsch and lament on why we can't we have civil discourse. It is no secret that Sticks of Fire is a conservative blog. I find it hysterical the blog editor of a site that sell stripper thongs and published Rachel Moran's controversal post advocating assaulting homeless people is lecturing us on good taste. Glass houses and stones.

Tommy Duncan Interviewed About Tampa Tribune Taking Blog Content

David Leonard interviews Sticks of Fire blog editor about the Tampa Tribune taking blog posts from the Tampa blogosphere.

For Your Reading Pleasure

Litbrit writes about Danica Patrick and her own racing experiences. The Litster will be running laps in a '61 Porsche 356.

Sue Carlton gives a timeline to Buddy Johnson's screwups. Tommy Duncan comes out and states that Buddy is "not fit to be the Supervisor of Elections." Sue and Tommy will miss Buddy when they realize they have less comedy material.

An exciting Ezra Klein post on why dental insurance is separate from health insurance. And yes, I actually read the post.

The market believes oil prices will go down. I doubt that because only a few major corporations control oil and OPEC will not increase production.

Jill Filipovic has started a thread asking people about worthy causes to donate to. Bitter Scribe suggests Veterans Village of San Diego. The organization helps homeless military veterans.

Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan of the Gutter Twins challenge each other to a one-on-one basketball game. They forgot the interview was about promoting their record.

Lindsay Beyerstein gives us the lowdown on the Maverick's temper tantrums.

Paul Westerberg is interviewed by Billboard about a possible Replacements reunion.

The Other Side of Tampa Renting

What kills me about Tommy Duncan is he runs brain dead posts that are so far off base. Case in point is his latest blockquote opus on how great the renters market is in downtown. He links to a Forbes article as proof. It's always good to take Forbes with a grain of salt.

"Take South Florida. Miami and Tampa are vastly oversupplied in the condo market and both are seeing significant price declines," Matt Woolsey of Forbes writes. "As a result, luxury condos built to be sold are instead being rented, and damaging luxury rents."

The condominium projects downtown went bust. The Trump Tower Tampa project has to either acquire $300 million in financing or the project is history. The reason there are so condo many vacancies is potential renters are staying away.

SkyPoint's developers forged ahead and already plan two more developments, one of which is under construction. But the market tanked, and now Blank, who is asking $1,500 a month in rent for her approximately 800-square-foot condo, can't find any takers. She blames the lack of services downtown, such as dry cleaners and a grocery store.

Part of the reason for Blank's trouble may be that many buyers had the same idea. There are 286 condominiums in 15 buildings in downtown Tampa listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, a database used by real estate professionals. An additional 127 downtown condos are advertised for rent on craigslist, a popular online bulletin board of items for sale or lease. Some of the units listed for sale are by developers or real estate agents, but many are owned by individuals trying to resell.

People that have bought condos have regretted their decision.

Buyer's remorse is also causing problems for some developers. Cindy Cicala plunked down a 10% deposit on a $370,000 two-bedroom condo in a new project in Tampa, Fla., in August 2004 -- a time when investors were elbowing each other aside to sign contracts. The site was particularly attractive to Ms. Cicala because, in addition to superb views, her unit was to be finished by August 2006, making it one of the first high-rise residences to be built in the city's reviving downtown.

But in April, 2005, the developer asked for an extension. "It was just one delay after another," says Ms. Cicala, a 51-year-old residential-mortgage broker. She decided she didn't want to close on the condo, claiming the developer hadn't held up its end of the contract. Ms. Cicala says she asked for her deposit back but hasn't received it, so she sued under a federal law that guarantees condos must be delivered within two years unless the developer can prove certain extenuating circumstances.

Her attorney, Harry Lee Coe IV, says Ms. Cicala and other clients "are seeing their investing potential has dwindled, and they are now no longer at the front of the pack -- and you don't want to be in the middle of the pack in a bad or down market."

Condo renting and owning has become a nightname for Tampa residents. Many condo projects have gone belly up because of a lack of demand and financing. Tommy Duncan says otherwise because he spent 30 seconds reading an article.

Classic Sticks of Fire

"Redner is connected to the adult industry that many people find offensive, if not downright immoral. And let’s face it. Of all the shady businesses to own, a strip club is among the very darkest. The nature of the business brings out all sorts of drunks, drug addicts and just uneasy people."

Tommy Duncan, editor of Sticks of Fire.

Take that Joe Redner. It is a good thing Mr. Family Values sells these T-shirts of his Sticks of Fire Cafe Press site.

Bill Sharpe Watch

Who know that Sticks of Fire and Tampa Gold web sites owner Bill Sharpe is writing for the ultra-conservative Florida Front Page? Greg Truax of was one of Shape's chosen panelists for a Tampa Gold debate between Gwen Miller and Joe Redner. Truax is the web site owner of Florida Front Page.

I'm so glad Tommy Duncan refuses to take Sticks of Fire off of LeftyBlogs.

Ronda Storms Shuts Down Myspace Parody Site

Is Ronda Storms sensitive or what? She is mad over a satirical Myspace parody of her. I linked to it back in March. Storms complained and took the profile down. If she is paranoid that people will believe the profile is really than I can assure her not to worry. I knew it was a paroldy the moment I saw it.

Thanks to Google cache, you can still view the profile.

"You poorly cover the threats, downplay them when they occur, and then publicly mock me when I take them seriously, so they escalate," she said in an e-mail Monday.

Getting hate email is common. Especially, with someone as a controversial profile as Storms. Maybe the reason people don't take Storms seriously is that she constantly cries wolf against people who disagree with her. Her overreaction to a fake Myspace profile is a classic example. Storms feels entitled to use her position to verbally abuse others. Her assault on Castor (video clip) is a perfect example. Storms comments towards Keystone residents maybe the most insulting.

"Y'all aren't getting little sheds out there, you know, with toothless people."

This woman has no shame.

Update: Give me a break Tommy.

There’s even a Joe Redner myspace. Although I guess this one might be real. But that’s the point of this - you don’t know if they are real or not.

Tommy posted "heh" in the comments when I first blogged about the fake Ronda site. Obviously he knew it was fake. That is the same line of reason as the Colbert Report is a real conservative show (on Comedy Central) and Airplane! is a true story. The parody Storms describes her musical tastes as "I'm a little bit country, I'm a little bit rock and roll." There are a small percentage who will be foolish enough to believe the Ronda Storms site is real. Those are the idiots who posted angry comments at Roxanne Cooper's parody Michele Malkin blog. If the blog's first post on April 1 wasn't enough of a hint then nothing would be.

As far as arguments go, lumping online predators to parody sites is lame. Back it up. Tommy, do you believe the Onion is a threat to democracy because they write fake news articles and attribute fake quote from politicians?

Tommy, if you want to know if the Joe Redner Myspace site is real then contact him. Redner's in the phone book.