Solidarity, brothers!
One of the great untruths about the internet when it comes to libel is that more or less anything goes, and that it's fairly easy to get away with saying the most outrageous things about absolutely anyone. This is only the case when you get a great lumbering bulk of an individual or company weigh in, disgusting enough people that a Spartacus-like uprising manages to take place. It happened with Usmanov, when this blog amongst others was threatened by Schillings, resulting in the material which Usmanov had wanted to be squashed being spread like wildfire.
It'd be nice if something similar now occurred in defence of Dave Osler, Alex Hilton and John Gray, all of whom are being targeted by Johanna Kaschke, who is, to put it mildly, a fascinating character. The trouble began when allegations arose of Kaschke's links to the Baader-Meinhof group, links which she vehemently denies. Far more interesting though is Kaschke's political nymphomania. Prior to April 2007, Kaschke was a member of the Labour party, and on the shortlist to be the party's candidate at the next election for the seat of Bethnal Green and Bow, currently held by George Galloway. Whether it was, as the East London Advertiser reports, their highlighting of Labour attempting to change the law to defeat a campaigner in the High Court over public housing, or that she only received one vote, as Dave Osler suggests is unclear. What is known is that Kaschke didn't stay long in Gorgeous George's organisation: she quickly shifted to one of the various Communist Party sects. Unsatisfied by her shift to the far left, she then forgave Labour and got back together with the party, before finally seeing the light and shifting to the right, settling on becoming a Conservative activist, seen earlier in the year with none other than Boris Johnson. Kaschke appears to have undergone a changing of political colours which sometimes takes place over a lifetime within the space of under a year.
Kaschke also seems to be rather precious about her own blogging output being so much as quoted by others, so instead we'll have to make do with just linking to it and quoting what she has said on other people's blogs. On her MySpace blog, for instance, she criticises George Galloway for being litigious, without any apparent trace of irony. Over on John Gray's original post on Ms Kaschke, she manages to contradict herself within a sentence:
She goes on:
Her own internal contradictions don't however seem to bother her too much. Back in April last year she moaned to the ELA about how Labour had been "hijacked by a bunch of ultra-conservatives". She now happily links to amongst others, such ultra-conservative organisations as the Taxpayers' Alliance and the Libertarian Alliance. Indeed, Kaschke's rather strange political shiftings and what they might mean led to one of her complaints, after she was described in Dave Osler's comments as "one cherry short of a Schwarzwalderkirschtorte", which is the German, I believe, for bat-shit crazy.
One can only hope for a happy outcome. In the meantime, I think we can all agree that Kaschke ought to examine the precedent set by Arkell vs Pressdram.
It'd be nice if something similar now occurred in defence of Dave Osler, Alex Hilton and John Gray, all of whom are being targeted by Johanna Kaschke, who is, to put it mildly, a fascinating character. The trouble began when allegations arose of Kaschke's links to the Baader-Meinhof group, links which she vehemently denies. Far more interesting though is Kaschke's political nymphomania. Prior to April 2007, Kaschke was a member of the Labour party, and on the shortlist to be the party's candidate at the next election for the seat of Bethnal Green and Bow, currently held by George Galloway. Whether it was, as the East London Advertiser reports, their highlighting of Labour attempting to change the law to defeat a campaigner in the High Court over public housing, or that she only received one vote, as Dave Osler suggests is unclear. What is known is that Kaschke didn't stay long in Gorgeous George's organisation: she quickly shifted to one of the various Communist Party sects. Unsatisfied by her shift to the far left, she then forgave Labour and got back together with the party, before finally seeing the light and shifting to the right, settling on becoming a Conservative activist, seen earlier in the year with none other than Boris Johnson. Kaschke appears to have undergone a changing of political colours which sometimes takes place over a lifetime within the space of under a year.
Kaschke also seems to be rather precious about her own blogging output being so much as quoted by others, so instead we'll have to make do with just linking to it and quoting what she has said on other people's blogs. On her MySpace blog, for instance, she criticises George Galloway for being litigious, without any apparent trace of irony. Over on John Gray's original post on Ms Kaschke, she manages to contradict herself within a sentence:
I do not want you write anything about me anymore, I shall not comment about the ridiculous content of your shit blog, so just take it off. Its really ridiculous that you slate a fellow union member. you are an arshole.
She goes on:
He cheapskate, it may have escaped your non existing attention that Dave Osler has removed his blog connecting me with Baader-Meinhof, because he pays attention to his legal obligations, which is something I cannot say about you. I am asking you to remove the Baader-Meihof logo and name in connection with my name for the last time now before legal action may commence against you.
Her own internal contradictions don't however seem to bother her too much. Back in April last year she moaned to the ELA about how Labour had been "hijacked by a bunch of ultra-conservatives". She now happily links to amongst others, such ultra-conservative organisations as the Taxpayers' Alliance and the Libertarian Alliance. Indeed, Kaschke's rather strange political shiftings and what they might mean led to one of her complaints, after she was described in Dave Osler's comments as "one cherry short of a Schwarzwalderkirschtorte", which is the German, I believe, for bat-shit crazy.
One can only hope for a happy outcome. In the meantime, I think we can all agree that Kaschke ought to examine the precedent set by Arkell vs Pressdram.
Labels: Johanna Kaschke, legal threats, miscellany
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Good post. There is a serious point. Alex is the innocent party in all this. I posted the original story. By all means she could sue me (she is) but if she was to win against Labourhome then I cannot see how any blogs can allow unmoderated posts or comments. Even if you moderate beforehand (as I do on my site) you could face utterly spurious legal action. Check out http://grayee.blogspot.com/2008/12/being-sued-for-libel-by-disrespectful.html
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John Gray |
Saturday, December 06, 2008 3:10:00 pm
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