Guardian columnist under investigation

Oct. 24 - By now I guess everyone has read Charlie Brooker's column in the Guardian which he concludes by expressing his hope that someone would assassinate President Bush (or maybe you only heard about it, as the Guardian server was overwhelmed and knocked off line for a few hours yesterday.) The column has been pulled, and a disclaimer posted in it's place that the column was meant to be humourous although the disclaimer concedes it was "flippant and tasteless."

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the original column was preserved and can be here. (Link via Power Line, and, as does Hindrocket, I leave it to you to determine if it was meant to be humourous.)

Brooker is evidently being investigated by the Secret Service but so is Matt Drudge apparently for the way in which he publicized the column:

Citing federal statute 18 USC 879, Florida attorney John B. Thompson, called in the Secret Service Protective Intelligence Unit. "Please do whatever is necessary to punish the UK Guardian and to educate Matt Drudge on the meaning and scope of statute 18," Thompson wrote in a letter faxed to the SS on Saturday.

Thompson's letter indicates that not only was his complaint being taken seriously by the SS, but that it had already been tipped off about the Guardian story before receipt of his letter.

"I am relieved to find out that you were alerted to this danger last evening and are working on it."

To be honest, I don't know if I would have followed the link to yet another tiresome Guardian column had I not read the controversial quote and I sincerely hope that the citizens of Clark County, Ohio, also saw it in order to better judge thosee enlightened Britons who sought to influence the vote.

Thompson's concern is that the combined circulations of the Guardian and Drudge Report manifest a siren call to whackos among the millions of readers reached by the publications.

Memo to the Secret Service: wackos don't require urging from the Guardian or Matt Drudge for inspiration, but Americans do need sites like Drudge so citizens and bloggers can get information that MSM would prefer to hide.

Posted by: Debbye at 06:07 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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