Big Head DC Getting Lesson In Blog Law | Big Head DC Bullying Stopped By Zennie

Big Head DC is a respectable publication on politics in DC. I enjoy reading it. But I did not like one of Big Head DC's blog articles where he -- the "he" is Rob Capriccioso (pictured) who's the editor of Big Head DC -- accused ABC News anchor Sam Donaldson of being a client of a DC madam named Deborah Jeane Palfrey and basically just because his name happened to be in her phone book and even though Deborah Jeane Palfrey who's the escort, explained to Rob that she had just called him to explain a phone mix-up, and not to offer services.

Plus, Jossip explained "Except all Palfrey had to say to Capriccioso was that she made a single call to Donaldson — to explain a phone call mix up, not to offer her services...Not that it stopped Capriccioso’s report.."

Rob went ahead and wrote an account that in my view smeared Sam Donaldson and left out that the matter seemed to be a total misunderstanding. I wrote that Big Head smeared Sam Donaldson. That's my view and I'm sticking to it.

Now, Rob, who thinks he can bully people, has threatened to sue me. HA! This is what Rob wrote to me:

To Zennie:

It has come to my attention that one of your blog posts contains factually incorrect information about Big Head DC and our reporting:

http://zennie2005.blogspot.com/2007/11/rob-capriccioso-smears-sam-donaldson.html

Sam Donaldson's number does indeed appear more than once in the records of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, which is exactly what Big Head DC reported. By you saying that "Rob Capriccioso Smears Sam Donaldson With Wrong News" and "this blogger got it wrong," you are libeling the reputation of Big head DC. As the editor of Big Head DC, I ask that you remove or edit your post to accurately reflect our reporting.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Rob

To which I showed Rob how the Internet had rose up against him. For example, let's take the website i linked to in the orginal story, and the one that was the basis for my assertion that Big Head DC smeared Sam Donaldson, the one called Radar and apparently one where Rob had a relationship with the writers there -- not any more.

In Radar, D.C. CONFIDENTIAL explained that "Capriccioso found out about Donaldson's involvement from Radar. We were looking into the Donaldson rumor and stupidly asked Capriccioso, who claimed to have a relationship with Palfrey, to talk to her about it. We decided not to pursue the item for reasons explained below, so he picked it up for himself without so much as a "thank you" or heads-up."

DC CONFIDENTIAL goes on..

"After receiving many calls from Sam Donaldson leaving pleasantries for his releative [sic] on her personal cell number voicemail in the mid-2000s, Palfrey herself decided to give him a call to relay what she assumed to be a mistake. 'Would you please tell your relative to give out the correct phone number?' Palfrey recalls asking Donaldson. 'I was sick and tired of getting these phone calls from people all over Washington asking for his relative.' When she talked to Donaldson, he was immediately panicked and asked how she got his number (she says she didn't tell him that she ran an escort service). She explained the whole story to him about her receiving messages that were obviously not intending for her."

When Radar expressed skepticism, Capriccioso wrote back: "I pushed her hard on that—asked her if she had an affinity for Sam for some reason, and told her that many people would think it was such an odd coincidence that he dialed the wrong number ... she insisted that that was the truth."

The only parts of the above story that made it into Capriccioso's post are the parts about Palfrey confirming a call to Donaldson and Donaldson panicking at the call. The innocent explanation Palfrey offered apparently wasn't relevant.

Radar eventually dropped the item after being waved off of it by a source close to Larry Flynt, the porn magnate who outed Vitter and has been poring over the list. The source insisted that if there was anything to the Donaldson rumor, Flynt would have reported it. Given that, and Palfrey's insistence that Donaldson was not a client, we couldn't sully the man's name in the absence of any other evidence—even if we think Palfrey's story is bullshit. Capriccioso, who didn't return a call for comment, apparently didn't have that problem.

Wow. Which means that DC CONFIDENTIAL didn't even want to run with the story that Rob ran with. Why? Because it makes Donaldson look like he did something in hiring an escort that it's not clear he did at all. Plus, not even Larry Flynt reported the story because he considered it baseless.

Thus, Rob's actions are a real defamation of character in anyone's book, and certainly mine. But Rob thinks he has a case to threaten me. Let's check his claim for fun.

What Rob does not understand is that several bloggers don't back his story, thus leaving it fair game for attack. It's impossible to make a defimation claim stick if the plaintiff does not have a good reputation to start with and in this case of this story, Rob is toast -- he looks bad, indeed.

Moreover, I can state my opinion and I did that. Too bad for him. Moreover, Rob -- by virtue of his blogging and his terrible reporting being all over the Internet on the Donaldson story -- has become a public figure who can be criticized and that's what I did.

And here's the smoking gun: Blogactive has written that Big Head DC's story was so not credible they considered never linking to his work again! Here's what they wrote:

More discrediting

I've taken some heat in the comments of my last post. Please note that I never said it didn't happen. I simply said that it APPEARED that BigHeadDC was hustled by a hustler.

I contacted Rob at BigHeadDC and asked him specifically about the information he posted with regard to Sam Donaldson's number appearing in the DC Madam's, Jeane Palfrey. Once the story was discredited by Radar, I decided to dig a little deeper. It was only about five minutes before I was able to put my shovel down on this angle to the story.

I happen to know Jeane Palfrey. So, I wrote a note last night:

From: Michael Rogers - PageOne
Date: Nov 27, 2007 3:21 PM
To: jeanepalfrey@_______.com
Subject: Jeane...
Jeane...

Can you let me know if this article is accurate and whether you have any on or off teh record comments about it?

Thanks!
Mike
In less than 12 hours, Jeane wrote back:
From: Jeane Palfrey
Date: Nov 28, 2007 12:32 AM
To: Michael Rogers

Mike… the Radar article is correct.
-Jeane

This exchange, along with numerous friends in the media telling me about other other stories that were wrong on BigHeadDC, has initiated a review with Nick Langewis, the associate editor of PageOneQ, over whether BigHeadDC will ever be linked to from Q again. If we decide not to link there again, it will be the first time a site has been permanently banned from PageOneQ.

In this business, accuracy is everything.

It sure is, right Rob? Even Jossip has exposed Rob's tendency to TRY and bully other bloggers into compliance with his biased reporting. Check what Rob wrote to a Leigh Ann Boutwell , who's Jossip's managing editor.

From: Rob Capriccioso
Date: Nov 13, 2007 11:02 AM
Subject: From Rob Capriccioso / action requested
To: Leigh Ann Boutwell
Hi Leigh Ann,
What John Cook wrote yesterday in his Fresh Intelligence update is
exceptionally unprofessional, and riddled with errors. To clarify, a
Big Head DC staffer received more confirming information regarding the
“DC Madam” / Sam Donaldson story, and we ran with it. Neither I, nor
Big Head DC, had any obligation to run this story with Radar Online.
Apparently, John Cook felt differently, and published a story that not
only misspells the name of Palfrey in a couple of different ways, but
also makes it seem as if the story isn’t true, which it is.
Cook also quoted several off the record e-mails between myself and
Tyler Gray, which, as you know, is very unprofessional. I find this
quite odd, since Tyler, too, has shared much off the record
information with me via e-mail that he has asked me not to publish.
Cook also says in the item that I didn’t return requests for comment,
which is not at all true, as you will see from the e-mails below,
which Radar had in its possession before the update story ran.
To resolve this issue ASAP, I am asking that Radar remove, or amend
with this added information, Cook’s false Fresh Intelligence piece.
Sincerely,
Rob
–
Rob Capriccioso | Publisher & Founding Editor | Big Head DC |
bigheadDC.com | rob@bigheadDC.com | AIM: bigheadrob007

Action requested? Geez. Gimme a break. Matt Janovic said it best in a comment over at Radar:

Again, what happened between Radar and Bighead? They wanted the SMUT, but Ms. Palfrey wasn't going to confirm it to Mr. Capriccioso, so he went and submitted the story anyway. But there was a problem of confirmation: Deborah Jeane Palfrey. She's not going to confirm it because there was never a story to begin with. Her assertions are true, while those of Radar and Bighead are not. They wanted a story that was an easy fix, didn't get it, and went and ran it anyway. Now they have to do the clean-up.

The End Of American Hegemony - AntiWar

AntiWar, the website against the Iraq War and violent conflict in general, has an article worthy of note called "Can The US Brace Its Fall?" It asks if America is ready for a world where it's no longer the most influential nation. My response is that it depends.

I think we are if we elect leaders who recognize America's new, more complex position in the World. Senator Barack Obama does; Senator Clinton and certainly Senator McCain far less so. If we can get the "hawk" element of U.S Government under control and adopt a more intelligent and less "cowboyish" and power-hungry approach, we can do this.

The 2008 Presidential election will tell much for the future.

Larry Sinclair UPDATE - Admits He Has Texas Speeding Tickets!

The evidence is here above. That's "Larry's" message to me. I don't believe that's his real name.

Larry Sinclair, the Obama hater spreading false claims about Barack Obama , has admitted personally to me that he has speeding tickets in Texas. This flies in the face of his claim that he lives in Minnesota, even giving an adress that turned out to be an assisted living center called Gateway Assisted Living.

Sinclair is on YouTube as am I -- his channel is larrysinclair0926. I found his channel and informed him that I'd determined that he was really in Texas and not Minnesota and that he had an outstanding warrant in Texas (ok, I lied).

But he fell for it! Sinclair wrote back this to me:

"As for your statement that I have an outstanding Texas warrant, that is news to me, but I will look into it. I do have speeding tickets."

So he's in Texas and a faker to boot.

Hillary Clinton Uses Obama Words Without Attribution - "Fired Up And Ready To Go"

According to The Politico's Ben Smith , Senator Hillary Clinton said the words "Fired Up And Ready To Go" -- a tagline constantly used by Senator Barack Obama and the Obama for America campaign. Clinton does not credit Obama for the original use of the term, nor does Clinton know why Obama came to use it.

That's a clear theft of a term used by Obama, who's opposing Clinton in the 2008 Presidential race.

Smith reports Clinton saying, "We are fired up and we are ready to go, because we know that America is ready for change," Hillary said moments ago in Davenport, melding Obama's signature line into one of hers in a sort of campaign slogan medley.

She's also got a radio ad out casting her as the candidate of "hope," TIME's Mark Halperin reports.

The term "Fired Up and Ready To Go" came from a small group of Obama supporters in South Carolina.

Larry Sinclair Is A Texan Obama Hater / Liar Who Supports Ron Paul

UPDATE Larry Sinclair admits he has TEXAS speeding tickets!

There's a major sicko liar of a person named Larry Sinclair who's making claims about Obama I will not discuss here. But I will report that Sinclair, who was stupid enough to post his fake adress as 600 W Superior St Duluth, MN 55802, which is an "assisted living" facility called Gateway Assisted Living!

Then this totally terrible man proves how bright he IS NOT by making a YouTube video I will not link to, wearing a -- get this -- "Everything Is Bigger In Texas" shirt!! Now, how likely is it that a young guy in an assisted living facility in Minnesota would even wear a shirt with Texas on it? First, assisted living facilities are for the elderly.

And he's speaking with a Texan drawl, in a room with a Mexican Flag (!) in the background and a fan -- a freaking fan -- running. Which means it's hot and he's somewhere in South Texas which is where it's around 80 degrees on February 5th which is when the video was posted, and South Texas is near the boarder!

He's a fake!

Dear Murray has shed light on Sinclair's Ron Paul ties, which is logical not only considering Murray's evidence, but Sinclair's own Texas clues he's stupid enough to offer in his own video.

Yeah.

What an idiot!

Bill Clinton v. Heckler | Was Heckler A Clinton Plant?

The real question is why would President Clinton take time to lower himself to take on a heckler? That's the disturbing part about all of this. Now, Bill's temper is front page news -- again. Of course, the guy could have been a plant by Clinton.



He also got "excited" at this rally after being heckled by anti-abortion people. But it makes you wonder if this sort of thing is staged because you know and I know that Secret Service people have checked the area more than once. I'm suspicious.

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli

CANTON, OH -- Robert Holeman came to Timken High School here today with a message to deliver to Bill Clinton. He did -- and he said the former president wasn’t happy about it.

Clinton spoke to a capacity crowd in this Northeast Ohio town, the third of five events today in the Buckeye State. He told voters that the contest was “the power of speeches against the promise of solutions by a world-class change maker.”

Throughout the event, as Clinton made his case for his wife, Holeman’s dissenting voice could be heard. At times he simply shouted Obama’s name. When Clinton would set up a sure applause line, Holeman could be heard heckling. As soon as Clinton finished speaking, the Canton native made a beeline to the ropeline to give Clinton a piece of his mind.

“I asked the president to please stop the bickering between the campaigns,” Holeman said in an interview afterwards. “All this name calling is like the bully in the yard. He can’t get his way, he can’t get nothing done.” Holeman said he thought Clinton was “gasping for air.”

“This is the last hurrah. After March 4, Hillary Clinton will be out of the race for good, and Obama will take the commanding lead,” he said. “She should back him with her delegates immediately. That’s what I’m asking them to do.”

Holeman said that Clinton responded by saying Obama came after him first. Holeman also described Clinton’s reaction to him as “irate.”

“I think he even hit me in the face with his hand,” he said. “He did give me a little pop. It was okay, because I understand his tenacity for his wife.” Clinton did engage Holeman for a few minutes, at times pointing directly at him. It was unclear whether he did make physical contact, however.

Holeman said he did support Bill Clinton during his campaigns, but that now the country wants a “new perspective.” “I think the president’s trying hoodwink us, bamboozle us, put us back in the okie doke,” he said. “He had eight years to do what he was supposed to do. All the things he said that she’s gonna do, he had the same authority that he wants her to have. Now if one Clinton, the male Clinton can’t get it done, how is Ms. Clinton [going to].”

Several Clinton supporters who saw the exchange came up to Holeman after to -- shall we say delicately -- express their disapproval for his actions. More negativity, Holeman said. “Hillary Clinton has started the most negative campaign I have ever seen, other than what the Republicans can launch,” he said. “I think we need to come together on those issues.”

*** UPDATE *** Obama spokesperson Ben LaBolt said Holeman was "absolutely not" a plant by the campaign. And a spokesperson for President Clinton who was near the president said there was no physical contact.

Clinton Gives Donor List To CNN Polling Company - Poll Rigged?

National Public Radio has provided what seems to be the "smoking gun" evidence of possible early campaign "poll-rigging" on the part of the Hillary Clinton for President campaign. Last year, 2007, in this blog post, here:

http://zennie2005.blogspot.com/2007/07/cnn-polling-linked-to-clinton-donor.html

I argued that CNN -- the Cable News Network -- should not be using polls that came from a company linked to Vinod Gupta, a major Clinton Donor. Gupta owns Info USA and the Opinion Research Corporation (OPC). It's the OPC that makes the polls that are reported by CNN, and those same polls early in the 2008 Democratic Presidential race gave consistently enormously high leads for Senator Clinton. Polls by the OPC were consistently high for months, even as other organizations like Gallup USA began to show Obama closing on Clinton.

Now, it's revealed in this NPR article that the Clinton campaign sold -- or rented -- their donor list (which contains 38,000 names) to Info USA and the OPC, but NPR's article does not make the extra step of explaining why InfoUSA / OPC would even need such a list. That's what this video is about. The list was rented for just $8,225, and not the six-figures it's valued to be, and the Clinton campaign did not collect the money until 11-months after the list was delivered.

Why? My assertion is that the campaign knew the payments would show up in their finance reports and thus wanted to delay this possible discovery for as long as possible. Clinton's campaign received the money on December 3rd of 2007. Does this violate any law? At first blush it does not but it's unethical nonetheless and should not be allowed. If Opinion Research Corporation calls just 1,500 of the 38,000 Clinton donor names, ORC can claim that they used a "representative sample of most likely voters" and have an outcome favorable to Clinton. However, I don't deal with the legal aspects of this problem here, that's for the next blog and video.

Meanwhile Gupta himself is in some trouble , as his activities of lending the Clintons the use of his private jet, and hiring President Bill Clinton for $3 million a year have ignited a shareholder lawsuit against Gupta. as Gupta's corporate operatives want to know what value, if any, Gupta's free-spending ways on Clinton have gained InfoUSA.

In may ways, this story is much like that of Peter Paul and Clinton , where Mr. Paul tried to hire Bill Clinton as a "rainmaker" for Stan Lee Media, and in the process never secured the employment of Clinton, while spending $2 milllion to hold a lavish gala for Hillary Clinton's Senate run.

What does this say about the Clintons and donors? Be careful not to get used; while Gupta's in trouble, Hillary campaign for President. Can Gupta count on the Clinton's to get him out of this jam? It depends.

If Gupta had a good contract with Clinton such that Bill had to submit performance reports with each invoice, then Gupta would be able to show shareholders what they got for their money; but if Gupta just gave Bill Clinton money for being Bill Clinton then Gupta's not going to make his shareholders happy at all.

Stay tuned.

"Feeling Down" Sexist? What A Bunch Of Bullshit! - Clinton Supporters Need To Chill

My letter to "BigTentDemocrat" who had the never to post a really silly blog on Barack Obama's use of the term "Feeling down"

Hello,

How in hell can you come up with such a ridiculous and stupid and silly assertion as to even THINK that stating "feeling down" is
sexist? I don't care that Andrea Mitchell -- who's a Clinton backer upset that Barack's gotten this far -- has pointed to this.

I'm a guy who's a member of TWO women's professional groups and THEY have never heard of such B.S. If you're interesting in helping Hillary, this is not going to work. It's -- actually -- the most laughable approach. But it also points to a constant attempt by Clinton supporters to focus on the worst fears and anxieties of people, and it stinks.

It also smells that you would play into it. Please stop it.

Clinton supporters have the annoying habit of playing to America's worst fears. First they use racism. Then they play the "female voter harmed" angle, while Obama does not do this. It's not helping Clinton at all, and it's a sure bet it will continue to fail.

Tavis Smiley Snubs Michelle Obama - Will Not Allow Her To Speak At "State"

Man, this really burns me. Tavis Smiley has totally gone off the deep end. He's not king, and seems to simply be sorry that Senator Obama's really making a trail to be the next President of The United States. According to the Washington Post , Senator Obama declined to speak at Smiley's event, "The State Of The Black Union" because he's campaining and in a fierce battle with Clinton for those states remaining.

Tavis -- bowing to his own ego -- elected to publicly damn Obama for the decision.

Obama offered to have his wife Michelle speak, but Smiley declined! That's ego run-amok! Tavis should go and appologize to Obama. Smiley must understand that he can't stand in the way of Obama doing the work that has gotten him this far. But Tavis claims he's a journalist asking the hard questions -- that's bullshit, as he's just asking about his event! He's just getting into a pissing match because he doens't know better. Time to be educated, Tavis.

I agree with Melissa Harris-Lacewell over at The Root, Tavis may be acting like the crab in the barrel. I wish he'd start acting like a person interested in Barack's succes.

Houston Chronicle Endorses Barack Obama - Dallas and Houston Papers Back Him

While Barack Obama continues to barnstorm Wisconsin, the impact of his candidacy and message has hit Houston. The Houston Chronicle has endorsed Barack Obama , giving Barack two major Texas backings, from the Dallas Morning News and now the Houston paper.

Wall Street Journal Backs Obama's Heath Care Plan Over Clinton's

The Wall Street Journal's editorial staff took a good look at both Senator Obama's health plan and Senator Clinton's, and liked Obama's for the same reason I do: an efort to reduce costs and without using penalties like calling for wage garnishment.

Look, I don't care what anyone says, that threat in the Clinton plan is a deal-killer.

Illinois Shooting - Loss Of Anti-Anxiety Medication No Excuse For Killing

The story going around is that the reason the gunman decided to walk onto a stage at Northern Illinois University and open fire on students was a lack of his Anti-Anxiety medication. I think that's bull. I don't know what the reason is, but it's not that one and there's still no explaination for having four school shootings in ONE WEEK.

The simple fact that's not an outrage is depressing.

I also don't think gun control's going to solve the problem. If a person wants to get or make a weapon, they will do it. What we need to focus on is why they do it.