Thursday, July 15, 2010

Meet David Holthouse, premier paid liar at the Southern Preposterous Lie Center.



A tip of the boonie hat to Peter G, whose email led me here which in turn led me to this story about this ruling in the interesting libel suit proceeding in DC against the Southern Preposterous Lie Center. As McClatchy reports it:

Scholar's libel suit proceeds against Southern Poverty Law Center

Guenter Lewy's very interesting libel case against the Southern Poverty Law Center can proceed in the District of Columbia, a trial judge ruled Tuesday.

This one is worth watching.

Lewy is an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts. A survivor of German violence against Jews during World War II, Prof. Lewy has written numerous books and articles about the history of persecuted peoples. In 2005, the University of Utah Press published his book, "The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide."

As Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly noted: Prof. Lewy ultimately concludes in the book that the current, reliable evidence of genocide is unpersuasive or inconclusive.

The Southern Poverty Law Center subsequently issued a report, in which it stated that "Lewy is one of the most active members of a network of American scholars, influence peddlers and website operators, financed by hundreds of thousands of dollars each year from the government of Turkey, who promote the denial of the Armenian genocide."

Lewy sued, and the first decision for Judge Kollar-Kotelly was whether the Southern Poverty Law Center was sufficiently connected to Washington, D.C. for her court to have jurisdiction. On Tuesday, she said yes with respect to the organization. The libel suit can proceed.


The judge's ruling contains this paragraph detailing the damages SPLC and Holthouse, as the "senior editor" of the woe-fully misnamed "Intelligence Report" did to Lewy.

Lewy claims that the statements made in the Intelligence Report are defamatory because they falsely accuse him of corruption, fraud, and even commission of a crime under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, 22 U.S.C. §§ 611-21. See Am. Compl. ¶¶ 27-33. Lewy claims that the statements damaged his reputation as a scholar, diminished his opportunities for teaching and speaking, hurt his book sales, and caused him emotional trauma and suffering. Id. ¶ 27. Lewy seeks compensatory and punitive damages totaling $8 million.


Now eight million bucks is chump change to SPLC, which has hundreds of millions in the bank -- nothing "Poverty" about SPLC -- but the interesting thing is that this is the first time that SPLC may be in real danger of paying up for one of their multitude of lies. If successful, even if settled out of court, this will encourage the cannibals of the lawyer tribe to eat one of the richest and fattest of their own in a death of a thousand damage award entrees. Nothing encourages the legal sharks like blood in the water. The race to see who will get SPLC's palatial glass Taj Mahal in Montgomery will be fun to watch.

Couldn't happen to nicer anal sphincters.

The lawsuit focuses attention on SPLC's "Intelligence Report" and especially on its "senior editor" David Holthouse.

Holthouse is no stranger to publicity. A perusal of some of his recent stories indicates the "journalistic standards" he operates by.

For those of you with first-hand experience of Knob Creek, I draw your attention to Holthouse's 2006 conflationary racist tar baby epic on that event. It will give you a flavor of the "journalism" Holthouse practices.

I look forward to seeing this case go to trial, and await with anticipation all the others that will surely follow a Lewy success. We'll no doubt be hearing a lot more about David Holthouse.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, is this Jodi Weis' brother? Take a look...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/12/jody-weis-chicago-police_n_643702.html

Joe said...

Ahh, the Scribes and Pharisees Liars Center might get some well-deserved ass waxing. Good. Wax it real good. Make them shiny and slick. Maybe they'll all die in unfortunate butt plug accidents.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Lewy might want to look into: "implied consent" and go after the bosses and owners of SPLC. the editor continues to work; even though there is a list of abuses. That means his bosses like the way, the editor works the steaks {stakes} could get bigger and jucier.

Al
III

Anonymous said...

Does this have any repercussions for bureaucrats who like to quote SPLC 'research'?

Sean said...

So, Mike, are you saying that you agree with Lewey, and that the Armenian genocide did not take place? I admit I am confused by your take on this.

Anonymous said...

Holthouse looks every bit the misogynist axe murderer. Creeps me out.

Dennis308 said...

Oh Lord, Please let there be Liable. Amen

And so little David has been a cock sucker for a long time now.
I really shouldn't´t say that about a child abuse victim but I just couldn't´t help myself.

Dennis
III
Texas

Dedicated_Dad said...

Am I the only one to note that all these SPLC folk look as though they might be shy a chromosome or two?

DD

Jerri Lynn Ward said...

He looks like an evil pixie.

Dutchman6 said...

"So, Mike, are you saying that you agree with Lewey, and that the Armenian genocide did not take place? I admit I am confused by your take on this."

No, Sean. Just because SPLC lies about the scholar doesn't prove his scholarship. I haven't read the book, probably won't for a while.

The point is independent of Lewy's scholarship. It is that SPLC lied about his relationship to the Turks.

In point of fact, I have read more than a little about the Armenian genocide -- I include it in Absolved, you may remember -- and I believe that it certainly took place and it was certainly a "genocide."

Mike
III

Defender said...

The SPLC is upset with the professor because he doesn't state conclusively that the genocide of Armenians in Turkey happened?
What would that genocide mean to the SPLC? Another example of people WITH GUNS killing people too kind, too spiritual, too civilized to WANT guns?
We have the advantage of historical hindsight. But, you know, examples of helpless people being slaughtered exist throughout history. No doubt the Turks remembered Vlad Tepes, Vlad the Impaler, a 15th-Century prince who met them vicious act for sadistic act. He had learned well as a prisoner of the Turks until he was ransomed.
Soon the Ottoman Turks stopped invading his principality of Wallachia, now part of Romania.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

Witchwood said...

I know people who obtained a chunk of the Berlin Wall as a sort of trophy, a symbol of triumph over communism.

I intend to one day own a piece of SPLC headquarters.

l said...

Yup, why do theses folks all have a similar look that kinda makes you think there up to no good.
I guess if it looks like BS, and smells like BS, then it is BS.

Jon said...

Wow this would be GREAT if someone managed to hold SPLC accountable & get some of their ill-gotten gains...

All kinds of people victimized by the SPLC will come out of the woodwork & claim their share too.

Anonymous said...

I for one and glad to find this article. I hope to get my share from the haters as well. Preston Wiginton. I recently tried to send Mr. Holthouse an e-mail. It did not go through so maybe has already been removed.