Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Schadenfreude

"Schadenfreude" is a German word that has been adopted into English, and is defined as "taking pleasure or satisfaction at someone else's misfortune." ("Schaden" means injury or disadvantage, "Freude" means joy or delight.)

So, here's your Schadenfreude moment of the day:

Orlando Sentinel | Jury in defamation case finds against Doug Guetzloe for a total of $1.61 million

Wow. $1.61 million dollars is a LOT of money. As expected, Guetzloe is showing no remorse and vowing to appeal, but still, this verdict shows that not only did the jury think he was liable, but the large punitive damages component shows they found his conduct especially malicious and reprehensible.



"One meeeee-lion dollars...plus another six hundred and ten thousand!"

Howard Marks, the attorney for the successful plaintiffs said, "This was never, to begin with, a case about money. It was a case to stand up against a bully, to stand up against someone who has intimidated people for years with lawsuits."

Job well done, Mr. Marks. Free speech does not include the right to falsely call someone a pedophile...oh, excuse me, insinuate that someone "might" be a pedophile, or whatever Guetzloe was trying to argue he meant by saying that Richard Mask was "trolling for young boys," etc.

As someone who has also been a target of Guetzloe's fantastical lies and malicious attacks, I am greatly cheered by today's verdict and commend Richard Mask for his bravery and commitment to see this case through to the end.

Guetzloe has never called me a pedophile (golly gee whiz, thanks for that, Dougie), but he's used every word in the thesaurus to call me corrupt and unethical, attempts to attack my reputation every chance he gets, and keeps calling me a Democrat.  (If I'm a Democrat, I'm doing a reeeeeeeally bad job at it.) Entertainingly, during last year's  election he even tried to claim I was a double agent for the Alex Sink campaign. Thanks Dougie, we all got a good laugh over that.

Guetzloe also hasn't sued me in court yet, although he's certainly made the threat several times, but he has filed several complaints against me with the Florida Elections Commission. I just got word from them earlier this month that they had dismissed the latest case against me entirely. Ol' Dougie is now 0-for-3 against me with the FEC: he filed a complaint against me in 2008 which was immediately dismissed, I filed one against him in 2008 which settled with a consent order and a fine earlier this month, and then he filed this one against me in 2010, which was dismissed entirely.

I'm just waiting to get my copy of the written order (I called and checked and the orders were mailed yesterday) and then I'll share the fun little story with all of you. Doug Guetzloe is a bully and a jerk (that's my opinion, Dougie, go ahead and try to sue me for that), but the Florida Statutes and the administrative procedures of the FEC have some major areas that are ripe for improvement.

Stay tuned...

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