sure,,,,,,,,,,,,beyond

Am I not allowed to express an opinion, belief, or
speculation?  No one, except you, has claimed that
I stated that as a fact.

If you disagree with my characterization of my words,
show me when I did claim that as a fact.  You can't.
You can't find any statement when I expressed that
as anything other than a opinion, belief, or speculation.

Show me an untrue statement I made about the algae.
You can't.  So far, the only words of mine that you've
quoted have been from the retraction.  Nowhere in the
retraction does it say that I ever made an untrue statement
about the algae.

If had been sure, I would have expressed those statements
as statements of fact, not as opinion, belief, or speculation.

You are in effect saying that only statements that are proven
to be true should be said.  That would prohibit statements
of opinion, belief, or speculation.  You yourself couldn't live
by a rule like that!

And in the absence of proof, you assume I must have been
lying.  That's another example of your reckless disregard
for the truth.

And you would be wrong about that.  There was no notice
whatsoever before being served with the summons.

If I was following your standards of behavior, I would now
accuse you of lying when you said, "He had some notice
from Cell Tech lawyers to cease and desist before the
actual lawsuit."

By your definition of lying, you just told a lie.  You said,
"He had some notice from Cell Tech lawyers to cease
and desist before the actual lawsuit."  That is untrue.

their life.

The difference being that your accusations against me were
not mistakes or accidents.  They were and are delibrate,
reckless disregard for the truth.

You have claimed I lied, without knowing of any statement
I made which is untrue.  You have made this claim
repeatedly, with reckless disregard for the truth.  If you
have any decency at all, you will admit your error and
apologize.

Well then, how did I say it?  What were my exact words?
You aren't posting that, because then everybody would
see that I didn't say that as a statement of fact.

Now watch Jan completely ignore my request to show
me my words where I stated that as a fact:

The damages claimed by Cell Tech were about 0.15 % of their
gross profits over the time period covered by the complaint.
Hardly any damage at all, if their complaint is to be believed.
(Others might calculate the damage differently -- I'm using
their numbers here.)

The retraction was part of a settlement agreement.  There
can be lots of reasons to make a settlement agreement.
Note that the retraction does not say I ever made an
untruthful statement about the company.

And I did not say that I knew any such thing.
Nor does the retraction say that I made such
a statement.

Then how did I say it?  What were my exact words?
I don't recall ever having stated it as a fact.
I believe I was always clear it was an opinion,
belief, or speculation.  If you believe otherwise,
please show me my words.

Yes, you are.  You said I should have "made sure" before
saying anything.  If I had "made sure", then I would have
has sufficient evidence to make a statement of fact.
You aren't allowing any room for a statement of lesser
certainty, such as an opinion, belief, or speculation.

That's nonresponsive -- trying to laugh your way
out of the hole you've dug for yourself.

Yes, your reckless disregard for the truth.

It is unusual.  Nevertheless, that is what happened.

You have accused me of lying on the basis of
new sentences created by snipping out pieces
from larger sentences.  Do you now see how dishonest
that is?  Do you understand that the meaning of
a fragment of a sentence can be completely different
from the whole sentence?

Why can't you understand that my statements also
had that type of difference from a statement of fact?

Or are you the only person who has the privilege of
making a statement of opinion, belief, or speculation?

Do you now understand what a qualifier is?
That's a qualifier.  When I objected to your interpreting
sentence fragments with qualifiers removed, you said:

$ Playing word games just makes it worse!
$
$ I didn't ask you *as an independent statement without any qualifers.*
$
$ I ask you if you said  *Cell Tech deliberately avoids testing for this
$ toxin?*
$
$ It is in your retraction Mark! You stated Cell Tech deliberately avoids
$ testing for this toxin.

If I were to use the same reasoning, I'd challenge you to deny
that you said: ""He had some notice from Cell Tech lawyers
to cease and desist before the actual lawsuit."  It's in your
posting of Tuesday 10:18 PM.  Those are your exact words.

When you point out that there was a qualifier to that sentence
fragment, why shouldn't I accuse you of "playing word games"?

Cell Tech did not accuse me of reckless disregard for the
truth, even in their original complaint.  If they could have,
they most likely would have, because that's an important
point of law with regard to the severity and culpability
of any alleged defamation.  You are the only one to
accuse me of rckless disregard for the truth in that matter,
and you are wrong.

The retraction does not say that I ever lied or made
an untruthful statement.

You have claimed I lied, without knowing of any statement
I made which is untrue.  You have made this claim
repeatedly, with reckless disregard for the truth.  If you
have any decency at all, you will admit your error and
apologize.