Slate's Jack Shafer and blogger Daniel Radosh have been harshing on the story about sex slaves from last Sunday's NYT magazine all week. This — go figure — made the story's author, Peter Landesman, really unhappy.

So unhappy, in fact, that he sent an email to Radosh which basically promised he'd sue him into next year, and he followed it up with a phone call "which repeated and amplified the threats," says Shafer. (We assume he told Radosh to go fuck himself with a giant legal pole.) Yo Radosh: Please keep the tape recorder hooked up to your phone so you can make mp3s of these sort of calls. (We certainly do.)

Times public editor Dan Okrent and Times mag editor Gerry Marzorati have stepped in to offer apologies and claim they don't want to sue anyone. But Landesman certainly hasn't retracted his promise to sue. We really wish he would — the world is waiting for a fun landmark internet libel case. And on a personal note, we salute Mr. Landesman's behavior. We want more Times reporters to rage-dial bloggers, threaten all critics, and in general, bring the dignity back to troubled 43rd Street.
How Not To Handle Press Critics [Slate]
Sick of this story yet? [Radosh]