Patrick Frey over at Patterico's Pontifications has exposed Los Angeles Times columnist/blogger Michael Hiltzik as a dishonest, conniving ... journalist. You see, Patterico has pretty solid evidence that Hiltzik has been pretending to be other people on the 'net to both praise himself and to attack others.

I encourage you to read Patterico's piece, because while the blogosphere is a pretty lawless place for the most part, sock-puppetry is generally frowned upon.

What's surprising and stupid about this whole episode is that, well, what Hiltzik did was just plain old stupid. I mean, so you comment as someone else supporting a point you made in your original post. No one on the 'net knows your pseudonym from a teenage girl in Reseda. Is the fact that some anonymous person is agreeing with you really a help to serious arguments you may be making?

And as for hiding behind a pseudonym and attacking others ... from your work computer. If that's not criminally stupid, it should be.

Thank you Michael Hiltzik for once again demonstrating that I'm way too overqualified to be in this business.