Bernie Weinraub copied Luke Ford?

Yes, apparently. This twist in the Anthony Pellicano-wiretap story gets an airing by Jack Shafer at Slate, and on the ever-more irrepressible LukeFord.net. More background from Ford pal-confidante-adviser Cathy Seipp.

Weinraub: "What can I tell you?... I screwed up … I'm sorry."

Update 11 p.m: This appears with the corrections in tomorrow's New York Times:

Editors' Note

An article in Business Day on Tuesday reported on a federal inquiry into suspected illegal wiretapping by a private investigator in Hollywood, Anthony Pellicano. The article incorporated a paragraph about an incident in which Mr. Pellicano recovered the body of Elizabeth Taylor's third husband, Mike Todd, which had been removed from its grave at a Chicago cemetery. That paragraph was reproduced nearly verbatim from a Weblog compiled by a Los Angeles journalist, Luke Ford, who adapted it from a passage in the 2000 book "Dish," by Jeannette Walls. In February 1994, a similar account appeared in Los Angeles magazine. The Times should have credited the Weblog for its version.

Given his history with Weinraub, I await Mickey Kaus' take on this. As for Luke Ford, if I recall correctly he also has an appearance on "60 Minutes" coming up, as a friendly source based on his knowledge of the Valley porn biz. He gained that expertise in a previous incarnation as the man behind lukeford.com, a site he has sold (now X-rated). It would appear that many in that world don't care for him. (See also "The Most Hated Man in Web Porn" from Wired in 2001.) Where will he show up next?