OK, I’m not calling Sacramento Bee reporter Bobby Caina Calvin a dummy. But he did make a dummy move.

You’re a reporter? Great. Going to Iraq? Admirable. Starting a blog? Awesome. It’s only for friends and family and you haven’t locked it? Hold up a second, pardner.

So of course, his paper ended up issuing this piece — discussing the resulting fallout from being tagged by powerhouse Michelle Malkin and the firestorm she can bring down on small blogs:

Just a few days into his assignment, conservative blogger Michelle Malkin did the honors, nominating Calvan for “Jerk of the Year.”

That was just the beginning of the accolades. In a matter of days, bloggers and their flock of sheep across the country were calling Calvan an “immature human,” “a pompous ass,” “disrespectful,” an “embarrassment,” and an “anti-American military” ideologue.

There were more, but you can’t print them in the newspaper.

What was Calvan’s great transgression?

He got into a spat with an American soldier manning a checkpoint who questioned Calvan’s identification before finally letting the reporter and his Iraqi helper back into Baghdad’s secure Green Zone.

Calvan then wrote about the encounter in a snarky, arrogant way ‚Äì including his attempt to “bully” the soldier ‚Äì on his new personal blog, which was intended to keep his family and friends updated about his work and life in Iraq.

First mistake? He didn’t lock up the blog. Second? He didn’t tell his editors. Now, he’s gone and done a big fat favor for all his fellow reporters and made it impossible for anyone else to have a personal blog. Great job.

Another thing I love about the piece? Calvan tried to delete his post, thinking it would rectify the situation. Heheheh. ROFL! That just makes you look even worse, pardner. Pretty much everything that’s been online at one point lives on somewhere forever. Take a hint from Washingtonienne.

He compounded his error by initially deleting his posting, which is considered bad form in the blogosphere. (The etiquette was news to me, too.)

I love the picture this graf gives me. Wide-eyed, hands up — “we didn’t know, honest!”

The blogosphere has its rules and ethics, too, guys. So if you don’t want to play, then lock it up!