BluegrassReport.org Being BLOCKED By State Government

[**Lots of updates throughout the day, so check below frequently**]

I've gotten a handful of e-mails this morning already that BluegrassReport.org has apparently been blocked to state computers by the Commonwealth Office of Technology. Readers in three different cabinets have e-mailed to tell me they get a "blocked" message when they try to access the site.

Nothing like a little censorship with your breakfast. Welcome to the People's Republic of Kentucky.

UPDATE: I'm getting flooded with e-mails and a couple of phone calls from readers in other cabinets -- and other elected constitutional offices -- that the site has been blocked. But what's interesting is there's no problem allowing state workers to access the Republican Party of Kentucky or Fox News or Drudge Report or at least one conservative Kentucky blog. Pathetic.

UPDATE #2: The Bluegrass Institute's blog is accessible, as are the political blogs run by Mark Hebert and Pat Crowley. Looks like BGR is being targeted. What are they afraid of?

UPDATE #3: An e-mail from a reader:

Mark, got an email from a state employee friend today, to tell me that effective today 6/21, the COT has blocked Bluegrass Report and Wonkette on state computers.

You're traveling in rarified company - they shall know you by who censors you!

Thoughts on how to combat this censorship?

UPDATE #4: Reader Shakyl posted the following comment:

Sounds like you have an excellent Equal Protection and Ky. Const. Sec. 2 case. Because the state's decision to ban your site is content-based, the decision should be subject to strict scrutiny. You also should be able to fit the case under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983, which would give the right to attorneys' fees under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1988.

Any equal-protection lawyers out there interested in a pro-bono case that may provide for attorneys' fees?  E-mail me at mark@bluegrassreport.org.

UPDATE #5: Just finished my first press interview on the matter at 10:08 am. Something tells me this isn't going to turn out like the Fletcher-Pence-Rudolph administration had hoped...

UPDATE #6: Must be a coincidence that the banning of BGR happens the day after a front-page New York Times story critical of the administration which contained not only a quote from me but also mentioned this site. Coincidence, of course.

UPDATE #7: From a source within state government:

The only Kentucky-related blogs other than yours that appear to be blocked are at blogspot.com. I think it's safe to say you have been singled out.

ACCESSIBLE

NKY Politics (Pat Crowley)
http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/gov2/

BLUEgrass
http://www.bluegrass.typepad.com/

The Bluegrass Policy Blog (Bluegrass Institute)
http://www.bipps.org/blog/

The Bridge (Dr. Ted)
http://thebridge.typepad.com/thebridge/

Conservative Edge (Brian Goettl)
http://www.conservativeedge.com/

KYKurmudgeon (Larry Dale Keeling)
http://blogs.kentucky.com/kykurmudgeon/

The Rural Blog (Al Cross)
http://www.uky.edu/CommInfoStudies/IRJCI/blog.htm

BLOCKED

BlueGrassRoots
http://www.bluegrassroots.org/

The Compassionate eCommunity (Jonathan Miller)
http://compassionatecommunity.blogspot.com/

Kentucky Progress (David Adams)
http://kyprogress.blogspot.com/

Kentucky Republican Voice
http://kyrepublicanvoice.blogspot.com/

The Kentucky Democrat (Daniel Solzman)
http://kydem.blogspot.com/

UPDATE #8: Seems that the national political websites are taking notice already. This may quickly become a national story in political/media circles.

UPDATE #9: Daily Kos and Atrios are up with stories. Bad, bad move by Fletcher...

UPDATE #10: Josh Marshall's TPMmuckraker joins the chorus. Insane national traffic right now. The last 1,000 visitors came in a 3 minute span. Boing Boing just posted. So has Hotline On Call.

UPDATE #11: A state employee just e-mailed me:

They've got a hell of a filter - while COT has not blocked talkingpointsmemo.com, they HAVE blocked the TPM Muckraker article talking about the governor blocking BGR.

If the cover-up is worse than the crime, how much worse is the cover-up of the cover-up?

Funny thing is that Talking Points Memo has just posted as well...

UPDATE #12: Check out Think Progress' banner headline.

(By the way, if you're pissed off about these antics, now is a very apt time to consider helping with BGR's Spring Pledge Drive! Help us be in a position to win next year's Koufax Award for Best State/Local Blog in the country -- like we did this year -- our inaugural year!)

UPDATE #13: Incredible. From the same employee mentioned in update #11:

Now TPM is blocked, and so is Atrios, but for the moment Kos and Thinkprogress are still up.  It's a race!

Also, check out TPMmuckraker again. They can't get a straight answer from COT or even a return call from the governor's office:

After posting, I called the state's tech office and spoke to COT Assistant Director Jim Lydon there, who claimed not to know anything about the blocking. They said they block "a lot of inappropriate business sites," such as gambling or shopping sites, but that he didn't know anything about blocking political sites. But he said he'd get back to me.

Since then, it appears the office has got wind that this is a bigger deal. I called him again when I learned we'd been blocked and was referred to the press rep of the state's Secretary of Finance. I left a message there.

The Governor's office still won't return our calls.

How interesting that they've referred press calls on this to the Finance Cabinet -- the place where brand new Lt. Gov. candidate Robbie Rudolph dwelled until last week? Fletcher is going to lose this battle. He's in the middle of a national blog-swarm...

UPDATE #14: Josh Marshall has this update over at Talking Points Memo:

Okay, the scandal-hobbled Gov. Ernie Fletcher started this morning banning the site of one of his biggest critics (who's successfully moved the scandals now engulfing his administration). That was the bluegrassreport.org. Then they blocked TPMmuckraker.com and now TPM too. Paul Kiel called the state tech folks and at first they denied it. But now they're not taking any questions.

UPDATE #15: Two things. Swing State Project has weighed-in and TPMmuckraker has more excellent reporting and coverage:

I just called the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents over 13,000 Kentucky state employees, and asked what they thought of the Great Kentucky Blog Ban.

"This attempt by the governor to sweep under the rug his gross ethical violations is shameless," spokeswoman Jodi Sakol told me, referring to the numerous transgressions by the state's GOP governor, Ernie Fletcher. "If he thinks that by trying to cover up what he's done it's going to go away, he's wrong."

Sakol said AFSCME, which is the largest state employees' union in Kentucky, "calls on the governor to lift his ban on workers having access to the free press."

UPDATE #16: Rep. Ben Chandler (D) has just publicly condemned Fletcher's censorship actions and stands behind the constitution. Keep in mind that Ben also voted for net-neutrality as well:

KY Congressman: Great Kentucky Blog Ban Violates Constitution!
By Justin Rood - June 21, 2006, 3:57 PM

...Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY), whose district includes the state capitol, has just come out firmly against the policy. "I believe the recent action of the Fletcher administration to block access to a handpicked number of blogs is a violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution," Chandler said through a spokeswoman. "This flies in the face of a fundamental right of free speech."

UPDATE #17: Ryan Alessi has a story on the Herald-Leader website:

Fletcher Administration Blocks State Employees' Access To Political Blogs
By Ryan Alessi
HERALD-LEADER FRANKFORT BUREAU

FRANKFORT - Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration blocked state employees' access to Web logs today, a day after a prominent political "blogger" was critical of the governor in a New York Times story.

The ban sent the political sector of the cyber world into a tizzy, attracting attention from national blogs, some of which were added throughout the day to the list of sites state workers couldn't access.

Finance and Administration Cabinet spokeswoman Jill Midkiff said that as part of a continuing Web-monitoring process, the state is restricting employees' access to sites that contain computer viruses as well as those devoted to entertainment, movies, auctions, classified ads, jokes, comics, message boards and, yes, blogs.

"We want to make sure we are doing what's best for the taxpayers," she said.

Officials had planned two weeks ago to limit access to blogs as part of a regular update of "non-business-related" Web pages, Midkiff said. The timing had nothing to do with the front-page New York Times story about Fletcher's political troubles, Midkiff said.

In that story, Mark Nickolas, publisher of the Bluegrassreport.org blog, criticized Fletcher's administration for trying to "play by their own rules even if it's against the law."

[...]

In an interview, Nickolas said the timing is more than suspicious.

"But all this is going to do is draw more attention to it," he said. "It is an example of the low political IQ of the administration, that they think they can censor political speech to keep people in line."

[...]

Shortly after Nickolas announced the ban on Bluegrassreport.org, other national blogs leaped on the story.

TPMMuckraker.com posted several items on its site and contacted the governor's office to find out about the action. Less than an hour after blogger-reporter Paul Kiel contacted the administration, state employees no longer could access Kiel's site.

In an interview, Kiel said that in his reporting on other state capitals around the state, he hadn't seen any similar actions.

He credited Bluegrassreport.org with being more aggressive than most state political-commentary sites.

"He's been pretty remarkable in that respect," Kiel said.

UPDATE #18: I've spent a little time today exploring legal options and Louisville attorney Jennifer Moore is presently submitting a request under the Kentucky Open Records Act on my behalf. Stay tuned. This issue is not going to fade away. If this corrupt administration wants a fight over this crucial issue, they've got one.

UPDATE #19: Fletcher IT hack, Mark Rutledge, is now scrambling to say this action was not directing at BGR, but to all "blogs". He offers the most absurd, unprincipled argument for limiting the ban to blogs but not mainstream news organizations:

From TPMmuckraker:

But, but... why blogs?

He [Rutledge] didn't have a pat answer for that. State computers were for business use only, he said.

But I pointed out that the state wasn't blocking news sites.

Yes, he said, but the papers are more likely to have "some value, some relevance to somebody's job." Blogs are generally aligned with certain "interest groups."

Before I could respond, he said "I don't want to get into a philosophical discussion about whether blogs are news or not." His office was trying to prevent "sharing information of things that are not relevant to work." And besides, he said, if an employee felt that a certain blocked blog would be relevant to work, he or she could just go to his orher supervisor to grant access.

So that's his story and he's sticking to it. It leaves a few questions unanswered. For starters, why certain blogs were available earlier (though after 7 AM), and were unavailable later in the day. And why a number of blogs (see Mark's tally here) seem unaffected by the block.

Question -- Can state employees still view Mark Hebert's WHAS-TV blog? Or Pat Crowley's Kentucky Enquirer blog? Or Larry Dale Keeling's Herald-Leader blog? What about the Republican Party of Kentucky's blog?

Rutledge is offering a distinction without a difference. Either you want to ban employees from wasting time -- and then you ban all non-governmental websites -- or state government gets to pick-and-choose which sites provide the information they want employees to be able to access. It's a phony argument and like everything else that this administration does, they're only digging the hole deeper and deeper...

As I said earlier, welcome to the People's Republic of Kentucky...

Also: MyDD and Wonkette make an appearance.

UPDATE #20: Today's vortex has spawned an interesting spin-off discussion about blogs, "blog-swarms" and traditional journalism over at Corante:

In Copyfight, we've debated around ideas of whether bloggers are journalists, whether they ought to be entitled to protections traditionally afforded to other kinds of journalists, and how the actions of bloggers are what make them journalists, not any particular label.

So when I saw "blog-swarm" images filled my mind of the old days when reporters would rush to cover a story, then rush to the nearest phone booth to call the story in. On the one hand, there's cachet in the blog world for having a story originally, or being the first to note something of import - the 'scoop'. On the other, there's a notion that a story deemed important enough to be carried in several major blogs is something that people ought to pay attention to. I think that's interesting and important and even if it's not particularly dignified to be part of a "swarm" it's kind of cool to try and throw my weight behind an effort to move one boulder of injustice and possibly, in doing so, to establish that yes, bloggers have that kind of weight to throw.

UPDATE #21: There are so many implications with Big Brother's attempt today to ban political speech from reaching state employees, who presumably just sit around and do nothing except read blogs, if you believe what they're feeding the media right now. But let me throw out one question for now.

One of the early phone calls I got this morning was from a staffer in State Treasurer Jonathan Miller's (D) office, who alerted to me to this morning's state government-wide censorship of BluegrassReport.org.

Apparently, the treasurer's office is networked through COT (Commonwealth Office Of Technology) which is run by the Fletcher administration's Finance Cabinet. Presumably, so are the offices of Attorney General Stumbo (D), Auditor Crit Luallen (D), Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R), and Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer (R).

My question is under what legal authority can Fletcher interfere or dictate what the staff of elected statewide constitutional officers can view? Is there not a separation of powers argument? Miller's staff reports to Miller, not Fletcher.

I would imagine that Stumbo would not be okay with such authority over his office by this corrupt administration.

Just my two cents...

UPDATE #22: The Fletcher-Pence-Rudolph administration again proves just how tone deaf and unaware of the modern world they really are:

But Jill Midkiff, spokeswoman for the Finance and Administration Cabinet said the goal is to keep state workers from using state computers on state time.

“Today we blocked new categories of sites. We didn’t target specific sites,” said Midkiff. “The new categories are in addition to categories that have been blocked for a while now — pornography, lingerie, computer games, hate sites, illegal activity sites, chat rooms.”

...Midkiff said mainstream media sites were not blocked because they can provide state employees a broader range of news on issues which agencies may need.

Comments

[Bruce Maples]

There are good reasons for blocking a site, and there are not-so-good reasons.

• If an employee or employees is spending a lot of time viewing web sites, a good manager is going to do something about it. Normally, though, that's a case-by-case situation, not a company-wide block.
• Some companies block most or all political sites, and I can see where state government might do that, just to remove the temptation noted above to spend all day reading about state politics. If the state government is blocking the freepers as well as the kossacks, then at least it's an even-handed thing.
• I have tried, in the first two bullets, to assume the reasonable, and give the Office of Technology the benefit of the doubt. If, though, they are ONLY blocking BR, then no benefit of the doubt is deserved or needed -- it's another example of both "LaLaLa -- I can't hear you!" and "Power loves darkness when its deeds are evil." They can't answer the charges, so they just turn down the volume. Real adult approach. Or, to put it another way: "We can't govern, but we sure can bully."

They should remember: truth is like water; it WILL find a way to flow.

[DM Strong]

Congrats!

Now you can say "Banned in Kentucky since 2006." or some cool, underground, fight-the-power kind of slogan.

"The blog ernie fletcher doesn't want you to read."

you know, something like that.

[Robert Cumming]

What about the porno DOT employee's were downloading on state time? I guess that's OK as long as you're a recent repub hire .

LOL.

They are absolutely NOT blocking any other blogs, just BGR.

If other sites aren't being blocked, then we have a problem.

Of course, one could argue state computers can only be used for office related business & an acceptable use policy doc was probably signed or at least distributed.

The professional way of handling this is for a directive to come from the office or cabinet head detailing acceptable technology use. Should a staff member be found to be in violation, deal with it accordingly.

But of course, this would require a governor knowing the definition of PROFESSIONAL, PROPER & ACCEPTABLE.

[FrankfortSon]

This is coming from a conversation between Buttplugs and Morticia yesterday. They both concluded that this would be legal and also a really swell idea.

While I don't know if it is legal (but I doubt it is if the issue has been analyzed by Buttplugs), it is certainly a stupid idea. Those of us who are interested in exposing these frauds are going to continue working at it.

So, Morticia, Buttplugs, Fletch and the rest of the circle, you are now on notice. We are going to work day and night, night and day to let the world know the facts.

I find it even more compelling considering this sight uncovered the secret payments that Morticia was receiving yesterday and exposed them for the world to see. The public received the unvarnished truth.

Mr. Rudolph, this is your lame attempt at a another COVER-UP. Let me repeat it, you are trying to COVER-UP your fraud on the citizens of Kentucky.

All government employees find it offensive and you will learn how to treat us.

Give back your pay!

[Revenue Girl]

I can't believe that I have to do this. However, I had to send my friend this posting via email this morning. Our new Secretary is a Morticia pawn. It is ridiculous. To think that he is even far more educated than idiot Morticia and would take marching orders to jump in a pile of dog crap.

I can't get on my computer here to view this site, at the moment. However, I have some friends who are determining if there is another way to successfully navigate this block. When I figure it out, I will let everyone know.

We can't allow Buttplugs and Morticia to cover up these matters. Yesterday, everyone learned that Morticia actually had defrauded the citizens by secretly accepting a $130,000 salary that had never been disclosed. He sent out some patronizing press release stating that he had resigned to avoid "any appearance of impropriety".

He is once again using the 11th grade logic that he acquired just prior to quitting high school.

This is not a case of appearances. We are actually witnessing impropriety.

Morticia needs to resign.

[ShakyII]

Sounds like you have an excellent Equal Protection and Ky. Const. Sec. 2 case. Because the state's decision to ban your site is content-based, the decision should be subject to strict scrutiny. You also should be able to fit the case under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983, which would give the right to attorneys' fees under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1988.

Here is how we combat it. We demand that the administration answer the question as to whether they are blocking this site. Once they deny it, then we start contacting COT and ask the same question. Once they deny it on the record, but secretly tell us the facts we need to know off the record, then we spend the rest of the week blasting Morticia and Buttplugs on the radio, on TV and most importantly, on this fantastic blog.

I know a Republican lawyer in Frankfort with a big and notorious Democratic law firm who would probably take this case. He would love to respond to Morticia's constant corruption in manner that fatally destroys him.

There are likely 100s of other lawyers who feel similarly and would enjoy the opportunity to blow Fletcher, Morticia and Buttplugs (he doesn't need much) up.

Who wants to bet that Morticia is able to access this site in his office? I wish someone would ask him that question.

In fact, I hope that we can get an open records request for his computer files. At that point, all of his personal problems will come to light.

What are they afraid of?

THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!

My son called and said that he was not able to access this site today. He works in Revenue.

I told him this morning that I read yesterday that Rudolph had secretly been raiding state funds to pay himself a $130,000 salary and not actually working. He didn't think that I read this correctly, so I told him to look for himself.

Unfortunately, the new Secretary was ordered by Rudolph to selectively block this site. Let me tell you from his perspective, there is sizeable unrest in paradise. Employees are extremely mad that this has occurred.

My son won't stand for this type of censorship and neither will I.

[Too much caffeine]

Morticia needs to resign if he is responsible for this directive.

What a fraud!

Fletcher continues to demonstrate they he leads the gang that can't shoot straight. All this will do is give BGR even more exposure and make it more relevant and prominent as a result, much to their detriment. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Make an open records request for copies of all directives on what websites will be blocked, together with a request for the criteria used in their selection. Send the answers to the Herald-Leader since the Courier Journal seems to no longer have any interest in exposing this administration for acting like a bunch of jackboot fascists in support of a failed wannabe dictator.

Give it up on Moricia--by being a candidate, he's a public figure subject to very harsh scrutiny. So what are these issues?

Is it possible that the basis for the selective blocking is both content-neutral and flattering to this site? Perhaps this site is getting a lot more traffic from state government users than the other, non-blocked sites. It's more popular, and more of a threat to employee productivity. One should probably consider that possibility, unless one prefers darker theories.

[Steve Patterson]

This is consistent with a Buttplugs/Morticia decision-matrix. It goes like this...

Morticia learns that his $130,000 secret salary is being attacked as being fraudulent.

Morticia calls Buttplugs who is in his office making bids on EBAY in the "Adult area".

Buttplugs goes into action. He immediately picks up his LAW BOOK that he uses for all of his decisions. He goes to the chapter that reads "How to censor" (which is incidently after the chapter on negotiating with attorney generals and U.S. Attorneys)and finds his answer.

Buttplugs calls Morticia back on the phone. They agree to meet secretly, in the same place and manner that the secret salary was discussed.

Buttplugs says "I have an idea!". Morticia, pulls out his dictionary to the "I" section and finds the word "idea". They discuss the grand plan. Buttplugs says it would very smart and intelligent (two sexy words that are foreign to Morticia, but he likes the way that they sound)to block the Bluegrass Report.

"Wow" says Morticia. They embrace. Buttplugs then returns to Ebay so that he can top the most recent bid and Morticia puts out the directive that Buttplugs wrote on Morticia's palm. It says "Block Bluegrass Report".

The order is carried out only after someone deciphers what Buttplugs wrote on Morticia's hand.

Employees arrive at work. Turn on their computer and SHAZAMM! Mission accomplished.

We'll see if the Ky. media are still worth their salt tomorrow when we see if they report on this story. Targeted political retaliation against a blogger who was criticial of them in the NY Times the day before sounds like a new story to me!

"Is it possible that the basis for the selective blocking is both content-neutral and flattering to this site? Perhaps this site is getting a lot more traffic from state government users than the other, non-blocked sites. It's more popular, and more of a threat to employee productivity. One should probably consider that possibility, unless one prefers darker theories."

OH NO, the inner circle is back to posting today. They must not be blocked. It is also possible that they are Panera Bread with their laptops. In either case, they are actively working to defend their stupid decision-making this morning.

Morticia please go back to playing Solitaire.

Buttplugs, you are hereby commanded to top the last bid posted on Ebay.

Fletch, uh, well, do whatever you do during the day. However, make sure that you have at least 10 advisors around to help you make decisions.

I work in Revenue and I fortunately had my laptop in my car this morning.

This order came down from Morticia and Faris carried it out.

Nothing new here.

It still amazes me that if you put 10 situations in front of these guys with 1 being the best and 10 being the worst and gave them the option of choosing, they would take 10 every time.

I work for a bunch of incompetents.

I find it very disturbing that the day after the New York Times article and several postings concerning the $130,000 political salary that Rudolph is receiving that a decision is made to block this site.

It is retaliation in its worst form.

It further bothers me that I would not have known about either the article or the secret salary had I not had access to the Bluegrass Report.

How can they be allowed to hide the truth?

Maybe, we can get Lundergan to put the amount of the secret salary on the board outside of party headquarters.

MORTICIA RECEIVES $130,000!

TAKES FROM SINGLE MOTHERS.

Lundergan also needs to add:

BUTTPLUGS APPROVES. FLETCH ASLEEP.

These people embarrass me everyday.

I am both a Republican and Kentuckian.

Where is the leadership?

[DM Strong]

Hey Mark -- I think a press release with a national media distribution is in order. Maybe a shout-out to the national blogs, too.

I second DM's suggestion.

10:03 - Unfortunately, the “leadership” can be found with the likes of McConnell, Northup, Williams (David and Ellen), Whitfield, Rogers and Lewis. These are the people who toiled for a decade to put Ernie and Company in office. Now that their offspring has become a bad seed, the progenitors have scattered.

Kentucky voters need to beware both in 2006 and 2007. The very group that gave us this administration of incompetence will be asking Kentuckians to trust their judgment again and elect the next generation of bunglers and fools.

Let’s just hope that the Democrats shake loose the cobwebs, revamp their own party hierarchy and offer a ticket of candidates who can produce.

[EK Dem.]

Mark, can you set up a mirrored site with a different url? I'm not sure how the blocking works, but if it's based on the web address alone, that should do it. GoDaddy.com would be a good place to turn.

[Fred Keith]

I just called the Governor's office to complain. I was connected to Travis Kays in the Commonwealth Office of Technology. He was able to immediately access the website. Apparently the Governor still wants access.

That's great! So, the governor's office wants to be able to keep tabs but deny rank-and-file workers the same right. Mark was right when he mocked the 'People's Republic of Kentucky'.

I agree with DM Strong's suggestion, too. This is symbolic of the secrecy and squelching of dissent that pervades Republican politics. This is a story that can resonate across the state and even nationally. Great story for the blogosphere, a group who celebrate our First Amendment. (Wonder how First Amend. psuedo-champion Mcconnell feels about this? Does he believe in the First Amend only when it involves Republican campaign dollars, or is his position more principled than that?)

It's too bad that our crackpot leaders keep bringing bad national press on our fair state. But sunlight is the best disinfectant. Maybe, just maybe, Kentuckians --who do value individuality and a sense of fairness--will eventually shout Enough!

What's next? Banning Democratic-leaning writings in the public schools?

[Azael]

It's pretty easy to get around this kind of crap.

Check out:

BrowseAtWork

Should allow everyone to punch a hole through this bull.

[zadig]

I'd be interesting to see whether this trick of using Google's translation service as a Web proxy will work, since it's unlikely that Google is blocked as well...

The idea is to use Google's translation service to translate from English to English. This, therefore, would be a link to Bluegrass Report:

http://www.google.com/translate?langpair=en|en&u=www.bluegrassreport.org

I got this trick from a BoingBoing article, found here: http://www.boingboing.net/censorroute.html

Hope this helps.

[Respectful Dissent]

Go to BoingBoing.net.

http://www.boingboing.net/
censorroute.html

They have a whole section on how to defeat censorware at work (simple solution: go through Google's translation page!).

Contact the BoingBoing site ... they might give the story even more visibility.

[EKM]

I was at the library yesterday with my laptop (in Minneapolis) and was getting blocked from a few sites (notably http://images.google.com/). I was able to set up a SOCKS4 proxy with work to bypass their firewall rules.

In the midst of the situation though, I came across "Tor" http://tor.eff.org/ from the EFF. It's a combination computer program and network of "onion" servers that serve to distribute your internet activity through a bunch of intermediaries (the onions).

It serves two purposes: it protects your privacy and makes you immune to firewall rules on your own network.

When dealing with fascists, it's best just to out-smart them.

Mark, how can state employees be doing their jobs if they are reading the reipe in this BLOG? I say good job Ernie.

Mark, how can state employees be doing thier jobs if they are reading the tripe in this BLOG? Good job Ernie.

[Jim Anderson Stivers]

No Bluegrass at the state office.

This has to be the dumbest, most obvious move yet by the present GOP administration.
It is what is called A NO BRAINER. NO SORRY
A PERSON THAT MADE THIS DECISION IS A NO BRAINER.

It is a sad affair, and depressing to know there are people in our state government that believe in censorship. But, then it does not surprise me.

What does surprise me is WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG?

I guess when one gets acknowledgement in a NY Newspaper of the insanity in Kentucky Government, originating in the Governors office, this expands the circle too wide for the present administration.

Sure, it is the right of government to restrict internet sights and they do. But, this is obviously a slam at the comments being made on Bluegrass. A slam, hoping it would require office workers to read newspapers instead of reading news on BLOGS. In particular a blog which theadministrators have not been able to shut down to shut up.

Guess what BOYS AND GIRLS?

YOU JUST MADE YOUR CIRCLE MUCH WIDER THAN BEFORE. WE WILL SEE, WE WILL SEE.

I sure hope a lawsuit occurs over this.
It is important but in the end those who blocked the sight know the law or at least, they think they know the law. But, then a supervisor in Data Processing has not choice but to obey the master or look for other work.

I guess at least I'll be able to say I've lived through this regime, but I sure look forward to November of 2007, when we can tell these white-bread Kool-aid drinking Taliban wannabe crooks that they are outta here.

Wonder if they'll try to have the court declare all future elections invalid? That'd be about their mentality.

[anonymous]

Actually it probably wouldn't be an equal protection claim and rather would fall under the first amendment. The state could likely make a content-based block of all blogs with political content for the reason that they are distracting and diminish worker productivity.

But once you begin to block only certain viewpoints within that content, then it likely becomes an actionable infringement.

[Steve M]

10:03- AMEN brother!

[Steve M]

I was in Glasgow yesterday and almost stopped in to see Steve Nunn and beg him to run against Fletcher!

This site should be banned from "ALL" work computers. If they want to play on their own time fine; but I don't want to be paying them with my tax dollars to read the bullshit that is posted here, including the bullshit I post.

[Daniel]

As a writer of one of the blogs linked, this really pisses me off. Belive me, I could say more but honestly, you don't want to see my dark side the least bit!

[Dittoz]

When did Kentucky become allies with China and sign a treay of international internet censorship? Isn't this a direct violation of the constitution?

Article I Section 10. "No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation...

...enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power..."

Red China & Fletcher's Red Kentucky. A fine alliance if there ever were one.

[Frank Chi]

dude this is like, china. wtf. i'm from ct, where we just put a republican governor behind bars for corruption. i hope ernie gets a good assraping in jail too.

[JAS FRANKFORT]

WOW this has started a FIRE STORM. Wait till the national bloggers pick up on this.

I would venture to say this action is a precedent.

Kentucky Administration Blocks Blog
By Paul Kiel - June 21, 2006, 11:20 AM
Jeez. Just last week, muckraking blogger Roy Temple was carted out of the Missouri governor's office when he tried to attend a bill signing.

Now in neighboring Kentucky, state employees arrived at work this morning to discover their computers were blocked from viewing the muckraking blog Bluergassreport.org. The site has doggedly pursued the administration of Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who's at the center of one of the largest scandals in the state's history.

The admin's tech office is responsible for the deed, which seems ham-handedly political -- Wonkette has also been blocked, though other blogs have not. The blog has been hitting Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R-KY) for months and months over his administration's illegal cronyism. You can see the long list of scandal casualties here on our Kentucky Grand Ole Docket -- 15 indictments, nine of which Fletcher pardoned.

We'll be calling the governor's office to see why state employees need to be protected from the Bluegrass

[Antonio]

Just a note that ALL BLOGGER.COM BLOGS appear blocked as well, so to say that Bluegrass is being singled out seems a bit much.

We must be careful to not stir up trouble where it isn't.

Too bad it's blocked, but I'm not surprised.

fyi

There's free internet usage available at the Frankfort Public Library.

cheers!

[Antonio]

Lance1360homer.com a sportsblog catering to the Cincy/NKY market based around a local radio host, was also blocked. Note, he is not a liberal radio host. He's a sports jock.

Maybe they have a problem with sports at the governor's mansion, or, maybe, just maybe, the idea of people wasting work time/bandwith on blogs is something they aren't cool with. This hardly puts them in the minority.

Paranoia strikes deep in the heartland.

[Knox Dem JJ]

PoliticalWire.com has the story now as well.

Antonio - I think you make our point. It's one thing to block all Blogger or Blogspot blogs. But when Fletcher specifically targets this one and leaves Republican sites untouched, it reveals his intent quite clearly.

[Former Recent Republican]

Since Morticia and Buttplugs are undoubtedly following along, I'll present them with a question to present to the glorious Preacher Ernie:

What Political Scams Would Jesus Encourage?

*chuckle*

Such hypocrisy and pharisaicism wrapped up in one administration - of course, what they lack in integrity and morality, they make up for in incompetence........

We are getting bashed as a state some over on www.dailykos.com's comment board.

Let's let them know we have several very viable congressional candidates in Ken Lucas, John Yarmuth, and Colonel Mike Weaver.

And that we have not an ounce of faith in EF and company.

[Former Recent Republican]

"But when Fletcher specifically targets this one and leaves Republican sites untouched, it reveals his intent quite clearly."

It appears that they have now included a couple of other sites as an afterthought, so that the network of sycophantic droolers can make the claim that it the selection was somehow "bipartisan".

Wonder which Democrat or critic they'll come up with to blame for this one?

[Ottoe]

Quick, put some archive links to your greatest hits up near the top so that the newcomers, including/especially in the national press, will know why they blocked you ... !

[aspiringlibrarian]

I'd be curious to know if this and similar sites are blocked from all state-owned computers or state-owned computers within a speficic agency. For instance is the blog being blocked at public libraries, academic institutions, etc?

State government's Internet acceptable use policy has existed for ten years. As a taxpayer, do you want government employees wasting time reading blogs, regardless of content? There is no equal protection violation here - this is state property and state bandwidth paid for by the taxpayers. The motivation is clear, but websites that don't support state business use should be blocked.

Now you tell me how Fletcher isn't trying to create a goddamned republican police stae in Kentucky with this kind of censorship- the man is now even afraid of words on a computer screen.

It's abundantly clear republicans are no longer to be trusted as guardians of American Democracy- they MUST be brought down!

Stalin, Saddam and the corrupt are the kind of folks who are afraid of words and honest dissent- not Americans.

This is simply outrageous.

Mark, is it true? Is this BLOG up for sale? Brotha, please be fair. Let me make you an offer you can’t refuse.

Look, I’ll give ya
(1) 1000 shares of ENRON
(2) I can get ya set up with a private meeting with Hillary’s Cattle Future “Advisor” James B. Blair. You too could make a 10,000% profit.
(3) 2 front row tickets to the next Village People Concert at Rupp Arena
(4) $100 win ticket on Barbaro in the Preakness
(5) 2 tickets to the annual ass whipping the University of Louisville lay on those lowly Kats.
(6) Capt. Willard’s err I mean John Kerry’s “lucky hat” the CIA dude gave him.
(7) 1% of all profits on the Dixie Chicks latest album, “Ain’t Ready to Make Nice” and your very own autographed album.
(8) I understand Al Gore is about to invent a new Ozone Layer, I can get you in on the ground floor here.
(9) A trip hundreds of miles up the Nung River-a river that snaked into Cmbodia through the war like a main circuit plugged straight into Col. Kurtz.-on a Swift Boat piloted by none other than LJG. John Kerry.
(10) 2 tickets to Steve Pence’s Gubernatorial Ball.

Look, I’m a patient man, but don’t wait too long. I’ll even entertain a counter offer.

State government's Internet acceptable use policy has existed for ten years. As a taxpayer, do you want government employees wasting time reading blogs, regardless of content? There is no equal protection violation here - this is state property and state bandwidth paid for by the taxpayers. The motivation is clear, but websites that don't support state business use should be blocked.

They can certainly block access to all non-work-related sites if they choose, but the First Amendment does NOT allow them to selectively block access to some sites and not others based on the content or viewpoint of the message. Just because they can take an action for a neutral, good reason doesn't mean they can take the same action for a bad, discriminatory reason. They can't.

Morticia and Buttplugs ordered this yesterday after Morticia's secret salary of $130,000 was disclosed by a blogger.

We need to put an end to "Buttpluggate" immediately and ask for both to resign.

Also, Morticia needs to give back the salary that he has been receiving the past few weeks.

Otherwise, he will forever be known as "Crooked Morticia".

Call Morticia and Buttplugs at their office and demand that they reverse this decision. Their number is (502) 564-2611.

[DM Strong]

another suggestion -- perhaps a compilation of right-wing commentary that is currently NOT banned by the state.

first up: Ann Coulter.

"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building."

Michelle Malkin posted the personal contact information of students protesting the war on her blog, knowing full well they'd get death threats. (which they did.) But apparently that's OK with the fletcherites.

some dude with the handle "babazeee" comments on little green footballs: "ISLAM IS A COVENANT WITH DEATH!" totally cool with fletcher.

REMEMBER -- if the state claims it's only the sexual content they're trying to ban, please notice that Mark, the author of the blog, did NOT use the nickname currently ascribed to the Governor's General Counsel -- it looks like it was only in the comments.

I'm sure we can find some rather salacious comments on right wing blogs. let's share them...

they've just opened pandora's box and they are going to regret it. BIG TIME. the state of kentucky has now decided that it will restrict access to certain websites based on content, without making their criteria public and without allowing for public comment. so ALL CONTENT IS ON THE TABLE.

we deserve an answer to the question "why is this banned, but not this other site?"

Crooked Morticia is actually receiving a $130,000 salary?

Rudolph should simply do the right thing and resign from state government if he is going to be a candidate.

Mark is big on investigations. There has to be a common thread as to why certain sites were blocked.

I maintain they were either popular sites or each used a specific software. I highly doubt the same person who wanted to block BGR for political reasons would unexplainably block a sports blog that has ZERO political content, yet both were unaccessible from a state computer in NKY this AM.

In doing contract work for a supplier recently, I noticed their gateway only threaded out certain POPULAR sites (ESPN.COM, MYSPACE.COM, ETC) that had no work value. Is it possible they used some sort of filter this way.

Look, I hate the machine as much as anyone else, but I think we need to be rational here.

How did a non-political sports blog also get blocked unless there is another explaination as to how they blocked the sites.

Not everything is a conspiracy...

[Antonio]

That's me right there at 12:37, disn't mean to be anon.

Antonio, BGR is only blocked at certain cabinets not all of state Gov. offices. Finance and Transportation are the main two I have heard of. Conspiracy with this administration, YES! With different types of firewalls you can block whatever sites you want and this seems to be the case.

Could someone please tell us who Buttplugs is? I gather it's a state official but I don't know who. Thanks.

[Fed Up.]

Wow... they went out of their way to block a SINGLE REPORT at Talking Points Memo, rather than the whole site?

Fletcher is making the Chinese government look downright lenient.

How many tax dollars went into the process of deciding who should be censored and who should not?

I would change the title of the post to:

Bluegrass Report Makes Rudolph Hit List

[Rockcastle]

What a crying shame.

I can't say as I really care.

Oh well, it will be interesting how much actual coverage this gets from the legitimate media.

[Jamie]

Fletcher must be getting worried about having to shed tears in public like our governor, Bob Taft, had to do. This is one of the worse ploys I have ever seen by a government in our country. Typical of someone from the GOP though.

Jamie
http://www.intoxination.net

[DM Strong]

to the "not everything is a conspiracy" writer --yes, of course you're right.

but you also have to admit that not everything is smart, either. this decision reflects really bad political judgement. even if it's an inoccuous "don't look at non-work sites while at work" policy, it's incredibly difficult to implement, and you should have stuck to banning only the biggest NON-POLITICAL sites like espn, or fark, or stuff like that.

but you can probably justify looking at this blog, or a major national news outlet website, as at least a small part of your job. Mark writes about Kentucky issues, and it's valuable to know what he's writing.

what this tells me is that certain people in the administration either don't think things through very well, or are really thin-skinned, or both. my guess is both.

it's profoundly bad tactical judgement and now they're stuck in a position they can't defend. why ban wonkette? it's not a "blogspot" site. did they do a survey of the "most popular" websites viewed at state computers? and did they evaluate WHY people go to those sites? seems like an almost impossible task. did state employees know they were being monitored?

And if this really is about the innuendo related to previous comments (not original posts) on this blog -- seriously, you need to think about a different job if this is getting to you this much. politicians and staff take much worse than this on a daily basis. it doesn't make the comments right, but it's reality of politics today.

when David Williams dishonestly intimated that Dan Mongiardo was a homosexual during the US Senate campaign, you didn't see Mongiardo trying to ban Williams' comments. it's the nature of the beast. you take the hit and you keep going.

the smart political move here would be to shrug it off and say "ignorant people sometimes say ignorant things. i can't control that. i can only do my job to the best of my ability." and you're done.

now, thanks to this profoundly stupid and badly timed decision, Mark has seized an opportunity that was just handed to him. Even if it's complete crap -- and I honestly think there's something to the notion they are trying to censor him -- they had to realize they would be giving him a ton of attention. and now, what could have been shrugged off as an off-color (and pretty nasty) remark suddenly has the air of credibility.

I feel really bad for this guy's family, to be honest. nobody deserves this crap. but this is politics, and his party leaders (e.g. Williams) do it just as much as some anonymous blog commenter.

can't stand the heat? get out of the kitchen.

[Maurice Reeves]

BoingBoing.net is a site that's routinely censored for their rare and interesting content, and they have the following page up about how to defeat censorware, such as what might be used by your State to block you.

Good luck and keep up the good fight!

Link to page: http://www.boingboing.net/censorroute.html

[Rockcastle]

State employees claim they can't waste time during work day - proof that merit system works!

I seem to remember Paul Patton crying on national TV. Croc tears, almost looked like he'd been pepper sprayed.

[Eric James]

There also is evidence that the web site of the Concerned Members of the Kentucky Historical Society was blocked from access by state computers. www.kentuckyhistoricalsociety.org

The KHS is a state agency of the Commerce Cabinet. The Commerce Cabinet & the Historical Society sued its own members when members made an Open Records Act request and got a favorable legal opinion from the Attorney General when the KHS denied members the records. In Franklin County Circuit Court the Commerce Cabinet proceeded to state outright lies to Judge Roger Crittenden, mischaracterizing the purpose of the members' Open Records Act request. Crittenden bought their lies.

Good luck in finding a pro bono attorney, or any attorney for hire to challenge the state. I'll be happy to give you a list of 25 attorneys not to bother calling.

You should take a survey of just how many Kentucky attorneys have conflicts of interest and cannot represent the public because they already represent the state, and how many attorneys are left to represent a public who wants to sue the state. Then add to the list, how many attorneys are willing to take on the state at all. You can then establish the odds you have of winning. You don't even have to sprinkle in any knowledge of this state's corruption. You'll just have to swallow an enormous corruption blocker pill because you've been so strongly motvated to turn corrupt yourself in order to be heard and respected.

Someone needs to tell the Conservative Edge guy to stop saying the Ex. Br. Ethics Commission did some full-fledged report on merit hirings in the Patton administration. Didn't happen. An advisory opinion was issued. Goettl should publish