West Haven Bob, a blog which occasionally criticizes city officials and policies, has been blocked from every computer on the City of West Haven municipal system, according to R.J. Symmes, the blog's owner:The word came out today...West Haven Bob is blocked from all City-owned computers! I guess I pressed one too many buttons....If the above is true, it appears that Symmes's blog was blocked for purely political reasons. A quick read of the blog doesn't turn up any obvious instances of profanity or sexual content, which are the usual reasons given for blocking a blog. This seems to be simply an effort to silence a voice of dissent from being heard by city employees and administrators.
Of course, the West Haven Voice is not similarly blocked...probably because little Billy (ed: the editor of the Voice, Bill Riccio) prefers pulling to pushing (when it comes to buttons, AND punches, that is!)
This is actually a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, as (repeatedly) upheld by the Supreme Court. The right of any citizen to read any opinion is inviolate...and censoring some opinions while permitting other opinions...well, let's just say Stalin would approve.
Apparently, hearing a point of view (besides that spewed out by our benevolent overlords and parroted in the Voice) is a waste of time...
The current West Haven mayor, John Picard, is a frequent target of the blog. Recently Picard stunningly dropped out of his campaign to win reelection, and almost as quickly jumped back into the race, without much explanation.
Symmes has also been targeted by an anonymous pamphlet campaign, and his car was vandalized recently.
So far, city officials haven't given a reason for the censoring of the blog. I'll post updates as they come in.
10 comments:
Thanks, Bob, for the support!
I suspect it was my (usually) snarky pictures that did me in!
This might go further; I've notified Google, as they've apparently blocked all of Blogger...
If that's the case, I'd recommend you immediately set up a mirror blog on another service, such as Word Press. If they immediately block that, you likely have a valid complaint with the city.
Done...Let's see
New Update - After checking, the City can go onto CT Bob and other Blogger blogspots; only West Haven Bob is blocked.
Whoa!
What are they doing on any blogs?
Worse - why is *one* blocked???
There's an argument to be made that blogs (along with media websites and such) are valid sources of local information and opinion, and as such they may be considered reasonable to scan for town-related news.
But your question can be rephrased "Why is ONLY *one* blocked?"
For political reasons obviously. It's exactly the same if a municipality allowed access to every media site EXCEPT Fox News. You'd probably have a thing or two to say if that happened, right?
Double-checked...only "westhavenbob.blogspot" is blocked. "ctbob.blogspot.com is not blocked, nor is "authentic-connecticut-republican.blogspot.com" (BTW...neither is my new - thx to CTBob - wordpress "mirror" site.
You do the math & see what adds up.
Bob -
You're right on with your comment re:Fox News.
Though I disagree often with their commentary programs (O'Reilly & Beck, in particular) I nonetheless watch them...mainly because I want to figure out the talking points they parrot; but also because occasionally Fox News brings up an aspect of an issue I hadn't considered. It has happened that I have altered my opinion based on challenging my preset opinion against the arguments presented therein.
That's the obligation of an American - liberal or conservative. We must constantly question our set preconceptions against new facts presented, and adapt as logic & truth dictate. And sometimes (forgive the Kennedy quote) "we have to sail against the wind"...
Yeah right - Fox News is bad.
Uh huh.
Here's MSNBC playing a non-existent race card:
"MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer fretted over health care reform protesters legally carrying guns: "A man at a pro-health care reform rally...wore a semiautomatic assault rifle on his shoulder and a pistol on his hip....there are questions about whether this has racial overtones....white people showing up with guns."
Here's a photo of the man with the guns.
Let me know when MSNBC corrects their story.
Post a Comment