Corporate Censorship by News Media

An excellent reference on corporate censorship. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_censorship  Political censorship by news media is a fact. I have personally seen it and experienced this continuation of the corporate Culture War.

Censorship has been witnessed locally at Scottsboro's Daily Sentinel when writting on issues involving Scottsboro's City Personnel System ratings for city employees and the City's Mayor's Office historical responsibility for failing to improve the system.

Then, there are the so called public forums managed by Advance Digital, such as Al.Com's Scottsboro forum, where political corporate censors have successfully removed any and all political speech which does not support the current powers that be. 2 agent provocateurs utilized over 50 names for 7 years, and they are still there.  Al.Com's news media outlet's forums have been utilized to to convey personal threats, terrorist threats and defamation. Police reports were filed concerning terrorist threats and harassing communications. Local law enforcement and the DA's office failed to investigate. Video - 7 years of threats and defamation. http://youtu.be/ekILKBZwFHA

This type of political censorship by corporate news media is very bothersome; considering their responsibility to keep the citizenry informed.

Censorship by news media of political topics is indicative of the values of corporate fascism - the rise of the political corporatocracy. Welcome to the neu CSA, Corporate States of Amerika. On the national level, corporate news media censorship is widespread.  Project Censored news http://www.projectcensored.org/category/validated-independent-news/

Are You Ready for That Great Atomic Power? (Part of the Atomic Rhapsody)Music Banned from "al.com" Scottsboro and Huntsville Forums

"Tickling the Dragon"


Another version which I call, "Sunburn and the Beach Ball."



These videos have been banned from the al.com Scottsboro and Huntsville forums. I have also been banned from posting on these so called forums. This is not the first time censorship of TVA issues have occured on the al.com Scottsboro forum.

Censorship and Local Political Corruption

I used to post on al.com's Scottsboro "Forum," I no longer participate on the al.com "forum." (The so called "forums" are actually highly edited message boards.) I do monitor the "forums" closely because of stories such as this. Unfortunately the al.com "forums" have become a bastion of censorship which appears to involve Scottsboro City Officials and/or representatives of political figureheads within the area. There was and is an ongoing political battle for the control of the Scottsboro "forum." The al.com "forums" are a real time communications tool with citizens of several communities. To prevent political comments or the disclosure of corruption on specific "forums," censorship and draconian media practices occur, apparently originating from government officials or "media managers" in cooperation with the al.com editors. When media and government become intertwined and cooperate in censorship of political speech our system of Constitutional government is diminished and trampled.

Allegations have been made concerning a high level government official within Scottsboro. I was notified by a citizen of the community that posts were going to be made on the forum concerning the involvement of a city official with one of their subordinates. I recorded 10 posts which were made alleging sexual harassment and ethics violations by an elected city official. All 10 posts were removed within 1 hour of posting. This occurred on Friday March 12, 2010.

It would not be the first time city officials caused the removal of postings on the al.com Scottsboro message board. This practice occurred when sexual harassment allegations were made concerning past management officials at Goosepond Colony several years ago. Those allegations were proven true and the individual involved was removed from their position.

I have been approached by other citizens within our community relating the story to me concerning involvement of a public official in an amorous affair with a subordinate. Either this allegation is true or city officials have made some serious enemies, either way a problem exists.

Whether the allegation of sexual harassment and ethics violations by a city official holds water, the question must be asked how do postings relating to this matter become removed from the Scottsboro al.com message board within 1 hour of the postings being made? Why are these allegations being made at this time?

Are Scottsboro City Officials, other government officials or "media managers" involved in media censorship? What is occurring in the City of Scottsboro relating to the censorship of political speech and the removal of speech involving political issues is nothing short of FASCISM.

garrymorgan.icopyright.com

Internet Censorship, An Expanding Problem for Citizens of the United States

You will find various links concerning the censorship issue in the United States. Even in the quaint small city of Scottsboro Alabama is affected by the tyranny of political officials and editorial staff who act on governmental officials request. Apathy and a feeling of non-control has resulted in the infringement on the rights of expression in our city, county, state and nation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_United_States

http://www.rense.com/general69/intercens.htm http://www.therecruiterslounge.com/2008/01/28/karen-rants-internet-censorship-and-cyberbullying-on-professional-business-internet-forums/ http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ip_speech.htm http://www.america.gov/st/freepress-english/2008/September/20080915175335esnamfuak0.8041956.html

http://w2.eff.org/br/

http://www.serendipity.li/cda.html

http://www.projectcensored.org/

http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-61390&als[theme]=Silenced%20Report

http://www.atelier-us.com/e-business-and-it/article/caught-between-corporate-and-governmental-censorship

Net Neutrality: http://s921.gridserver.com/media-girl/congress-selling-out-your-internet-access-corporate-censorship-updated

>>

Top25 censored stories: http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/category/y-2009/

Censorship in the U.S. for the past 30 years:http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/publications/

Whose responsible: http://www.projectcensored.org/censorship/corporate-media-ownership/

My articles on al.com censorship: http://www.blogcatalog.com/blogs/watch-for-snakes-n-scottsboro/posts/tag/al.com%20censorship/

>>>

Alex Carey wrote about censorship in, "Taking the Risk Out of Democracy:" "The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy." Journalist Walter Lippmann called it the "manufacture of consent" in a democratic society where it can't be done by force, and Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman titled their landmark 1988 book "Manufacturing Consent" to describe the dominant media's "propaganda model" to program the public mind.It "filter(s) out the news to print, marginalize(s) dissent, (and assures) government and dominant private interests" control all information dissemination. It's done through a set of "filters" to remove what's unacceptable and "leav(es) only the cleansed residue fit to print" or broadcast.It raises the dilemma James Madison posed that "A popular government, without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives." Today it's from the media, and therein lies the problem.

>>>

Mr. Carey had this to say about a ""propaganda-managed democracy"....to identify the free-enterprise system in popular consciousness with every cherished value, and to identify interventionist governments and strong unions with tyranny, oppression and even subversion." Carey called propaganda "communications where the form and content is selected with the single-minded purpose of bringing some target audience (the public or a company's employees, etc.) to adopt attitudes and beliefs chosen in advance by the sponsors." It's as important in democratic societies as in authoritarian ones. In addition, "the success of business (or government) propaganda persuading us that we are free from (this type influence) is one of the most significant propaganda achievements of the twentieth century."

>>>>

Governmental and corporate censorship in Scottsboro, Alabama is real, tyrants practice it frequently. The question is, do you the citizen care enough not to buy a product or participate in any organization who practices censorship such as Advance Publications through its subsidiary company al.com. Advance Publications owns several Alabama media operations, The Huntsville Times, The Birmingham News and The Mobile Press Register are 3 of Advance Publication's Alabama newspapers. Other Advance ownership companies and info: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Advance_Publications

Tyrants at it Again

Once again the New Jersey Media Moguls, Advance Internet, al.com, in conjunction with the local Democrat Party and the TVA have engaged in their common practice of censorship. Previously the censors would temporarily ban the poster. This time around it is a permanent ban, elimination of the account. This is the 11th instance of political censorship, which I'm aware, that has resulted in the removal of citizens accounts that were discussing topics of a political nature and not in violation of al.com's forum policy.

>

Subjects discussed this time around: Lowell Barron, local Democrat Party lies, TVA and Nuclear Energy Institute, dangers of nuclear power, Browns Ferry problems, TVA secret financing scheme for nuclear reactors, criminal Acts of the Democrat and Republican Parties and abortion. All postings were removed, discussion of these issues and the poster "orobsttocs1" has been permanently banned. This blog, "Watch for Snakes 'n Scottsboro," was formed due to corporate media and government censorship of political speech. Bringing to the public's attention the actions of large corporate media, politicians, governments officials and corporate entities who would endeavor to censor responsible political speech in the United States of America.

>>

It would seem the local Democrat Political powers, the TVA along with the Nuclear Energy Institute and Advance Media/Internet, al.com, do not care for freedom of expression and reasonable discussion of these issues. They are tyrants of the sort which King George would have been proud. It makes me sick that our country and national media has become a tool for corporate politicians and their corporate handler's schemes of deception. Even more sickening is the fact that many of my fellow citizens continue to elect and tolerate criminal politicians and the mountains of lies they generate. It seems that citizens have came to accept and expect that their political leaders will lie and commit crime.

>>>

Locally, when unsavory and sometimes criminal acts are shown to have been committed by local politicians and institutions such as the TVA, their corporate handlers perform their acts of tyranny and arrange for local forum postings on al.com to be removed. That is the reason for this blog as there is an active attempt to block citizen thoughts placed into speech. It seems the idea of open expression about political entities and the media is an unbearable conversation for some of our community and corporate leaders.

>>>>

In Scottsboro, Alabama all this expression and open discussion is a relatively new tool in the support of citizen involvement, education and responsible expression. The local Democrat Party tyrants have attempted to "keep the citizens in their place." It has only been within the past 6 years that responsible citizen speech was allowed at the Scottsboro City Council Meetings, the County Commission still does not allow open citizen speech to express concerns at its meetings. Many times I have been told, "leave town if you don't like the local Democrat Party."

>>>>>

Al.com Scottsboro forum only came about within the past 3 years. There is a battle to control political speech on the Scottsboro al.com forum. If the speech doesn't agree with local politicians, local corporate media's slant, or support corporations such as the TVA, the speech is removed, censored.

>>>>>>

It has been evident that the speech removal was the result of government officials intervention. In one instance government officials were caught in the act of censorship concerning discussion of illegal acts concerning management of Goosepond Colony, freely admitting the deed, as if government initiated censorship is a respectable thing to do and not a violation of an individual's rights and the denigration of our community. Corporate media in conjunction with political parties have become the facilitator of creating human mushrooms - "keep them in the dark and feed them crap."

Jackson County Alabama Democrat Party Dirty Tricks

Removing posts from local forums is but one trick involving the Jackson County Democrat Party. Recent attempts by the Jackson County Democrat Party to prevent the filming, video taping and taking of pictures by bloggers and private citizens failed at the County Commission run off election political forum held at the Scottsboro High School, story of that event is listed within, http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/07/jackson-county-democrat-club-forum-or.html . It appears Democrat Party officials have been successful in the control of a local forum, "al.com's Scottsboro Forum." Which is not actually a forum but a highly controlled message board in support of the local Democrat Party. It is obvious that the Jackson County Democrat Party and the editors of "al.com's Scottsboro Forum" care not for liberty or the free expression of ideas. Their idea of liberty only applies if the individual supports their efforts of deciet and tyrany in Jackson County Alabama.

The players: You will find one of the players of dirty tricks in the following video. Secrecy and underhanded tactics involves others in local politics, it is the standard "game" of deceit, "fool the voter." The person who had removed Gov. Riley campaign signs then placed them at a Klan Riley in Scottsboro is the Jackson County Democrat Party Attorney. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3336113322375157781&hl=en One of the participants in the lies and tactics of the "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" (pictured) strategy of the Alabama Democrat Party concerning convicted former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. The Jackson County Courthouse (pictured) seems to be a resting place of many of the Democrat Party Officers who will do most anything to maintain their desperate hold on power in Jackson County Alabama. This reminds me, repressive local politics and political censorship is the reason I started this blog, Watch for Snakes n' Scottsboro. (One of the two forum trolls with over 55 forum names, probably a Nazi as he collects swastikas and expresses a dislike of Jewish people, may be found within the rectangle in the center of the aerial photo. http://wikimapia.org/#lat=34.628759&lon=-86.061358&z=15&l=0&m=a&v=2 )

Censorship and Democrat Party Tyrants or WE DARE DEFEND OUR RIGHTS

The last member of the "arklite" group has been banned, cancelled from the Scottsboro, al.com forum for political speech. If the people of Jackson County and Scottsboro, Al. do not realize by now that there are political tyrants representing them in their state and county offices they will never realize it. All my postings were eliminated and so have all the discussion groups accounts. Tyranny is rampant in Scottsboro, Alabama by members of the Democrat Party and their media pawns, Advance Publications. The removal of political speech should be a lesson for all, however I'm sure most have not learned that tyrants are in their midst. Tyrants that despise liberty and freedom of expression.

This is what bestowed upon me the wrath of the Local Alabama Democrats and New Jersey media tyrants, Advance Internet, who have bought into Alabama Newspapers and Alabama Politics. "Local Democrat leaders have stated to me they will support Mr. Obama if he is the Democrats choice. Does this mean the local Democrats support giving terrorist states equal diplomatic status as say Germany or Great Britain? A vote for Mr. Obama means recognizing terrorists diplomatically. Gives new meaning to "voting for the devil rather than Republicans." I'm wondering if the local Democrat leadership of Jackson County Alabama realizes they will support terrorism by supporting Mr. Obama?" (This is a direct quote I made on today's forum which resulted in the final ban.) It appears the local Democratic Party can't stand the truth. They will go as far as political censorship of someones political opinion on a small town discussion forum, why? Why would a media outlet accomplish a deed of this nature on an alleged public discussion forum? Maybe it is the truth and the local political powers are such colossal liars and hypocrites to their values they can't stand for the truth to be told!

Yes, "WE DARE DEFEND OUR RIGHTS." Alabama and Jackson Co. are awash in political corruption and tyranny. Supported by New Jersey Media Tyrants!

Politics in Scottsboro

Scottsboro has a terrible problem with management stagnation. A lack of positive, innovative leadership has resulted in no improvement of it's Personnel Management system. Constant bickering and a failure to realize how to manage and lead is at the heart of the problem. This lack of leadership is also a prime reason that our industrial parks set empty. However, you get what you elect and the results are that of the electorates choices. In many cases the same mistakes repeated as a result of deceit and propaganda from career politicians. Political cliques seem to be more of a driving force rather than good sense, locally it is called the Democratic Party. The Probate Judge stated to me recently, "...if you don't have a multi-party system you will have a dictatorship." We were discussing politics, I had stated that I do not believe in the 2 party system as the parties support the party rather than the Constitution. I guess Judge Hambrick failed to realize we do not have a 2 party system in Jackson County, I guess he failed to recognize he and the other Democrats are a product of a one party system, his "dictatorship." He also failed to realize that he characterized city elections as a dictatorship. The local political pundits lie, utilize dirty tricks and have in the past committed illegal acts, broke the law, in filling out absentee ballots. Getting witnesses to file complaints is entirely a different matter. After all, when I have spoken out about injustice I have been threatened, accused of criminal acts that were lies, and just plain slandered by members of our respectable political community. (update June 5, 2008: Management training is ongoing at the City of Scottsboro for upper level managers. Kudos to the Mayor and Ms. Borders, if only they would tell the public about this accomplisnment.)

Censorship by government officials. When I started posting on the "al.com" forums it became obvious there needed to be more than one person to tell the story of malfeasance and unethical conduct in local politics. I found 4 other citizens who were interested in maintaining a discussion group. We decided we would focus on politics of the local area. An information and sharing system of the local political scene. I never realized that there would be a genuine battle for the "hearts and minds" of the citizens. 3 in our group to include myself were eliminated from al.com forums due to political speech. ( Some topics that resulted in removal from the forum: Secret Meetings, Lowell Barron, ethics violations, misappropriation of services and government funds, violations of state law, support of local political opposition, discussing the Mike Well's Investigation by Mike O'dell, Dekalb County DA, Goosepond Colony Board mismanagement, President Bush and his policy of torture in violation of law, TVA mismanagement, censorship, just a few topics and all are provable allegations.) We realized that the forum is a tool for community communications in a real time format. A tool that many political leaders have not realized how to use. But they certainly realized how to eliminate dissenting political ideas. They seem to be threatened by actual communication about government personalities, communications which is beyond their control. Thru surreptitious means the political power structure could not allow that to occur, heaven forbid citizens expressing their concerns and others agreeing and disagreeing for all to see. It did not matter if the forum rules were not violated, or even if there were minor violations, it became obvious that "arklite" had to be eliminated from posting dissenting political ideas on the local forum, regardless if those ideas are the truth. Truth does not matter, only the political picture those in power wish to paint.

There is one left, "churia," in the forum. How long she will remain is certainly not up to me to determine. If she is eliminated that will be it, no more posts from the "arklite" discussion group on "al.com." That should be very disturbing for those who are concerned about the direction of our country, the local political scene and those that love our idea of liberty as a Republic. Whether you care or don't care is up to you, the reader, voter and citizen of our community. Apathy is a friend of the tyrant, I have found there are tyrants in our midst.

The next time you hear an elected leader, appointed official, or citizen poking fun of "Ala live" or al.com, you might remind that person the forum represents liberty and freedom of expression, a concept that some elitist, hardened conservative extreamist and tyrants among us have great difficulty in accepting. A concept that seems to be a fleeting reality if some have their way. The forum is a boom for the media enterprise that created it, a boom for the lover of liberty and a threat to the tyrant. Which direction the forum takes is up to you the reader, the customer and the owners, Advance Media.

The TVA and Censorship

Once again the hands of tyrants are at work. Banned once again from the al.com forums. This time around it appears the financial disclosures concerning the TVA and Bellefonte discussions were more than the local controlling political and media powers could handle. My arkie1 account has been banned, postings removed concerning the despicable financial debt of the TVA and my theory how the various Nu-Start corporate partners are attempting to take over TVA assets at the expense of the citizenry. I had initiated my arkie1 account from another computer and changed my IP address in order to post, my previous arklite account had been cancelled by al.com. We had a total of 4 discussion group members which 3 of those accounts were previously cancelled. This type of forum censorship defeats the purpose of a forum. There should be no doubt that the purpose of al.com's Scottsboro forum is no more than a tool for political tyrants. When a message is conveyed that questions government's officials actions the postings are removed and so is the poster. This has occured on numerous occasions and continues.

I am attempting to convey to those that will read and listen that many of our governments institutions are in serious trouble, corrupted by corporate monetary influence and have slipped from the control of the citizen. Many media sources are no better than tyrants themselves. They limit content to messages that supports deciet by specific political leaders or specific institutions. It is obvious those political and media tyrants can control political discussion of the local Scottsboro forum from the confines of a New Jersey (home office of Advance Publications) or an Alabama Newspaper Editorial Office, wherever the control originates. They will never dampen the spirit of what our Constitution represents.

Unfortunately you do not have to look very far to realize that our political leadership and the media not only deceives the citizens of our country, some of our political leaders and citizens are attempting to destroy our country through the practice of corporate tyrany. It now becomes a question of how much will the citizenry tolerate, or go broke from fuel prices, inflation, government mismanagement, before they take back control of our government as our Constitution stipulates.

Seems the TVA Power Fist has a new meaning. TVA debt is $22+billion and climbing. TVA's debt interest is $20+billion and climbing. The TVA lost $17 million dollars for the 1st quarter of FY2008. Current assets of TVA is listed at $33.902 billion. The building of the Bellefonte new nuclear plant will cost the citizens of the TVA region $18 billion. Congress has established a $30 billion cap on TVA debt. The TVA attempts to deceive the citizens into believing the plant is needed, it is not. Energy efficiency and improvement of TVA's existing resources will furnish the needed power.

Internet Public Forum Censorship

For some time now I have been researching censorship on the internet. I began my search in 2006 as I frequently post on several so called "public discussion forums." I have realized there are no "public discussion forums." There are individual or corporate owned message boards, "discussion forums," which allow monitored discussion from registered users. What is allowed is strictly up to the owners. An important question that all "public forum" owners might consider is the Supreme Courts ruling on what constitutes a public meeting place. Although a news outlet may be a privately owned enterprise, when they step out of their doors of the news room into the realm of "public discussion forums," do they fit into the "public street corner" definition of a "public meeting place? After all, wires, air waves and mass communications do fall under Federal Law. Another issue for forum owners is "net neutrality." Blog link to "net neutrality" issue http://renigade.blogspot.com/2008/03/internet-freedom-preservation-act-of.html

There does exist pretend "public discussion forums" owned by corporate media organizations. Wiki article on "internet forums": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum The forums are advanced message boards which are "moderated, "edited" by hired staff. They have rules and some of the rules are open for interpretation by "special users" and "moderators/editors." Then there are blogs, such as this one.

Let's look at the broad scope of censorship as it applies to the great world wide web, media and information in general. Wiki defines censorship, link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship. Here are several definitions of censorship. Censor: One who supervises conduct and morals: as a) an official who examines materials (as publications or films) for objectionable matter; b) an official (as in time of war) who reads communications (as letters) and deletes material considered harmful to the interests of his organization. Censorship: The institution, system or practice of censoring; the actions or practices of censors; esp : censorial control exercised repressively. --Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
Censorship: The use of the state and other legal or official means to restrict speech.--Culture Wars, Documents from the Recent Controversies in the Arts, edited by Richard Bolton.
In general, censorship of books is a supervision of the press in order to prevent any abuse of it. In this sense, every lawful authority, whose duty it is to protect its subjects from the ravages of a pernicious press, has the right of exercising censorship of books.--The Catholic Encyclopedia (a publication of the Catholic Church)
What Is Censorship? Censorship is the suppression of ideas and information that certain persons -- individuals, groups or government officials -- find objectionable or dangerous. It is no more complicated than someone saying, "Don't let anyone read this book, or buy that magazine, or view that film, because I object to it!" Censors try to use the power of the state to impose their view of what is truthful and appropriate, or offensive and objectionable, on everyone else. Censors pressure public institutions, like libraries, to suppress and remove from public access information they judge inappropriate or dangerous, so that no one else has the chance to read or view the material and make up their own minds about it. The censor wants to prejudge materials for everyone.
For the ALA, technically censorship means the "The Removal of material from open access by government authority." The ALA also distinguishes various levels of incidents in respect to materials in a library which may or may not lead to censorship: Inquiry, Expression of Concern, Complaint, Attack, and Censorship.--The American Library Association (ALA)
The word "censorship" means "prior restraint" of First Amendment rights by government.--Morality in Media (Morality in Media is "a national, not-for-profit, interfaith organization established in 1962 to combat obscenity and uphold decency standards in the media.")
Censorship1. The denial of freedom of speech or freedom of the press.2. The review of books, movies, etc., to prohibit publication and distribution, usually for reasons of morality or state security.--Oran's Dictionary of Law
Censorship: official restriction of any expression believed to threaten the political, social, or moral order.--Encyclopedia.Com
Censorship - the prevention of publication, transmission, or exhibition of material considered undesirable for the general public to possess or be exposed to.--Fast Times' Political Dictionary (Fast Times is "a nonpartisan publication on contemporary world affairs & media with no political, ideological, or religious affiliation of any kind.")
Censorship: the cyclical suppression, banning, expurgation, or editing by an individual, institution, group or government that enforce or influence its decision against members of the public -- of any written or pictorial materials which that individual, institution, group or government deems obscene and "utterly" without redeeming social value," as determined by "contemporary community standards."--Chuck Stone, Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina

Lets now look at some definitions of "editing' and "forum standards" Wiki's definition of editing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_edit_a_page ; forum standards examples: http://www.spokane.net/stay_connected/ForumStandards.aspx#public ; more complex standards and rules: http://www.al.com/useragreement/

Forum Moderator definitions: Wiki-A Forum Moderator, often shortened to just mod, is a person granted special powers to enforce the rules of an Internet Forums (message boards). Almost all moderators on all forums can move discussions to different sections of the forum, close discussions, edit the content of individual postings, answer questions (or help people with problems), and stick discussions so they remain visible in their forum section even if no new postings are made to them. Different forums may give their moderators further powers, such as being able to block/ban people from the message board http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_moderator .

How does all this apply to me, the internet and forum user. Education and the realization as long as you are on another's turf, there are rules, those rules may not be agreeable with your ideas of standards, values or morality. Fortunately we do not have internet censorship by government on political issues as practiced in China, or do we ?http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2005/091205nothidden.htm another link http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/internet/index.html . The key to consistent successful forum posting is do not post anything profane, inflammatory, disagreeable, controversial, political, religious, sexual and/or personal in nature on the "pretend public discussion forums" and you will never be blocked, banned, suspended, removed and/or censored from posting on the "pretend public discussion forums."

If you have read my blog you will realize that I have been banned from posting on "al.com" on several occasions. It appears this time my "arklite" account on al.com has been permanently suspended. Why you may ask? For openly not agreeing with the Bush administration policy of torture and linking of parodies concerning the Bush administrations officials. My account was suspended previously for discussion and proving that specific local politicians and public officials were involved in illegal acts and activities. It seems in my case "censorship" has occured at the hands of the largest privately owned corporate media outlet in the United States, Advance Publications and their many media outlets. I'm sure the folks at al.com whose parent company is Advance Internet/Publications maintains that my bans and restrictions were as a result of the profanity expressed in some of the parody links listed. Heaven forbid the use of a cuss word. On other occasions when a post was removed or I was "banned" their standard reply was "violation of forum rules." Although I and others could not find a violation of rules and al.com has never replied with a specific reason when asked. Then the gall I have of telling you who I am in my profile, busting the dishonesty of anonymous posting, gone since my al.com forum account has been deleted. Anonymous posting is no more than the breeding of "lemmings and sheep" to keep quite while seemingly allowing open discussion about issues making the poster feel better about the issue while not being identified. People seem to be afraid of expressing how they feel about issues and being identified as the one expressing their thoughts. Another remarkable fact about this issue is the fact it was letters to the President of Advance Publications by me and one or two others which resulted in the return of the Scottsboro al.com site. This occured after being banned on the Huntsville site when talking about Scottsboro issues. I have suffered threats of bodily harm, called many names, have been accused of crime (lies) while disclosing the truth and my opinions of local and state politics and politicians. It seems some do not approve of citizen participation in government and citizen expression of real problems facing us a people. While my posts were censored by corporate censors other posters were allowed to make threats personally directed at me and many lies were directed at me by name. The posts were of such a threatening and aggrievous nature it took filing a Police and FBI complaint to convince the folks at al.com of the seriousness of the threats against me and to end the harassing and threatening communications. It was very peculiar that al .com would not allow my political speech but would allow threats and harassing communications directed at me by name.

Here we are, here and now. I still post on al.com not utilizing my forum name of arklite. I sign my posts so all will know it is I who is telling the story, or discussing an issue. Knowing who is doing the talking seems to be very threatening to some, I have yet to figure that one out.

I am interested to hear about your stories and experiences of what you think is "internet censorship." Please feel free to post and discuss this issue.

(Photobucket image by redarmymike)

Censorship or Editing?

The battle for your hearts and minds continues. Once again my al.com forum name of "arklite" has been banned from posting on the forum. When clicking on my "arklite" forum name on the postings my account does not show and I am prohibited from initiating another account. Apparently this time around it was either the parody of Condoleeza Rice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0f2dHJ6A18&eurl=http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Condoleezza_Rice on the Hardball Politics Forum or the lively political discussion on the Alabama Politics and Scottsboro forum, who knows. It seems some do not understand artistic satire, parody and political discussion about politicians. Parody and satire have been the basis of political dissent since the begining of recorded political history. A fact our country's founders cherished and some folks seem to have forgot.

The only thing worse than a left wing tyrant is a right wing tyrant. This bit of British humor seems to have upset some folks. http://www.utterpants.co.uk/news/politics/bushpants.html This is the George Bush Rap, it's funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JX-Bx0BETQ&NR=1 There are other parodies which are funny and some that are rather harsh.

It seems others are experiencing corporate censorship as editing policy. http://harrisburghappening.blogspot.com/2006/03/if-you-were-censored.html This is also on the same blog http://harrisburghappening.blogspot.com/2006/03/how-censorship-kills-discourse.html

Update, March 11, 2008: A second and third member of our discussion group were also banned today from posting on al.com. All posts concerned discussions countering right wing posters supporting issues such as torture of non-combatants and enemy combatants. One of the posters also was involved in discussing support of Barrack Obama. Although I certainly do not support Mr. Obama, why should someone be banned as a result of posting their support of any candidate. It appears the al.com forums are nothing more than a political tool of right wing extremists.

I have sent letters of protest to Advance Publications, parent company of al.com, concerning editorial policy and treatment of its customer base. It may be their company but the customer base includes advertisers which pay their bills. The writer and reader to the forums are a customer, a fact that editors at al.com have a hard time understanding. The customer on the web is capable of having a far reaching effect on a web based business. Does al.com and Advance Publications want negative comments concerning the product they offer the public?