Bluegrass Censorship

I probably should've already mentioned this, since I've been watching it at a distance. It seems like one of those stories that should come and go quickly, so when I wasn't on it immediately, I figured that it would disappear soon, but apparently I was wrong.

Our Kentucky readers may already be aware of this, but the Commonwealth of Kentucky (under the current proprietorship of disgraced but not yet impeached or resigned Governor Ernie Fletcher) has entered the world of Internet censorship. BluegrassReport.org started getting messages from state workers on Wednesday morning that its site was being blocked from state computers, and needless to say, site runner Mark Nickolas got right on the case. He started off low key after receiving "a handful of e-mails" about the situation. I presume that's because censorship is a big deal, and surely the state government couldn't be serious about making a concerted effort to block information. Probably just some overzealous intern or something, which would be corrected. But as he looked into the situation, it just got bigger and bigger (his initial post ended up with twenty-two updates). Conservative sites were still accessible, but his site--which has been extremely critical of Fletcher--was not. As the day progressed, other sites began to take notice, and the state of Kentucky banned those, as well. Talking Points Memo, Wonkette, and Atrios--they all fell victim to the censor's blockade.

Kentucky papers picked this up quickly, and by the end of the day, so had the AP. The Situation Room on CNN mentioned the story yesterday afternoon. The Fletcher administration claimed that it was just adding blogs to other blocked sites that waste employees' time, such as "pornography, lingerie, computer games, hate sites, illegal activity sites, chat rooms," but Nickolas provided a list of Conservative blogs and sites that were freely accessible. This morning, The New York Times weighed in, as well. The title of Nickolas's most recent post, written just a couple of hours ago, summarizes new developments and expresses his disbelief over the entire situation: "You're Kidding, Right? Are These The Stupidest Politicians Ever To Roam The Bluegrass State? -- Fletcher Reverses Course And Allows Conservative Bluegrass Institute's Political Blog To Be Reinstated. BluegrassReport.org Still Banned!"

What should have been a quick little story, a disruption that should've been rapidly corrected by the Fletcher administration with a short apology and a hope that it would be immediately forgotten, has grown legs and seems to be settling in for a long stay. Maybe it's checking out rentals in the Frankfort area. Keep checking BluegrassReport.org for updates, which seem all but inevitable.