WONKETTE: Marines blocked from her site & political emails

[yurbud]

A Marine sent this email to Wonkette, one of the major bloggers, saying her site was blocked as offensive as are other websites and even email critical of the government. Apparently, this is done openly, and troops can ask for specific sites to be unblocked by a network administrator.

This is the first I've heard of this. It needs verification and broader exposure, but given the Bushies obsession with media control and censorship and the recent poll showing that 72% of the troops think we should leave Iraq within a year, this is likely true.

When you join the military, you do give up certain of your civil rights, but you shouldn't be blocked from thinking for yourself.

I have had a similar problem with emails bouncing from Yahoo, which this Marine also mentions. This would probably be a good time to check out gmail or one of the other free services.

Every once in a while I almost believe the Bushies are serious about spreading democracy until something like this comes up and reminds me they want democracy the way a hunter wants a moose--with its head hanging on their wall.

You might ask your congressman and senators about this:

http://www.house.gov/

http://senate.gov/

I'm going to pass this on to a couple of talk radio people like Amy Goodman or Randi Rhodes and see if they go after it.

KEY EXCERPTS:

Folks, our fighting boys need your help. Here's the email we received today from one of them:

Just to let you know, the US Marines have blocked access to “Wonkette” along with numerous other sites such as personal email (i.e. Yahoo, AT&T, Hotmail, etc), blogs that don't agree with the government point of view, personal websites, and some news organizatons. This has taken effect as of the beginning of February. I have no problem with them blocking porn sites (after all it is a government network), but cutting off access to our email and possibly-not-toeing-the-government-line websites is a bit much.

Initially all web blocking was done locally at the hub sites in Iraq. If you wanted a site “unblocked” you just had to email the local administrator with a reason (like, “I'd like to read my email, please.”), and if it wasn't porn or offensive, they'd allow it. Now, all blocking is done by desk-weenies at the USMC Network Operations Center in Quantico, VA, who really don't care if we get our email (or gossip) out here, as they get to go to happy hour after working 9 to 5 and go home to a nice clean, warm home with a real bed! (Sorry, I'm a little peeved.)

FULL TEXT:

http://wonkette.com/politics/iraq/were-bringing-the-war-back-home-157660.php

Text

[bpilgrim]

1. thought control is a prime rummy requirement

more...
http://GlobalFreePress.com

peace

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Freedom and democracy is what we're sellin', but it's often the

stench of BS that I'm a smellin'. True that.

[f-bush]

3. Gee, they're good enough to die for our country but...

they can't be trusted with a differing political viewpoint. What a bunch of shit. If I were the military I'd tell shrub lay off or go fuck yourself!

[Eric J in MN]

4. Meanwhile, Armed Forces Radio plays Rush Limbaugh (nt)

nt

[Eric J in MN]

5. If they are allowed to visit foxnews.com, they should be allowed

to visit blogs as well, left-wing or right-wing.

[sarcasmo]

6. Do we or do we not live in a Dictatorship.

[silverweb]

7. Other e-mail....

Does anyone have recommendations regarding which other e-mail sites offer the best privacy guarantees and independence from corporate/government censorship?

[yurbud]

8. worth some research. I just use yahoo for things that require email

that I don't really want to hear from--kind of a decoy for spam.