"Welcome to the People's Republic of Kentucky"

By: Lowell
Published On: 6/21/2006 4:18:59 PM

This is truly amazing.  Also, see the Daily Kos story here.  Finally, here's an e-mail I received from my friend Nick Stump, who just worked on the campaign of "fighting Dem" Andrew Horne in Kentucky:

Lowell,

Kentucky Governor Fletcher just blocked access to The BluegrassReport.org on all state computers.  The Bluegrass Report is Kentucky's most widely read Democratic blog and has reported in detail on corruption charges leveled at the Governor Fletcher's administration.

The Bluegrass Report was blocked from state computers exactly one day after the New York Times quoted Bluegrass Report owner Mark Nickolas on the problems facing Gov Fletcher.

As I write this letter, I look back a the Bluegrass Report and see Governor Fletcher has also blocked Wonkette, TPM and other progressive web sites reporting on the story.

Governor Fletcher's actions are a tribute to the power and influence blogs like Raising Kaine and the Bluegrass Report have in today's political environment.  It also serves to remind us the right-wing in this country will do anything to keep the truth from coming out about their lies and corruption.  I urge all who read this to write the Bluegrass Report and lend your support for  free speech in America.

Nick Stump

These right-wingers never cease to amaze me.

P.S.  One thing this DOES show you is how much the Republicans fear the growing influence of the Democratic and Progressive blogs.  So much so, that they just outright ban them, a la Communist China.  Of course, in this case, all they accomplished was generating huge positive publicity for the blog in question.  Good work! :)

Comments



he's just making things worse for Republicans (teacherken - 6/21/2006 4:23:40 PM)
the regularly media will be all over the story by this evenig's news cycle, and depending on what else is happening in the world it could make the national news as well.  And when the coverage includes the fact that only sites that are to the left politically are being blocked it is likely to blow up.

Fletcher's personal approval ratings are I believe the 3rd lowest of any cover, exceeded in their depth only by Taft in Ohio and Murkowski in Alaska.  He is such a weight on Republicans that there is a real chance that two incumbents - Northrup and Whitfield - will go down to defeat.



Incredibly heavy handed move. Like some third-world (Lowell - 6/21/2006 4:29:43 PM)
despot or something.  Who the hell do these right-wing Republicans think they are, anyway?


What's Fletcher got to lose? (Craig - 6/21/2006 5:35:07 PM)
He's already racing to the bottom in the governor's roll (only Frank Murkowski is less-liked), so maybe he figures, what's a little free speech suppression?  I'll be out of Frankfort at the end of my term anyhow.


Glad I left. (Laura86 - 6/21/2006 6:38:32 PM)
I lived in Kentucky for 8 years...and you thought the Republicans here were bad.  They're just as frightening if not more so in Kentucky.  It was thrilling to move here 5 years ago and being able to embrace good folks like Warner and Kaine.


Their new argument and a possible workaround (Kathy Gerber - 6/22/2006 6:42:59 AM)
Way undercovered in the MSM, but here's some news coverage:
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060622/NEWS0104/606220385/1008/NEWS01

Not sure, but it doesn't sound like KY has well-developed Repo blog community.

Can this be addressed by a political blog establishing an additional web site and maintaining it as an auxiliary non-interactive "online newspaper" that picks up core material as news?



You're right (Nick Stump - 6/22/2006 10:41:17 AM)
There's a few little right wing blogs here, but the Democrats seem to have a lock on the blogging world.  On the other hand the Repubicans control the the statehouse, the Governor's mansion and all but one of our seats in Congress.  So I guess they let us have the blogs.  Besides, the Republicans would rather come to our blogs and spit on us there.

We have not been a Republican state forever.  Kentucky has a long tradition of sending good Democrats to Congress and in the past, even our Republican leaders like Senator John Sherman Cooper were considered true statesmen.  But lately, things have gone all to hell.  Mitch McConnell, known nationwide as the top Republican fundraiser will probably be Senator for life.  He a very powerful man, both in the state and in Washington.  Maybe Elvis Presley could give him a run, but I can't think of anyone else.

Tradionally, Kentucky counties have been one way or the other going back to the Civil War.  We were a border state and especially in Eastern Kentucky, one country will be all Democratic and right next door a county will be all Republican. I guess that's changed some now and I don't know the figures, but like a lot of Southern or near-southern states, we've been trending Republican.  I think it's gonna change here, but probably not in 2006.  We may pick up a seat or two, but most of the Republican national seats look pretty safe.  Our State Party seems to be pretty disorganized but our grassroots movement seems to be picking up speed.  One of the reasons I've decided to help Jim Webb and Harold Ford is that there's not a race here in Kentucky I can sink my teeth into.  After the primary here, where Fighting Dem, Andrew Horne lost to John Yarmuth--a lot of the air went out of the grassroots folks and though most of us want to see Yarmuth win, the hardcore webroots folks have been ignored by the Yarmuth campaign.  That may change, but like the Webb/Miller race, hard words were traded and I'm unsure if the Yarmuth folks are that interested in having our help.  My wife and I were expected by old line Dems here to support the Yarmuth ticket and when we went with Horne, some friends--old friends, were very angry. I've offered to work with Yarmuth, but so far have not been contacted by his camp.  They'll run a traditional big money media campaign and he might win anyway, but the big pollsters have dropped the race out of the top fifty and unless things change, I'm afraid we'll have another term with Republican cheerleader, Anne Northup.  Anne's on the appropriations committee and that's a powerful pulpit to speak from.  She's invested in the black churches and has doubled the vote she's getting from that group of voters.  She's also used the gay marriage issue very effectively. 

Yarmuth on the other hand is a independent weekly newspaper publisher and columnist.  I fear his 15 years of writing liberal columns will come back to haunt him.  He's had a few crackpot ideas and there will be a lot of stuff she'll be able to use against him.  I think everyone knew Horne was the best shot for the fall, but we couldn't get him though the primary.  What you've pulled off in Virgina is truely remarkable.  When I first looked at Miller/Webb, I was sure Miller would win.  For you guys to carry Webb across the finish line is a historical event for webroots folks everywhere and I think a lot of us are going to do everything we can to help you finish the job.  He's a great candidate and Virgina is a great state.  I know a lot of good folk in Southwest Va and I'll be working that area hard.  I'm cutting a new CD and will be playing Virgina and Tennesee a lot this fall and as The Lonesome Pine Council on Youth in Big Stone Gap has offered to produce the CD, I'll be spending a bunch of time in Va this summer and hope to meet a bunch of you while I'm there.

Nick



http://governor.ky.gov/contact.htm (kevinceckowski - 6/22/2006 8:26:10 AM)
http://governor.ky.gov/contact.htm

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