POLITICAL BLOGGERS, BEWARE: More Signs of 'Big Brother' Censorship

• An urgent call to NP readers: Take action now to protect free speech rights

GET POLITICAL w/ VIC LIVINGSTON

It's happening again.  Certain attempted posts to The Washington Post "The Fix" and "44" political blogs once again have elicited a full-screen message (with no identifying logo),  reading:

"Your comment has been received and held for approval by the blog owner."

This seems to happen only when this correspondent expresses a political viewpoint that could be considered critical of the current administration. 

This writer has been posting to WaPo political blogs for a long time.  The site does not "hold" posts for "the blog owner."  No foul language was involved here.  This appears to be a case of some powerful third party intercepting and censoring internet site posts on a selective basis -- an unconstitutional exercise of "prior restraint" on American mass media.

I've written about this here before.

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/parallel-internet-big-brother-screening-censoring-political-blogs

OR (if the link becomes disabled) members.nowpublic.com/scrivener re: "The Parallel Internet..."

Apparently, my message did not get through to those who so brazenly violate the law of the land. So this time, words need to be followed up by action -- and we're asking all of you who are reading this to "Get Political." 

Please help in the fight against unconstitutional infringement of Americans' First and Fourth Amendment rights -- that's right, freedom of speech and the press, and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures -- because blog posts are being "seized" and held.  That's prior restraint, and it's unconstitutional.  Read what the U.S. Supreme Court had to say it about:

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/priorrestraints.htm

Please email Deborah Howell, ombudsman at The Washington Post (ombudsman@washpost.com).  Here's a suggested message:

Dear Ms. Powell:

I'm writing to inform you that posts to your paper's political blogs sometimes elicit a full-screen message stating that "your comment has been received and held for approval by the blog owner."

Vic Livingston, writer of the Get Political column at members.NowPublic.com/scrivener, says this has happening to him -- but only when he attempts to post a comment that could be interpreted as critical of the Bush administration. 

Vic believes this "held for approval" message does not come from The Washington Post, but is a "spoofed page" inserted into his data stream by a third party "hacker" with an ideological agenda.

This apparent "prior restraint" of constitutionally protected speech also infringes on the right of mass media outlets to freely communicate with their readers.

We are writing on Vic Livingston's behalf, because Vic says his email appears to be subject to interception and often goes unanswered.

We hope that by alerting The Washington Post to this apparent censorship, we can ensure that the right of freedom of speech is protected and treasured and is not debased by those in positions of power.

While you're at it, NP readers, please consider posting messages to both The Fix (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix) and  44 (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail).  If you're into politics, these blogs should be on your daily bookmark list.

Thank you all.  Now let's get busy and defend our constitutional rights.  If they can censor this correspondent, you may be next.

BUT WILL THE ELECTION EVEN MATTER?

Not as long as government-supported extrajudicial "vigilante injustice" targeting squads are "gang stalking" American citizens, making a mockery of the rule of law:

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/american-gestapo-state-supported-terrorism-targets-u-s-citizens

OR http://members.nowpublic.com/scrivener