Yes, it is crucial that we do everything necessary to keep our access to the Internet. I believe that our democracy depends on it. Christie

by Christie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 143 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 8:25:16 AM

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"Democracy is what come out the end of the internet ... uh, and cell phones." -- Bill Clinton

by meremark (1 articles, 3 quicklinks, 30 diaries, 572 comments [22 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 3:01:30 PM

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It is bad enough that our troups are sent to Iraq now they can't get information off the internet. Bush once said a dictatorshop is bad except if he was the dictator. People better start getting upset and demanding he be impeached. Read the Constitution and remember we are a Republic. We The People - Not Government.

by Jeanine (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 9:15:15 AM

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Remember we are a Republic NOT a democracy. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

by Jeanine (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 9:24:40 AM

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Armed Forces Radio has had Rush Limbaugh on for some time, but refused to carry Air America's "Al Franken show".

You can't keep an illegal, immoral, counter-productive occupation going forever if the troops know it's all BS.

But the majority of the troops understand from their day to day lives in Iraq that the war is not being fought for the reasons they were originally told.

JRM

by John R Moffett (89 articles, 18 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 697 comments [14 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 9:30:52 AM

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Bob how does this differ from most commercial companies in the world.  My first reaction was how dare they censor our brave troops. Then as an IT professional I realized most companies limit access to recreational sites using company computer resources.  These recreational sites eat up a substantial amount of network resources.  Frankly I have more important issues than this. Like impeachment and restoring everyones civil liberties and ending this stupid war. I was in the military and like it or not they are not full citizens when then join up. Thanks for this great site.

by tginmn (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 69 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 10:02:56 AM

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is the the military is not a commercial company. If you work for a company you can quit and go home. Also this is the government, not a for-profit business.

I hear all the talk about supporting the troops and then the government pulls this, denying a little bit of pleasure and escape of the very little they do have, while also censoring them so some embarrassing truth can't out to the citizens (most likely the real reason).  Almost $2 billion a week going down the rat hole, a great deal of it to private contractors and corruption, and yet they can't manage some bandwidth to help the troops keep their sanity?

This is shameful and hypocritical.

by Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 10:57:01 AM

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The response entitled lighten folks may well be right.

I don't let my students look at MTV, My Space, Youtube etc in school.

This is not because I want to restrict their access, but because I want them to focus on their studies.

It may well be that in the guerilla war environment the distractions that these sites induce may lead to diminished effectiveness.

In that environment diminished effectiveness does not only lead to disciplinary action, it can also lead to the deaths of comrades.

Robert Chapman

by Robert Chapman (28 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 556 comments) on Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 6:31:02 PM

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The good news is that the troops overseas will still be able to access the Christian Broadcast Network, Trinity Broadcast Network, and all reruns of The 700 Club to keep their morale high.

by Michael Green (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 10 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 10:47:27 AM

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Have you a clue as to how the neo-Christian Zionists lust for Armageddon?

God Bless America INDEED;

With eyes to see and ears to hear;

Big Brother is out of control and the neo-con empire is in the last throes

They cannot bear the truth, so they deny it and crucify it and spout they are spreading dermocracy while they erode it.

Big Brother is a big bully;

We must change course;

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. -July 4, 1776 

by Eileen Fleming (172 articles, 101 quicklinks, 274 diaries, 650 comments [16 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 2:47:47 PM

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That they are over there representing freedom,of which the most important is FREE SPEECH!, and they can't have it!!...Does anybody see the double standard going on here?  The control they have over military personnel is what they are trying to get over us, that's the underlying message here.  

by mike wygant (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 287 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 11:16:51 AM

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Back at the Barracks, the TV in the TV room was geared to receive AFN and nothing but AFN. Just for kicks and as a kind of reminder, we'd sit through a few commercials, well, it was pure propaganda, before we ran out trying to hold the vomit back. The US Military, having the best equipped propaganda machine around puts tends to put the butter on too thick, making it obvious to most. We didn't have internet or computers on base. The TV and radio were 100% propaganda outlets. Ah, the newspaper as well : Stars & Stripes i.e. The Base bookstore was locked down...no Chomsky in there ! But we were lucky in as much as we could leave the base on a regular basis and there was a whole new world to be discovered out there ! Heidelberg seemed to be a hotspot for the underground press which brought us GIs some of the most fascinating bits of information such as a "Turning the Regs Around", a book which outlined a soldiers rights despite his being a soldier / US property.

Folks in the military in Iraq don't have that and they're most probably being subjected to some very thick propaganda every second of each and every day. The can't escape it ! 

And then we have the free thinkers....who...just happen to be GIs. This is the kind of person who will produce cartoons or essays, poems, songs etc. which are anti-war, as a way of making up for the lack of the same by any other source 'on base' or in the green zone or what have you. And this is the kind of person I trust exists in today's military, just as they did in the cold war military, Vietnam etc. 

Intelligence can't replace common sense and censorship won't stamp out dissent. Nope.  

by Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 12:31:22 PM

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...not the overuse of bandwidth. Remember, this is the US government we are talking about. If they are censoring military bloggers, why wouldn't the censor the other way around? Simply put, it is in their interest to censor what the troops see by way of these sites. Many of the listed sites carry information that is, to say the least, incredibly unflattering about what the government is up to both here and "over there". Some of what is carred there, such as snippets of Real Time with Bill Maher, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann is openly critical of DUBYA, his regime, and his pet war. What else would you expect?

The good news is that the troops overseas will still be able to access the Christian Broadcast Network, Trinity Broadcast Network, and all reruns of The 700 Club to keep their morale high.

Of course, I am sure that Faux Snewz, Flush Lintball, and Ann ReVoulter are still going to get to the ears of the troops as well. Isn't that comforting to hear? All the spin will make it to Iraq, but not a drop of counterpoint. Of course, we all know that nothing keeps the moral higher than being told that you are killing in the name of god, or that there is nothing wrong with the government that can't be fixed by sending the Democrats packing.

Oh well, we knew it had to happen sooner or later. Of course, the enterprising military internet geeks will find a way around this sh*t. I'm sure they'll be more than willing to share this information with their fellows.

Of course, the good thing is this might backfire. It's not like the war is really all that popular with those who are fighting it. This is just one more thing that will convince them they are "working" for a truly criminal enterprise.

Blessed be!
Pappy

by Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 1:16:31 PM

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People, this is NOT a big deal -- sites like this have been blocked by DoD for YEARS here in state-side locations. The reason is simple: they don't want people viewing porn, hate sites, and time-wasting crap (videos) when they are supposed to be on duty!  This is not really news at all.

by davidmsc (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 1:48:42 PM

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The amount of time spent on-line by those who have access over there is limited. It's not about porn. Hell, they can buy it roadside in Baghdad. But, waking up in the morning or getting back to base after a mission to find an inbox full of encouraging comments, links, and light-hearted or thought-provoking video links is not a waste of time.

by Cheryl Biren-Wright (30 articles, 42 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 485 comments [8 recommended, 2 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 2:38:53 PM

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i know several guys currently on the ground in iraq. myspace is a sort of lifeline for them. they can easily stay in touch with family and friends, make new friends, and are able to learn and provide information that cannot be found elsewhere. Bottom line, DoD doesn't want us showing them the level of dissent in the country and they don't want the servicemembers to have a voice. Any techies out there that can figure out another link that these guys can go to first and end up at myspace? is there such a thing?

by Cheryl Biren-Wright (30 articles, 42 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 485 comments [8 recommended, 2 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 2:34:29 PM

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 Big Brother is out of control,

To dare mess with FREEDOM OF SPEECH on the Eve of MOTHER'S DAY!!!

 When our sons, daughters, brothers, husbands and wives;

Who have ALL put their ass on the line –and are stuck on base protecting THE OIL FIELDS,
which are where ALL the bases are;

by Eileen Fleming (172 articles, 101 quicklinks, 274 diaries, 650 comments [16 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 2:37:34 PM

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When you have people like me posting things like this

http://www.militarytimes.com/forum/showpost.php?p=46276&postcount=8 

....in Militiary forums you wouldn't wonder why they would want a censure

by Mr. Robin Parsons (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 64 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 2:39:20 PM

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The 'good news' seems to be that the BushCo DoD is getting worried about soldiers comparing their misery, discovering they aren't the 'only one' who thinks he's being USED... and finding out this illegal war isn't at all what they're told it's about - that they are not killing and being killed "for our FREEDOM" - but for oil and World Dominence and all the profits Corporations make from war...  

maybe the reason  IS "security"  :-)  to keep BushCo 'safe' from a Military Uprising against this fascist bunch of thugs! 

Soldiers are seeing a lot of stuff about impeachment on youtube and myspace..... DoD isn't happy about that!

...COULD BE it's a sort of practise run to work out the bugs for when they censor the whole internet NEXT. 

//

"WHY" we need http://pledgetoimpeach.org To protest SAFELY, without risk of being beaten, dragged, pepper sprayed, tasered, or jailed by the gestapo-style 'crowd control' of any who dare oppose BushCo!

May Day Los Angeles 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn_EcHlWpNg

FTAA in Miami 2003 http://benfrank.net/nuke/ftaa112003/Police_Brutality_in_Miami.html

WTO in Seattle 1999. http://www.propagandamatrix.com/020903ps2.html

by mary-ann (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 55 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 2:44:50 PM

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acts as a barometer of a sort ; three years ago, letters titled

"Army needs the draft"

"Troops want to go home"

"GI's pay vs. congressman's"

"Any failure is Congress' fault"

or even

"On the reporting of U.S. military war deaths"

were unheard of.

More at your disposal under this link

by Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 4:22:08 PM

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People, this is not a big deal. Things have always been like this.

In fact, Abe Lincoln purposely made the internet available to the southern troops to distract them.

Woody Wilson banned My Outhouse (modern indoor plumbing was in its infancy) so the sailors who were blocking The Kaiser's ships didn't know they were blocking the Kaiser's ships.

FDR provided jobs for people and he didn't want them to be distracted by the original YouTube (which, of course, referred to the tubes used in radio technology).

And you saw what happened when people had access to video of the troops during the Vietnam War. The liberls made us lose that war because they didn't like the number of stretchers that were passing in front of Dan Rather during his reports.

This has been going on for years. Besides we don't want the troops to take their minds off of (excuse the poor grammar) killing people that they shouldn't have ever even been shooting at in the first (WMD), second (Prague meeting), third (bringin' 'em democracy at the bequest of falling bombs) and fourth (they don't know where America is so they wouldn't be able to get here unless we left in which case they'll follow us) place.

We have to stop being bearers of bad news when there's so much good we're doing over there in Iraq and we have to keep supporting our troops by denying them stuff (body armor, now YouTube).

Besides, America's my country and I support it right or wrong and if you don't like it here go to China and see how much freedom you have and everything you say emboldens the enemy and you're not very patriotic if .....

by Michael Bonanno (119 articles, 19 quicklinks, 24 diaries, 152 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 4:32:06 PM

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"To save bandwidth"

click here an eye on the "opinion" letters these next two to three days for any direct criticism of the censorship.  

by Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 4:53:30 PM

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"Keep an eye on the "opinion" letters these next two to three days for any direct criticism of the censorship."

and the link is

DOD blocking YouTube, others

by Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 4:56:46 PM

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Do they have access to other internet connector other than the DoD?

I don’t believe they do. If they don’t then it seems like censorship to me.

Although for those IT professionals who feel that the companies we work for limit access, at first I agreed, but I realized I go home from work and turn on my home PC and I can go where I want …  

Can these soldiers go off base or a neutral cafe and access the internet? 

by chris ferry (0 articles, 5 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 13 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 5:19:42 PM

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how more and more US Soldiers (Airmen & Marines as well) are making their own videos and uploading them to YouTube.

Example ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6slLE0SevI

It can't be a bandwidth issue. DOD eats STM1s (155Mb/s) like popcorn and we taxpayers pay for them. Most Cct.s have a redundant Cct. from another carrier. Like I said, they eat these monsters like popcorn. If an STM1 is insufficient, all they have to do is demand (they never ask) an upgrade to STM4.

The censorship has two purposes ; to keep the one truth out and to keep the other truth from leaking out.  

by Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 5:22:17 PM

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I have worked at Walter Reed AIR and related DoD-associated sites, and they have more than enough bandwidth. They need to control the message. Nothing worse than upity troops.

by John R Moffett (89 articles, 18 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 697 comments [14 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 5:54:30 PM

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The noose is tightening around all our necks. The "end times" may not just be for the fanatics anymore.  9 out of 10 scientists agree - we've FUCKED UP !  - big time

Indeed, those that have been in charge of most of man's destiny for the past 1,500 years as we've raced to our own inevitable destruction seem to be insane.  But because they're ruthless and the rest of us are basically lazy those insanely ruthless people have been able to gain the control needed to take us to the brink of the survival of our species.

Wonderful. Now it's time for us lazy people to get off our ass and try once more to yank from the jaws of death the real-life Super-hero saga of saving mankind.

Of course the streams of information are closing. Count on more assaults with heavy casualties. Already government officials are calling "demonstrators" as "enemies", "traitors" - how we tolerate f*cking "Free Speech Zones" is beyond me? Brace yourself, we're about to experience something never recorded in mankind's history.

by Mr M (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 2845 comments [654 recommended, 27 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 5:29:28 PM

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Those boys in Iraq must have something wrong with them upstairs anyway for enlisting and supporting the lies of Gone Wacko Bush. Anyone supporting Bush should be denied access, should be denied funding, should be given a royal reprimand for their part in destroying the Constitution, killing innocent Iraqis, and carrying on with their occupation objectives in stealing their Oil. Giving sympathy to uneducated treasonous troops is in my opinion the wrong thing to do. Let them go without, until they start demanding themselves they want out of there.

by Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 930 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 6:00:51 PM

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You are touching on a subject which is vital to the ending of this illegal and immoral occupation.  There are few who will tread on this ground for fear of reprisal from those who believe that supporting our troops is somehow sacred.  Fact is, they are performing UNCONSTITUTIONAL acts by following orders.  It is, in the end, up to them to "just say no".  Do I support our troops? NO.  Do I want them home safe? Hell yes.  f*ck these fascists who use our children for cannon fodder to further their agendas.  Those who pretend to abhor death in the womb but agrandize the deaths of our post-natal children as having sacrificed for some unknown noble cause.  Screw you hypocrits.  I will not rest until the lot of you evil bastards are imprisoned or dead.

by Steve (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 27 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 8:50:46 PM

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This is all about the First Amendment.    After all, censorship is becoming America's favorite past-time.  The US gov't (and their corporate friends), already detain protesters, ban books like "America Deceived"  from Amazon and Wikipedia, shut down Imus and fire 21-year tenured, BYU physics professor Steven Jones because he proved explosives, thermite in particular, took down the WTC buildings. Free Speech forever (especially for the men and women in harm's way).
Last link (before Google Books caves to pressure and drops the title):
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-38523-0

by Lorring II (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 87 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 6:45:01 PM

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Did anybody actually expect them to do anything other than what they have done? Information will inhibit their ability to keep an effective army on the ground. Information will be too democratizing.  Information may sew dissent among the ranks. etc. etc. 

by richard (0 articles, 5 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 1359 comments [400 recommended, 8 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 11:17:45 PM

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sew, sow, so, ..... so?

by richard (0 articles, 5 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 1359 comments [400 recommended, 8 rejected]) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 11:19:42 PM

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if anyone knows about "another link that these guys can go to first and end up at myspace? is there such a thing?"

I'm afraid not. Everything is IP and IP is everything in the innerNet world. Using a Proxy Server is a method of concealing one's own identity (IP adress) but it cannot conceal which websites are viewed.

On the Military and Bandwidth ;

On Track for Greater Bandwidths

"DISA will deploy DoD's new Net-Centric Enterprise Services at the initial 10 GIG-BE sites in October 2004. NCES will provide the warfighter with a set of information services that represent state-of-the-shelf technological capabilities. In addition, GIG-BE provides primary support for all other large-scale DoD applications, including the Global Command and Control System, Global Combat Support System and the Defense Message System.

GIG-BE will enable increased asset sharing and situational awareness, according to DISA, thus giving warfighters full access to information critical to fulfilling their combat missions."

Please also refer to http://www.disa.mil/main/prodsol/gig_be.html

and

http://whitepapers.techrepublic.com.com/whitepaper.aspx?docid=136979

"DOD recognizes it has an increasing need to supplement its own satellite bandwidth capacity with capacity from the commercial sector. But it does not have a firm idea on how much bandwidth it will require in the short or long term or whether the private sector can even continue to support its requirements. Moreover, though it has become the largest consumer of satellite bandwidth, it still buys its bandwidth on an as-needed basis, thereby missing significant opportunities to leverage its buying power and to achieve considerable savings as a result."

"Burstable Select", you order 10M, the provider sets up a 34M line. You use 8M on an average, pay for 10 and in case of surges in use, you can use the full 34 for a certain period of time at no extra charge. Just an example.....but a bad one because the networks in question are in the GIG region and they have a much better deal ; Bandwidth on Demand and with the redundancy I mentioned above. We're talking about the best information highway on earth ! HELL, it came from them in the 1st place : DARPA I believe....Vint Cerf & Co. / Berkley....

by Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 2:57:40 AM

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This is crazy.  The internet is most likely the only form of entertainment these men and women have.  What could there possibly be on these sites that would be a threat to security?  These troops are putting their lives on the line for all of us (and that includes every one of you there in the Department of Defense) fighting a war that shouldn't have been started in the first place.  

by RobinR (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 7:39:22 AM

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"SUPPORT OUR TROOPS" that's what politicians (full of sh*t) and those blinded by the Right say.... support the troops.

This is just one more blow to Out Troops in the typical Republican /Bushite/  Orwellein way. Support the troops but let them die here there and everywhere. No medical benefits; no armored gear; the Blackwater mercenaries/contractors making it big; and now no more contact to the Real world - The only - last bastion of Freedom left in the world... The Internet.

For this kind of "Support The troops" who needs enemies.

IMPEACH BUSH, CHENEY, GONZALES and all the p*ssy warmongers who had deferral after deferral to not got to war themselves. Before they can do even more damage.

Chickenhawks!

Support the troops, Let's get them off the Devil's Yolk of The Bush Co.

by Frank gr (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 50 comments) on Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 12:23:59 PM

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