The battle for your hearts and minds continues. Once again my al.com forum name of "arklite" has been banned from posting on the forum. When clicking on my "arklite" forum name on the postings my account does not show and I am prohibited from initiating another account. Apparently this time around it was either the parody of Condoleeza Rice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0f2dHJ6A18&eurl=http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Condoleezza_Rice on the Hardball Politics Forum or the lively political discussion on the Alabama Politics and Scottsboro forum, who knows. It seems some do not understand artistic satire, parody and political discussion about politicians. Parody and satire have been the basis of political dissent since the begining of recorded political history. A fact our country's founders cherished and some folks seem to have forgot.
The only thing worse than a left wing tyrant is a right wing tyrant. This bit of British humor seems to have upset some folks. http://www.utterpants.co.uk/news/politics/bushpants.html This is the George Bush Rap, it's funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JX-Bx0BETQ&NR=1 There are other parodies which are funny and some that are rather harsh.
It seems others are experiencing corporate censorship as editing policy. http://harrisburghappening.blogspot.com/2006/03/if-you-were-censored.html This is also on the same blog http://harrisburghappening.blogspot.com/2006/03/how-censorship-kills-discourse.html
Update, March 11, 2008: A second and third member of our discussion group were also banned today from posting on al.com. All posts concerned discussions countering right wing posters supporting issues such as torture of non-combatants and enemy combatants. One of the posters also was involved in discussing support of Barrack Obama. Although I certainly do not support Mr. Obama, why should someone be banned as a result of posting their support of any candidate. It appears the al.com forums are nothing more than a political tool of right wing extremists.
I have sent letters of protest to Advance Publications, parent company of al.com, concerning editorial policy and treatment of its customer base. It may be their company but the customer base includes advertisers which pay their bills. The writer and reader to the forums are a customer, a fact that editors at al.com have a hard time understanding. The customer on the web is capable of having a far reaching effect on a web based business. Does al.com and Advance Publications want negative comments concerning the product they offer the public?