Yes, the Bully Boy is lying as I type, I'm sure. Yes, the Times brought some hideous news today (the Times delivered it -- it was real news and needed to be noted, that's not slamming the paper, I will slam it for many things but, unlike Matt Lauer, I don't need "happy news").
Yes, awful things are happening around the globe. It's all disgusting.
But Ben saw this at Colorado Independent Media Center and e-mailed it in noting that he's disgusted by the news. (Not disgusted with Colorado IMC!) Read it, and share the disgust.
And realize that besides demonstrating that there are some sick f__s in the world, if Colorado IMC wasn't reaching people, it never would have been attacked.
We need to support independent media (even when authorities attack them, especially when authorities attack) but now we're seeing it move beyond that. It is disgusting, what you'll read when I shut up finally. But again, realize that if Colorado IMC wasn't reaching people, it never would have been a target to begin with. (I keep saying Colorado IMC because it's their announcement. Richmond IMC and Arkansas IMC were also attacked. That is disgusting as well but Colorado IMC is still down as I type this and the other two are up.)
Ben: This was the thing I read today that disgusted me the most. It really makes me furious that Colorado IMC was attacked.
Here is their announcement in full:
Community Media Site Cracked The Colorado Independent Media Center provided community media services for over 5 years
(Denver, CO April 27th, 2005)
At approximately 8:20 am MST April, 27th, volunteers with Colorado Independent Media Center (CO-IMC) discovered the site, colorado.indymedia.org, had been cracked.
Five years worth of community-developed news stories, videos, and pictures were destroyed, and the open-source news site was replaced with text from an organization calling themselves "g00ns.com". The parties taking responsibility claimed that the people behind IMC are "anti-Republican."
The colorado.indymedia.org website is a local affiliate of a global grassroots media movement, with over 200 chapters world-wide. Like the main Indymedia (www.indymedia.org), the locally-based IMC website was largely populated with articles chronicling local and international movements ranging from criticisms of the Iraq war to various viewpoints on the debate surrounding CU-Boulder professor, Ward Churchill.
The popular website receives over 1,000 hits a day, but instead of viewing the standard news articles, photos, and links that visitors expect to see on the site, those who visited the website today were treated to the following statement "You have lied to the American People over and over again. You attend The Fifth Hope and spread your wicked ideology there. Expect more of this."
Identified only as "Clorox" the author went on to say "Our soldiers are dying over se(a)s to give men, women, and children a taste of freedom and you call them imperialists. You are nothing but pigs. You are not against Bush you are against Republicans, you are against anyone who has a different opinion and way of thinking than you. Your box got rooted for lying to the American people."
Colorado IMC Volunteer Tony Shawcross responded "The irony of the accusation is that the Colorado Indymedia website being attacked is an uncensored, open-source news outlet that allows any individual or group to post an article or opinion promoting any viewpoint. These people could've posted an article to get their point across and we would've posted it front-and-center."
At least two other Independent Media Centers reported today that their websites were also cracked by the same group. The Richmond, VA IMC and Arkansas IMC's websites have both also been taken off-line and all three groups are putting a call out to the global indymedia community, friends and allies who support free speech, and the general public to help them re-create their websites and protect them against future attacks.
Those interested in supporting the rebuilding efforts are encouraged to join the Rocky Mountain Indymedia mailing list by contacting RM@indymedia.org
