The Washington Times, Bruce Thornton, and K-Lo at The Corner have written in support of Jihad Watch during this attempt to silence us, as have many others, including Jawa Report, Vigilant Freedom, Foehammer, Tongue Tied, Endiana, Winds of Jihad and Exposing "Rev." Sutter. (If I've left anyone out, please don't be offended -- these are the only ones I know of.) I'm very grateful to all.
Meanwhile, news continues to come in about the ban. Jihad Watch is now unbanned and available again at U.S. Army posts in Kosovo and elsewhere, VA Hospitals, Prudential, R.R. Donnelley, Marriott, and CISNet.
Jihad Watch remains banned, however, at Misys Healthcare Systems, USBancorp (aka US Bank), and Citigroup.
Thanks again for all who contacted the blocking organizations and got them to reverse the ban in the places where it was reversed. I will continue to keep you posted as things develop.
Meanwhile, if you have trouble accessing the site, try our mirror site, which we have just set up here.
let free speech reign! This is the advantage of the US-American system, an advantage that the islamic world can only dream of....
"U.S. Army posts in Kosovo..."
Very interesting.
Why would they ban JW at US Army posts in Kosovo?
Because of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkgHkxIfgBc
... or this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwcRrpQGv88
Robert, I don't think this ban is personal, but due to word association because of the word Jihad in your website name. I'm sure Jihad appearing in any website is banned on various business or governmental systems. This is the only thing that makes sense.
LOL! Just how, in fact, are JW'ers hypocrites?
darcy,
He's crying. He's having a tantrum. Ignore him. I hope he's banned for good.
You left out Sheik Yer Ma'mi, Robert.
http://sheikyermami.com/2007/07/11/duped-and-living-in-jihad-denial/#comments
This topic was important news for all 'bloggers.
JWHypocrites,
You seem confused by the difference in having your post removed for offensive material to maintain a private web sites standards of decorum and Web Browser screeners blocking a site because of political pressure. One form is the blocking inappropriate postings that go over the line from a private individual, and the other blocks many private individuals over the politically motivated desire to have only one side of the issue presented.
Might I suggest from now on, you avoid extreme vitriol and have some form of facts and points in your statements. This just might allow you to continue to post here under yet again another alias.
In the mean while, welcome back (again), and please post thoughtfully.
@JWHypocrites: Perhaps you'd like to explain to me how I've become the victim of censorship in recent weeks also. Moderating a forum like this is not a simple process. I should know; I've both censored people at my own site for ridiculous statements and behavior and I have been mildly censored here at JW also. But considering the amount of postings I've made here, which no doubt number in the hundreds by now, I don't get overly-excited about the handful that have been pulled when I perhaps stepped out of my typically restrained demeanor.
$@%^ happens.
@Robert Spencer: I called Secure Computing this week and was happily surprised when one of their representatives got back to me. I'm having to check up on allegations that my own blog may have been included in the same "WebWasher" software that many companies use to filter out "unwanted" materials. Unfortunately, while the admin I spoke to seemed convinced that foehammer.net would not show up in their logs, I have yet to receive an email confirming that as he promised. Now I'm left wondering again.
After my recent run-in with Digg, which I'm not taking lying down, I have definitely raised shields and take some rumors far less lightly than others.
Using mirror sites is a good idea. I may very well be forced to follow suit at some point with the Anvil.
What's patently ridiculous about all this, of course, is that Jihad Watch strives to be very scholarly and deals in substantiated facts and little hyperbole and yet still ends up being the target of self-proclaimed "hate watch" groups and less reputable persons. I would freely admit that a banning of JW should never precede that of the Anvil -- I'm not exactly soft-spoken, nor am I prone to play nice with offensive commenters -- so when censorship occurs here, I am absolutely certain it is done on grounds that go against the Constitution and Bill of Rights and any companies or institutions or governments that do so would do well to look within themselves and find the true motivations for such abuse of Reason and Law, because I would and do vehemently defend my own right to speak my mind.
So on one side oil, the other side vinegar and yet some powers-that-be are telling us that neither mixes well with the salad. Something is definitely foul in the kitchen.
@JWHypocrites: Well, you've touched on something there. I think it's probably safe to say that certain staff members here at JW press the ban or delete keys more liberally than others. In other words, I'd wager it's not R. Spencer doing so much of the watchdogging, and the 'helpers' tend to err on the side of caution in order to protect the reputation of JW -- which is under constant and typically unfair scrutiny.
You might be surprised what a site can be banned for. I ran jihadwatch.org through a link checker called Bad Neighborhood:
http://www.bad-neighborhood.com/text-link-tool.htm
and it gave some surprising results. The links that it found questionable contained the words: porn, sex and drugs.
Thanks, atheling - Those Muslims - you know, the "superior peoples" (!) - always griping about something that shows they are LESS THAN SUPERIOR!
"ALLAH" - the biggest bigot, racist, hater, the World has ever known! Yep - "Allah" - the "Kill Everyone Not Islamic god" - that's him!!!!!!
"Allah" - the Jew and Christian ANNIHILATOR! HATER SUPREME!!!!
Robert,
Jihad Watch is OK (for now) but that mirror site is blocked at work. Heh. No doubt it's because of the main site, not your mirror.
Hotair is also blocked so you might want to consider mirroring the "Blogging the Quran" series on JW, or elsewhere. Maybe after a week or so, if you have some sort of exclusivity agreement.
I don't know where the filtering database comes from, but it's likely that others are similarly affected as well.
Just FYI