Remember what Matt Miner said, back in the beginning of August ...
(No, not about the censorship)
From MIRS, 8-3-07:
The Senate will only pass a quarterly budget if every single budget deal falls through before Oct. 1, which is a situation that was described to MIRS as "highly unlikely."
"I don't see that (a quarterly budget) as anything but a last resort alternative to shutting down the government," said Matt Miner, chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester). "It's the Legislature's job to enact a budget and we take that very seriously. We would never not want to have a budget in place."
These guys have so much credibility right about now.
When Mike Bishop's Propaganda Minister Matt Miner decided to block access to BFM, he obviously didn't know he would be facing a firestorm in the press. The thought of Bishop's staff running about like the Keystone Cops, trying to come up with a proper reason for blocking us, is tragically comic.
The most enduring lie is that the block on BFM was a matter of "workplace ethics" ... that Senate Democrats / state employees were spending too much time on BFM, and the use of state equipment to view "questionable political content" (QPC?) is unethical. This is ridiculous for several reasons, starting with the fact that they blocked only one blog, and ending with the fact that the man who blocked it has so little regard for work, that he changed the Senate rules so that no one could make him do any.
This was not a legitimate effort to increase productivity; it was an attempted purge by a pathological megalomaniac. This was one website, targeted for "questionable political content", as identified by the political opposition that is so often criticized here. To believe that this was a matter of "workplace ethics" is to believe that "war is peace" and that "lies are truth" and that "some animals are more equal than others."
Censorship in America is mild to the kind that you might find in the former Soviet Union. None of us were ever in any danger of being "disappeared" or taken out and shot. But if that did happen, one has to wonder how many people would say "Miner has a valid point, but he shot the wrong ones."
First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their support of BFM and of free speech. Some people really stepped up here and helped me through a very difficult time, you know who you are, and you have my undying gratitude.
Special thanks go out to Senator Mark Schauer. Whatever it is that you are "going to decide" in the next 24 hours, I'm behind you all the way.
I am way too tired to try to write about all of this, but I did want to give you the SOD from Bishop's Chief of Staff Matt Miner, courtesy of MIRS-
"I think it's great that people have these so they can express their opinion," he said.
Turns out that Senate Republicans love blogs. Who woulda thunk it.
Our sister blog Michigan Liberal has a post by Eric Baerren, in which Miner claims that the Senate Republicans weren't interested in wizardkitten's identity.
First I'm going to speak to the asinine claim that Miner makes here:
We were of the belief that state employees were engaging in blogging on non-state related issues and decided to block access to the site. Our suspicions were confirmed when the Secretary of the Senate received complaints about access to the site.
That's the most sophomoric argument I've heard since the one miserable time I listened to Rush Limbaugh. They received complaints because the Senate Democrats were about to start their series on legislative issues. And the Republicans know that, which is why they blocked access.
Well Miner, since you're being all logical & stuff, why not just say,
Our suspicions were confirmed when our fish lost its bicycle.
?
It makes as much sense.
But this post isn't about Miner being stupid, this is about him being a liar. So let me go back to Miner's claim that "The issue with wizardkitten is not true. "
This is a screenshot of site logs from August 1:
As you can see, on Wednesday Aug 1, someone came in from Michigan Liberal.
I will admit that I'm too new to this to have anyone consider me a blogger, but I do check this site and others regularly because I think all of you do such a great job informing people about what's really going on in Michigan. That's why I'm so ticked off at Bishop's Chief of Staff, Matt Miner, implying that somehow if Senate staffers are reading blogs or interacting through blogs, that they are wasting taxpayer's money.
I'll confess, I don't phone, write, or email my elected officials as often as I should when I have a question or am upset with them - I know I should. But if an elected official wants to post information about what they're working on, or carry on an online discussion with people who have questions or want to share ideas, that's great!
Isn't that exactly what they do when they write columns for the local newspaper? Or send out newsletters, or cable shows?
I don't know if anyone would call me a blogger, but I am a taxpayer, and if I want to interact with - or keep tabs on - my elected officials by using blogs, I should have that right.
By now you may know that the Michigan Senate has blocked access to BFM. MIRS and Gongwer have reported on this. Mike Bishop's Chief of Staff, Matt Miner, is the talking head behind all of this. I'd like to respond to a few of his comments on this blog.
First, I'll address the comments that are only mildly annoying. In subscription only MIRS, he says this:
"I'm not blocking them (blogs) all because some are informational.
Hmm .. informational ... BFM isn't informational? So this stuff doesn't count?
When Mike Bishop's Propaganda Minister Matt Miner decided to block access to BFM, he obviously didn't know he would be facing a firestorm in the press. The thought of Bishop's staff running about like the Keystone Cops, trying to come up with a proper reason for blocking us, is tragically comic. 
