Bishop tramples on First Amendment’s Freedom of the Press

Senate Majority Leader and chief obstructionist Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, took the unusual step and for the first time in Senate history illegally censored a liberal blog for daring to call him out on his foot-dragging and attempt to hold the state budget hostage for his political gain.

Subscription only Gognwer News Service reported Bishop ordered "Blogging for Michigan" blocked from being accessed from Senate computers, using the false claim that the blog was “created by a Senate employee using Senate equipment.” The blog was created and operated by Shiawassee County resident Christine Barry, a systems engineer, from her home. All the material posted comes from public sources, such as newspapers, newsletters, the Senate websites, the Senate Journal and the Senate session and most of the committees are broadcast live on the Senate web site. Not only that, the info is properly sourced with links, something you don’t see in the mainstream media.

The blog was only created in June by Michiganliberal diarists Christine and Wizardkitten, and this attempt at censorship by Bishop and/or his henchman proves how effective it has been. I am proud to say I am a poster and an editor on Blogging for Michigan.

Ironically, this is the only blog that was blocked; leaving all three of the conservative blogs in the state, as well as that thing ran by the chair of the state GOP, even Michiganliberal was not blocked. That seems ironic when you consider that many people post on both sites, like me. I post on Michignaliberal as kjbas58, and many of my posts have been critical of the do-nothing-Senate, but only Blogging for Michigan has been blocked. Could you imagine the outcry from the right if the House Democrats tried to block one of the three rightwing blogs, or from everyone if a newspaper web site was blocked?

This situation is the very definition of censorship and a clear violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution’s protection of freedom of the press. Now that the news services that cover the capitol and the nation via Daily KOS have caught on to this censorship attempt, hopefully the mainstream media in Michigan will catch on to what Bishop is really about.

Blogging fro Michigan now carries the well-deserved masthead “The site Mike Bishop doesn't want you to see.”

I suggest anyone who cares about the Bill of Rights contact Bishop.