For those of you who read Al Giordano’s blog ‘the Field’ but don’t keep up with the comments, Al has parted ways with RuralVotes after a blog entry was allegedly censored last Wednesday.
The Field is now hosted on NarcoNews.com
Some info from the blog in question:
This essay was published on June 11 at the former site of The Field, and was censored at 9:30 p.m. ET that evening, I was told, because it mentioned "Saul Alinsky," "Andrew Kopkind," and "Rules for Radicals."
A brief press conference now ensues:
Q. "Mr. Giordano, what is your view of such McCarthyism-style censorship?"
A. "I reject it."
Q. "But do you denounce such censorship?"
A. "I reject and denounce it. I will not be party to it. I disassociate myself from those that have engaged in it. And therefore I have moved The Field to this address:
http://narconews.com/...
Q. Can you tell us more?
A. On Monday, I will begin to tell all. It's really a fascinating story, and a microcosm of a much larger struggle going on in the United States. Meanwhile, bookmark this site, the new and improved home of The Field.
There’s also the matter of the $5000+ donated to send Al to Denver, plus all other money donated to ‘keep Al writing.’ Al says an answer will be coming Monday:
When I disassociate, I mean it.
Our attorney has handled all communications with the owners of The Ex-Field.
Supposedly there will be an answer to the question of "what happens to the $5,200 (or $5,600, or more, depending on which version is to be believed) given explicitly to "Send Al to Denver" on Monday.
The other outstanding question is "what happened to the $2,400 raised from the April 30 fund appeal, before there was any plan to send Al to Denver, 'to keep Al writing'?"
And why wasn't Al paid for his work in the month of June?
All these mysteries and more await answers and greater transparency.
I'd love to add some more editorial comment on that, but I'll wait another 48 hours or so (maybe less?) before determining what is prudent.
But no Chicken Little-ism is necessary. There's no way the current situation continues as is. Particularly after tonight, when Field Hands have weighed in so convincingly.
It's a sad situation as the Field is one of my favourite blogs. I'm happy Al's moved to a new home so quickly, it's just a shame they parted on these terms. I'm sure everything will come out tomorrow but having read the diary in question several times now, I'm struggling to find any content that could justify any sort of censorship.
Anyone more familiar with the content able to shed some light on this?
Update [2008-6-15 16:56:19 by bastardlyDan]:: Now that http://ruralvotes.com/... redirects to Tracy Russo's blog, people may be concerned about all the archived posts/comments from the past 6 months.
Al Giordano:
All Ex-Field Entries and Comments Have Been Rescued
If anybody thought we wouldn't think of doing that before we moved The Field, and fantasized that six months of work by hundreds of us could be successfully "disappeared," they severely underestimated our chess playing abilities.
Everything that is happening right now was predicted and we thought it all through many moves ahead. It's amazing how predictably rote and petty the moves from some corners are so far, but we are able to accurately forecast future behaviors by studying past ones.
Once we get everything else ship-shape over here on The Field's new home, we'll give my archives and your comments a permanent gallery here.
The censorship has already failed. No need to go hunting Google caches. Still, thanks for thinking and posting about it.