Update at bottom

The young lads over at MN Publius (link embargoed) seem to be know how to hack into Blogger. Kennedy v Machine used to be a blogger hosted site (DavytonvKennedy then TBFKADVK). Sure we made the jump to the big leagues with our own host, but we did keep the old blogspot site up for the archives. Everything is now gone, thanks to someone with hacking ability.

From Doug

Here’s a not-so-hypothetical situation.

Let’s say someone started a blog on Blogger.com. After a few months of active posting, that person decided to upgrade to a different blog hosting service. However, that person kept the old blog alive for the sake of the many archives they had posted there.

Now let’s say some other person, who had repeatedly attacked and insulted this blog, decided to hijack the old blog, delete all the old posts, replacing them with his own post, insulting the former blog owner and directing any readers to his own blog instead.

I get a number of readers interested in these sort of ethical matters, and some with knowledge of related legal matters as well. What do you think about this not-so-hypothetical situation? And what is your assessment of the character of the hijacking blogger?

Gary has the details.

We checked our email this afternoon to find several notes from friends informing us that a blog called MN Publius which champions the Amy Klobuchar for Senate campaign has seemingly deleted the archives and manipulated content at our previous blog domain — Dayton v. Kennedy. DvK was hosted on Blogger. Dayton v. Kennedy, you may recall, was highlighted in several national publications including the Wall Street Journal, National Journal and New Republic. As you might imagine, it was not pleasant having months of work destroyed. Presumably sometime this afternoon, based on their giggly post, Publius erased 7 months of archives and replaced our post which redirected readers from our old blog to this one:

Dear Reader,

As you likely know, our blog Dayton v. Kennedy
(daytonvkennedy.blogspot.com) underwent a major challenge several weeks ago when we came to the realization that we are huge douches. As good as that was for the people of Minnesota, we just couldn’t go on knowing that we were publically humiliating outselves, daily, by keeping this blog up.

For the last several weeks we have persevered by calling ourselves
‘The Blog Formerly by Big Douches’ or simply TBFBBD’. In spite our realization that we suck, our readership has continued to grow and we have been highlighted in several national publications. Jon Lauck, the straight-up-evil proprietor of Daschle v. Thune has upsettingly called this blog “the heir to Daschle v. Thune”… when we heard that, we knew that we had hit bottom. We expect that many other bloggers will begin to chronicle their respective state U.S. Senate races in 2006 and the only advice we can offer is, don’t sink to our level, you’ll regret it.

To that end we undertook to both rename and redesign our blog. A link to the new site is below. After several weeks we arrived at the name ‘MN Publius’ — the “Publius” being the antithesis of what we have become–sincere, honest, democratic, and committed to increasing the quality of political discourse in Minnesota.

We hope you will enjoy the new site and will bookmark us; just as many of you did with this one. Now let’s get about the business of taking our country back from the kind of douches we used to be.

The Blog is dead! Long live the Blog!

MN Publius

Neat.

Kennedy vs. The Machine has always understood that politics is a full-contact sport. Where we erred was in thinking it was a battle over contending ideas — not cyber sabotage. Regrettably, that is a contest we can’t win due to our commitment to civility. We would ask MN Publius to remove their offensive post and restore the archives (if they have not been permanently destroyed) of Dayton v. Kennedy so that we can reference them in the future. We would also ask that Publius’ fellow travelers on the left — some of whom are quite civil — exert any influence they might have to help this happen.

MN Publius will finally get some of the attention they so desperately crave. We trust it will be used to expose them for who they are.

What did they gain by this? They have been less than cordial in their discourse with KvM or Congressman Kennedy, but what they did seems to me to be along the lines of a criminal act. I have no problem with disagreeing points of view. Heck, I thrive on it. This was not that at all. They have in fact erased the intellectual property of people. Now maybe MN Publius did not perpetrate the act, but it sure seems like they know who did.

Will the guilty party have the bravery to stand up and admit their wrongdoings? Or will they continue to play dirty rather than fight on the issues?

Update:
An email was just received claiming responsibility. In what I would describe as irrational political exuberance, one of the MN Publius authors tried to play a practical joke on KvM. They say that they did not intend to delete all the old posts, but they are now gone. The damage is done.

Rant Warning!!!!!

Begin Rant

This is Minnesota. This is the weather we should expect. You don’t need to b&@%t and moan to me every time you see me on how much the weather changed from yesterday. This is our weather. sunny and 50 degrees one day, and 15 the next. Green grass on Sunday, 3 inches of snow on Monday. All Summer you whimps kept saying, this warm weather can’t last forever. Winter will be here in no time. Gee, I wish it was like this all year.

If I here “It sure is Cold today” or “Where did all this snow come from” one more time I may lose it all together!

• Shut up, it snows here!
• Shut up, it gets cold here!
• Shut up, you live in Minnesota, nothing can A) eat you whole B) Poison you with a bite. OK? Be glad!
• Shut up it could be North Dakota. (Like this with absolutely nothing to do.)

Just Shut up. Leave me alone, I like it like this! For cotton pickin’ sakes, shut up about the weather being like it usually is. News Flash, it will be like this about 20 or more times this year!

If you don’t like it, you have 2 choices:

1. Pray for global climate change (ahem, BS) and do all you can to make it real.
2. MOVE your whimpy, cold blooded arse to Arizona with all the other people who couldn’t hack it here.

Or a 3rd option that just came to mind.

3. Just shut up and leave me alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

End Rant

Happy Birthday Mr. Governor. I didn’t get a chance to say it to you, but someone is supposed top say it for me.

BTW: Next time have someone say sport coat or dress attire if that is what is expected. I figured the Wild jersey would be a good fit considering the venue.
I figured:

• Governor Pawlenty Likes hockey - I like hockey!
• Minnesota is the State of Hockey
• Minnesota has a Pro team (The Wild).
• So I thought I’d wear a Wild jersey and lighten the mood.*
• Oops

I WAS WRONG!
I’m sorry. It had nothing to do with what ever you said at that game, which I did not know was an issue, which is why I wore the jersey. Everyone was asking why I wore it. They had to explain it all to me. (I thought, maybe, you might need a back-up goalie or something, I’ve been itching to play again for a while now. I have pads and all.)

Anyways, Happy Birthday Governor Pawlenty from RF

Andy Aplikowski

*That’s what happens to a bachelor that dresses himself who is not borderline metrosexual.

A fellow MOBster and occasional Trivia partner Uncle Ben from HammerSwing 75 has some terrible news about a friend of his family who has been kidnapped in Iraq.

Mr. Kember is a good friend of my parents and a longtime member of my Granny’s church, Harrow Baptist. I remember seeing him a few years ago when I stopped by in England to visit my Gran. We were at the church and he came over for some conversation. “I remember when you were this tall”, putting his hand down by his knees. He is an extremely nice man who went out of his way to be friendly. His wife Pat, who possesses an equally wonderful character, must be in absolute shock.

My parents have asked for my prayers. There will be many. I, in turn, am asking for yours. I hope that there will be many.

I haven’t even had time to get angry at the people who have done this. For the time being that isn’t important. Our prayers are. Thanks

P.S. Please ask others as well.

My thoughts and prayers go out to you and yours Ben.

While in Baghdad on a mission of peace Professor Norman Kember, an American, and 2 Canadians have been taken hostage by the terrorists. According to the reports I’ve seen, Kember was only visiting for a couple weeks when he was taken. His identity and the nationalities of the other 3 have been confirmed, but identities have been with held. The 4 were with a group known as “Christian Peacemaker Teams”.

from Breitbart (via Drudge)

Christian Peacemaker Teams issued a statement Tuesday saying the four men were working on behalf of Iraqi civilians. The group said it has had a team in Iraq since October 2002, working with U.S. and Iraqi detainees and training others in nonviolent intervention and human rights documentation.

Kember and another person were part of a visiting delegation, while two members of the group’s Iraq-based staff also were taken, the statement said.

Kember, a retired professor, is a longtime peace activist who once fretted publicly that he was taking the easy way out by protesting in safety at home while British soldiers risked their lives in Iraq.

The U.S. Embassy has confirmed that an American is missing in Iraq _ presumably one of the aid workers. A Canadian official has said two Canadians were in the group.

“The team’s work has focused on documenting and focusing public attention on detainee abuses, connecting citizens of Iraq to local and international human rights organizations, and accompanying Iraqi civilians as they interact with multinational military personnel and Iraq’s government officials,” the group said.

The statement said those taken hostage knew the risks when they went to Iraq.

God Bless

MN’s Revenue Dept is entering the tax increase game and protectionist arena.

Minnesotans could soon be paying sales taxes on goods purchased online.

The state is teaming with 19 others to persuade Congress to pass a bill requiring all online retailers to collect state taxes. Minnesota estimates it could earn approximately $300 million per year if internet sales taxes were collected. That amount is equal to the cost of building another Xcel Energy Center.

Larry Wilkie of the Minnesota Department of Revenue says states are missing out on the extra revenue. “We’re going to get other states on board,” he says. “The states have no choice, we have to do something.”

Currently, out-of-state retailers to not charge Minnesota sales tax, even though a customer may reside here. That is one of the benefits of online shopping, some say.

However, established retailers say they’re losing sales to online sellers who are able to offer a lower price without the tax.

I got a few ideas for the Dept of Revenue

• If our state’s sales tax is a barrier to competition, maybe we should think about lowering our sales tax.
• How about non-(MN)residents pay sales tax and residents don’t?

Yeah, that is brilliant. Punish the visitors! … Oh, wait, that doesn’t work, people will stop coming here.

… Ah, um, … here try this:

• Non-(MN)residents pay 10% sales tax when they are in MN.

Yeah, let’s make sure we punish them more get our fair share out of them. Just think we could raise hundreds of millions more money for us to spend on “fun stuff” needed programs.

Sounds pretty stupid doesn’t it?

Gosh darn it, we have enough money. All we do is talk about spending more money from the new revenue (from either unexpected revenue or new tax increases) which leads me to believe that we are adequately funding our existing government which is working somewhat acceptably (somewhat). If all they can do is talk about the new spending right now, instead of “catching up” or paying for what we already have(or usually have as they always scream and shout about during budget battle time), I don’t think the state needs new taxes or more revenue.

WE DON’T HAVE A REVENUE PROBLEM Sound familiar?

I am plain sick and tired of my own government bragging to me about how they will spend all the extra money they are going to take away from me. I think I am going to start charging the State a “handling fee” for taxing me. Why not? I should be able to recoup my costs for dealing financially with them. If nothing else, maybe I could charge them for my anger management classes. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am still alive. I recovered from the flu like plague I got from the visiting family over the TurkeyDay weekend, and made it back to work today only to find out that everyone else now has said plague. That is why posting has been really unproductive and non-meaningful over the weekend.

It is lonely here at work. Snow to plow, sidewalks to shovel, phones to answer, all by my lonesome. Oh well.

I think the terrorists spiked our turkey herds and potato fields with bird flu.

Somehow I won tied for first in the Crosley Solo Blog of the Week contest with Savage Republican. I must have had a last minute surge in voting, or I got a gimme. At my last glance, I was down by 6 votes. 28 to 22 to the Savages. But who knows, I don’t know the final results.

Regardless, thanks to one and all who voted for me. Thanks to Generalissimo (aka Radioblogger) and Crosley. I couldn’t have done it all with out you.

To those of you who don’t know what this contest is about, go here. Keep in mind, if you win, you get a free radio.

I need your help. There are only 4 hours left to keep the Savage Republican from winning beating me.

I entered the Crosley Solo Blog of the Week contest, and got selected as a finalist. Please go and vote for me over at Radioblogger.

Voting stops at noon Pacific time. Which is 2 PM in Minnesota!

This Strib Editorial really bothers me. It is about how St. Paul’s mayor elect Coleman has no more important mission for his term than getting LRT on University Ave. You may know how I despise the LRT, but the following paragraphs do a good job shedding light on why I do.

… It will be hard enough to push ahead on federal and state funding for the $840 million project. It will be harder still to retrofit the architecture — and the mind-set — of a corridor that continues to encourage big-box retail, vast parking lots and more auto traffic.

That sort of suburbanization is incompatible with light rail and, if it continues, could jeopardize federal support. St. Paul must understand that light rail is as much about land use as transportation. The best course now is for Coleman to launch a broad, long-range planning process for the avenue that includes everyone.

Everyone but people who drive, shop, or own businesses.

I entered the Crosley Solo Blog of the Week contest, and got selected as a finalist. Please go and vote for me over at Radioblogger.