Are left-wingers trying to visit the Colorado Independent being dumped into the conservative Face the State website?

Face the State's Brad Jones.

These are difficult times for the politicalliy progressive Colorado Independent website, as detailed in a series of recent blogs: "The Colorado Independent is Downsizing But Not Disappearing," "Cara DeGette on Layoffs at the Colorado Independent" and "Colorado Independent Staffers Warned Not to Talk About Layoffs." Now, Brad Jones, the man behind the rightward-leaning FaceTheState.com site, hopes to add insult to injury. As first reported by PolitickerCo.com, Jones has purchased the ColoradoIndependent.org URL, which is just three little letters different from the Indendent's actual address. ColoradoIndependent.com. As a result, any lefty who types in ColoradoIndependent.org -- a logical thing to do, since the Indy is a non-profit -- is automatically re-routed to the proudly conservative Face the State home page. Anyone know a doctor who specializes in treating ideological whiplash? -- Michael Roberts

Update: Click "More" for details.

November 12, 12:30 p.m.:

Shortly after publishing the blog above, I received an e-mail from Face the State's Brad Jones. He subsequently gave me permission to make public the following excerpt:

As to your recent post about the "ColoradoIndependent.org" domain -- I'm not "adding insult to injury," as you suggest -- I've owned the domain for a while, now, and it certainly wasn't registered in response to the current meltdown.

From the whois record:

Domain ID:D152782791-LROR
Domain Name:COLORADOINDEPENDENT.ORG
Created On:22-May-2008 01:30:34 UTC

Also, the domain has quietly pointed to FTS since it was registered in May; nobody has taken notice until just now?

Regarding this last question, I can only speak for myself. In my case, the answer is "yes." -- MR