[grubbymitts]

It's the MPAA. They realised it wasn't linux distros you were downloading and they now have your IP address and are blocking your newsgroup access. They can do this because of a law called the Digital Mullholland Drive Act 1999 signed by Bill Clinton. You'd best rip out the hard drive and throw it away as the FBI can find data from formatted drives and they may be knocking on your door soonly.

Either that or...usenetserver.com is crud, goes down regularly and you should buy decent server access.