Categories
Open Thread

Censorship

All through the ages, the first thing the great dictators did when they got into power was to burn the books. There hasn’t been a time throughout history when a dictator hasn’t burned or banned books. Whether it be Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung, Napoleon, Brezhnev, George Bush or Sarah Palin. Even now countries such as China, Saudia Arabia, Iraq, Iran, North Korea and Cuba just to name a few have strong censorship laws.

I came up through the sixties and seventies working for Collins Book Sellers who were battling the Henry Bolte/Aurthur Rylar government’s arcane censorship laws. Books like The Little Red School Book, Portnoy’s Complaint, The Outcasts of Foolgarah, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, were books that we were able to use to challenge the law; along with various editions of Playboy. Gough Whitlam came along and there was a new dawn with books. Most of the old rules were overturned and in Victoria there was very little trouble any more because Bolte was gone. Although in Queensland they still had Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

Labor governments in Australia through the ages have been on the progressive side of censorship. The Howard Government was doing it’s best to bring in strong censorship laws. Once even getting a law that would have had anyone arrest and charged for loading any sort of porn onto the Internet inside or outside the country, that is, if you were uploading porn to the USA you would be charged. It was stopped on the way to getting governors’ approval. Whose definition of porn was it?

I was most relieved when Kevin Rudd was elected. No more trouble with censorship laws. The ALP had more sense. The ALP would have much smarter people working in that department. No more trouble. Imagine my horror when I received an email from my son about the Great Firewall of Australia. You cannot imagine the anger and swear words that came from my mouth. The thing that really disappoints me the most is the amount of talent in the ALP that has not stood up against this law. One person in particular who is my hero, Maxine McKew, for beating John Howard in Bennelong. I have my own personal desktop background of the Bennelong result, she has not been stood up on this issue. Maxine is not the highest person in the ALP but she comes from a very strong media background. I expected that she would have taken a stand on this issue. But Maxine is not alone. There are many others in the ALP who remain silent.

Why won’t the firewall work? First of all, you could never make it a word based program. There are two many words that cross over, for instance the first and most obvious word is sex. If you ban the word sex, you also ban communicating with Middlesex and Sussex, you could never mention the word sextant. You would stop any email with a job application asking the persons sex or any document asking for your sex. That would just about grind the Internet to a halt in Australia. What about Virgin? Well there goes Virgin Airlines, Virginia and West Virginia for a start, then the online bible. Most of the words to do with women’s sexual health would be out. To show how effective a word based censorship firewall is to try blocking the word Viagra in your email. Ads by using the word Viagra will still get through. It cannot be done, because I still get V!agra Vi*gra and Viagr* coming through.

Senator Conroy says he only wants to ban child porn sites. Well I can tell why it won’t stop the child porn sites. Even if he blocked every site it would still get into Australia very, very easily. How? Every laptop coming into the country. Every portable USB hard drive on a key ring. Has anyone mentioned to Senator Conroy that the new portable hard drives can hold over 1Terabyte of information? Then there is Peer to Peer networks. His system won’t be able to block those at all. The record companies have been unsuccessful in stopping them, how is he going to stop them? Anybody with a little bit of computer knowledge can do that. Just ask your kids to show you how. Ask them about Limewire. Peer to Peer networks are a giant whole in Senator Conroy’s firewall, so big you could drive a truck through it.

Point inhibitor, is the first treatment generated in the viagra going to buy cialis daily pills. Doit, on viagra 100mg acheter prix donner des suppléments de racine.

Senator Conroy’s intention is to block illegal websites. He has a budget allocated for that. It will be very difficult to do that for the present standard of the Internet without blocking a lot of innocent sites. But what Senator Conroy has not taken into account the huge explosion of the Internet in the USA that’s about to happen under Barrack Obama. Free up restrictions on the Internet, introducing broadband to large amounts of untouched area’s in the USA. Senator Conroy’s system will slow the Australian Internet down under today’s system. It will be worse when Obama’s Internet kicks in.

Let’s say Senator Conroy is 100% successful in the sites he blocks. All are correct none that shouldn’t be are blocked. The ALP is tossed out at the next election. The Liberals win in a landslide and Tony Abbott is the new Minister for communications. Not a nice thought is it? That would be senator Conroy’s fault.

Senator Conroy’s 40 million dollars would be much better spent and far more effective on extra police to crack down on child pornography. Oh I forgot, he can’t give that to another department can he?

Obama’s Internet Revolution Begins.

http://www.toptechnews.com/news/Obama-Brings-Cyber-Sensibility/story.xhtml?story_id=0320013Q3J4W&full_skip=1

1,645 replies on “Censorship”

Loved the bit about the launch of the GST to the media. Costello had worked night and day on it for an entire year, and Howard was supposed to do a ten minute intro and hand over to the Treasurer.

After an hour of droning on, the Rodent introduced Costello! LOL

Says it all really.

Bill Clinton to campaign for Martin in Georgia.

Three weeks before Georgia’s December 2 Senate runoff vote, former President Bill Clinton – the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state – will stump for his party’s candidate Jim Martin, locked in a tight race with incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss.

To continue click here

Republicans ask: Just how bad is it?

Party leaders agree that the GOP has had a rough go of it at the polls in recent years.

How could they not?

Since 2004, they’ve gone from 55 Senate seats to no more than 43 once this year’s last winners are determined, and from a 29-seat edge in the House to a 30 seat hole—and now they’ve lost the presidency, too.

They differ, though, on whether the heavy losses Republicans suffered in the past two election cycles were a result of unique circumstances and the ever-swinging political pendulum or structural problems that could keep them shut out of power for years to come.

The sad, sad, story is continued here. Has anyone got any tissues?

My wife displayed some interest in watching the doco on the vainglorious rodent. I pointed out that this would also entail watching such people as Costello, Reith (yuk), Kroger (aughhhhhh), Abbott (eek), Dubya (WTF he’s toast) and the like. Watching it would be like observing a corpse rot.

We didn’t miss skipping it at all 🙂

Senate Races in 2010

The Votemaster at electoral-vote.com has listed all of the 2010 Senate races and out of the 16 Democratic and 19 Republican seats that will be up for reelection, there are a total of 14 Republicans and only 3 Democrats that could be facing competitive races. Some of those races require a strong candidate from the challenger’s side for the race to be competitive so currently the seats in play total 9 Republicans and 2 Democrats.

The Democrats have good takeover possibilities in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania and maybe Florida if they can field a strong candidate. If Kathleen Sibelius runs for the Senate, they will be competitive in Kansas and if Janet Napolitano runs in Arizona, they have a chance there, too. Maybe even in North Carolina again. The best case scenario at this moment appears to be another six seats, on top of the 12 to 14 they got in 2006 and 2008.

“For our kind, politics and free-will are mutually exclusive. It is our curse.”

So, lie back and think of Bennelong, eh Ecky?

My wife, like Harry, had no desire to see anything of the Rodent again, even a slamming of him. I more or less concurred.

Still … if there are fun bits, keep us posted.

Didn’t watch it, but sign me up for anything that exposes the corrupt bigotry of the Howard years.

Although I can’t say I’m tremendously pleased with the ALP at present either. What with the internet censorship and the retention of the Lord’s prayer etc.

I wonder how many years it will take for the left to come into ascendance in Australian politics.

2010 contest for Kansas Senate heats up in a hurry.

The waning days of 2008 are seeing the first big race of 2010 emerge as House members lay the groundwork to replace retiring Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.).

Less than 72 hours after he was reelected, Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) officially entered the race for Brownback’s seat, setting the stage for a potential primary battle with the state’s other Republican House member, Rep. Todd Tiahrt.

For more of the Kansas Senate seat 2010 click here

I watched The Howard Years, and for me it was compelling TV. I loved the walk through history, and all the reminders of why I hate Howard with a passion that knows no bounds. I think it’s a good format – there’s basically no journalistic commentary, so any bias is expected, as it’s coming from politicians and not so infuriating if an ABC journalist purported to be balanced.

There’s not as much slinging of mud as I would like, but whenever it occurred, I enjoyed it. Last night highlighted his shrill performance in front of the Reconciliation meeting, and his appalling, opportunistic handling of Pauline Hanson. I had forgotten the details but even Dolly Downer spoke out against Hanson against Howard’s will, and got a wrap over the knuckles. Costello preferenced Labor before One Nation and likewise got reprimanded. It was such an ugly period in our history.

I was struck, however, how most of the interviewees, even when impliedly criticising him showed no contempt for Howard in retrospect. Downer was laughing off Howard’s treatment of One Nation – so any thought that he could act honourably even on that occasion, was down the toilet.

110 Gaffhook Brilliant interview with Barack and Michelle. I think Barack has used more words in that interview than the idiot did in the previous 8 years.

110
Gaffhook

There’s a waxing lyrical revue of the interview with Mr and Mrs President Elect on Salon, and the tone is one of relief and almost disbelief that a couple of such calibre and plain humanity are about to occupy the Whitehouse.

No gain for Obama with religious whites.

Despite Barack Obama’s aggressive courting of white weekly churchgoers, exit polls showed that just 29 percent of them voted for him this year, the same percentage that Democrats John Kerry and Al Gore won in the previous two presidential elections.

Obama’s inability to make inroads with highly religious whites — who made up about 30 percent of the electorate — came despite a favorable political landscape, with cultural issues eclipsed by the economy, and an aggressive attempt by Democrats to court the group over the past four years.

Click here for more of this story

106
Gaffy
That’s a cracker of a cartoon. 🙂
And thanks for the link @110
I’ve been looking forward to that interview.
d/ling it now.

115 & 116
Chris and Kirri
Yeah everywhere i trawl there are rave revues over the interviews and it was 60 minutes highest ratings in 9 years with somewhere like 24 Mil tuning in to it.

Anyone watching the CBS interview with Obama, find your tone controls and kill the treble, because they recorded it with way too much gain in the high frequencies and every ‘s’ sounds like a steam train, which gets pretty annoying to my ears!

Franken hones absentee case ahead of Minn. recount.

Democrat Al Franken’s Senate campaign, trailing slightly just before a statewide recount, argued Monday that a key Minnesota election board should examine rejected absentee ballots before certifying the race results.

Those ballots are at the heart of legal and procedural disputes that have emerged as the near-deadlocked election moves into this week’s manual recount of more than 2.9 million ballots.

Republican Sen. Norm Coleman leads by 206 votes — a lead so slim that it triggered the automatic recount.

More here…

Clinging precariously to my disintegrating roof on Sunday the one thought going through my mind as my neighbourhood was vacuumed up and redistributed by nature’s fury, was:

“I wonder if my friends on Politic 101 are safe.”

As my trees were plucked from their moorings and rendered horizontal and aloft before shooting down the street like leafy witches brooms running late for a hexing – I thought,

“Is this happening to the entire world? Is it the End of All Things? I hope my Politic 101 Comrades are safe.”

As my house was dismantled and flung to the four winds and I sat, wet and cold on soggy mud, cut off from the world as the fury raged all around, I comforted myself knowing:

“If this is Brisbane’s Katrina and the powers that be cut us off, my pals at Politic 101 will hold fast to their social conscienses. They will not desert us.”

Now I’ve clambered out from under the mud and crawled exhausted into my office where it is dry and I can get a cup of coffee. It’s been over 30 hours in darkness till now. Ferny Grove is a mess and The Gap is worse. The news reports I’ve seen online tell me that the disaster at The Gap and Ferny Grove has been transmitted to the world.

You’d think that the mention of “Ferny Grove is a disaster area” would have someone stop mid-chatter and type – “Doesn’t Ferny Grover come from there?”

Bastards.

114

Thanks fo that, KatieLou. I suppose Ecky was right and i should’ve watched it. But it sounds depressing, even as history. There is such a litany of things you almost forget some of them.

It seems one myth might have been busted, judging by the reprimands to Dolly and Tip. Hansonism support was never about genuine belief or a gut feeling for what the electorate wanted. (Hence the ‘no comment’ do nothing response). He was trying to exploit racism in a way which wouldn’t backfire, as it did with Enoch Powell.
Sadly, he succeeded, at least for some time.

Glad to hear you’re OK Ferny and sorry that none of us mentioned it.
The sad truth is…. I didn’t even know there actually *was* a place called Ferny Grove.
Mentions of storms in Brissie didn’t permeate this far south.
(I was too busy ducking the media due to Howard overload.)
What’s more, after a quick check on google, it looks like we’re lucky there’s any of Ferny Grove left!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2Tw3GnYrkI
Hope you can recover what you’ve lost.
Cheers Paddy

ROTFLMAO

Like the guy in the plane, and the penguin.

You truly are a bastard Chris. 😆

I still can’t believe that footage of the one armed plane!!!

133
paddy

Hmmm, suspected as much, so I whipped it off to a pilot friend with the admonition: DO NOT attempt this at home!

Besides, wings don’t ‘fall’ off, they get ripped off by massive forces maybe, but not during a fairly routine roll. It all had the ‘doctored’ feel to it.

Hi all – G
Ferny G – glad to hear you landed lightly back on the ground on one wing after your tornado flight with all the cows and trucks! Do you need a tarp?
——————–
Oh, dear. It gets more likely that Billary will get Sec. of State in Barry’s administration. What a pity they are getting a guernsey (especially after that Chief of Staff pick, who is about as pro-Israel on the M-East problem as you would get):

Clinton Will Accept Obama’s Offer
Sen. Hillary Clinton plans to accept the job of Secretary of State offered by President-elect Obama, “who is reaching out to former rivals to build a broad coalition administration,” the Guardian has learned.
However, the Washington Post says a formal offer hasn’t been made yet but notes “there is an understanding” that if Sen. Clinton “can sort out her husband’s global work… she would have a good, if not completely certain, shot at it.”
Said Clinton confidant James Carville: “There’s a lot of momentum in the direction of this happening.”

Ferny, storm boy, we all send our warmest (and driest) thoughts!

JV, Hillary will make one tough Sec State and Obama must heal the rift with something more than tokenism. Now she really gets to fly in under fire! LOL

Besides, it’s hard to see her trudging back to the senate and being Mrs Team Player after the last few years. Nup, she’d only fester, and that’s not healthy.

By the way, I really liked the Obamas on 40 minutes (between Viagra ads FFS! LOL). They really come across as people, thinking, expressive, and calm. Can it be real? The buffoon in residence is really making way for them?

Pinch me.

If you want a laugh about the “Howard Years” then read Gerard Henderson’s take on it in today’s SMH.

Poor Gerard is crying into his keyboard that the Liberals have given the Left (as in the AB friggin’ C!!!!) to (re)-write their history for them.

And as for Julie Bishop flouncing about on Good News Week, doesn’t she realise she’s dancing with the enemy? Tokyo Julie forgets that McDermot and friends used to pillory Howard once a week, and here she is cavorting with them!

Oh, oh, the shame, the grovelling shame!

(God, Gerard cracks me up! It’s his cardigan view of the world…it’s so dated).

KR & Chris
Yes, nothing wrong with making peace, and yes, Hillary is tough under sniper fire, but she is she capable with her Zionist baggage of bringing change to the US’s approach to the M-East? A new more neutral approach not involving sending Israel pallets of Tim Tams every time they perpetrate another outrage in Gaza?

KR
Just read Henderson’s piece. It must be great to still see things as simple ‘left’ or ‘right’ from behind the ramparts like that.

Ta JV, Paddy, CB and Kirri,
I must confess I surrendered to hyperbole above. So out of character – must be post storm stress disorder.

My house still stands, though it now has a skylight it didn’t have before. I’m told the roof tilers will be able to plug that hole without much difficulty. Other than that a screen door was torn off and my vegie patch flattened (my lettuce!! my tomatoes!!!).

On the positive side, a troublesome tree that was covered in a noxious vine and clogging my gutters is now missing. Actually I think it’s moved next door.

The power was returned late last night after about 30 hours of darkness. I guess I can add the fridge contents to the damage bill.

But everyone is safe and repairs are imminent. A few folks around here have lost roofs and around 30 homes are completely wrecked.

Puts my small hole in the roof in perspective.

Ferny -[Puts my small hole in the roof in perspective.]
Can you leave it open for a month for Santa?

[my vegie patch flattened (my lettuce!! my tomatoes!!!).]
Mmmm … tossed salad, nice.
🙂

Gee Crikey is doing well with its’ video of the day.
That’s two zingers in a row.
This one, is perhaps the best piece of schadenfreude re the sub-prime debacle I seen for ages.
I hope the denialists featured in these clips, are suitably rewarded with the contempt they deserve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

Gosh, you can now buy ANZ shares under $13. It’s been nearly eight years since you could do that!

It’s truly ugly out there.

KR 140

If i had no interest in The Howard Years then i definately have no interest in Gerard Hendersons pathetic whimperings about it lol

I feel your pain in Gerards sense of lostness lol

JV 141

Have you noted with horror all the endorsements Hillary is getting for S of S?….topped off by Henry K. Untill i hear something coming from Barry’s team i aint biting on this. The media push by the usual suspects is on AGAIN but we shall see…….

144

……………………………………. lol

Hey FG – would have asked after you but I’ve been too busy trying to get drinkable water to The Gap.

Nice to hear you made it through relatively unscathed.

147
Harry
It’s certainly a case of check out who’s suggesting it’s a done deal re: Hilary. I mean, who could believe in James Carville as a neutral source. 🙂
I hope Obama doesn’t pick her. But I’ll accept there might be a realpolitic issue that can’t be denied.

Meanwhile, I finally got to watch the Obama’s interviw on 40 mins.
Wow!! They don’t half look and sound good.
Much as I idolize our own Kev and Terese. 😆

It’s really like comparing Phar Lap to a shetland pony. 👿

Rats! interviw= interview and I’m still not sure where that Obama apostrophe should go. Speillchuckers and grammar boys should hang their heads in shame!!

Ferny – I did think about you Brizzy guys this morning, and I did wonder how you were, but I apologise that I didn’t write it down. I’m glad you’re OK, and I apologise for being inconsiderate. It must have been quite scary.

Paddy 149 said
“I hope Obama doesn’t pick her. But I’ll accept there might be a realpolitic issue that can’t be denied.”

I agree totally with that Paddy. I hope he don’t pick her but i trust his judgement. And i gotta say it feels REALLY weird saying i trust a president of the USA……..but i do. Its really friggin weird. 2 years ago i never would have thought it possible. I despaired and despised them. Barry is gonna do things i personally disagree with but……….

Him and Michelle are impressive and determined and the old ideology is wrung out. There just might be cause to hope.

I read something that commented that the Secretary of State position stops Hillary campaigning for 2012 – the job is just too full on to campaign for president. Plus, in recent terms, the Secretary of State has not been a natural progression to president. So I’m pleased about those arguments. But I also want Barack to choose someone who will be great in that position. I trust him not to f*ck it up.

Harry & Paddy & Katielou
[I hope Obama doesn’t pick her. ]
I too hope it is all establishment hype on the impending appointment, but Bill has apparently said that Hillary would accept S. of S., if it is offered, and there was the meeting between Hillary and Obama last week in Chicago. Hopefully the vetting now going on will show Bill’s money webs would create too much of a conflict of interest.
——————-
Here’s one Obama campaign aide – who will be appointed to the White House counsel’s office next year – who most certainly doesn’t support Hillary, or didn’t in the primaries:

Should Hillary Rodham Clinton be nominated as secretary of state, she’s likely to receive a friendly reception on the Hill, especially given all the wonderful things Republicans were saying about the senator from New York in recent months. But should anyone need fodder for an old-fashioned grilling before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, they can get all they need in a blistering memo that Obama campaign aide Greg Craig put out on March 11.
After a passing shot at Clinton’s “failed effort” on health insurance, Craig, a senior State Department staffer during her husband’s presidency, argued that her “claims of foreign policy experience are exaggerated.” He then delivers a claim-by-claim rebuttal, from her helping to broker the peace in Northern Ireland — “gross exaggeration” — to helping open Kosovo’s borders, to urging President Bill Clinton to intervene in Rwanda and so on, including that sniper-fire thing in Bosnia.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/16/AR2008111601842_2.html?hpid=news-col-blogs

Still, the main thing is that Barry gets his programme going and Hillary, if she is appointed by him, would hardly in a position not to champion his objectives and follow his strategies. It’s up to the Kid to decide who is best for what. We’ll just have to take it and like it.

JV

Yeah it would be disappointing if Hillary got this job. I would be pleased to see her get a domestic cabinet post but S of S just doesn’t seem a good match. Way too much drama and conflict with Bill and truly scary how all the neocons and silent neocons are cheering her on.

Richardson seems most suited to the post when everything is considered but then that would really piss off the Hillbillies if Judas got it. I’m not real impressed with Richardson personally, he’s a plodder in the Beazley mould but would be a safe soldier for Obama as S of S.

Then there is Kerry. Another plodder. Of the big 3 i’m kinda hoping for him. Not that i like him personally much…being a bonesman n all…but i like the fact that if he gets the job then Russ Feingold gets Chairman of Foreign Relations , and that i’d be happy about.

And how about Gen. Jim Jones?…..don’t rule out the quiet ones.

And how about Samantha Powers? she’s been laying low……nuh…..maybe next term.

Via Crikey today.

The Howard Years on the ABC averaged 1.189 million at 8.30pm, as did Seven’s repeat of City
For pity’s sake ticksters.
If you *must* watch the horrid rodent, at least you could lie about it to the ratings agencies.
Oz needs its own “Bradley effect”, so the nasty little turd doesn’t stick his snout above the parapets and claim that “the people” really love him.

FFS With ratings like those…..We’ll be seeing John and Janette on dancing with the stars and God only knows where that will end up.

Hopefully we could slot him in as ambassador to Afghanistan. 👿

ROTF

And how about Samantha Powers? she’s been laying low

Naughty naughty……
Still, we could hope. :mrgreen:

I’d forgotten about Ms Power. Why not indeed? She’s no plodder. And she has the credentials – check her Wiki biography – even if she did call Hillary a ‘monster’. That was how Hillary was behaving, after all.

Until she imploded during the primaries, I was a supporter of Ms Clinton. But then she did seem a bit like Salieri to Obama’s Mozart.
However during the campaign, and since she’s re esstablished herself in my opinion (and Salieri isn’t a bad composer either). I would have thought that her interest would be better suited to an internal posting (eg health) or even to shepherding health reforms through the Senate.
Anyhow, let’s stop bagging her, and start recognising what a change she’s made to American politics.
BTW no one’s mentioning Al Gore for an environment post. We could then make Michael Moore Court Jester in recognition of his role in helping Nader make GWB POTUS

Alaska, Minnesota set for key steps in unresolved Senate races.

Officials in Alaska, one of three states yet to certify winners in the November 4 U.S. Senate races, say they hope to have nearly all ballots counted on Tuesday.
And officials in Minnesota, home of one of the other unresolved races, intend to rule Tuesday whether certain rejected absentee ballots should be considered in a recount scheduled to start Wednesday.

Continued on CNN…

Obama Team Anything but Shy and Retiring.

Whatever happened to Mr. No-Drama-Obama?

After running a campaign known for its almost military-like cool and discipline, the president-elect is now assembling a staff whose members are known for their combativeness.

His chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is a take-no-prisoners politician known for his willingness to butt heads with adversaries. Mr. Obama’s top liaison to Congress, Phil Schiliro, is a skilled political infighter. His press secretary, Robert Gibbs, is no shrinking violet, as one of the few people who can boast of shouting down Sean Hannity of Fox News on Mr. Hannity’s own show.

You may need to be registered. Click here to continue

HarryH 2 164 – That’s an excellent piece. I hope Barry and/or his key advisors read it.

Right-wing bloggers see their chance.

Conservative groups are not celebrating the election of Barack Obama, with perhaps one exception: right-wing bloggers, who see a ripe opportunity to catch up with the left.

A Washington in the hands of Democrats offers online pundits on the right a fresh political target and a chance to vent against their ideological opponents. The reverse scenario allowed their liberal counterparts to blossom during the blogosphere’s infancy, when the GOP controlled the Congress and the Bush administration held power between 2003 and 2006.

continued here

Georgia.
Martin uses Obama’s name to woo voters.

Democrat Jim Martin is continuing to invoke Barack Obama’s name in his campaign advertising, as he hopes to energize African-American turnout in the Senate runoff against Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.).

After playing a video clip of Chambliss saying we “may not be in a recession” at a July campaign event, Martin then accuses Chambliss of opposing Obama’s economic proposals in his latest spot.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1108/The_ObamaMartin_connection.html

On the internet censorship issue, I had a chat with the guys/gals at GetUp recently. They are currently putting together a big campaign on this issue which will be unveiled soon, something they think will be effective at putting an end to the government’s plans. We wait with baited breath…

Christ Ferny, i just had a look at the radar and you had better start callin them two by two, but get a big canoe.

Geez, Ferny, glad it wasn’t an arm or a leg, but I’m concerned that the hole in your roof will facilitate your mind to go wandering and that is surely a matter of concern for thinking people, Brisbane-wide.

Lettuce are a bastard to grow even under premium conditions. Have you got a JAP pumpkin vine, watermelon and blackberries?

I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_mlHBO5iAJ8

171 ChrisB
[ Should attract a lot of money from ISP’s and the Adult industry.]

And hopefully also from the blogging community… and anyone else who uses the Internet and doesn’t want the government telling them what information they can or cannot have.

Good for a laugh!

One sunny day in 2009, an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Ave , where he’d been sitting on a park bench.
He spoke to the US Marine standing guard and said, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”
The Marine looked at the man and said, “Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”
The old man said, “Okay” and walked away.
The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.” The Marine again told the man, “Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”
The man thanked him and, again just walked away.
The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same US Marine, saying “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”
The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, “Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I’ve told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don’t you understand?”

The old man looked at the Marine and said, “Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it. ”

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, “See you tomorrow, Sir.”

This is the overseas organisation writing about our Internet filter.

Aussie govt: Don’t criticize our (terrible) ‘Net filters.

Australia’s plan to subject every Internet user in the country to mandatory content filtering just keeps getting stranger. Although the current government says it simply inherited the program from its predecessor and that the filtering will be voluntary, it seems intent on continuing the rollout plans even as it has become apparent that some level of filtering will be mandatory. Now, an Australian newspaper has uncovered documents showing that the government minister responsible for the program has ignored performance and accuracy problems with the filters, then tried to suppress criticism of the plan by private citizens.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081024-aussie-govt-dont-criticize-our-terrible-net-filters.html

Labor’s Mandatory ISP Internet Blocking Plan.

On 21 March 2006, the Federal Labor Opposition announced in a media release that a Labor Government would require all Internet Service Providers (”ISPs”) to implement a mandatory Internet filtering/blocking system.

This proposal was retained as policy by the Rudd Labor government elected on 24th November 2007 (see Media Release by Stephen Conroy 19 November 2007 – Federal Labor To Lead On Cyber-Safety). Further information about the policy is in Labor’s Plan for Cyber-safety released prior to the election. Few concrete details have been announced since the election, but early in January 2008 Minister Conroy confirmed that the policy remained in place. EFA and other concerned groups are currently attempting to obtain additional information. EFA is strongly opposed to this policy, for the reasons outlined below.

continued….
http://www.efa.org.au/censorship/mandatory-isp-blocking/

‘Net filters “required” for all Australians, no opt-out.

Australians may not be able to opt out of the government’s Internet filtering initiative like they were originally led to believe. Details have begun to come out about Australia’s Cyber-Safety Plan, which aims to block “illegal” content from being accessed within the country, as well as pornographic material inappropriate for children. Right now, the system is in the testing stages, but network engineers are now saying that there’s no way to opt out entirely from content filtering.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081016-net-filters-required-for-all-australians-no-opt-out.html

Gaffy, didn’t Frost crack up Jon Stewart with his line from Nixon about the Russian leaders: “they never know when they are being taped” ! LOL

Gotta say it took Stewart a while to recover from the irony of that one!

182
Kirri

Yeah i cracked up too.
I couldn’t get over how he looks now especially when it showed him earlier.
They must have been censuring them after they taped them. LOL

Australian ISPs pan government-mandated ‘Net filtering plan.

As if Australians weren’t riled up enough over their government’s Internet filtering initiative, the level of discontent has risen amid recent revelations that certain filters will not be optional, as citizens were first led to believe. Criticism is building against Australia’s Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, and now Australia’s ISPs are joining the dogpile.

The following piece shows shades of ARROGANCE already from the government. It is a very big worry if arrogance is starting to show up so early in a government.

That brings us to where we are today. Michael Malone, an executive at iiNet, one of Australia’s big ISPs, referred to the filtering trials as “ridiculous,” according to The Age. Still, he plans to participate in them when they start on December 24? Why? Because he hopes to provide the Australian government with actual data on the pointlessness of such a system. “They’re not listening to the experts, they’re not listening to the industry, they’re not listening to consumers, so perhaps some hard numbers will actually help,” Malone said.

Maybe they learnt nothing from the Keating years.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081111-isps-talk-back-about-australias-non-optional-filtering-planaustralian-isps-pan-government-mandated-net-filtering-plan.html

185
Oh what a hoot Chris. 😆

Conroy said, according to The Age. When pressed about how the government would define “unwanted content,” Conroy pulled a Sarah Palin and simply stated that he couldn’t answer those questions but that he would get back to the Senate with more info.

Pulling a Palin goes into the lexicon.

187
Chris
No time like the present to send the link to Conrod to let him know what a fucken big fool he is making of himself and Australia in the eyes of those parts of the world that are still free and have freedom of speech.

Limelight fades on Lone Star state.

When President George W. Bush turns the Oval Office over to Barack Obama, he might as well dump the Lone Star of Texas into the bed of his pickup and haul it off with him.

The 28th state has loomed large over Washington for much of the past century — think the president, his father, Lyndon Johnson, Sam Rayburn, John Tower, Dick Armey and Tom DeLay.

But at noon on Jan. 20, Texas becomes — please don’t throw things — just another state.

As we see the lowering of the Confederate Flag. The defeated rag tag Confederate Army finally surrenders. They slink off with their tale between their legs. 😈

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15713.html

Ferny

Just saw that Ferny Grove was in the epicentre of the Brisbane storm. My thoughts immediately turned to whether that bottle of wine was safe. 😉

Hope you’re OK

188 Gaffhook

I have sent it off to about ten people who I consider important in the ALP. Including Kevin Rudd, John Faulkner, Julia Guillard, Nicola Roxon, Peter Garrett and Maxine McKew to name a few. As well as them I sent one to Conroy.

http://www.alp.org.au

Coleman and Franken Gear Up for a Date in Court

The Minnesota Senate race is so close (Coleman is ahead by 206 votes) that a recount is required by law. Back in the old days, a recount meant that county officials went and counted the votes again. Nowadays it means it’s lawyer time. Both Al Franken (D) and Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) are preparing for court fights over absentee ballots where the voter or a county official made some clerical error on the envelope. The election could hinge on how these court cases turn out. On the one hand, the law says that a vote lacking a full address is invalid, so an absentee ballot without a zip code is invalid. On the other hand, Minnesota law is designed to count every vote if the intent of the voter can be determied, which argues against discarding ballots on minor technical grounds (no zip code, signed on the wrong line, etc.), when everything else is perfectly in order. Hundreds of absentee ballots have been voided for reasons like this and what happens to them may determine the outcome of the election.

http://www.electoral-vote.com

192
Chris
There will soon be a rehash of one of Churchills orations;
Never has such a fine country been fucked up by so many do gooders in such a short time.

We will remain the laughing stock of the south pacific for a long time to come if these bastards don’t get their heads out of the sand.
We can hardly go anywhere in Europe without a visa because of the idiotic war mongering policies of the Rodents lot and now we will not be able to go anywhere without a censorship tag in our ears.
Meanwhile a little nation like the Kiwis are free to go where they choose without a visa.
Meanwhile as they waste all their time, our money and energy on wallowing in this bullshit our hospital waiting lists are growing by the minute. People waiting for elective surgery would rather the money be spent on fixing that problem than spending it on trying to stop grown up adults from watching someone fornicating. That is if they wanted to watch it.
When you read that link you posted above they would have more chance of pissing in the popes hat than preventing people from bypassing it so what is the real agenda.

And the biggest joke of all is that Canberra is the hub of porno flicks. Right under the noses of every Federal Feral Politicians who graces the honourable benches in the lower and upper house. Where? Oh thats right, right there in fucken Canberra right under their wowser fucken noses.

Reminds me of the cartoon i posted at 106.

The porno studios are probably in the old parliament house.

What is the point of censorship on the internet when it is sold in bulk right under their fucken noses and has been for years.
Let the coppers deal with the kids porn stuff and leave us adults alone for fucks sake.
Just for a laugh i googled ‘porn flicks canberra’ and there are 86000 pages.
They may close those pages down but that will not eliminate the porn flicks for sale in Canberra.
How fucken stupid does that make them look.
If an adult wants to look at porn as far as i am concerned they can go for it, it does not worry me at all.

Diogs,
The wine was in imminent danger when the roof caved in and the angry winds tossed it up into the air and threw it forcefully at the nearest wall…..which was, by then, making its way hastily down the street.

But never fear – I threw my body in front of it and hung on for dear life – eventually passing the wall near the intersection at the bottom of the hill and claiming the flag for the first bit of debris to hit the bottom.

So tonight the vino supremo is safe and sound in its cradle.

196
Ferny
I hope you qualify for Kev’s $1,000 offer.
I mean a g would buy a couple of good bottles. 🙂
Stuff the roof and drown your sorrows.

Paddy, I’ve no idea how to qualify and, really don’t deserve anything. I arrived home tonight to find the roof tiler had already fixed the hole (so the brain is safe Ecky – demented but safe) and the other minor damage won’t cost much to fix. Not sure what to do about the tree that’s now leaning against my neighbour’s house. I guess I’ll need to call in someone with a chain saw. And after 30 hours without power I guess I should chuck the contents of the fidge.

All up it’ll cost me my insurance excess of around $300. All around me houses have lost roofs, the guy up the street had his veranda torn off (I hope he wasn’t sitting on it watching the storm at the time) and around 30 houses are completely destroyed. So, I’m not gonna whinge about $300.

Apart from that, everything is back to normal at my place.

Comments are closed.