Sign an e-petition! 
Above is a thanks I got from Get Up! Australia; I signed an e-petition for the internet to remain uncensored!!
I'm strongly against the whole 'Clean Feed' idea. It'll never work. It's a joke. I don't understand how the government actually believes that this idea will work. It would be impossible to moniter all sites with apparent 'inappropriate material' or 'harmful to your health' content. Who will be the official person deciding what is harmful for each and every individual in Australia to view?? Will assignment about touchy issues become impossible to persue due to this ridiculous idea? I HOPE NOT. This entire clean feed 'idea' will be a complete waste of tax payers money. Staff will constantly be needed to 'protect' society from the facts of life.
Respond to a professional blogger at a major news site!
I responded to professional blogger, Will Temple, who posted the question: "What's the best thing since sliced bread?" He writes for the news blog 'news.com.au' Tempted to state the obvious and write 'basically everything' I of responded 'the internet'. The site is somewhat like ninemsn news. Could easily waste some hours on both these sites. FYI - Sliced bread first went on sale on July 7, 1928, in a small US town. The microchip also got a huge mention in the blog responses.
HAVE YOUR SAY - WHAT'S THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD??!!
http://blogs.news.com.au/index.php/news/comments/best_thing_since_sliced_bread/P160/
What is Barack Obama up to today?!
Today, September 21, US President Obama acknowledged two Albany Law School graduates, N.Y State Majority Conference Leader, John L. Sampson and the states Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo. He then visited Hudson Valley Community College. to talk about education, technology-based economic development (especially in the area of clean energy) and workforce development.
http://albanylawdiversity.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/president-obama-visits-the-capital-region-today-september-21-2009/
Find out who your local, state and federal representatives are.
Local Representative
Councillor Dawn Crichlow, OAM.
State Representatives
Peter Lawlor.
Federal Representative
Mr. Steven Ciobo MP.
Look up the Queensland or Australian hansard to find the last time your local member spoke in parliament.
The last time Mr. Ciobo spoke in parliament was on September 15, 2009. "She is treating question time with contempt!"
HE'S A REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE !!
Let your local member know what you thought about their last speech.
Councillor Dawn Crichlow, OAM. Well, the truth is, I couldn't find her last speech online!! BUT I sent a 'well done' like email to her at gbrown@goldcoast.qld.gov.au . I said that I thoroughly enjoyed her last speech and thought that it was very heartfelt. That the way in which she said it made her sound like a person for the people.
Read the lecture and the readings, pursue a couple of the topics that you find most interesting and then post your blog with your well-considered thoughts about the theory and practice of politics.
In the lecture notes, democracy is mentioned dozens of times, and the definition is given as a 'government of the people, by the people, for the people.' This definition was given by Abraham Lincoln. Most dictionaries defines democracy as 1) Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives. 2) Political or social unit based upon its rule. 3) A social condition equality and respect for the individual within a community.In a perfect world, the people would have a voice in each decision the govenment makes. Yet this is obviously not in effect. We, as a society, have local representatives that speak for us, although they clearly cannot take every individual's thoughts into consideration.
Media and technology play a vital role in a democracy. They can greatly influence who the public will vote for. An example of the media involving themselves in politics, is the rather recent skits that were performed on Saturday Night Live (SNL), during the 2008 Presidential campaign. The skits went around the world, not only on sites like Youtube, but also making it onto national news stations. Tina Fey played Sarah Palin; she drew on comments that Palin had made throughout the campaign to make Palin sound rather dumb. Below is a link to a vid of just one of the skits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cf9NqaZ4fw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdDqSvJ6aHc&feature=related
Some celebrities even made commercials for the public to watch online, protesting the McCain/Palin Campaign. Knowing full well that the public looks up to them, they give their very harsh opinions in hope that the public will follow their lead. An example of just one celebrity who protested McCain was Hayden Panettiere. The following vid contains course language.
Saturday Night Live has been around for decades and has always commented on the various Presidential Campaigns. In 1976, commedian Chevy Chase played the part of President Gerald Ford. He portrayed him as a bumbling idiot and it is thought that these numerous skits over the campaign months, cost Ford being re-elected as US President.
David Letterman, Jay Leno, and basically every other stand up comedian with his own show threw punches at Palin and McCain during the 2008 campaign. Viewers quickly saw their campaign as a
complete joke and it became the laughing stock for the majority of Democrats.
David Letterman in fact let his audience know that he respects McCain because he fought in the Vietnam war, was held in a Vietnam camp for four years, and when told he was able to leave, he refused to leave because not everyone was allowed to go home. The vid is below.
Media and technology have the ability to impact on an election. Because we live in a democracy, the people have the vote! When the media convinces the public that a certain party is ridiculously stoopid, the public feels they have no choice but to vote the other way.
When the 2007 Election was on, channel 10 show Rove asked Jojn Howard to appear on the show, but he refused. Instead, Kevin Rudd was a guest and showed that he was easy to talk to and had a great sense of humour. This made Howard look like someone who didn;t have time for the public.
This could be one of the factors that helped Rudd win the election. After Rudd or 'Ruddy' appeared on Rove, they made a segment dedicated to him, called 'Kevin Rudd, PM.' It is a parody of James Bond. An eppisode is below.
What do you think of the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called 'Clean Feed')?
What place does censorship have in a democracy?
As mentioned at the start of this oh-so-long post, I gave my opinion on this crap clean feed plan.
IT WILL NEVER WORK!
The government has enough trouble trying to combat child porn on the internet, and is still unsuccessful! How the hell do they intend to block every site or page that may be harmful to our wellbeing? The answer: THEY CAN'T!
This clean feed idea is just that; AN IDEA! It was only mentioned by a politician and now it has been blown way out of proportion!
BUT the question is, what do I think about the 'plan.' I think it is a joke, it will never work. If they decided to do this, there would be a major uproar. The public won't stand for this.
Censorship has no real place in a democracy. A democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. If the majority of the county is against the plan, and it still goes forth, then we are NOT living in a democracy. Our opinion must count for something for this to be a democratic society. Why does the government suddenly feel the need to censor the internet? What happened? I can confidently say that I am the one who looks up the sites I visit and therefore it is my decision as to what is detrimental to my mental health. Who will be the one who decides what are 'good' and 'bad' sites to visit??
The clean feed plan is illogical! They don't only think that it is neccessary to block certain sites, they want to dictate how we communicate online.
Here's the Get Up! video.
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