tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29436243798157514622024-03-08T23:38:56.012+11:00The drought resistant philosopherAntipodean rantsJohn S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-12138546331075552502010-08-06T13:01:00.001+10:002010-08-06T13:01:24.514+10:00Australian internet filter dead in waterForners may not be aware of an extremely boring federal election in Australia right now. Indeed, few Australians seem aware of this. This is as it should be. Elections that are Interesting usually turn out to be Dangerous. But there is one good that has come out of this. The Coalition of conservative parties has decided not to support the mandatory internet filter. Given that the party most John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-55991542464023337092010-07-26T15:59:00.001+10:002010-07-26T17:09:39.877+10:00The first casualtyThe increasing intention of western and non-western governments to censor the internet is usually put in terms of "child protection", although it is very unlikely to be affected by censorship, merely by using uncensorable techniques like Torrents. But one has to wonder if the real reason is more to do with preventing this sort of thing. It turns out that we have been lied to about civilian John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-38147715461632193742010-07-05T11:10:00.001+10:002010-07-05T11:10:31.635+10:00A letter to the PMIt turns out you can write to the Prime Minister via an online form, Roger Lamb pointed out to me and others via Twitter. Here's what I wrote:
Policies that will make me not vote Labor
Dear Prime Minister
Congratulations on your accession to the office. I am impressed that you eschew faux religiosity and do not apologise for your marital state. It's about time we had such honesty in our John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-27914959523864897842010-07-05T09:32:00.001+10:002010-07-05T12:09:56.820+10:00Cardinal Fang gives notpology, and evades real problemCardinal Fang, also known as George Pell the Ignorant, has avoided an apology (at least his Melbourne colleague gave one) for child abuse by priests int he Catholic Church, on the grounds that he did that already, and isn't it time to move on?
George, if you have any decency at all, open up the Church's correspondence on pedophilia. Let us know what the Church knew, when and who. Hide no details.John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-31893610133590253712010-06-26T16:36:00.001+10:002010-06-26T16:36:05.871+10:00Parenting and the lawSydney Morning Herald has a couple of well expressed opinion pieces about legal aspects of adoption by homosexual parents and on abusive fathers and the Family Law Act. Both are sensible and you should read them.
John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-41010727686217023132010-06-25T10:38:00.001+10:002010-06-25T10:41:44.302+10:00On recent developments, and a prospectiveSo, we have a woman PM. I'm not particularly impressed by that - we should have had equal representation in the Parliament thirty years ago and it's no great achievement to get a female executive now. We beat the US. Hoobloodyray.
But that she is unashamedly unmarried, and took the affirmation rather than the Anglican Oath, now that impresses me. I wonder how long it will take for Cardinal Fang John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-90389135417514449562010-05-14T11:56:00.001+10:002010-05-14T11:56:30.354+10:00On preventing illegal contentStephen Collins of EFA has a nice post to follow up Scott Ludlam's excellent speech to Parliament, in which he notes that the filter will not prevent child porn, and that there are more effective ways to deal with it. Here's my one-line summary:
The mandatory filter is a way to avoid having to do anything substantive about porn, because that would take effort, money and not get politicians a John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-24541368771832520422010-05-05T23:14:00.001+10:002010-05-05T23:14:51.721+10:00On bogansWhen I was a lad, before colour television or unleaded petrol, a "bogan" was an entirely unknown beast. Now, there's a guide. I strongly recommend it to watchers of this exotic fauna...
John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-19520191238275928482010-05-04T20:53:00.001+10:002010-05-04T20:53:54.710+10:00Ludlam gets Conroy to admit the filter is uselessThe money quote:
Folks, we're spending a lot of money to build a small empire for which the emperor has already declared failure; and yet he persists.
John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-82680938107853832282009-12-01T13:01:00.001+11:002009-12-01T13:01:52.034+11:00Filtering to be run for the Christians?Over at the EFA site, Colin Jacobs points out some worrying facts, like the Australian Christian Lobby getting briefed where the Rest of Us cannot be, about the Internet Filter. Here's what he said:
One of the reasons EFA so opposes the Government’s mandatory ISP-level filtering scheme, of course, is that once it’s in place, special interests will be knocking on the Minister’s door seeking to John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-28751974729336002002009-11-25T19:33:00.001+11:002009-11-25T19:33:41.287+11:00Rudd to oppose ACT gay marriage lawsJust as the first legal gay marriages happen in the ACT, Rudd has decided he will block those laws.
Listen carefully, Mr PM. You. Don't. Have. That. Right.
You were elected to handle federal laws and issues, not state laws, and if a state democratically passes a law that permits Australian citizens who presently lack the same rights under law as other Australians enjoy, you do not have the right John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-71632674621137639532009-11-24T17:06:00.001+11:002009-11-24T17:06:47.990+11:00Well that kills the Greens for meThe father of the modern attempt to censor the internet in Australia has, in a stunning case of hypocrisy, attacked the Labor government for its secrecy over internet filtering. Yep, Clive Hamilton! But there's worse to come! The Greens have made him their candidate for the Higgins by-election!
Fuck 'em, I say. I will no longer touch or trust the Greens as a party if they can take that John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-78128178244752658122009-09-22T12:57:00.001+10:002009-09-22T12:57:57.470+10:00Conroy's memory lapseUsually, when someone forgets on the stand some crucial bit of information, we call it evasion. A convenient lapse of memory has now been had by Stephen Conroy, who now says (in the Senate, no less) that he never intended to filter peer-to-peer internet traffic. Since this is how the child pornographers he is using as a convenient justification for government control over the internet in John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-72544515363719320182009-09-17T16:32:00.001+10:002009-09-17T16:32:15.489+10:00Shock jocks on radio and decency"At long last, sir, have you no decency?" That was the question that finally brought down that weasel Joseph McCarthy in his vile campaign to make anyone who was not right wing and equally vile isolated and marginalised in the US. His success can be seen in the present American vile right wing.
So Kyle the Vile Sandilands has been suspended for four weeks. Whooptifuckingdoo. Why hasn't he been John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-161447957295943302009-09-17T15:16:00.001+10:002009-09-17T15:16:58.454+10:00Scientologists want to gag anonymous criticismThis is not news, of course, because they have always tried to harrass and gag critics using legal and other means, but now they want the Australian legal system to do it for them. From here, which has some links you ought to read if you don't already know the back story.
John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-48139062962120126522009-09-10T00:06:00.001+10:002009-09-10T00:06:26.418+10:00Anonymous threaten dDoS against the federal governmentIt looks like the hacking group that attacked the Scientologists are going to do the same thing to Labor's government websites. I don't approve of this, because it means that Labor on the one hand will retreat into their shell and blame the hacking community for the ills of the internet. The best way to win this is for people to vote and protest. And on the other hand it is, after all, illegal, John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-69638922181539799242009-09-02T16:54:00.003+10:002009-09-02T20:29:20.376+10:00On preventive censorship versus punishmentIn the last few years, there has been an increasing tendency of so-called democratic governments to increase the amount of control they have over their population, under the guise of various "emergencies": terrorism, child pornography and of course a slightly more honest concern over property rights. Just today, the Australian attempt to mandatorily censor all internet feeds to eliminate child John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-88055383274650270082009-08-27T15:06:00.001+10:002009-08-27T15:06:42.005+10:00Oppose the anti-gays on marriageThe current Senate Inquiry into Marriage Equality has just been swamped by thousands of anti-gay submissions from the Religious Right. The inquiry is just about to close for submissions. It aims to gauge the level of public support for marriage equality across Australia. Does anti-gay discrimination have any place in our secular laws? If you think not, go here and register your PoV. Hat tip to John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-64087773155322748922009-08-26T22:09:00.001+10:002009-08-26T22:09:20.590+10:00Who should be the next advertising face of Australia?This guy:
Just mail me my $20 million, please.
John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-37667706735728369732009-08-25T12:06:00.001+10:002009-08-25T12:06:17.674+10:00Corby and the media Are we supposed to feel sorry for Corby now? Is the media's continuing obsession over her "plight" (but not the less camera-friendly Bali Nine) another beatup by a family that has been pretty good at manipulating it? Let's face it, if Corby looked like the woman who is looking after her, Renae Lawrence [see pic], she'd be ignored just as much as they are. But Lawrence is taking it like an adult.John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-60181209785888411392009-08-20T17:15:00.001+10:002009-08-20T17:15:27.309+10:00More funding for Brethren schoolsThis is pretty fucking disgusting, but it only highlights the wrongness of funding religious schools any differently to state schools. If you fund a Catholic school you have no argument against funding all religious schools, including the cults.
We should insist upon funded schools following a tight secular curriculum and not proselytising. That would sort 'em out.
John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-8040251234461827892009-08-19T21:12:00.001+10:002009-08-19T21:12:25.342+10:00The great Australian StarhuntMy mate Ian Musgrave, who is too clever for six ordinary people, has sent me this:
The Big Aussie Starhunt is well underway! I did my survey tonight, the first chance I've had with the clouds and kids. The Big Aussie Starhunt is a Australia wide event to get people more familiar with our wonderful night sky, and to raise awareness of light pollution so it's well worth participating . All you haveJohn S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-21461330960418778232009-08-14T12:44:00.001+10:002009-08-14T12:44:57.627+10:00*China* is smarter than Kevin RuddBecause they will make their internet filtering optional. You know, personal choice and freedom optional?
John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-39924272600994704232009-08-13T13:16:00.001+10:002009-08-13T13:16:14.422+10:00The Malaysia PM is smarter than RuddHe, at least, realises that an internet filter will not work to stop child porn.
John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2943624379815751462.post-60687387201721664082009-08-07T22:46:00.000+10:002009-08-07T22:50:53.784+10:00The gods or whoever bless Dick SmithFor this ad on vaccination. Also see Phil Plait's post.
John S. Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.com0