Something which has appeared on the BBC a couple of times now, but not once that I have seen in our own local media, is the Rudd government’s plan to erect a firewall to block Australians’ access to certain websites. The “cyber-safety plan” apparently comprised part of the 2008-09 budget, but was unfortunately overlooked by the Liberals so they could complain about taxes on luxury cars. The plan’s stated aim is to “help protect Australian children from the dangers of the internet” (as seen on the DBCDE website). Sounds good, right?
Well no, actually, it’s not good at all. I don’t care how many government-appointed consultative committees there are, how much they educate young Australians on how to be “responsible cyber-citizens”, how many different groups they insist they will be “working with”, nor how many excuses they offer as to why a mandatory firewall is necessary. Plainly and simply, it is not. This plan is an erosion of our rights, nothing more and nothing less — and should be opposed.
Read on…
Every day, my family gets a phone call (or two, or three) from real estate agents trying to push us out of our home. “Would you like us to evaluate your house? No obligations! No string attached!” or, “Did you know that we did a good job selling no.39? You should consider letting us sell your house,” or, “Did you know that house prices in your area have never been higher? Now’s a great time to sell!” We get the same thing in our maiboxes, too. Day in, day out.
The irritating thing is that these real estate agents aren’t just being shady — they’re actually pressuring us on a daily basis because it is my council’s policy to push us out of our home. The area in which I live has been designated an “urban village”. Council has decided that houses are unwelcome here; they want blocks of flats two or three storeys tall, at least fifteen dwellings apiece. Our house, which is old and situated on a huge block of land, is extremely attractive to developers — and, hence, to the council. Read on…
I have to admit that, for the last couple of weeks, I have been almost wholly absorbed in reading about the deepening crisis between Russia, Georgia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the USA, and — seemingly — the whole entire world. The kinds of things being said and done right now are the kinds of things I’ve only read about in history books, or learnt about in History class. The kinds of things being said and done right now feel like the kinds of things which will have an immense impact on our future.
It has been almost three weeks now since this conflict began, and already the media is going wild, speculating about the possibility of a “Second Cold War”. I have to confess that — despite the title of this entry — I do not believe another “Cold War” is on the (immediate) horizon, but there is no doubt that the international political landscape has been irrevocably changed. Russia has occupied huge chunks of a neighbouring independent country, and there is nothing the Western world can do about it. That is significant in itself. War with Russia is out of the question, just as it has been out of the question since 1949. Sanctions can’t be imposed when half of Europe relies on Russia for its energy supplies. All the Western world can do is criticise. “My God, Russia, it’s not 1968 any more!” That’ll show them!
Except, of course, it doesn’t. Read on…
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