Oh shit… this is not good. Not good at all. Now that a trial is going ahead I have begun to pack my dacks and fear for our civil rights.

To summarise (No to Internet Censorship in Australia):

The Australian Federal Government is pushing forward with a plan to force Internet Service Providers [ISPs] to censor the Internet for all Australians. This plan will waste tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and slow down Internet access.

Despite being almost universally condemned by the public, ISPs, State Governments, Media and censorship experts, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is determined to force this filter into your home.

$44million has been budgeted for this so far… We do not know how ‘illegal’ material is defined… What about sex education sites? How do you remove those from the black lists? This will make Australia’s internet speed even SLOWER 0_o

But my real problem with this (aside from not being able to watch porn - or even access sites to fucking order it! lol) is what about gay communities and gay education sites?

From Melbourne Community Voice:

“If they put in a dynamic filtering scheme, these [gay sites] are the sites that would be over blocked the most, because the software is not good enough to reliably distinguish between sexuality and pornography, the technology just isn’t there yet. Sites with sexual health or other issues of sexuality could certainly be blocked.”

Senator Ludlam has similar fears, and places gay websites in the top three category of sites that would be targeted under a massive mandatory internet filtering system.

“Our concern is it would take a blacklist with 800 or 900 sites on it at the moment and create a vast grey list of tens of millions of web pages, which will inadvertently block out material you’re supposed to get such as gay and lesbian health-related information or breast cancer,” he says.

“There are people out there who believe homosexuality should be outlawed and [gay websites] are exactly the kind of material they’re going to try to get taken offline,” Ludlam continues.

“The Christian/Family lobby are the only people that are active in the media pushing for this scheme to go ahead,” he says. {Surprise-fucking-surprise!}

“Gay marriage is the most interesting example because it’s unlawful in Australia, regrettably at the moment, so that’s the kind of material they’re going to be trying to take offline because it’s illegal,” he says.

I’m all for preventing kids from seeing unsuitable media but this system can’t prevent sites that shouldn’t be blocked from being so-it shouldn’t go ahead. Going into it all gung-ho with $44million in your pocket with a system that has so many holes isn’t going to solve anything.

I’ve always been so proud being an Australian meant you had such a freedom of speech and access to the media -especially after Proposition 8- and now this… This is fucking scary. It’s 2008 and we could soon be blocked from tens of thousands of sources of valuable information :/

Also, ‘illegal content’, I wonder if fansites will be included in this..? From what I am reading the focus seems to be on pornography but still… What’s to stop them from illegal uploads etc?

Sina,

I am in tears. I feel sick. I don’t think I’ve ever been so disgusted in my life. A puppy was recently hacked to death -while alive- in Queensland, Australia. One of the two men is claiming ‘mental insanity’.

I need you to sign the petition and email the local newspaper demanding that these two men get the maximum penalty.

I cannot repeat what happened to the puppy. You can read it at the petition if you wish. Please be warned that it is very disturbing.

Thank you.

april, Sina, Jennifer,

Because we’ve all been awaiting this ever since he got “elected” the first time.

Monday, January 19, 2009 at 11:59pm is the final day of one of the worst political eras America has faced.

Feel free to invite anyone you know for this massive, world wide celebration as we all await for a new presidency that will hopefully end this error which was of having George W. Bush “elected” not just once, but twice.

If you’re a member of Face Book join this community and join in on the celebrations!

I must admit that even though I am not an American it does make me feel sick knowing the US Presidential Election is so close and that someone like Sarah Palin could have so much power-or the more horrifying thought-that she could be President if McCain dropped dead (he ain’t no spring chicken). No offense to any yanks reading but in Australia we have the saying, ‘Only in America.’ It’s as though they’ll hire someone dressed as a fucking donkey to rule their country.

Call me biased for being so anti republican but this woman makes my skin crawl and I fear for the entire world, what impact it will have on other countries, if she gains power.

Reasons this woman doesn’t get my ‘vote’:

1. She teaches Abstinence, not Sex Education. “”The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.” Clearly this didn’t work for her teenage daughter.

“Abstinence may be a laudable goal, but failing to educate teenagers about how to protect themselves from disease or unintended pregnancy is tragically misguided. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, abstinence-only programs do not reduce sexual activity, teen pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease. Every day 10,000 U.S. teens contract a sexually transmitted disease, 2,400 get pregnant and 55 contract HIV. Unintended pregnancies happen to Republicans, Democrats and people of all faiths.” - Source

2. She doesn’t support abortion even if her own daughter was raped! She would permit abortion in cases where the mother’s life was endangered, but not in the case of rape or incest.

3. Against gay rights

“Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin says she supports a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, a break with John McCain, who has said he believes states should be left to define what marriage is.

In an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network, the Alaska governor said she had voted in 1998 for a state amendment banning same-sex marriage and hoped to see a federal ban on such unions. She said she believed traditional marriage is the foundation for strong families.”

Clearly she is out of touch with reality. When was the last time she read the paper or put the news on? Millions of staright married families aren’t ’strong’. She’d deluded.

4. She doesn’t believe Global Warming was helped by man.

What is your take on global warming and how is it affecting our country?

A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made. Source

5. She is war hungry.

If you were running for president, what causes would you champion?

I would push for a strong military and a sound energy policy. Source

6. She lacks experience. Being a Governer of Alaska and then Vice President of America?!?!

(She has a total of a little under 2 years in state government. In comparison, Sen. Obama has 7 years of experience in state government and 3 years in federal government.

- She has less experience (beyond the local level) in government than Obama, McCain, and Biden.****** If she assumes the presidency within McCain’s first term, she would assume office with less experience beyond the local level in the government than ANY OTHER PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY of the United States.)

Need I say more?

• ALC
april,

The polls close in 4 days and 1 hours 0_o It would make me sick to the stomach to finally be given a basic human right only to be faced with the possibility of it being taken away. I’m at a loss for words. Marriage is about love. People against gay marriage certainly can’t use straight marriages as an example of how it should be done, that’s for sure. When was the last time they checked their divorce statistics against survived marriages? But then, California is governed by the Terminator.

Holy shit, check this out:

30.10.08 - Vatican calls for psych tests to weed out gays

The Vatican said Thursday it is considering psychological testing for prospective priests to screen out candidates “with strong homosexual tendencies” and heterosexuals “unable to control their sexual urges.”

The document, released by Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education, said that early detection of “sometimes pathological defects” would help avoid tragic experiences - a veiled reference to the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Church and which the Vatican has blamed on homosexuality, despite evidence showing no link between sexual orientation and pedophilia.

The Vatican said that testing would be decided on a case-by-case basis when seminary rectors feared a prospective priest had “grave immaturity.”

“Such areas of immaturity would include strong affective dependencies; notable lack of freedom in relations; excessive rigidity of character; lack of loyalty; uncertain sexual identity; deep-seated homosexual tendencies, etc.”

The document also said that it was “not enough to be sure that [a candidate for the priesthood] is capable of abstaining from sexual activity” but also to “evaluate his sexual orientation.”

In 2005, the Vatican ordered a major evaluation of U.S. seminaries to look for evidence of homosexuality. It said that men with “deep-seated” homosexual tendencies shouldn’t be ordained, but that those with a “transitory problem” could become priests if they had overcome them for three years.

0_o… 0_o… What a load of fucking bullshit, seriously. I am at a loss for words.

A comment posted to this hits it on the head: “So lets assume the Roman Church CAN weed out all gay men. What will they do when the child molestations continue? Pedophiles are very canny about how they present themselves. The RCC gets rid of gays but that isn’t the problem since gay men are interested in men not children. So now what do you do Mr. Potato Head? aka Il Papa”

Damn right. To assume and judge gays for sick twisted ppl’s wrongs is not only insulting but shows just how small minded, ill-educated and ignorant they really are.

This comment stunned me: “You have to know what a vocation is like before you can just advise people to avoid the RC church. It’s not that simple for someone called to serve God. The problem is in Rome.”

This is truly disturbing to think that this person, and very likely many more, think that the problem is isolated in Rome.

While on the topic of gay/lesbians, last night I updated my list of sites I visit frequently. Here are the lesbian based ones:

Sugar Butch Chronicles (fave!)
“The sex, gender, and relationship adventures of a kinky queer butch top. Come for the smut, stay for the theory.”

Getting off whilst learning? What more could a girl ask for? This site has wicked erotic fiction, great product reviews and always interesting reads. That the author is a butch top makes it all the better *wink* mwahahaha

Sexuality Happens
“This blog is full of thoughts discussions about the full spectrum of sexuality, sex toy/porn/book reviews (all reviewed by yours truly of course!), pieces of my personal life (yes, including snippets of sex stories), poignant news relating to sexuality, sex tips, video blogs and the (more than) occasional opinion piece with rants, rages, and questions about things relevant to sexuality.”

I originally started visiting this site for the awesome erotic fiction but it’s actually a quite interesting and informative site. Def a fave now.

grrlplanet
“Grrlplanet.com is the uncensored way we really see the world; a biting, good-humored, and honest examination of pop culture, celebrity, products, media, and the lives and perspectives of women who dig women. Of course, we think most everyone can appreciate a good laugh.”

This site is addictive! haha Take this entry for example, lmao

Femmes Guide
“The Femmes Guide is a sex-positive femme queer collaborative blog meant to be a fun, enjoyable, educational, and sometimes snarky look at femmeininity and femme culture. We aim to create a resource for the online femme community, where femmes can gain helpful information about navigating in this world as a femme, learn about the way others view their femme identity, and come to a greater understanding of their own femme identity.”

In terms of ‘categorisation’, I am a ‘femme’ lesbian. I don’t go about my life trying to live like a ‘femme’, fuck no, but I thought this site could be a good read to see how other ‘femmes’ view themselves, the media etc etc. There needs to be a site for ‘femmes’ who look feminine but are boyish in behaviour, lol. Ie-someone who swears like a sailor and burps and farts like a bloke. Perhaps a little gross to some but this is me, lol. When I started dating Bernie, Candice said, ‘I hope she doesn’t think she’s getting a girl just because you wear dresses’, lmao!!! Indeed.

The Lesbian Life Style
“The Lesbian Lifestyles mission is a simple one. This blog was created to collect real life stories written by lesbians from around the world. The Lesbian Lifestyles goal is to become the largest lesbian storyteller blog on the Internet. We have been around since 2004, we have over 170 registered authors, and over 700 posts.”

Pretty much what the blurb says. It’s an informative read and has many great resources.

Lestopia
“Lesbiatopia.com is a group blog that was created with the hope that queer-identified women could write about anything and everything. We strive to offer you a unique and interesting array of topics, opinions, stories and points-of-view from queer women.”

As above.

Same Same
An Australian gay news (local and international) blog, forums and community.

365 Gay
An international gay news blog.

Jul,
• ALC