ink marks on a blank page Sat 20th December

Actually no, I'm not going to go through the Saturnalia thing, once is enough as I am sure that the folks who get this far into my blogs are smart enough to remember I have done all that before. This time there is something a lot more pressing and I believe aligned , to what a blog is all about.
We have here in Australia, for a small population, an odd system of government.It is democratic and follows the Westminster system and is based on the English model of governance with a federal government at the top then State and territory based elected parliamentarians and a local system of Councils for the various district suburbs /shires. Basically the Federal Gov. makes the laws which brings in taxes etc to run the place and therefore organises the wars and other calamities, they have a house of Representatives, a house of review, the Senate, the whole shebang is presided over by a Governor General (this time a woman) who has no real power but is the Queen's representative in OZ. State govs.are run in much the same tradition excepting Queensland which has no upper house. There are six states and two territories each with a system of Government. The party in power at the moment federally is the Labour party(left wing) and they are also the party in power in all bar one state(Western Australia). State elections are held mostly every four years ,federally each three.The largest state is New South Wales which is also the oldest ,richest and most corrupt. The Labour party machine in that state has so much power it dumped the serving Premier without having to call an election and installed a puppet Premier who is heavily beholden to the union movement.This state was also hugely in debt even before the global fiscal crisis and is at the moment running on empty. The rest of the states are just about in the same position and although the mining boom made Western Australia very rich it too is close to deficit. The conservative ruling party there has just won office in the last few months so has had little time to do anything positive.The position in the two major manufacturing/population and finance states,NSW and Victoria, is akin to the Chicago era of Mayor Richard Daley, especially in NSW.

Life will go on here as it did in the US under Richard Nixon as it should , then does even in dire times. The people muddle through regardless of how inept or corrupt the Government of the day is.
What has started me off on this rant about government ,especially our federal one, is the fact that in 2009 the Minister in charge of Communications (read internet) is going to move in the house that we in Australia will have a mandatory system of federally placed filters on ALL ISP's in the country.Ostensibly this is to combat 'child porn' but according to EVERY provider and technical person the effect will be to almost shut down peer to peer transfers, social networks(facebook etc) music video downloads, blogs,TV shows and ad infinitum. Of course i do not suggest that filters will block everything, the persons who traffic in child porn can already circumnavigate any blocks people put on them, they wont be affected at all. What it will do is SLOW down 'normal' traffic so that it will be useless trying to download a cd or a movie. If for instance family want to send pics of their little kids in the bath to other members of family, or in the family pool, does that constitute something that a filter will block. Who gets to decide how the filters are set? what parameters will be used to define 'unconscionable' images and or conduct? What about the gamers who use the net, games that have rape,car chases /crashes/ death by machine gun or any death that is used gratiously in a video game, to set up a score, will these be filtered?
I have just watched a 2006 version of 'Anne of Greengables' on dvd with my two young g/daughters. This was a heartfelt and warm film but did have scenes in it which might cross the boundaries of a filter. Perhaps it should have been filtered as there were several scenes( also some of child exploitation) that had me misty eyed and caused a catch in my throat. I am against any behaviour that occurs where someone who is not , by the level of intelligence,age or social ability, able to make his/hers mind up on a situation that is presented to them as a fait accompli ,familial, threat or for financial reward asked to perform / take part in or watch an act.
That is MY filter and one that I will defend with all I can to uphold.(Shades of Dreyfuss)

Wow Hortense all that is a trifle heady ,dontcha just know.you agree, goodness are we aligning our planets Horty old girl? Of course you can say something, you would like to say that the labour party federally is bit hypocritical. Why is that Hortense do you think.Oh, because in the State Labour Government of New South Wales they have had one Minister go to jail for possessing and dealing in child porn in 2008?Another one for dealing corruptly with kids, whilst in the Federal labour party they had an MP who was investigated by Police for abusing her position and causing a nuisance whilst drunk in a public place.All this in 2008 Hortense whilst the holier than thou Minister was preparing to stop you and I from doing things on facebook, tut tut Horty. Well if it wasn't all about on the public record and actually in the courts I would never believe it old girl, even down to that bit where the Australian Labour Prime Minister , saying to the world in general about President Bush telling him over the phone he didn't know what day of the week it was. Funny isn't it as well Hortense, our Prime Minister used Facebook in all manner of ways to get himself elected, even down to calling the then Prime Minister a dill, well yes not just like that,we all knew what he meant though.Heck, almost forgot about the ex-labour Senator who has been sending lots of monies into Swiss bank accounts and had an investment burn down where he and other collected 15 times the value of the property through insurance. Tut Tut, but it is all in the court system Hortense.

Sunday tomorrow, gelato at Cocolat !! yea har....