Political activities

During week 8 we discussed the political possibilities on the internet, so we progresses into searching for political activity within the internet. It's surprising the degree to which politics extends to the internet and the degree which we as community members can access.

Our State, local and Federal representatives consist of:

Local: Member for Southport 4215
Peter Lawlor

State: Queensland's Premier
Anna Bligh

Federal: Prime Minister of Australia
Kevin Rudd

Look up the Queensland or Australian hansard to find the last time your local member spoke in parliament.

Southport MP Peter Lawlor last spoke on September 22nd.

http://www.peterlawlor.com.au/southport/pages/posts/personal-property-securities-commonwealth-powers-bill4927.php

Let your local member know what you think of their last speech?
I went to peters site http://www.peterlawlor.com.au/southport/ and went to the contact peter link on the left side bar and left him a message there. This link takes you to the confirmation email i received saying I contacted Peter Lawlor http://mail.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

epetition: I found an interesting current epetition on the Queensland Government website about upholding abortion laws and protecting unborn children. I've attached a link of the page confirming I signed the petition to check out.
EPETITION LINK

Respond to a professional blogger at a major news site.
For this i visited news.com.au and chose the "green blog" and read the latest post titled "we should ignore climate change". For some reason i couldn't find my post after i submitted my comment, but i've copied the link and my screen name is S2715990. Blogger response

what place does censorship have in democracy?

The question that still surrounds censorship and democracy is whether government should play an active role in censorship, (for instance with banning of offensive material for people under 18). But the trouble is that within a democratic society citizens should have access to the full range of debate about political and social life, from sexual practices to the full gamut of political opinion. Any government which stifles such debate is restricting the rights of its citizens. (this information was sourced from http://www.abc.net.au/ola/citizen/stories/trans/program9.htm) So as you can see the topic of censorship and its place within democracy is still an ongoing debate, the need for censorship of material and images is required but the need for the 'freedom of information' that is present in a democratic society is also vital. So I think censorship's place is democracy is restricted.

What do you think of the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")???
I think the concept is a good idea but putting this into action will be alot harder I think. I don't believe the Government can entirely guarantee that only illegal sites will be blocked and not others aswell. Also considering majority of Australians value their freedom especially on the intert, this will prove to be a tricky concept to implement.


what is Barack Obama up to today? I checked out the official White House and Barack Obama's blog to see what he has been up to day, being the 24th of September 2009. Obama chaired the meeting of the United Nations Security Council and gave a speech in international law. You can also view the blog here website

THU, SEPTEMBER 24, 12:50 PM EST

"International Law is Not an Empty Promise"

During this morning's remarks to members of the UN Security Council, President Obama returned to an issue that was a major theme of his trip to the last G20 Summit in Europe: the spread and use of nuclear weapons:

(President Barack Obama chairs a meeting of the United Nations Security Council at the United Nations
headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)