Conroy’s filter: won’t someone think of the children?The premise of Conroy’s internet filter is supposed to be protecting Australia’s kids from “net nasties” and pedophiles. But Stephen Collins already has an effective filter for that: it’s called “good rules and decent parenting”.
December, 2009
Can the blogosphere topple a government?
The blogosphere may have reacted with the predictable explosion of outrage and vitriol at the announcement of the Government’s plans to filter the internet, but is Australia’s Twitter Army strong enough to take the fight to Conroy and Rudd? We’ll never know unless we try, says Craig Wilson.
Australia’s censorship now on line with China, Egypt and Iran?
What is happening to Australian democracy with Stephen Conroy’s Great Firewall of China? Where does that put us in comparison to the rest of the world?
Spinning around with no filter facts
There’s lots of spin in Conroy’s internet filter report, but it’s missing some key facts. How many people were in the trial? What happens on high volume websites? When we realise the government is @#$@ing us over?
Is there any hope left in Copenhagen?
With three days left in Copenhagen, First and Third World countries are still at each other’s throats, delegates are avoiding all the important issues, and the conference is almost certainly doomed to failure, says the WSJ — but that might not be such a bad thing.
The Twitterverse filter reaction
As #nocleanfeed trends not just Australia, but internationally on Twitter David Swan examines how the Tweeps reacted to the internet filter news. It seems with lots of indignation against @KevinRuddPM.
Outsourcing the Afghan surge
As the US and NATO pump tens of thousands of new troops into Afghanistan, at least 50% of the workforce will be made up of private contractors, say TPM. Because that’s worked so well in the past…
VIDEO: Watch the Dreamliner take off
Airplane nerds: enjoy some aviation pr0n, as Boeing’s new “plastic fantastic” jet, the 787 Dreamliner, takes to the skies for the first time. Fly my pretty, fly!
Dreamliner goes up, Boeing shares go down
Boeing’s long-awaited and problem-prone 787 Dreamliner jet may have finally taken off successfully this morning, but the company’s shares dropped 1% as it took to the skies. Is the market waiting on a safe landing?
Follow the Dreamliner’s first flight live 
Dreamliner takes flight
After delays, controversy and much anticipation from aviation enthusiasts, Boeing’s first new plane in over a decade, the 787 Dreamliner, is finally flying the friendly skies. Ben Sandilands has all the pictures and details.
National Censorship Day
With the announcement of the Government’s internet filter, 15 December will forever mark the day Australia joined the slippery slope to censoring freedom of speech, says David Braue.
Read the full report of Conroy’s ISP filtering trial Kevin Rudd wants to filter your internet
The Rudd Government has announced it will go ahead with plans to filter Australia’s internet. Many Australians will be pissed off, but will they be angry enough to influence the next federal election? asks Possum Comitatus.
The rising tide of climate change refugees
There are now more than 8,000 climate refugees in the Indian Sundarbans archipelago, where rising sea levels have displaced many residents from their homes. Where will the future refugees go?
Secret Google shenanigans: what are they counting down to?
Click on the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ button on one of Google’s English search sites and you will be directed to an unexplained countdown. Are Google just counting down the days to 2010, or is there more to it?
How to balance the human stories against the hard rhetoric
With the focus on leadership spills and Copenahgen, people smuggling has been put on the political backburner. But expect refugees to be an even more bloody election battle than climate change, says Suvendrini Perera.
Schwarzenegger: Why we shouldn’t put all our climate change eggs in the Copenhagen basket
Arnie Schwarzenegger weighs into the climate change debate, suggesting that state and local governments will have a greater role to play in the fight against climate change than any agreement reached at Copenhagen.
Why women make the best bloggers
How come women can have fame and glory as bloggers online but rarely reach the same heights in the offline literary world? asks James Bradley. Is it because blogging lends itself to more chatty girl talk?
The end of the Third World
The tectonic plates of global politics shifted in Copenhagen last week, and it was tiny Tuvalu that exposed the rift, calling for large, high-polluting developing country to take on legally binding emission reductions.
The Yaris end of social media
For a company that trades on a ‘feeling’, Toyota does not seem to care about goodwill when it comes to their latest user-generated Yaris commercial. But is it all just a punk on social media and the advertising industry?
Mass exodus at VCA as music staff exit stage left
The Victorian College of the Arts’ music school is facing a troubled Christmas after 20% of its academic staff opted for early retirement in the wake of controversial changes to the institution, writes Andrew Crook.
Radio ratings: Kyle and Jackie O come out without a scratch
The last radio ratings for Sydney contain a few bombs for nervy station managements as they grapple with what to do with their problem children.
RBA could take a rest from interest rate rises in 2010
Minutes of the latest board meeting of the Reserve Bank give the distinct impression that the central bank may be preparing to take a break from raising interest rates in 2010.
Guy Rundle: Windschuttle hung out to dry on the rabbit-proof fence
Keith Windschuttle’s appearance in last week’s Oz Spectator may be the first example of Howard-era retro-chic, in an article focused obsessively on the 2002 film Rabbit-Proof Fence
