Day 7 blog

What opportunities can you find for political participation via the internet:How many of the following can you achieve while sticking to your political beliefs?
Sign an e-petition.

I signed an Epetition on rehabilitation for sex offenders, here is the link:https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/EPetitions_QLD/Confirmation.aspx?PetNum=1345&lIndex=-1

Respond to a professional blogger at a major news site.

I posted a blog regarding Obamas way of dealing with 911, Picking up where Bush left off.
http://www.911blogger.com/

I also commented on the following blog:
Woman Develops Cancer from Second-hand Asbestos Exposure

on http://www.bloggernews.net/


What is Barak Obama up to today?

Changes to Afghanistan strategy in store
— By Michelle Austein Brooks, 30 November 2009
President Obama plans to speak to Americans via a prime-time address December 1 about new plans for the war in Afghanistan, which has now lasted about eight years.
His top political advisors and military commanders are aware of the upcoming changes, as President Obama met with them Sunday evening in the oval office. This comes after months of reviews of current Afghanistan policies and meetings with top officials.
The new strategy will likely include an increase in troops and plans to further strengthen the Afghan and Pakistani governments’ involvement. Before announcing it to the American people, the president plans to talk to leaders of some of its greatest allies, including Great Britain and France.

i found this on :http://blogs.america.gov/obama/

Find out who your local, state and federal representatives are.

Federal representative is Margaret May
State representative is Raymond Stevens
Local representative is Ron Clark


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

Christine Smith is the member for Burleigh and she last spoke in parliament on the 22nd April 2009. On this day she said "I Am pleading with the Minister for Health—to review the funding of Mirikai residential beds and I need members to assist me in supporting this"

http://parlinfo.parliament.qld.gov.au/isysquery/a549808b-14a2-4711-a039-e90c1bd7f590/1/doc/Christine%20Smith%20spk%20Burleigh%202009_04_22_88.pdf#xml=http://parlinfo.parliament.qld.gov.au/isysquery/a549808b-14a2-4711-a039-e90c1bd7f590/1/hilite/


Read the lecture and the readings, pursue a couple of the topics that you find most interesting and then post your blog with your well-considered thoughts about the theory and practice of politics.

This lecture and the content we covered has given me a deeper understanding of how political the internet is!. I have a much better understanding of censorship and how things are controlled on the internet. The idea of the government controlling what we look at is a riciculous propossal that we need to fight. This will become a very political issue on the internet and much debate will arrise. In saying this, in other sreas politics is nesseasry on the internet, to control spam and other annoyances. In terms of political issues being advertised or campigned online I think the internet is a good way for political issues to get out there and be heard.The internet is a great place to research political issues and an even better place to get involved in them. The internet should be monitored for our safety, however we should always have the freedom to look at what we like with no restrictions!.

+ adam asks: What do you think of the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")??? What place does censorship have in a democracy?

Censorship on computers linked to a school system, public library or any other places where children have access to computers is understandable and should still be in place, however to censor the content that adults can view in the privacy of their own homes is out of order!. That is not a democratic policy at all. The idea of the "Cleen Feed" which has been discussed in parliament that blocks certain sites is in complete contradiction with our democratic rights. We should continue to have the right to view any information we wish, as any sources we look at all add to our knowledge which in the long run makes us make certain decisions or stances on political issues. With censorchip on what we can and cant look at, we are not making decisions based on our own background knowledge but instead we would be persuded into certain ways of thinking based on the material we can view. Censorship this strong would go against the ideals of a democratic society and would defeat the purpose of being apart of one.