Michael Atkinson falls on his own sword and resigns from the front bench
March 21, 2010
Many weeks ago on a Geek Actually Podcast episode I said that we needed patience and sooner or later Michael Atkinson, the South Australian Attorney-General, would either be voted out or give up the fight. I was ridiculed by the chat room, they said that he was in a safe seat and he would be around forever. I tried to counter this with the Prime Minister John Howard example from 2007. John Howard was in one of the safest Liberal Party seats in the country, not only did he lose the election but he was so unpopular at the time, he also lost his seat in parliament.
Ha! The South Australian State Elections just took place and Michael Atkinson, although not voted out, has resigned from the front bench. Patience is a virtue my friends. He claims that the new Government has a majority of one and he didn’t want his controversial ideals to make waves for the re-elected Labour Government. This is probably the most reasonable and responsible act I have ever seen him make. Michael Atkinson will remain in Parliament, but he will stay on the back bench.
Now that Mr. Atkinson is no longer that states Attorney-General we might actually get an intelligent debate on the R18+ rating for games issue.
Goodbye Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, you will not be missed.
To read more read this article on AdelaideNOW
Google is leaving China in April
March 20, 2010
Well, we have been covering this for a few weeks on Geek Actually Tech and now it would seem that it is official, Google is leaving China. On last weeks show we reported that Google was about 99.9% sure it was going to leave china and now the Chinese media has made an announcement that Google will be packing up shop and leaving in April. The China Business News says Google is going through with it’s threats and will be out of China on April 10th. At this time Google has yet to confirm this.
Google has been threatening to withdraw from China over censorship issues and the cyber attacks earlier this year.
At this time, Google has continued filtering search results on google.cn to comply with Chinese censorship demands but Google has threatened to stop filtering.
Also on the podcast we talked about companies in China that have voiced concern about Google leaving and wanted possible compensation for lost income if the giant left. Google confirmed that it had received a letter supposedly from a group of 27 Chinese agencies claiming that they wanted to open talks with Google over compensation. However, several of the agencies have told the Associated Foreign Press they knew nothing of the letter. This has raised doubts over the authenticity of the letter and Google is now reviewing the letter.
As to the future of Google products (like the Nexus 1 phone) in China. All the stories so far about this have been about Google.cn, there doesn’t seem to be an answer about other Google products yet. My guess is if they pull out of China, it will be a complete pull out.
Michael Atkinson – Are you Friggin’ Kidding?!?!?
March 9, 2010
Okay, I know South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson doesn’t like video games and is the main opposition to the introduction of an R18+ rating for games, even though evidence would say that the people of Australia want this rating (you are still an elected representative of the people aren’t you Mr. Atkinson?). But this article on news.com.au says that he donated thousands of dollars (I really hope they were not public funds Mr. Atkinson) to a group that says that video games are a more serious threat than lung cancer. Get real.
To quote the news.com.au story:
A GROUP that says video games and violence are like smoking and lung cancer has received tens of thousands of dollars in funding from politician and outspoken R18+ game critic Michael Atkinson.
An expert from the Australian Council on Children and the Media this week told a TV news program the link between violent games and youth violence was stronger than tobacco and cancer.
“It’s much greater than the effect of smoking on lung cancer,” psychologist Dr Wayne Warburton said.
A ‘much great effect than the effect of smoking on lung cancer’. Wow, I am speechless. Actually I am not. Michael Atkinson, shame on you. You have now poured a reported $33,000 in donations into a group called ‘Know Before You Go’, a service that offers parents advice on films even after the films have been rated. as an example, the film ‘Charlotte’s Web’ was rated G and deemed suitable for all audiences. Know Before You Go says the film should not be watched by under eights alone as it has disturbing scenes. This in of itself not a bad thing. The ratings on films are often vague and this will help a parent know if there is anything in particular to watch out for.
I do worry when you dig a little deeper and find out that Know Before You Go is project of The Australian Council on Children and the Media which is a non-profit organisation that also trades under the name ‘Young Media Australia’, a group that has received funding from the Federal Government in the past. The Council’s purpose is to advise parents and members of the government on the harmful effects of media on young children. This is starting to sound dangerously Orwellean to me, but it gets better.
The Council has another project going called ‘Choosing Fright-Free Fight-Free Viewing: An Intervention for Parents of Under Sevens’ (I kid you not) which actually warned parents about the show Bananas in Pyjamas because it contained slapstick comedy and that could be dangerous. Stop laughing, I’m being serious here. Let me let their own booklet explain, ‘Slapstick comedy can make them think that things don’t actually hurt when in real life they do.’ I said stop laughing, this is serious stuff. And a fine example of your tax dollars at work. Cue my usual call at this point, where the hell are the parents to to explain this to their kids. It is not a council or the government’s responsibility to raise and explain right and wrong behaviour to your kids. If you are incapable of telling your kids that hitting each other might hurt someone then you shouldn’t have had kids.
These people are being funded by the Federal Government and private donations from people like Michael Atkinson. It also seems that the original comment on video games (you know, the one about lung cancer that started this whole rant) seems to originated from the Australian Christian Lobby. Now what a surprise (note sarcasm here)!
Okay, at this point I am going to say to Michael Atkinson, John Howard, George W. Bush, Kevin Rudd, Stephen Conroy, Tony Abbott and any other politician out there who this applies too, there must be a separation of church and state. We pretend that there is but there is not.
The entire population is not Christian so stop shoving your theological crap down our throats. I am a good person, I try not to cause harm to others, I raise my child with a strong ideal of right and wrong and good manners, I am faithful to my wife. I am courteous to others and I don’t drink and I don’t cause fights. In fact I am a very gentle person who doesn’t believe that violence solves anything. However I am not Christian and I do play violent video games. I love a good hard R horror movie once in a while and I watch hardcore porn. I don’t want my internet filtered, not because I support child porn, but because I believe in freedom of speech and I like my internet fast. I support the R18+ rating on games, not because I want to show my 10 year old the RC games, but because I want to play the games that the government has blocked in the past and I don’t want my 10 year old son to be able to buy them. I support gay marriage because everyone deserves to be happy and no Christian has ever been able to answer one fundamental question, how does the union of two men or two women affect my heterosexual marriage? This is a question that has only one answer, it doesn’t.
In Australia we have mandatory scripture classes in public school. For one hour every week the children are segregated into their little groups and told about their various gods. My son goes with the non-scripture kids and watches a movie or plays a game or reads a book. For one hour each week we have unqualified people (that’s right, they are volunteers from the community, not qualified teachers) come into the school to teach our children about something that is suppose to be taught at home. This is a secular public school (remember the church and state thing) funded by tax payer dollars and once a week we get all the kids to look at each other and point out that they are different. You don’t think there is a problem with this? My son came out of non-scripture and a Catholic boy looked at him, saw that he came out of non-scripture and said “you’re going to hell because you don’t believe in god”. I believe that that is more harmful to a 10 year old than Bananas in Pyjamas. Scripture is a personal and family belief system. You go to church to learn about your god and practice at home, keep it out of the public school system. If you want scripture taught to your child, send them to a private religious school.
At this point I have lost many Christian readers and listeners to my podcast, and quite frankly I don’t care. But for those that are still around, I don’t care what your belief in god is, just keep it to yourself and don’t try to force your ideals or faith on me or society, we are not buying today thank you.
Let’s put the Christian moral hammer down now and approach the debates of the Internet Censorship Filter, The introduction of an R18+ rating for games and the re-introduction of the X18+ rating for movies with a logical and theological free mind. I think we might get more achieved if you keep your god out of it or we might have to bring up a few of your little mistakes like The Inquisition or those pesky Crusades.
I have my asbestos underwear on, let the flaming begin.
An R18+ Rating for Games Could Be Possible in Australia
December 15, 2009
Finally some good news on the censorship issues in Australia. A discussion paper has been released by The Federal Attorney-General’s department (it was supposed to come out 6 months ago) that will allow the public to have their say on the issue of an R18+ rating for games.
The discussion paper, which can be read here, comes on the heels of the latest game, Aliens Vs. Predator, to be refused classification. Australia stands as one of the only developed nations to not have an adult classification on video games. According to the discussion paper, the government has been discussing this issue for some time but it has finally opened it to community feedback when a 2009 study showed that the average age of gamers was 25.
The discussion paper tells you how you can get involved. Now is your chance to finally have your say. I would suggest that you have your arguments very well thought out and mature. Do not just start abusing people or this will just collapse before it gets a chance. If you are an adult gamer and don’t get involved and write in on this you have no one to blame but yourself if the rating bid fails.
We have to combat the closed minded politicians with reasonable, well thought out counters to some of their arguments. As an example, an Australian Family Association spokesman, John Morrissey, is against an R18+ rating and here is his quote: ”How do you enforce it? An 18-year-old can buy the game and play it with his younger brother. You never know what happens once it’s behind closed doors.”
This is a nonsense argument as we already buy R18+ rated DVDs and if we, as parents, can govern our children’s watching habits, why can’t we govern their game play. I don’t let my 10 year old watch R18+ rated movies, why would I let him play R18+ rated games. The games would have restricted sale at shops so children won’t be able to buy them and it is up to the parents to make sure the child doesn’t play the game at home.
I don’t know about you but I am really tired of being told by our government that they are better parents than me.
Please, go read the discussion paper and then let your voice be heard. Let’s get an adult rating for games and join the rest of the world.
Would you like to know more about what is banned in Australia? Go to refused-classification.com for an eye opening experience.
To finish, let me share one of my favourite quotes that I read on this issue. I apologise to the person who wrote it, I can’t remember where I read it now, but here it is: “Censorship is like banning a man from? eating a steak because a baby can’t chew it.” No truer words have ever been spoken.
There is Hope in Politics – The Australian Sex Party
December 4, 2009
I have just been made aware of a new political party here in Australia, The Australian Sex Party. They are running candidates in the two bi-elections tomorrow and I really think all the geeks, gamers and liberally minded folks out there need to take a look before casting your vote tomorrow. You can find out about the party in detail by going to www.sexparty.org.au and having a good read. They are not what you think at first glance. Here is their mission statement and policy outlines from their site (I have highlighted a couple of their policies that really hit it out of the park for me):
The Mission Statement
The Australian Sex Party is a political response to the sexual needs of Australia in the 21st century. It is an attempt to restore the balance between sexual privacy and sexual publicity that has been severely distorted by morals campaigners and prudish politicians.
Tolerance of sexual free speech and sexual expression is one of the main hallmarks of free and democratic nations. Intolerance of these qualities is one of the hallmarks of autocracies, dictatorships and theocracies.
The vast majority of Australians are relaxed and tolerant of a broad spectrum of sexual expression but state and federal governments have increasingly ignored this demographic and pursued policies and legislation that have restricted sexual free speech and expression – often under threat of large fines and even jail sentences.
The Sex Party is fed up with wowserism in Australian parliaments. It is frustrated by the lip service paid to gender equality and sexual identity by the major parties when real and meaningful law reform stalls on factionalism and behind the scenes handshakes with religious leaders.
The Party has registered with the Australian Electoral Commission and has signaled its intention to field candidates at all levels of government over the coming years.
The Policies
Censorship
- Bring about the establishment of a truly national classification scheme which includes a uniform non-violent erotica rating for explicit adult material for all jurisdictions and through all media including the Internet and computer games.
- Introduce an R and X rating for computer games
- To overturn mandatory ISP filtering of the Internet and return Internet censorship to parents and individuals.
Education
- To bring about the development of a national sex education curriculum as a first step in preventing the sexualisation of children.
- Development of a national internet education scheme for parents.
Equality
- To enact national anti discrimination laws which make it illegal to unfairly discriminate against people or companies on the basis of job, occupation, profession or calling.
- To hold a referendum to create mandatory equal numbers of women in the Senate and State Upper Houses.
- To create total equal rights in all areas of the law for gay, lesbian and transsexuals.
- Overturn racist laws that ban Aboriginal people from possessing erotic and sexual media in the Northern Territory.
- Ensure the sexual rights and freedoms of the disabled and elderly.
Health
- To enact national pregnancy termination laws along the same lines as divorce law — which allow for legal, no-fault and guilt-free processes for women seeking termination.
- The listing of Viagra, Cialis and other drugs used to treat sexual dysfunction, on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
- Overturn restrictions on aid to overseas family planning organisations that reference abortion.
Protection of Children
- Convene a Royal Commission into child sex abuse in the nation’s religious institutions.
- Develop global approaches to tackling child pornography which focus on detection and apprehension of the producers of the material.
Workplace Relations
- Ensure that the introduction of paid maternity leave is fair and equitable for small businesses.
- Abolish sex slavery and sexual servitude by introducing non morality-based immigration policies that allow bona-fide sex workers to work legally in Australia.
Other
- Ending the tax exempt status for religions.
I agree with all of their policies, the highlighted ones are just ones that really jumped out at me. I don’t know about you, but these are all good solid policies that I can get behind. As the owner and head geek here at Geek Actually, I support this party and wish them luck tomorrow at the bi-elections. We will discuss this in more detail on tomorrow’s Geek Actually Podcast, join us at 12pm (AEDST UTC+11) geekactually.com/live
Internet Censorship – DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
December 3, 2008
Okay, the protests have started but it isn’t enough. Getup.org has mobilised an amazing website that has a petition for you to sign and they are also organising protests around Australia.
Now we have been talking about this stupid draconian law for weeks now, and I would hope that everyone is as angry as us. I just went to the Facebook group about the protests and was staggered to read one drop kick’s response that said, “id love to go. just cant be fucked.”
This is what is wrong with the world right now. Governments feel that they can get away with anything because people don’t speak out against them. We live in a democracy, that means that the government are our elected officials. Your voice doesn’t only get heard during an election, you have to continue to tell them what you want. To quote the film ‘V for Vendetta’, “The people should not be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of it’s people.
Go over to getup.org or stopthecleanfeed.com now and do something before it is too late!
And sign the petition, they want 75,000 signatures and they have 72,000. Let’s get this idiocy stopped before it is too late.
Video from stopthecleanfeed.com
Obama to Nominate Clinton Monday
December 1, 2008
Well, it is official, President-elect appoints secretary of state — Democratic officials say President-elect Barack Obama will nominate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to be his secretary of state on Monday.
Source: Variety.com
Go to Source
Greta Wants Your Help!
November 18, 2008
Greta has started a one virtual woman campaign to stop this insane, draconian internet censorship plan here in Australia. You can see her campaign by clicking the image below.
This proposal is damaging to both our freedoms and the speed and accessibility of the Internet. You can find out more about this proposal by reading this and this. There are many other articles about this mess and all you really have to do is let Google do the walking.
UPDATE: Greta isn’t alone. Sign this petition and help save the net.
Congratulations to Senator Obama – President-Elect
November 5, 2008
Everyone associated with “…Geek, Actually” would like to offer our congratulations to Senator Barack Obama, the new President-Elect of the United States of America.
This was a historic, sweeping victory that I believe will change the future of America. Today, I am so proud to be an American!
First Two Greta Wallpapers Now Available
November 4, 2008
Just to let you know, the first two greta wallpapers are now available for download. Click the Wallpapers button above.
Remember to listen to the “…Geek, Actually” podcast on Thursday, we lots to tell you about this week.
Now, why are you sitting here, GO VOTE! :-)
