My Guest Post on Mumbrella
Tim Burrowes, formerly the editor of B&T Magazine and now the guy behind the excellent mumbrella blog about media and marketing, invited me to write a guest post there today. Excerpt and link below.
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Okay, This Has Gone Far Enough
The Australian Government is officially fascist. They have officially stepped way, WAY over the line. There is no way they can justify blacklisting the Wikileaks site on the basis of “protecting the children from pornographers”. This is straight-up abuse of power, as Asher Moses points out in his article on the SMH:
Last week, Reporters Without Borders, in its regular report on enemies of internet freedom, placed Australia on its “watch list” of countries imposing anti-democratic internet restrictions that could open the way for abuses of power and control of information.
I wonder if ACMA considers it illegal to post TinyURLs to banned sites?
I wonder if its illegal to stick up posters on walls with the urls of banned sites?
I wonder if its illegal to stand in the street and speak the name of a banned url out loud?
I wonder if it’s illegal to even think the url of a banned site?
Read more below:
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US Atheists Continue To Suffer Discrimination
The American Chronicle has this article on the discrimination faced by atheists in the United States. I don’t see it as being as much of an issue in Australia and yet I wonder – how many Australian politicians are public atheists?
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GDay World 362 – Mara Bun, Green Cross Aust
My guest today is Mara Bun, CEO of Green Cross Australia. According to their site:
Green Cross Australia is a new national NGO that works on the frontline of climate change: the human dimension. We anticipate and resolve conflicts over natural resources that put our environment at risk, and we foster sustainable partnerships between business, government and the community. We prepare communities for environmental impacts in Australia and overseas. This ranges from the impact of fires, floods and environmental disasters on Australian cities to the mass displacement of populations due to rising sea levels.
Pretty topical, with the floods in QLD and the fires in VIC. Mara talks about her background (which is an interesting story) and the vision of Green Cross.
GDay World 361 – Livewire Launch
Today my guests are Omar Kalifa, Managing Director, and Cinnamon Pollard, Partnership and Marketing Manager, of a new social networking site that is bring officially launched today called LIVEWIRE. According to their site:
Livewire is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Starlight Children’s Foundation and is supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Clever Networks Program and in-kind contributions from Starlight and Livewire partners.
Together we are working towards keeping children & young people living with illness or disability connected
It’s estimated there are over 400,000 children and young people aged 10-21 years old coping with the impact of living with a serious illness, a chronic condition or a disability in Australia.
While I think a social networking community for young people with serious illnesses is a good thing, I am concerned that this site has cost $14.7 million to set up, with half of that money coming from the Federal Government. I asked Omar and Cinnamon where the money went.