Amongst the research digests flying out of the Parliamentary Library to keep up with the flurry of legislation the Howard Government is rushing through parliament is an analysis paper on the
Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (Terrorist Material) Bill 2007 [pdf]. The bill is aimed at making "publications, films or computer games that advocate terrorist acts be refused classification". As the paper notes this effectively makes it illegal to sell or distribute such material.
Australian Republicans are by nature civil libertarians. As a political philosophy republicanism is heavily reliant on the
American innovation to constitutionalism where political rights are inalienably enshrined as fundamental law in the constitution. This means neither the executive or legislative can intrude into these liberties and prohibit them. This includes freedom of speech and expression.
The Howard Government is illiberal and has become increasing so, governing from the conservative perception that society must be protected against individuals expressing themselves non-violently in a manner which may be repugnant to the state. I am not advocating for terrorism, but I do recognise that the state has no justifiable right to prohibit an individuals expression in this area.
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties argued:
the Bill is unnecessary and is an ineffective restriction on freedom of speech. CCL notes the problems of adopting from the Criminal Code the definitions of 'advocates' and 'terrorist act' arguing that these definitions will produce absurd and unwanted results
The Australian Democrats also oppose the bill proving once again they are the most republican and liberal party in Australian politics:
Their [AD] objections are that it undermines Australians' right to freedom of speech and further, the Australian Government should not be legislating in this area on constitutional grounds
I also have to say I have not bought Terrorist Insurance for a reason. Yet I have car insurance, life insurance, health insurance, home insurance and even home appliance insurance. The reason is because terrorism is such a low risk factor. I accept more risk every day by getting behind the wheel of my car and backing out onto the street.
I am not scared of terrorism.
And I live in a higher risk part of the world than most Australians (Washington DC area). I also am not scared of materials advocating terrorism. Certainly not to the point where government needs to protect me or others from seeing such material.
This legislation is illiberal and unrepublican. It has no place being tabled in parliament.
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Most Popular Restaurants in Phoenix
Phoenix Eats Out is the restaurant review site for
Phoenix,
Scottsdale and
Old Town Scottsdale which lists the modernist and contemporary restaurants, taverns and bars in the greater Phoenix area.
This is the list of the most popular restaurants pages from phoenixeatsout.com that have been viewed the most;
My personal favourite restaurants in Phoenix are
AZ88,
Postinos,
Bomberos with
Grazie,
Humble Pie,
Orange Table,
The Vig,
Fez and others coming close behind. View the complete list with the photo-journalistic style images on
phoenixeatsout.com
Most Popular Hikes in Arizona
Arizona is an outdoor state and has lots of hiking in the city and around the state. Phoenix is unusual for most cities in having several large mountains in the center of the city with great hiking. Anyone who comes to Phoenix has to do the
Echo Canyon trail on Camelback and the
Summit Hike on Squaw Peak or Piesta Peak. The views of the city, suburbs and surrounding mountains are wonderful from Camelback and Piesta Peak.
For more experienced hikers there is the McDowell Mountains in North Scottsdale that has several difficult and strenuous hikes in
Tom's Thumb and
Bell Pass. Alternatively, you can hike the highest mountain in Arizona. At 12,600 feet
Humphrey's Peak is a long and difficult hike.
Alternate Australian Constitutions
Between 2004 and 2009 this site,
southsearepublic.org, was a constitutional blog based on scoop which focused on Australian and global constitutional issues.
One of the strongest aspects of it was the development of constitutions by those involved in the blog. These constitutions are the outcome:
The constitutions were built using principles from Montesquieu's separation of powers, the enlightnment's universal political rights and the ancient Athenian technology of sortition and choice by lot.
Archives For South Sea Republic
South Sea Republic started in 2004 as an Australian constitutional blog in 2004 based on scoop software. It was an immigrative outgrowth of Kuro5hin. The archives for each year since then;
The articles are ordered by views.
Who Is Cam Riley
I am an Australian living in the United States as a permanent resident.
I am a software developer by trade and mostly work in Java and jump between middleware and front end.
I originally worked in the New York area of the United States in telecommunications before moving to Washington DC and
working in a mix of telecommunications, energy and ITS. I started my own software company before heading out to
Arizona and working with Shutterfly. Since then I have joined a startup in the Phoenix area and am thoroughly enjoying myself.
I do a lot of photography which I post on this website, but also on flickr. I have a photo-journalistic website which lists
the modernist and contemporary restaurants in phoenix. I have a site on the
Australian Flying Corps [AFC] which has been around since the 1990s and which I unfortunately
lost the .org URL to during a life event; however, it is under the
www.australianflyingcorps.com URL now.
The AFC website has gone through several iterations since the 90s and the two most recent are
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2004-2002) and
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2002-1999) which are good places to start.
Websites Worth Reading
Websites of friends, colleagues and of interest;
