Is it goodbye to Aussies?

I love how my uncle, a veteran who served at Pearl Harbor, use to put it:

"I didn't fight for the flag. I fought for what it stands for."

Not really, there are still limits to what can be done, even with a totally complicit Congress. And even IF a President were to truly seize power, thanks to the 4th Amendment and the Well Regulated State Militias, it could never truly be consolidated, Civil War would ensue, and The Aspiring Dictator would be faced with using nuclear weapons on his own country.

First they came for the Communists but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists but I was not one of them, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews but I was not Jewish so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.
Martin Niemoeller (1892 - 1984)

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790), Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

Unless the aspiring dictator had the world's largest standing private army (Blackwater, anyone?) at his back....

oh, and to the Godwin...

/me whips off her pants and waves them in salute.

Well I guess thats two of the major differences between America and Australia. You have people freely going around inciting hatred and violence towards gay people ,we dont. You have very high level of gun violence including regular massacres, we dont.
Hmmm something tells me that some control is needed.

I believe at some point in time when the rest of society has progressed and learnt from past mistakes and become more educated and less ignorant about certain things that people who try to take things backward because of their own bigotry and prejudice etc should be made to shut up. Its not stopping freedom of speech, its just stopping hatred, bigotry, prejudice, discrimination and destruction of and towards innocent people. Any sane person can see that.
How would Americans feel if some asshole started trying to take you back to the slave trade? Im pretty sure freedom of speech would not be welcome then.

I think this a bloody good post, but we just need to make sure we don't get into the whole 'My country is better than your country' thang.

Looks like we just did.

"Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

I was referring to

Jackson's forced relocating the Cherokee against a Supreme Court ruling in their favor

Lincoln's imprisonment of suspected southern collaborators without due process.

-and-

FDR's forced internment of US citizens of Japanese Ancestry.

How would Americans feel if some asshole started trying to take you back to the slave trade? Im pretty sure freedom of speech would not be welcome then.

Even Hypothetically, I don't see it happening.

I think this a bloody good post, but we just need to make sure we don't get into the whole 'My country is better than your country' thang.

that makes no since

hey what happened if the world reverted back to the dinosaurs, id bet you would hate the internet then????

WHAT THE F

schools and library's are not my house tho, they are government ran facility's, let them filter out whatever they want but when i go home at night I should be making those choices not policy dictated to me by a committee

see how thats different?

That's a pretty good list, but shouldn't someone named George Dubya be on it.

The Aussie proposal isn't compulsory, people don't have to be in it, so no, I don't see how your choices are different.

So basically its just a voluntary Social Program that you can sign up for if you want?

That changes everything.

The issue is that it's supposed to be an opt out, not opt in, but there is supposed to be an opt out.

This issue has been blown out of all proportion.

Opt out sure would feel like a nanny state to me, but its different than denying freedom.

Unless theres some sanction to opting out.

Well the Aussies were giving away free filtering software under the old government but as for nanny states, the US encourage filters in public places. Pennsylvania tried and did for a while enforce them. BT in the UK have been running a clean feed for years.

This isn't something new, it's just the government trying to pass legislation, this isn't the first time and it won't be the last that this sort of thing has happened.

Public places like libraries or airports are a different subject really.

No, no they're not. Not when it's encouraged by the authorities. Not when funding depends upon installing filtering.

Its a different subject than telling people what they can see in their own homes.