Save the Whales! and then some Boring Stuff

I have looked at the questions for our essay many a time and just been baffled. There seems to be a lot of fancy words in some of the questions which I suppose are there to make it more confusing for me!!!! Haha, I plan on breaking down the questions and deciphering them properly. I seriously don't think I have the intelligence to create my own question when I can barely understand the ones given to us.

This is the week 8 tute task and I got onto signing an e-petition straight away. I automatically picked something I was passionate about, not something just for the sake of it.

This is the statement that will accompany the petition:

"We the undersigned wish to show our support for an end to whaling. We believe that the slaughter of whales for so-called 'scientific reasons" is wrong. We wish to add our voices to the global campaign to protect these precious mammals from extinction."

I signed this petition: http://www.whalesrevenge.com/poll.php?show_all=1 because it infuriates me when I see innocent whales being slaughtered by people who claim to be killing them for research. It has already been proven that you DO NOT NEED TO KILL in order to conduct research! GRRRRRRRR.

Good ol Barack Obama hey - when I last checked on facebook.com he was "feeling fired up and ready to go on health insurance reform—let's get this done."

President Barack Obama

I like Obama. I do.

I found out that my local, state and federal representatives are ...

Ron Clarke

Local Representative

Anna Bligh

State Representative

And ... K-Rudd (Kevin)

Federal Representative

I looked at the hansard to DEATH, the only time I found Ron Clarke mentioned was when people were bringing up topics that involved him. I think I found that he spoke in May, but I'm honestly not sure if that's right. I couldn't find it. How often do local members go to parliament? Kevin Rudd and Anna Bligh were there plenty of times.

The theory and practice of politics ... ah, to me, a lot of it is just a heap of FANCY WORDS.

What do I think about the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")? And what place does censorship have in a democracy?

I don't like it - yeah I get it's good to stop seedy buggers doing their sick kiddy porn thing and the like, but censoring the internet will limit us. I like how I am FREE to look up whatever I like, to browse, to read, to watch different videos ... to do, whatever I want really. I don't abuse the internet - I don't use it to look up sick things or to learn how to make bombs or whatever some crazy people do these days. But lots of people do and I understand why censorship is considered.

However, it infuriates me how the people of China for instance, have their news, internet and newspapers censored. They are living in a bubble, controlled by their government. It annoys me that they don't acknowledge such events as Tiananmen Square - they don't allow the people to read about it or commemorate it, to publicly think about those who were killed.

Censorship on the internet keeps people from knowing the truth they deserve to know. It wouldn't allow people to find out things about the world that they might find interesting or life-changing. Censorship will limit how much we know yes and in some ways its a good thing - but I'm pretty selfish and like things the way they are for me.

I don't believe censorship has a place in democracy. I understand the need for protecting younger children or to help stop people from being violated - and I'm sure that if something awful like that happened to my siblings I'd go crazy. I'd probably join the fight in encouraging censorship. But as it stands, I like my freedom ... I like that the government doesn't have that control and that they give us the CHOICE.

I just watched Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela verbally abuse a Fox News reporter because he was asked his opinions on the Iranian Presidents comments about people dying all over the world. It was most impressive and a bit scary - I like that we don't have censorship as such, because things like that wouldn't be aired if we did. Well, possibly.

Look, honestly. I'm not a fan of politics - I think the few good people that are there are swallowed up in a pool of people obsessed with greed and money and getting their own way. Nothing ever seems to GET DONE like the United Nations ... they all just seem to be sitting around - WHERE IS THE ACTION.

And what the hell has Ron Clarke done these days? I mean, I haven't even heard of anything he's done ... I am looking forward to the day when someone comes in - no bullshit - and gets things done. Like Rudy Guiliani. He's brilliant - what with the 3 strikes and your out bit. Anyway yeah ... not a fan, but I like living in a democracy ...