I'm incredibly tired, and this week is just lost to me. I'm sick. I'm sick of this. I'm sick of that. I'm tired of life. I'm tired of me. But I'll try to keep up with things. So we move on to August, and I haven't updated in a while, I'm sorry. Haven't been at home and just haven't been well enough to post. But that also means I have a lot of downloads to catch up on! My eyes are twitching and pulsating from the tiredness. This isn't a good sign.
There's a current issue in Australia about a court case in Victoria and a court suppression notice on a case that involves International level Parliamentarians. This means the media cannot report on it in any shape or form, due to the perceived threat of damaging international relationships between Australia and other countries. So something pretty major is going on. I wonder what it could be. Thankfully, wikileaks doesn't buy into the crap of protecting our 'elite rulers' and has got the details of the case. I'll give it a read when I get home and update you. I'm not a media organisation, and I am a concerned member of the public and I believe the Australian people have a right to know the truth. The linchpin of democracy is an open court system. This cannot be abrogated by the Crown, or the ego of a silly Judge.
Credit cards have finally moved into the 21st century, but at what cost? From today, you will no longer be able to sign for purchases on credit cards, and instead must only use PIN numbers. It's interesting how things change in just a short manner of time. We've been using credit cards for nigh on 100 years, and due to fraud from signatures (which must have always existed), we're now all forced to use pin numbers. How interesting and weird. It's funny how the world works.
You may recall in a post from a little while ago that the Government was going to prosecute those who report on leaks relating to National Security. So essentially people like Glenn Greenwald would be in jail for reporting on Edward Snowden's heroic whistleblowing. That's not right. We're so close to fascism and a totalitarian state, it's not funny! But today I read that the Attorney-General George Brandis would be the one who decides which cases get prosecuted! What the hell?! That's an abuse of separation of powers and completely unconstitutional! But we're treading a very dark path now. I wish I could say that it was just a typefication of Conservative style politics, but the Labor party isn't really much better. So what can the public do? Is there a destination of no return? Are we already there? I also read that Brandis is looking to introduce new laws that mean piracy on the Internet can result in your internet being withdrawn. What the hell? That is ridiculous! I firmly believe in being able to watch something to see if it's good, and then paying for it if you like it and want to support the artist. It's much better than being charged for something (i.e. ripped off at inflated prices) for something of inferior quality that wastes your time. So if you aren't paying thousands of dollars to have a Foxtel connection just to watch Game of Thrones, you can't really do anything about it. Something tells me that Mister Rupert Murdoch has been laying some pressure on the government to help turn his floundering cable service back to profitability. Everyone knows he is in league with the conservative government, having devoted all his Australian press to slandering the previous government, yet no criticism has occurred of the current government for all their gaffes and rampant stupidity. Toss in Brandis' idea that bigotry should be protected, but hate speech inciting terrorism should be subject to secret, private trials and swept under the rug, and I firmly believe that George Brandis is the worst Attorney-General in the history of the federation of Australia. If they bring that law in, the country will rebel! Haha! Any party that pledges to remove that law will be in power by the next election, I guarantee it.
On this whole electronic media thing, I've noticed that a court in America has stated that Microsoft must hand over the e-mails it holds in a data centre in Ireland. What? American courts have no jurisdiction over Ireland, so how can they enforce such an order? The judge said it was a matter of control and not geography, and that Microsoft should be able to comply. That's scary for privacy concerns, but we already knew there were issues on that front (thank you NSA). It just goes to show the stupidity of the court system in America, where judges are elected officials, and try to enforce popular orders instead of following the law, so that they can win re-election. Businesses and individuals should just boycott doing business with any US entity unless you have to, because you never know how something will come back to bite you with crazy orders like this.
There was an issue in Thailand where an Australian couple who could not have children paid a surrogate mother to have a baby for them. The surrogate mother conceived twins, and one child developed down's syndrome. The Australian couple said they did not want to have that child, and have left the disabled baby with the mother. The mother was convinced by the surrogacy agency to lie to the Australian embassy to allow the 'transfer' (grose, it sounds like a business transaction) and has not been paid for the other baby. Great, so due to the greed and disgusting behaviour of a bunch of rich Australians, this baby will now be forced to endure abject poverty and a difficult existence. Well done. Sums up pretty much how the West treats developing nations, it's the absolute epitome of attitudes. I don't know how I feel about surrogacy, it feels exploitative to me. It's something that's come about due to technology, and the legal grey areas have not really caught up to the reality of the situation. I think as the human genus dies out in the future, it will be something that becomes more prevalent. But I wonder what it feels like to not be able to have children?
Yeah I have work and I'll get to it! What have I done? What have I become?
This has been a good return to form. Joaquin out.
