zhasper.com

Wow.

Good thing he lives in a country where free speech is protected in the constitution.

Hang on, something about that last sentence wasn't quite right... but I can't figure out what.

he who, of his own free will, on a half a pint of sherry, was particularly ill:

We should remember John Stuart Mill's famous justification of the importance of the "marketplace of ideas". People should be given the chance to hear, and understand, even the most disagreeable opinion, because, "If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth; if wrong, they lose what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error."

From Amy Corderoy's column

I've just heard that police are in Hyde Park, stopping people, going through their cameras, and deleting photos they (the police) don't like.

Expecting unbiased, accurate third-party coverage of APEC and any protests that happen around it? I'm not.

It's not the end goal, but it's a step in the right direction:

A same-sex relationship register should be in place in Victoria by the end of this year, Premier Steve Bracks says.

He said he remained opposed to gay marriage, but said the register would allow improved legal recognition of gay couples and also those in defacto and long-term care giving relationships.

...

"What we're saying is we're not going to (take) any step in relation to civil unions or gay marriages, we actually have made a statement about removing discrimination," Mr Bracks said.

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission described the planned register as a critical step in reducing discrimination.

"Federal laws are standing in the way of true equality for gay and lesbian couples across Australia who have to contend with partial social acceptance and limited legal protection," Commission chief executive Helen Szoke said.

She said couples on the register would receive a certificate which proved their relationship in dealings with government, courts and agencies.

I've mentioned machinegunkeyboard before, but I'm mentioning it again now because you should go and read this article.

In case anyone needs reminding, government in a first-world representative democracy exists for the service of the people, not the other way around. When government has the power to act with no justification to the public, without any means for redress of grievance, it has the power to act arbitrarily and capriciously for politically motivated ends. This is otherwise known as tyranny.