| 6th September |
Blue Nile... |
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Australian nutter MP is caught with 200,000 hits on porn websites
Permalink |
2nd September 2010. Based on
article from
samesame.com.au
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Australia's
nutter MP, Fred Nile, is red-faced after Parliament's IT audit suggests
he checked porn sites – clicking them up to 200,000 times.
The Daily Telegraph has the scoop, but Nile today claims his staff were
using his log-in to conduct research purposes. Particularly researching the
Sex Party according to his staff.
The Christian Democrat adds that a huge 200,000 hit-count on the suspect'
NSFW sites is surely impossible.
Nile is holding on, though another NSW politician's career is over after
he was similarly discovered having accessed porn at work. Ports Minister
Paul McLeay resigned following his net history revelation.
In a teary media conference, McLeay said he had apologised to the
Premier. The audit, by the Department of Parliamentary Services, is
understood to have found more than 60,000 suspect hits on McLeay's log-on.
I am quite embarrassed to be standing here before you. This behaviour is
not the standard expected of Government ministers, he said.
A firewall was installed in July for Legislative Assembly MPs so they
could not view pornography, but Legislative Council President Amanda Fazio
elected not to install a firewall for the Upper House. Before news of
McLeay's resignation broke, Ms Fazio yesterday said she was refusing to
implement a similar ban in the Upper House saying she was against
internet censorship. She said MPs should be able to research
pornography.
Nile's comeuppance follows a long line of attacks against LGBT
communities from from the early 80s right up to this week. Wading
unhelpfully into the NSW debate on same-sex couples adopting children, he
bizarrely claimed at a rally on Tuesday that some women would abort their
children rather than risk them being raised by gay couples.
The Bible-thumper's hatred towards homosexuality is well-documented
through his long political career. He used to frequently state that being
gay was an "immoral and unnatural lifestyle choice" and described Mardi Gras
as a "public parade of immorality and blasphemy." He has labels his Green
Party rivals as "anti-family."
Update:
Crap filter definitions make for false accusations
4th September.
Based on
article
from news.com.au
An audit of politicians' internet use that claimed the scalp of a state
minister ranked the newspaper site news.com.au as the most visited adult
website.
The audit supposedly showed whether NSW MPs had been visiting adult links
such as gambling and pornography sites. However Legislative Council
president Amanda Fazio yesterday revealed the audit had incorrectly
classified news sites as adult because they contained links to or
advertisements for adult dating sites.
Both news.com.au and smh.com.au (Sydney Morning Herald) were classified
as adult sites in the audit.
The definition of what has been classed as an adult site is something
we're reviewing, she said: What surprised us... the biggest (site) of
what is classed as an adult site being hit by the parliament is the
news.com.au site. Because there are adult matchmaking links or ads on their
site, every time someone accesses news.com.au and they go from one article
to another, that's counted as an individual hit on an adult site.
The bungle is one of the most embarrassing examples to date of the
problems that can occur when governments and organisations try to regulate
internet use.
The revelation could also absolve some MPs tangled in the web porn
scandal at NSW parliamentary offices that erupted this week.
Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell said every politician had been tainted
by the scandal and asked for the matter to be settled quickly.
Update:
Democratically elected representatives have to ask permission to
access more adult areas of the internet such as news websites
6th September. Based on
article
from sify.com
Politicians at New South Wales Parliament House will now be able to access
porn sites (including mainstream news sites with links to porn sites) with
prior permission and only if it's for research.
Upper House President Amanda Fazio has reviewed the policies over
Internet use. The new guidelines will allow staffers to seek an exemption to
view adult sites if they need to research, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Fazio said a memo will be issued to MPs this week of the new
arrangements, with the permission slip already available on the parliament
intranet.
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| 6th September |
More Salty... |
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Salt set for an uncut 15 rating on DVD
Permalink (63 days only) |
Based on
article
from bbfc.co.uk
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Salt is a 2010 US spy thriller by Phillip Noyce.
See
IMDb
A re-edited version with an alternative ending was passed 15 uncut
for:
- UK 2010 Sony video version
The
BBFC explained their rating:
SALT is an action espionage thriller starring
Angelina Jolie as CIA agent Evelyn Salt. She is forced to go on the run
after being accused by a defector of being a Russian deep-cover sleeper
agent.
This is an extended version of a film that was
classified 12A in the cinema and 12 on DVD for moderate
violence and one use of strong language. Additional material present
here meant this version of the film was classified 15 for strong
violence.
The BBFC's Guidelines at 12A'/'12 state
that Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail.
There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory
moments may be permitted if justified by the context. SALT includes
several fast-paced fight scenes featuring moderate violence, with
crunchy kicks and blows. In most scenes little is seen in terms of blood
or injury detail but there are a few sequences of strong violence,
including a woman being repeatedly beaten and smashed into a desk as she
fights a dirty agent and a woman pulling a chain around a man's neck to
throttle him. The film also opens with a torture scene in which a
plastic tube is forced into Salt's mouth and filled with water, with
some brief emphasis on her struggle. These stronger scenes exceed the
terms of the 12A'/'12 Guidelines and are more appropriately
placed at 15 where Violence may be strong but should not dwell
on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are
unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is
also unlikely to be acceptable.
SALT also contains a single use of strong
language that is neither aggressively delivered nor directed. This would
have been permissible at 12A'/'12 where the Guidelines state that
The use of strong language (for example, 'fuck') must be infrequent.
Previously the BBFC suggested the cuts for 12A for:
This film was originally shown to the BBFC in an
unfinished version. The BBFC advised the company that the film was likely to
receive a 15 classification but that the requested 12A
certificate could be achieved by making cuts in six sequences in order to
reduce a scene of torture, four violent scenes and a scene of strangulation.
When the finished version of the film was submitted, all six scenes had been
reduced acceptably and the film was classified 12A.
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| 6th September |
God Hates UFC Fans... |
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Baptist nutter throws his Bible at UFC fans
Permalink |
Based on
article from
townhall.com by Adam P Groza
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How
should we as Baptists regard the growing popularity of Mixed Martial
Arts (MMA) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)?
Simply put, we should hate it.
Psalm 11:5 says, The LORD examines the righteous
and the wicked. He hates the lover of violence. This is a hard verse for
at least two reasons. First, it does not say that God simply hates violence,
but rather, that God hates those who love violence. Second, it confronts our
culture's lust for violence, a lust which many Christians indulge rather
than reject.
UFC and MMA comprise a lucrative mainstream
business of entertainment violence. Gate revenue for UFC fights in 2007
totaled $2.8 million and $200 million for pay-per-view. An international
phenomenon, one UFC fight in Dublin sold all 10,000 seats in two weeks.
Surprisingly, an estimated one-third of fans are female. UFC and MMA
fighters have been featured on mainstream shows such as 60 Minutes
and Dr. Phil, and on ESPN.
What exactly are people paying to see? MMA and UFC
offer a simple formula. Two people are put in an enclosed or confined space,
usually an octagon cage, and fight until one of them is deemed (by the
referee) too injured to continue or taps out, meaning he just can't
take any more beating. Fighters wear minimally padded gloves which lead to
more blood, and those bloody images are then used to market the sport.
Those who pay to see the fights also pay to see
octagon girls, scantily clad eye-candy between bouts. MMA and UFC are
far from a harmless sport. They are a sinful amalgam of blood lust and
female objectification that reflects our cultures growing desensitization to
the inherent value of human life.
UFC and MMA amounts to violence porn, a term which
has been applied to movies with wanton violence such as SAW, where
violence is not part of the plot, it is the attraction. Violence for
violence's sake, as opposed to instrumental or redeeming violence,
desensitizes the viewer to the graphic horror of watching two people pummel
each other for the sake of entertainment. UFC and MMA offer exactly the kind
of violence condemned in Psalm 11:5. Ezekiel 7:23 decries, the city is
full of violence. Why are Christians supporting violence in the city?
Early Christians were objects of violent
persecution, being thrown into Roman coliseums for the amusement of the
masses. Two-thousand years later, some Christians are now in the stands,
cheering and supporting the blood and violence. Christians must avoid any
support or association with the entertainment violence of MMA and UFC. We
must not envy the men of violence or choose any of their ways (Proverbs
3:31).
Or have we forgotten the words of Christ? Blessed
are the peacemakers.
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| 6th September |
Re-Slayed... |
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Recent re-release of the video nasty: The Slayer
Permalink (183 days only) |
UK 2010 Cornerstone R2 DVD
at UK Amazon
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The
Slayer is a 1981 US horror by JS Cardone. See
IMDb
Passed 18 uncut for:
- UK 2010 Cornerstone R2 DVD
at UK Amazon
- UK 2001 Protected/Vipco R0 DVD
Previously the BBFC cut 14s for an 18 rating for:
From IMDb:
- Edited to shorten a pitchfork murder
And before that, Vipco released the uncut VHS in June 1982. It
appeared on the
video nasties list
in October 1983 but was dropped in April 1985
Review from
UK Amazon: Minimal Gore
The Vipco DVD is grainy and washed out.
The film is quite good. two couples fly to a quiet
island for a well-earned break, but Kay knows the horror that is waiting for
them & sure enough they are killed off by this monster. Once the
killings start & the storm comes, there's a good atmosphere .
Unfortunately, the gore is way too minimal - with a
decent pitchforking scene being its only saviour.
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| 6th September |
Entertaining Repression... |
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Zimbabwe dusts off old entertainment licence law
Permalink |
Based on
article
from swradioafrica.com
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It's
reported the Zimbabwe's censorship board has declared it will now be a crime for
artists to perform without an entertainment licence.
Solomon Chitungo, an official with the Censorship Board, is quoted as
saying; This is not a new thing it has always been there but it's
just that it was not applied strictly and artists have been performing
illegally. The certificate will be valid for 12 months. It's just like a
drivers licence, we are also just issuing a licence to provide
entertainment and if one is to be found without the certificate we will
stop the show and confiscate their equipment, he said.
Newsreel has been told artists will now need to pay US$25 a year
while institutions will have to cough up US$155 a year to get the
entertainment licence. While the law is not new, as the censorship board
official admitted, their motivation in dusting-off an outdated law from
Ian Smith's Rhodesian regime is meant to find yet another way of
controlling free expression.
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| 6th September |
Out of Control Policing... |
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Police raid magazine over report on riot police
Permalink |
Based on
article from
rferl.org
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Armed
policemen, including masked special-forces officers, have raided the
Moscow office of the The New Times, one of Russia's few
opposition-minded media outlets.
During the raid, on September 2, Russian police Colonel Stanislav
Pashkovsky pressed the magazine's editor in chief, Yevgenia Albats, to
hand over recordings of interviews and other material used in a February
report on alleged abuse of power by the country's feared OMON riot
police.
The magazine posted videos of the raid on its website.
The article in question, entitled Slaves of OMON, cited
police sources who alleged that riot police have been given permission
to commit abuses when breaking up protests: It was an article about
the violations taking place inside Moscow's OMON -- how they are given
instructions on how to break up Marches of Dissent, how it is explained
to them that supporters of the Russian opposition are the enemies of
Russia, Albats said.
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| 6th September |
In the Pink... |
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Tokyo sees the rare occurrence of the opening of a new adult cinema
Permalink |
Based on
article from
tokyoreporter.com
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With
large illuminated lettering affixed to its pasty white facade proclaiming
Adult Movies, the all-night Ueno Okura Theater has been entertaining fans of
erotic cinema for nearly five decades.
The two-screen building, however, closed recently due to safety concerns
and aesthetic problems resulting from its aged interiors.
But the theater widely regarded as Japan's top outlet for soft-core
pink pornographic films will continue inside a new complex across the
alley and begin targeting a different type of cinemagoer: women.
Female customers can't typically come to this kind of place because
they feel embarrassed, says the theater's bespectacled general manager,
Hidekazu Saito. But we want them to come without hesitation.
Due to unfold Sunday in the new theater complex was a special ladies
only event featuring a speaking engagement with three adult-film
actresses (Chisato Shoda, Maki Tomoda and Riri Koda) and the screening of
two new films. These include director Tetsuya Takehora's Shiofuki
Hanayome no Sei Hakusho (White Paper on a Gushing Bride's Sex Life), a
coming-of-age story about a young woman seeking love.
The new building is accommodating to female sensibilities. With a
well-lit lobby and bright red and blue signs covering its sloping concrete
exterior, the new Okura creates a more modern atmosphere compared with the
drab tile flooring and faded earth-tone wall coverings of the old structure.
Ueno Okura TheaterPink films, or pinku eiga, date back to the 1960s.
These short films (usually running for 60 minutes) are made by small
companies, most notably Okura Eiga, which operates the Ueno Okura, and
differ from conventional porn flicks in that the story lines are generally
more broadly developed.
Originally the Okura opened under the Toei film company in 1951. It was
11 years later that it screened Flesh Market, a tale of torture and
bondage directed by Satoru Kobayashi that is typically considered to be
Japan's first pink film. By 1971, it was entirely dedicated to the pink
genre.
Around that time, the Okura was one of eight theaters in Ueno offering
erotic entertainment. That number slowly dwindled over the next few decades
as home video crept into the market.
Longtime fans should not be disappointed with its reincarnation. The
number of screens has increased by one to three, the former basement theater
has been relocated to the second floor, and a wheelchair space and
headphones for the hearing impaired are provided.
The recent closing of numerous long-running theaters in Tokyo was not a
deterrent in deciding the fate of the Okura. Saito believes that if the
theater were simply closed the genre would slowly die. If we lose this,
we'll lose pink films, he says. This is to save them.
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| 6th September |
BlackBerry in a Jam... |
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So has BlackBerry been compromised?
Permalink full story: BlackBerry Mobile Phones...Winding up countries who can't snoop on users |
See article
from cpj.org
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Blackberry
phones have a reputation for security, and are therefore commonly used by
journalists concerned they or their sources could be at risk of government or
criminal surveillance. What should journalists working under these conditions
make of these new developments? Will their online security be diminished?
There have been persistent reports that BlackBerry's maker,
RIM, has faced pressure to placate security services in India and Saudi
Arabia.
Can journalists still depend on it for secure communications?
Judging from all the evidence, the answer depends on where you
obtained your BlackBerry. BlackBerrys are sold either directly to
individual consumers by mobile companies, or provisioned by corporate
(or government) IT departments as the mobile extension of their own,
private, messaging systems.
If you have been issued a BlackBerry by your employer, or use it to
access company mail via what RIM calls a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES),
the security of your device is in the hands of your employer, not RIM.
Companies are worried about snooping, too, so RIM has purposefully
secured its enterprise offerings so that not even RIM can spy on their
traffic. As a side effect, this means communication is almost certainly
secure from government interception, even if those governments require
RIM to keep its servers in their control. If you feel you are in a
vulnerable position, and use a corporate BlackBerry, speak to your IT
department about its security.
If you have a consumer BlackBerry bought from a mobile phone company,
you do not have the protection of RIM's corporate security system.
Locating RIM servers in these countries (as many of them have demanded)
would give the local authorities the ability to straightforwardly
intercept all but SSL/TLS (https) Web traffic, and would allow local law
enforcement to obtain access to stored e-mail.
One common service used by both enterprise and consumer BlackBerry
owners is PIN-to-PIN messaging, the feature that allows
BlackBerry owners to send free messages to any other BlackBerry user.
PIN-to-PIN has the strongest reputation for privacy. Unfortunately,
while it is certainly harder to intercept than SMS (text) messages, the
encoding system that RIM uses to send PIN messages can theoretically be
decoded.
In summary: if you're a journalist using an enterprise BlackBerry
given to you by your employer for work purposes, you are probably
well-protected from casual interception (although you should never
depend on the inviolability of your communication systems). If you are
using a consumer BlackBerry, do not presume to be any better protected
from surveillance than someone using an ordinary mobile phone.
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| 6th September |
Extraditing Injustice... |
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Home Office to review recent extradition agreements
Permalink full story: European Arrest Warrants...Arrested in Britain for non-crimes |
Based on
article
from ukhumanrightsblog.com
See also
Police chief criticises UK extradition law ahead of Home Office review
from guardian.co.uk
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The
Home Office is to review UK extradition agreements with other countries,
including the controversial and some say unbalanced agreement with the United
States.
According to reports, the review will include the Extradition Act
2003 which implemented into law the UK-United States extradition treaty.
It will also consider the European Arrest Warrant, which was used for
50% more arrests last year.
The review fulfils the pledge made in the coalition's program for
government to review the operation of the Extradition Act – and the
US/UK extradition treaty – to make sure it is even-handed.
The former Home Secretary, David Blunkett, has told the BBC that the
agreement with the US was forged very much in the shadow of the
September 11 2001 attacks. He also regrets some of its features:
The problem, campaigners say, is that whereas the U.S. extradition
agreement may have been designed with suspected terrorists in mind, in
fact it has been used to extradite many who have nothing to do with
terrorism, such as Gary McKinnon. It is also accused of being unbalanced
in favour of the US.
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