Let's Take Over - Brisbane Politics and Activism

2009-10-12T13:00:00.000+10:00

The Justice for Palestine group is presenting the Palestinian Days film festival from this Friday, October 16, to Sunday, October 18, at the Schonell Theatre at the University of Queensland's St Lucia campus - click here for a Google Map. There are seven sessions over the weekend. The opening session at 6.30pm on Friday October 16 costs $20 or $12 concession, and includes food and will be opened by Ambassador Izzat Abdul Hadi, head of the Palestinian delegation to Australia. All other sessions...

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test autopost to facebook from LTO posterous

2009-09-03T15:19:00.001+10:00

test autopost to facebook from LTO posterous Let's see if this works Posted via web from Let's Take Over

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Brisbane Pro Choice Action Collective rally this Saturday Aug 29

2009-08-27T15:09:00.002+10:00

The Pro-Choice Action Collective is holding a rally this Saturday, August 29 2009, at 11am in Queens Park, Brisbane City (click here for a Google Map), to demand that the Queensland Police drop all charges against a young woman in Cairns who allegedly used misoprostol to abort a foetus she was carrying, and that the Government also repeal all anti-abortion laws. This issue has become more urgent as this week Queensland doctors have said they will not carry out abortions unless the Government...

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Brisforcewatch meeting Fri Aug 21 6.30pm : The community watching the cops

2009-08-20T13:52:00.001+10:00

Almost three years ago, Adrian Walker spoke at a rally demanding justice over the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee, an Aboriginal man killed by Queensland Police Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley. Walker said that black people need to start "policing the police": On Friday night, at the Kurilpa Hall, 174 Boundary St, West End, at 6.30pm, Brisforcewatch is starting up. That's what they plan to do - watch the cops, and help try to keep the notoriously violent and abusive Queensland Police under...

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Thank you Twitter - maintenance time changed to help Iranian protesters #iran9 #nomaintenance

2009-06-16T13:25:00.002+10:00

You probably know by now that there are big protests going on in Iran, after allegations that the recent election there was rigged by the Government of President Ahmedinijad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameni. This morning (Australian Eastern time) I noticed some messages on Twitter asking Twitter to hold off on some maintenance, so that Twitter would be available for use by the Iranian protesters who are being attacked by the police. This led to a pretty ugly discussion with one Twitter...

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Sex Party calls for NRL players to organise group sex at brothels #fb

2009-05-18T11:30:00.000+10:00

I've just been sent a media release by the Australian Sex Party, thanks to Michael Meloni of the Somebody Think of the Children blog, who passed it on to me after getting it from them. The release says that the NRL should make all players get educated about brothels, and that NRL clubs should arrange legal group sex sessions for players who want them. The release comes after a week and a half of allegations that former Rugby League star and now TV personality Matthew Johns helped to gang rape...

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Brisbane Unions: Labour Day celebrations Monday 4th of May 2009

2009-04-29T10:00:00.000+10:00

The Labour Day 2009 celebrations are on on Monday May 4th, at the oval at the RNA Showgrounds in Fortitude Valley - click here for a Google Map. Brisbane's union members will be marching from Spring Hill through Fortitude Valley from 10am and the celebrations will kick off at the showgrounds from 11am, with free bands, free kids' rides and lots of political debate. If you want to march, click here for more info, or visit your union's website. This slideshow shows the photos I took of the...

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Fight back against #stalkdaily and its worm that hijacked Twitter today

2009-04-12T20:38:00.007+10:00

UPDATE: Anonymous in comments says to go here to find out what to do if the worm has infected your Twitter account - the info looks pretty good. The comment also says that the domain uuuq.net was hosted at Zymic.com, not GoDaddy. UPDATE: Twitter user jay_neff has done some research on Mikeyy Mooney and found out he appears to be from from Winnfield, Louisiana UPDATE: I have made mistakes about who is hosting the servers. This is because I thought the companies that rented the domain names -...

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Are you working over Easter? #workingeaster

2009-04-09T12:30:00.000+10:00

So, are you working over (Catholic/Protestant) Easter in a country where, like here in Australia, almost everyone else goes on holiday for a four-day weekend? I am, for a couple of shifts, and I'll be using the #workingeaster hashtag on Twitter to connect with other people who are working. So if you're working at Easter and want to chat about what it's like to be on deck on a public holiday, leave a comment on Twitter using the #workingeaster hashtag or, if Twitter doesn't interest you, leave...

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Reports of #nocleanfeed #nocensorship forum hosted by @newmatilda

2009-03-26T03:59:00.000+10:00

Nic Suzor from Electronic Frontiers Australia speaks at "The Tangled Web", a forum on internet censorship organised by newmatilda.com. New Matilda's Twitter account is here, and their overview of the internet censorship debate in Australia is here. On Tuesday March 24th 2009, newmatilda.com, a website with "Independent news, analysis and satire covering politics, consumerism, international affairs, and culture.", presented "The Tangled Web", a forum about Internet censorship. Michael Meloni...

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Human Rights Consultation, Brisbane - report

2009-03-24T14:45:00.000+10:00

Last night (Monday March 23rd, 2009), I went to the National Human Rights Consultation session in Brisbane. It was quite interesting, although it had the limitations of a discussion based on Government and law, and the consultation process is also limited by the terms of reference the Government gave it, which means they cannot recommend a Constitutionally entrenched bill of rights. The four members of the Consultation panel are the Chair, Frank Brennan, Mary Kostakidis, Tammy Williams, and...

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@kevinruddpm can't use apostrophes, tries to delete the evidence

2009-03-17T20:48:00.000+10:00

It seems our politicians on Twitter have a lot to learn. Just one day after Queensland Premier Anna Bligh got caught deleting a message insulting the Green Party,sent (she says) from her Twitter account by an over-zealous volunteer, the Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd, has also been caught out not knowing how to use apostrophes correctly, and deleting the evidence when called on it. This afternoon, the KevinRuddPM account posted a St Patrick's Day message: Wishing everyone a happy St Patrick's...

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Don't let Fake Stephen Conroy @stephenconroy be silenced! PLEASE hand over the Twitter account!

2009-03-17T17:35:00.000+10:00

The very funny Fake Stephen Conroy @stephenconroy Twitter account is about to go silent forever, now that it's been revealed that Telstra employee Leslie Nassar is the man behind the account. Are you on Twitter? Do you want @stephenconroy to rise from the ashes? If so, I suggest sending an @reply to the @stephenconroy account suggesting that Nassar runs a contest to find the funniest possible replacement. It doesn't have to be complicated, he could just set up a freemail account and pick the...

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Despite denial, Freeview lawyers pulled spoof ad from YouTube

2009-03-10T12:19:00.000+10:00

Yesterday, Margaret Simons' The Content Makers blog reported that a Freeview spokesperson had denied they were behind the removal of an ad spoofing Freeview from YouTube. Today, Simons' blog reports that this is wrong: This morning I received the following e-mail from Rob Shilkin, the Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs for Google Australia (Google owns YouTube). “Hi Margaret - I’ve been reading your blog. We don’t ordinarily comment on individual videos or any DMCA notices...

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Freeview Australia spoof ad disappears from YouTube

2009-03-09T14:55:00.000+10:00

"Freeview" (Wikipedia) is a campaign by Australian free-to-air channels to convince you that free-to-air TV is not mostly boring rubbish. The campaign boasts about the fact that Australians will have fifteen digital channels to choose from on free-to-air TV, instead of the six free-to-air channels that Australians have (at least the ones who live in a major city). What the campaign doesn't mention is that most of the new channels are just exact rebroadcasts of the already-existing free-to-air...

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Translink Brisbane Needs to Change

2009-02-24T14:24:00.000+10:00

I have just extracted, with great effort, a free daily ticket from Translink. On February 5th this year, a bus was half an hour late and then drove past me when I was frantically waving at it with both hands. After 18 days (and two follow-up calls from me to the call centre) the complaint I made about this was finally returned. However the smooth arrogant so-and-so that I talked to refused to look into other issues I've had with this route, and rotten things I've seen - they refuse to open a...

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Video: Don't Divorce Us - US Homophobes will rip marriages apart

2009-02-07T14:34:00.001+10:00

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo. If you'd like to try a simple way to get all new stories from Let's Take Over (and many other sites) sent to one place, click here for info on the Let's Take Over 'news feed' (sometimes called an 'RSS feed' or 'XML') If you have a fast connection, use this feed instead - it takes longer, but you can read the full stories in your newsreader Click here to get all new stories from Let's Take Over sent to your email address This...

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Stopping Australian Internet Censorship: Strategy Discussion #nocensorship #nocleanfeed

2009-01-15T12:01:00.003+10:00

On Saturday January 10th, I went to a meeting of the Brisbane branch of the Digital Liberty Coalition, and came away with the job of drafting a leaflet for the next small public protest, planned for Australia Day. The leaflet needs to reflect the strategy of the anti-censorship campaign. After the December 13th 2008 rallies in six capital cities, plus the one in Hobart a week later, some very useful debate about strategy and tactics cropped up. I want this article to bring that debate to as...

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Protest Israel's attack on Gaza: Fri 9th and Saturday 10th of January #gaza

2009-01-07T12:00:00.001+10:00

This Friday and Saturday there will be public protests against the Israeli attack on Gaza. At 5pm on Friday January 9th there will be a roadside vigil at Brisbane Square, across George St from the top of the Queen St Mall in the city - click here for a Google Map. And on Saturday January 10 at 12.30pm there will be a rally at Queens Park, on the corner of Elizabeth and George St in the city - click here for a Google Map. The rally will be followed by a march through the city. For more...

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#nocleanfeed: Rally against Internet Censorship in Australia, Saturday December 13th 2008

2008-11-30T21:43:00.001+10:00

On December 13th 2008, there will be rallies in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide and Perth to protest against the Government's plans to censor the Internet in Australia. This video has all the details and also some advice about what to say when you're talking to people who are worried about what kids might see online. Please spread this video and news about the rally far and wide. Rally details: Brisbane: Saturday 13th of December 2008 11am-3pm Brisbane Square (between the casino...

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Brisbane_Anti_Censorship_Rally_planning_meeting?

2008-11-26T17:24:00.001+10:00

If anyone is interested in planning the Brisbane rally against the Government's plan to censor the Internet, there is a meeting on Sunday November 30 at 3.30pm at Post Office Square in town. The rally itself is on Saturday December 13 at Brisbane Square, George St, at 11am. Brisbane Square is right opposite the end of the Queen Street Mall, just across George St. For more info on rally planning go to the forums at http://www.nocensorship.info/ Mobile post sent by djackmanson using...

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#nocleanfeed T-Shirts for sale

2008-11-11T18:42:00.000+10:00

It's the merchandise that Senator Stephen Conroy can't censor, even if he wants to! Click here for #nocleanfeed T-Shirts you can buy. Or make them yourself.

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Against Australian Internet Censorship? We Must Change Our Arrogant, Flawed Strategy. #nocleanfeed

2008-11-10T17:59:00.002+10:00

Mark Newton, a network engineer with Australian ISP Internode, is becoming very well-known as a result of his opposition to the Australian Government's plans to censor the Internet. He's published an article called "Filter Advocates Need To Check Their Facts" today at the ABCs website. I am sure that Newton knows far more than I ever will about computer networks, but if he knew much about politics, he would know that the facts are neither here nor there. His article has a superior, sneering...

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Potty mouthery = deletion at Flickr

2008-10-03T09:50:00.001+10:00

Responding to a Flickr automated warning with obscenities gets user deleted. read more | digg story

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2008-09-23T23:32:00.001+10:00

The Brisbane GoMA (Gallery of Modern Art) has a new show starting mid-November. It's called Optimism and it's about contemporary Australian artists. I really like the poster, and we should be quite impressed with GoMA's record this year. First, Andy Warhol, then Picasso's Collection. Both very popular (Warhol got over 120 000 individual visits) and this shows that GoMA management are thinking hard about what sort of ambitious major exhibitions will bring in a lot of interest from the public....

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