More than many would think it appears. Both places have an arid climate, are relatively sparsely populated, and have legislators stupid enough to believe that pornography can be stopped by filtration at the ISP level.

Do these people need sanity checks?

While most would agree that keeping young eyes away from bad things is a concern of today, it seems that the usually independent Aussies, and the usually Republican citizenry of Utah, have lost all measure of what these words stand for.  The Republican party was founded as a party of small government, large liberty, and small cost. To look at the Republicans of  today, it would seem that they are racing against all comers to be the party of the greatest expenditure and the least freedom.  (Does Iraq war costing billions of dollars each month, or wiretapping Mom, Dad, and Baby Jane, ring a bell?)

Beyond that, they also seem to be against using reason and effective thought as part of their arsenal as well. Do any of these bozos know what the word steganography means?

Anyone determined to get things not desired by your Sunday school teacher will get what they want - with enough effort. Also, at what expense does this come? I would make the argument (that I’m sure is near and sear to both Aussies and citizens of Utah) that simply because some children are killed each year when they find the loaded gun that someone in the house has left to be found, we aren’t banning guns just yet. Indeed, in each of those cases, it is bad parenting that gets the nod.

Since the costs of this filtering is borne by all, is it really fair to punish all because some parents are too stupid to use filtration at home?

This is one of those things that puts the defenders of unfiltered content in a bad light at first, as they appear to be pro-pornography. The case is made that these ‘weirdos’ should shut up and take it, as they are simply part of the problem.

More thought about each of the infringements to personal freedom should be at the top of the list for anyone who considered ‘conservative’. If you don’t see it that way, you have no right to call yourself conservative.

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[tags] conservatism, pornography, legislation, Republican party, tenets of conservatism [/tags]