Rubenerd

I just read this report on Somebody Think of the Children having just seen it commented on by Cameron Reilly on Twitter and shared by Alex in Google Reader. I'm speechless. Game over man, game over.

A ballot was held in the upper house on Tuesday to decide which minor party or independent senator would be appointed to a federal parliamentary committee on cyber-safety.

In a very close secret vote, Senator Fielding was awarded the job with 34 votes to Senator Ludlam’s 32.

For those not following Australian politics, Scott Ludlam is a senator with the progressive Greens party who's been one of the few to stand up and grill Senator Conroy about the proposed mandatory internet filters, and Senator Fielding is a senator with the ultra conservative and Orwellian-titled Family First.

Any already fleeting ideas that this would be a productive and useful committee have not only been shot down, but shoved into a rocket and hurled into the centre of the sun.

And to think this morning I was worrying about novelty gadgets being sold as ultra secure devices to people who don't know. If I had a graph showing my view on humanity, it would have taken a nosedive today.