Jo Mullins:

The point being made has nothing to do with what the database is to be used for. This is totally irrelevant and, as I suspect you are a flack of the organization in question, an attempt to sidetrack the issue into a more positive light.

That said, while I'm all for young people developing skills, it's not the government's responsibility to babysit and coerce them once they've been given the legal right to leave school. That legal right exists for a reason.

Furthermore, the kind of details that will be included in this database are totally irrelevant to achieving the goals you describe. A name and phone number would do. You also said "As for the 'aspirations... I believe the idea here is that the department of education can be more involved in creating career pathways for students with limited options." Not the department's responsibility. The departments responsibility is to teach a set curriculum, not plan the kid's life. I don't know anyone who got anything but misdirection from these attempts to interfere in what is a choice to be made by individuals.

The pedophile fear-mongering card has been overplayed. The purpose of the database ("breaking the poverty cycle," yeah, good luck on that one) has been overplayed. What's the real issue?

The issue is that Education Queensland is breaking civil liberties. The comments made by this so-called minister, who is quite obviously self-absorbed and blinded by his illusion of power, are clear: if parents refuse to submit to this invasion of privacy, their children will be denied an education.

Well, I fail to see how he has the power to make that decision. There's nothing about being a politician that grants you the power to break the law, and the government has the legal responsibility to make public education readily available. There are also privacy laws that provide citizens with certain protections. If Welford intends to continue on both fronts, there's a few criminal charges waiting for him.

Nobody has to submit that kind of information to any database, networked or not, unwillingly. If you want to collect data, make it opt-in. Not opt-out and certainly not mandatory.

The minute the government decides it knows best and will implement its ideal situation even if it means breaking the law and all that we believe in is the minute we are in big, big trouble.

Looks like my son will be going to school over the border, where people can think straight.

"Please, more PR anecdotes Mark. Anything that exposes people to the thinking and habits of America's propaganda specialists is probably healthy."

Yes, Burz, let's one-sidedly perpetrate stereotypes that apply to a few in order to make all PR people look bad. That would seem to be the kind of suggestion that an unethical PR person make.

The foot is gross, but the comparison does point up how ingrained processed foods are as a norm in Western culture, when in fact they're the least natural.

Nice site. I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like after the anthology is released. I think the web is becoming, or really, in many respects, has already become, the packaging of intellectual property. As CD buying becomes a relic of the past, the sleeve booklet is replaced by a site that has doesn't have any restrictions such as how many pages can be printed. Forget these PDF booklets. The web is not just for marketing, it's the packaging itself.