Mollom has proved very effective on several of my sites.

When new content is analysed by Mollom’s text-analysis filter, and Mollom is unsure if it is spam, it asks the user to answer a CAPTCHA challenge.

This challenge-response procedure does not block human users.

For WordPress users it significantly reduces the amount of spam in moderation. Akismet and Defensio make (a small number of) mistakes and a blog owner needs to check the comments marked as spam.

Mollom lets dodgy-looking comments through if a CAPTCHA check is passed.

I’ve had two spam comments survive the scrutiny, presumably entered by people who bothered to make a manual entry.

I’d rather deal with the odd contrived comment than trawl through moderated spam.

I liked Brendan Nelson and thought he did pretty well, without much support. Turnbull is a better match for Kevin Rudd though.

Rudd is too technical. He wasn’t scrutinised properly before the 2007 election, and may prove the first Prime Minister since Scullin to lose an election after one term.

Labor has targeted Turnbull as wealthy and elitist. Invoking the tall-poppy syndrome is poor form and will almost certainly be rejected in the community.

Despite being caught off guard by the leadership spill, Turnbull has hit the ground running and shifted the debate from personalities to policies.

He wisely declined the Prime Minister’s invitation to work co-operatively on the republic issue and focused instead on the economy.

Mr Rudd knows the republic debate is divisive for the Coalition. Turnbull knows the Labor Government is vulnerable on the economy.

White replaces Victorian teammate Bryce McGain who sustained a shoulder injury.

Many people were tipping former WA (now NSW) left-arm chinaman bowler Beau Casson to get the nod.

White is more experienced and should be better suited to Indian conditions. He pushes the ball through like Anil Kumble. The extra pace will be handy on slow tracks.

They should put White into the side ahead of the offspinner Jason Krejza

The push is coming from animal welfare groups and I don’t agree with it.

As a local trainer commented to The Border Watch in Mount Gambier, many of the horses used for jumps racing are retired flat racers, which without a racing career, would end up in the abattoir for pet food.

“The animal liberation movement are very concerned about the things they can see, but don’t seem to worry about the things they can’t see,” he said.

Jumps racing isn’t big in Australia, but it’s a colorful and entertaining part of the sport. I wouldn’t like to see it go.

The Australian reports that four months after NSW police seized Henson’s work from a Sydney gallery, the photographer has said he finds models in several different ways.

Most often, he is introduced to them by a friend or relative, but sometimes he sees a child in public and gives a business card to their parents.

He said he was once invited to a Melbourne primary school by a principal and “had a look around at lunchtime” before the principal offered to contact the parents of two children he had seen. It was not the first time he had been invited into schools to search for models.

“If the report is accurate, I am disgusted by it,” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said.

“I think parents would be revolted and horrified if this were true.”

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said he was outraged by the report.

“There are very big issues here relating to the protection of children, their privacy and informed consent,” he said.

“The matters that have been described in the media are totally inappropriate and unacceptable and I share the outrage that has been expressed by many people at these events,” he said.

“I’m astounded by the reports.”

We have bipartisan agreement Henson was wrong … also the principal who took him on a school tour to scour for nude child models.

What’s being done about it? Nothing.

The photographer should be considered a pornographer, instead of an artist.

That’s a lot of money and nobody is even sure if it will work.

I wonder how a Communist government in the former Soviet Union would have reacted to such turmoil?

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd thinks government intervention in financial markets is a good thing.

“This is a positive step forward in restoring stability to the global banking system,” Mr Rudd told reporters in Sydney.

“But there is still much much more work to be done.

“The stability of the banking system is important to all working families everywhere.”

Mr Rudd praised the US administration, Republicans and Democrats, for putting aside their differences and passing the package.

“Now the challenge is globally consistent financial regulations on transparency, on prudential standards and on corporate governance,” Mr Rudd said.

Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull also welcomed the handout and said it would ease pressure on Australian banks and financial institutions.

“It is an important step to resolving confidence throughout global financial markets,” Mr Turnbull said.

“As for Australia, while we do have a much more secure financial system - better regulated, better capitalised, lower level of default - nonetheless we are part of the world and we have been affected by the global crisis.

“We are in the midst of a global economic storm. We will get wet but we will not sink … (the move will) benefit Australians and ease pressure on banks and other institutions in Australia.”

Mr Turnbull warned that the move was no “silver bullet” and there could still be “rocky” times ahead.

Whatever happened to the free market?

The wild fluctuations are unsettling for investors, and frankly, unless you have cash to burn there is little motivation to put money in stocks just at the moment.

There are several times I wished I had cash on the sidelines to invest in bank stocks, in particular.

I bought ANZ and Westpac around the $25 mark, saw them slide and recover, and finished up selling around $23 to buy a property instead.

ANZ closed at $15.45 yesterday before recovering to $17.71 today. I thought they were good buying at $22 and $20.

Bank interest is returning around eight percent now on some accounts. It is a much safer place to park some money.

Premier Alan Carpenter was right to call an early election. It caught the Liberals off guard and gave Barnett no chance to establish his authority.

If Carpenter had waited a few more months there would have been a real possibility of the Liberals winning.

Western Australia has been crying out for a serious challenge to the inept Labor Government.

The Liberals have shuffled leaders like a deck of cards before calling on the man who should have been there all along.

Like Victoria, the Nationals have done a better job in opposition than the Liberals.

Ironically, the late baton change to Barnett won’t help the Nationals, who would have surged ahead on polling day on September 6 if Buswell had been in the Libs non-sniffable chair.

They should still perform well. I respect Brendon Grylls and his strategy on country independence. It’s the vision I always had for the Nationals, but he’s the only Australian leader who has articulated it and promised to deliver.

The Nats should be a party that’s socially conservative but economically pragmatic (read interventionist). They should be arguing for government investment in regional infrastructure, hence Grylls’ “royalties for regions”.

If the WA Nats perform well it could be a signal for Peter Ryan in Victoria, who I think made a mistake by joining a Coalition in Opposition.

I assume that decision was made to avoid three-cornered contests and an Upper House free-for-all.

Unfortunately, it limits the party’s chances of winning any new seats. By rights, they should hold Benambra and South West Coast if they are serious about representing rural Victoria.

I’ll be watching Kalgoorlie and Eyre closely on WA’s election night. I think the Nats are a chance to win Kalgoorlie and could surprise in Eyre if they get Labor preferences.

The banks are crying poor about “funding costs” on the wholesale market.

Sorry, but they really have to accept a small drop in profits and pass on the reduction if it occurs.

If they don’t, the government should pressure them and if that doesn’t work they should legislate.

The Liberals will be his biggest threat if they choose to run a serious candidate. The only way I can see the Nats winning is on Liberal preferences if the Libs run dead.

Demographic change has hit the Nats hardest in coastal New South Wales. The electorate has become more urbanised and many people have moved there from capital cities.

The Nats have under performed federally for many years and discerning voters will take a close look at the individual candidates.

With Labor not running, the door is really open for Oakeshott.