Vol 20 No 5

15 March 2010

AUSTRALIA

Light pollution with a slight chance of stars
- Sarah McKenzie
- 26 March 2010
13 Comments
According to the International Astronomical Union, nearly 30 per cent of the world's population cannot see the Milky Way. Vincent Van Gogh said 'the sight of the stars make me dream'. When we over-light our cities, it's not just sleep we're losing, it's the chance to dream.
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EUREKA STREET TV

Thoughts of a Buddhist Christian theologian
- Peter Kirkwood
- 26 March 2010
3 Comments
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AUSTRALIA

'Bumbars' evict homeless from shared spaces
- Joshua Anderson
- 25 March 2010
9 Comments
The construction of space reveals society's attitudes to different groups of people. A Brisbane council's plan to replace conventional bus shelter seating with horizontal 'bumbars' sends a distinct message of exclusion to the homeless people who sleep there.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Cate Blanchett, Peter Garrett and other endangered creatures
- Brian Matthews
- 25 March 2010
5 Comments
Few people give a toss about Bilbies, the Arts or Heritage, but the moment someone rediscovers them and deems them indispensable, only to find that Bilbies are disappearing and Arts and Heritage are in palliative care, Garrett's a goner — again.
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AUSTRALIA

Discerning Obamacare's rough beast
- Jim McDermott
- 24 March 2010
6 Comments
Unlike the night of Obama's election, there was no cheering to be heard in the streets after the bill passed, no roars of joy, no celebrations. If there were any exclamations, they were probably sighs of relief.
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RELIGION

Romero: faith and power in hard places
- Andrew Hamilton
- 24 March 2010
12 Comments
Thirty years ago today Archbishop Oscar Romero was shot as he celebrated Mass. His blood and the chalice were spilled together on the altar. His anniversary will be remembered around the world, for he provides one of the universal images of what living faithfully as a Christian might look like today.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

The ant's prayer
- Vinay Verma
- 23 March 2010
As angels of innocence cast .. Imperfect shadows .. God idioms are intoned .. Perfunctory .. As morning ablutions .. Disciples invoking pacts of compromise .. Offering souls and solutions .. Silent in their conspiracy
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AUSTRALIA

Tasmanian Greens and the terror of coalitions
- Binoy Kampmark
- 23 March 2010
6 Comments
The Greens are arguably the true winners of Saturday's inconclusive Tasmanian state election. The Rudd Government should be worried. An arrangement with the Greens may be unavoidable should Labor wish to retain power.
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AUSTRALIA

Forcing people to do the right thing
- Michael Mullins
- 22 March 2010
9 Comments
The cost to human dignity makes compulsory income management counter-productive. It assumes that some welfare recipients are unable to make rational decisions that take into account the long-term consequences of their actions. The same might be said for some governments.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Germaine Greer's utopia
- Jasmine-Kim Westendorf
- 22 March 2010
14 Comments
Some say that not only is The Female Enuch of little relevance today: it never was relevant. Such arguments are often based more on attacks on Greer personally, and feminism generally, than considered critiques of the value of the feminist agenda set out in the book.
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ENVIRONMENT

Vote One Zero Zero against climate inaction
- Tony Kevin
- 19 March 2010
34 Comments
In Australia's next federal election, I'll vote One, Zero, Zero — Greens 1, Labor 0, Coalition 0. This is the only way I can fulfil my voter duty, while recording protest at the failure of our major parties to offer real policies on the planet's climate crisis.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

New ways of talking about God
- Philip Harvey
- 19 March 2010
2 Comments
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke's 'God', writes Stephanie Dowrick, 'is a vulnerable neighbour one moment, like a clump of a hundred roots the next; an ancient work of art, then a much-needed hand, a cathedral, a dreamer. Absent here, breath-close there; as often in darkness as in light.'
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RELIGION

Reading Nigeria's Christian-Muslim violence
- Andrew Hamilton
- 18 March 2010
12 Comments
Recently over 500 Catholics died at the hands of a Muslim mob in Northern Nigeria. It would be easy to understand the killings as an expression of a wider Muslim intolerance of Christians and miss the subtle interplay of religious faith, tribal loyalties, and traditional religion and group identity.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Mixing news and comedy
- Tim Kroenert
- 18 March 2010
1 Comment
Dave Hughes' presence in the line-up is likely justified more by ratings potential than by any insights he might offer. The good will inherent to The 7pm Project's presentation makes it a positive alternative to other more lecherous, leach-like current affairs programs.
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RELIGION

Empathy for Irish priests
- Frank O'Shea
- 17 March 2010
26 Comments
In Ireland, the attitude of locals to the Murphy and Ryan reports into child abuse in Catholic institutions is commonly anger at the apparent obfuscation by Church leaders. This St Patrick's Day, spare a thought for the ordinary priest in modern Dublin.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Thank God for McDonald's
- Eleanor Massey
- 17 March 2010
7 Comments
The cockatoo screeched, hurling himself against the windows of a Pitt Street high-rise. He didn't have a branch to sit on. We Sydney-siders, jammed between tower blocks which cut out the sun, and pavements shutting off the earth, were in sympathy. Thank God for McDonald's.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

What is a soul
- Anne Elvey
- 16 March 2010
5 Comments
In the winter sun a soul twitches neck and head, neck buried in the pulse of a round and thinking flesh.
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AUSTRALIA

It takes more than money to raise a child
- Sarah Kanowski
- 16 March 2010
21 Comments
The Professor of Work and Organisational Studies at Sydney University says Abbott's plan would 'catapult Australia from having no scheme at all to probably being the best scheme in the world'. So why am I, a passionate believer in paid parental leave, not rejoicing?
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AUSTRALIA

Spin and the art of democracy
- Alex McDermott
- 15 March 2010
7 Comments
Two of the most significant changes in Australian history, the post-war migration scheme and the 1980s economic reform, would not have occurred without political spin. It is no accident that the first teaching to devote itself to the art of spin was born simultaneously with democracy in ancient Athens.
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AUSTRALIA

Clarke, Bingle and the prurience of celebrity media coverage
- Michael Mullins
- 15 March 2010
15 Comments
For the past week we've been transfixed by the disintegrating relationship between a promising cricket vice captain and a famous model. The good that celebrities do receives scant media attention compared with exhaustive reporting of the details of their relationships and wealth.
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Vol 20 No 5