Vol 21 No 13

01 July 2011

AUSTRALIA

North Korea's human rights time bomb
- Lucas Smith
- 15 July 2011
4 Comments
As the world watches the ongoing catastrophe in Syria, state-sponsored destruction of a much quieter but no less brutal kind is afflicting North Korea. Even while the country anticipates next year's 100th birthday of state founder and 'Eternal President' Kim Il-sung, NGOs are reporting that it may have run out of food.
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EUREKA STREET TV

Intimacy of religion and violence
- Peter Kirkwood
- 15 July 2011
3 Comments
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EUREKA STREET TV

Intimacy of religion and violence
- Peter Kirkwood
- 15 July 2011
Austrian lay Catholic theologian, Wolfgang Palaver, is today one of the world's leading exponents of French-born philosopher Rene Girard's philosophy about the relationship between religion and violence. But Palaver had unlikely beginnings for his work as a professional Catholic theologian.
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RELIGION

Are martyrs good role models?
- Andrew Hamilton
- 14 July 2011
14 Comments
To defend the dignity of the unborn, asylum seekers, prisoners, indigenous people, enemies in war, gay people or the unemployed will invite criticism and rejection. It might be unduly dramatic to describe this as martyrdom, but the example of martyrs can encourage constancy in hard times.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Harry Potter's victory over Christian wowsers
- Tim Kroenert
- 14 July 2011
13 Comments
Harry Potter has been with us for nearly a decade and a half. Contrary to the predictions of some wowsers, the series has not led generations into paganism. Instead they have been exposed to a simple but profound message lifted straight from the gospels.
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MEDIA

My News of the World shame
- Alan Gill
- 13 July 2011
5 Comments
As a teenager in Britain I thought Catholic clergy were a pure and undefiled lot, while their Protestant counterparts were hopelessly scandalised. The source of this information? The News of the World. I'm ashamed to admit I was once myself seduced into writing for this unrepentant scandal ship.
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CARTOON

Carbon tax in perspective
- Fiona Katauskas
- 13 July 2011
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AUSTRALIA

Childbirth grace and agony
- Jen Vuk
- 13 July 2011
6 Comments
Sydney mother Grace Wang was left paralysed from the waist down due to a botched epidural. When I first heard her story I recalled my own epidural experience with my firstborn, looking fixedly down at the floor trying to ignore the blood pooling around my feet. Childbirth can be a murderous business.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Brother of a suicide and war dead
- Ian C. Smith
- 12 July 2011
1 Comment
His mother quoted Shakespeare, preferred her husband to their children, placing her faith in him, gin, and ghosts ... When she turned up breast cancer's card she hugged her suffering to herself.
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AUSTRALIA

Aborting abnormality
- Zac Alstin
- 12 July 2011
112 Comments
Research suggests that 85 per cent of Australians support legal access to abortion for 'severe disabilities', and 60 per cent for 'mild disabilities'. While we encourage tolerance and diversity in our multi-ethnic society, our medical culture is moving in the opposite direction.
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AUSTRALIA

Rupert Murdoch as moral arbiter
- Michael Mullins
- 11 July 2011
6 Comments
In the wake of the News of the World scandal, the British Government media regulator Ofcom has deferred its decision on whether Rupert Murdoch and his executives are 'fit and proper' media owners. Ofcom does not define 'fit and proper', but it's more likely to be about moral rather than financial solvency.
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ENVIRONMENT

The virtuous circle of Gillard's climate tax
- Lin Hatfield Dodds
- 11 July 2011
22 Comments
The Government has crafted a historic package of reforms: driving long-run reductions in carbon pollution, simplifying personal tax and making it fairer, and reducing poverty traps and barriers to work. It's exactly the kind of smart and gutsy approach we want to see from this Government.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Cucumbers and climate change deniers
- Brian Matthews
- 08 July 2011
9 Comments
European Parliamentarian Francisco Sosa Wagner risked ridicule to defend the honour of cucumbers. He stands in contrast to Christopher Monckton, politician and professional climate change denier who has called Australian economist Ross Garnaut a fascist.
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ENVIRONMENT

Gillard's carbon tax sales pitch
- Fatima Measham
- 08 July 2011
18 Comments
There is nothing radical about fixing a carbon price. While our politicians and pundits quibble, the rest of the world is already implementing its commitments. Gillard's greatest challenge in selling her carbon scheme is in normalising it in the public mind.
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AUSTRALIA

Welcome the Republic of South Sudan
- Jack De Groot
- 08 July 2011
1 Comment
Tomorrow, the world will welcome a new nation. After four decades of civil war and six tense months of transition, the Republic of South Sudan will assert its independence. This is an occasion for celebration, but also of new challenges for the international aid community.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Cyber bullies and 'selfish' suicide
- Tim Kroenert
- 07 July 2011
5 Comments
Channel 10's Can of Worms is not as lively or incisive as Q+A, but does try to get beyond frivolity. Asked a question about a youth who committed suicide after being bullied online, ex-footballer Jason Akermanis declared suicide was 'the most selfish thing you will ever do'.
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AUSTRALIA

Houses without walls
- Paul O'Callaghan
- 07 July 2011
8 Comments
Two creative housing researchers argue for a 'housing first' approach, that offers permanent housing to homeless people without first putting conditions on their behaviour. The concept flies in the face of politicians and welfare agencies in Australia.
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AUSTRALIA

Indigenous Australians taking the next step
- Brian McCoy
- 06 July 2011
4 Comments
I have just returned from visiting friends in remote Aboriginal communities. It was a sad trip. A large number of young people have died in recent years, some close friends. They represent the trifecta of young peoples' deaths: car accidents, suicides and chronic disease.
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CARTOON

Evil Greens
- Fiona Katauskas
- 06 July 2011
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Sketching an icon of refugee resilience
- Vacy Vlazna
- 06 July 2011
11 Comments
I first saw Handala in a painting in the wretched Bourj al Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut. In Palestine, Handala is loved and cherished as a symbol of steadfast resistance. But he transcends Palestine: he represents every suffering child.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Dorothy enjoys a funeral
- Brook Emery and Rodney Wetherell
- 05 July 2011
2 Comments
Awful to think of her lying in that polished box, plump though somewhat wasted. It's a mercy, someone's bound to say, yet tearful Bill may not agree.
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ENVIRONMENT

Opportunities on a crowded planet
- Bruce Duncan
- 05 July 2011
14 Comments
Unless countries are prepared to implement draconian birth-control policies like China's, realistically there is no alternative but to prepare for a world of 9 billion people. But the increase in global population need not provoke a catastrophe.
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AUSTRALIA

Aung San Suu Kyi's inner freedom
- Michael Mullins
- 04 July 2011
4 Comments
Over the weekend, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd had the privilege of spending two hours with Burma’s pro-democracy hero Aung San Suu Kyi. In her Reith Lectures for the BBC, she explains that her release from house arrest last November was almost inconsequential. Freedom is something else.
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AUSTRALIA

Regional issues beyond the mad hatter's tea party
- Rachel Baxendale
- 04 July 2011
4 Comments
Some regional Australians may be enjoying the political day in the sun of rural independents Bob Katter, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott. But despite the prominence of the NBN and the Murray Darling Basin, flippancy and apathy dominate metropolitan Australia's attitude to regional and rural issues.
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Vol 21 No 13