http://www.eurekastreet.com.au Eureka Street http://www.eurekastreet.com.au http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/images/img_eureakstreet_logo_rss.gif http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Eureka Street Thu, 17 May 2012 06:08:13 +1100 Thu, 17 May 2012 06:08:13 +1100 A common public response to suicide is very similar to earlier attitudes to leprosy. The latter makes invisible people who need to be seen. The former makes silent people who need to speak. A recently published collection of writing by relatives and friends of people who had taken their own lives breaks that silence. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31395 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31395 Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 It remains unclear whether the encounter was consensual, although the power imbalance in the relationship makes such an encounter ethically dubious even if it was not strictly rape. If it was rape, it is inconceivable that she later becomes her assailant's willing lover. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31396 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31396 Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 I missed my cousin's funeral because I had weekend plans with a girlfriend that I was not man enough to break; and this beloved cousin was a nun. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31277 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31277 Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 As we drove through the village of Prek Sbeuv in Cambodia, the parish priest who accompanied me, Fr Jub Phoktavi, matter-of-factly pointed to Pol Pot's old house. I remain in awe of Cambodians who have been able to be reconciled, committing themselves to the common good of their nation. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31374 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31374 Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31389 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31389 Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 One way of conducting class warfare is to accuse your opponent of conducting class warfare, as Abbott did in his Budget reply speech. It is no coincidence that over the period when talking about class became the political equivalent of breaking wind, the actions of governments of both stripes have accelerated social inequality.  http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31376 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31376 Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 When I feel the day is turning, I go — without a dog or child — to pray and walk the corridors of light and shade. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31312 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31312 Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 Joe Hockey provoked outrage with his recent suggestion that we should rely on families rather than the state for social welfare. His premise that high social spending leads to debt and decline reflects the GDP fetish of fundamentalist economists that Joseph Stiglitz blames for Europe's current economic problems. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31313 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31313 Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 As the diplomatic crisis unfolded between the US and China over the fate of blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, hard questions re-emerged regarding how the West should best relate to China. A Jesuit missionary who died 400 years ago offers a tantalising alternative to the cycle of comprehension and mystification. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31326 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31326 Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 I took the train into central Tokyo, my bum warmed by the heated seats. Each time we stopped, the train's engine shut down briefly, and the bum heater switch off for a few seconds. Over the loudspeaker I heard 'Setsuden chu', the catchphrase meaning 'We're currently using less electricity', which is posted all around the city. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31311 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31311 Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 The readiness of Australians to design a flag that is agreed to and honoured ought to be on the agenda of any forward-looking party. Otherwise a day will come when a design will be foisted on us that no one likes and has no distinctive meaning. One only has to listen to the national anthem to know Australians are capable of embracing second best. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=30926 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=30926 Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 The bishops intend a campaign of civil disobedience against aspects of the Obama Administration's health care plan. Many have been critical of this law on the ground that it might contribute to more abortions. The toxicity of the atmosphere should make us wary of adopting a similar campaign here. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31197 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31197 Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 When I was 15 I decided not to kill myself. I am still sometimes prone to baseless bouts of depression, but that ragged dark hole has never engulfed me. The main characters in two recent films are notable for deciding to live, rather than lie down and be overrun by dark emotions and events. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31309 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31309 Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 The Budget confirms one thing that both sides of politics agree on, and that's their belief in the existence of an undeserving poor. There's nothing wrong with bringing home the bacon for middle Australia. But the people living at the rough end of Struggle Street are trying to get by on baked beans. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31310 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31310 Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 You could you call it coincidence that the week I'm asked to write on budgets, ours blows out. I call it life. Such is the cyclic nature of our 1.5-incomes-and-two-kids lives that just when we think our savings are safe, a new enrolment fee is due, the kids' jeans are suddenly a size too small and I've run out of nappies. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31290 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31290 Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31291 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31291 Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 When budgets are tight, governments seek savings by moving people from an expensive payment to cheaper payment categories. By moving a larger number of single parents from parenting payment to the cheaper Newstart allowance the Government will effectively remove $686 million out of the hands of low income families. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31293 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31293 Tue, 08 May 2012 14:38:00 +1100 The experimenters' intent was to observe the capacity of first year students to inflict pain by electrically shocking others. Many of the subjects were traumatised as though they had in fact committed acts of torture. Paradoxically the latest revelations may mean the researchers themselves need counselling. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31198 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31198 Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 At sleep's near edge I busily ask myself — redundantly, rather — where soul might have its home: Like the golden tumbling apricots right next door attending on Christmas, my body has attained what another age would have called a certain age. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31203 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31203 Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 The end of big media businesses such as Seven, Nine, Ten and the newspapers would be bad for media proprietors like Kerry Stokes and Rupert Murdoch, but not necessarily a great loss for the rest of us, given the NBN's empowerment of small media enterprises and the diversity that implies. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31204 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31204 Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100 The Productivity Commission Schools Workforce report released on Friday does contain evidence of the dire state of productivity in Australian schools, but it is largely neutered. It's as if the Commission was anxious to avoid stating too plainly a disease for which it can suggest only palliatives. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31250 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31250 Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 +1100