Vol 18 No 12

09 June 2008

ARTS AND CULTURE

Living death
- Richard White
- 20 June 2008
3 Comments
Apophatic theology emphasises what we do not know about the great mysteries. Sweet Sorrow is a map for the mystery of death, but just as maps of old warned 'here there be dragons', this account cautions, 'here there be questions'.
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INTERNATIONAL

Hmong refugees' scant Aussie hope
- Joanna Maxwell
- 20 June 2008
This week the Refugee Council of Australia marks Refugee Week and World Refugee Day. At Petchabun camp, 350 kilometres north of Bangkok, thousands of 'forgotten' Hmong refugees remain in limbo. Their future looks bleak.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Aussie bloke's exotic love
- Tim Kroenert
- 19 June 2008
2 Comments
Unfinished Sky succeeds as a sweetly observed, cross-cultural love story. Themes regarding human trafficking and sexual slavery are exploited, not, it seems, from genuine concern, but in a misguided attempt to lend the film social clout.
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AUSTRALIA

Why Rudd commission won't stop the bomb
- Binoy Kampmark
- 19 June 2008
2 Comments
Continuing the work of the defunct Canberra Commission, Kevin Rudd's Nuclear Non-Proliferations and Disarmament Commission is re-inventing a wheel that never worked. Preventing freelance scientists from following their career wanderlust is the real challenge in any post-nuclear framework.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Another victim of bureaucratic sludge
- Brian Matthews
- 18 June 2008
1 Comment
Things are Kafkaesque when you are caught in a labyrinth of unmanageable and inexplicable circumstances. I sprang to the phone and a pleasant, robotic female voice told me how valuable I was and that I was sixth in the queue.
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AUSTRALIA

Watching the watchdogs
- Moira Rayner
- 18 June 2008
2 Comments
Bodies such as the NSW Crime Commission and Victoria's Office of Police Integrity have proven either ineffective or vulnerable to influence themselves. Ultimately, we the people are responsible for keeping these bodies accountable.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

While we're still young and beautiful
- Jeff Klooger
- 17 June 2008
2 Comments
We can no longer hope to know the simple satisfaction of hardship, amuse ourselves with subtler privations, pricking our thumbs on death's sharp edges .. Miracles happen almost every day, and money .. wants to be wasted.
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AUSTRALIA

Rudd in rut over national reforms
- Bill Calcutt
- 17 June 2008
3 Comments
The Howard era was typified by reactive short-term politics, adversarial confrontation, polarisation and a resistance to transparency. Labor must overcome residual community cynicism and grandstanding by the media if it is to advance its progressive agenda.
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AUSTRALIA

The nuclear terror of Bush 'negligence' policy
- Marko Beljac
- 16 June 2008
A new Bush Administration policy opens the door to proportionate nuclear strikes against states that transfer fissile material to terrorists — even if the material is stolen, not knowingly leaked. Such a 'negligence doctrine' increases the chance of inadvertent nuclear war.
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AUSTRALIA

Consumer confidence can't be bought
- Andrew Hamilton
- 16 June 2008
2 Comments
Rising petrol prices and interest rates mean Australians' confidence in the economy has declined to the lowest level for 16 years. There is a need for a deeper source of confidence beyond economic good times.
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AUSTRALIA

Democratic Indonesia's lesson for Australia
- Saeed Saeed
- 13 June 2008
1 Comment
Kevin Rudd's visit to Jakarta today and continued inter-cultural dialogue could do much to enrich Australia's friendship with Indonesia. Indonesia's labelling as a basket case of corruption and terrorism denies the significant strides the country has taken since its democratic reformation.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Travelogue of Indonesian Islam
- Shahram Akbarzadeh
- 13 June 2008
Earlier this month, Islamic zealots the Defenders of Islam attacked a Muslim sect they accuse of apostasy. In My Friend the Fanatic Sadanand Dhume falls on his strength of constructing narratives to explore the rise of radicalism in Indonesia.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Haunted by the ghosts of SIEV-X
- Rochelle Siemienowicz
- 12 June 2008
4 Comments
Hope documents the fate of the people-smuggling vessel SIEV-X and the 353 people who died when it sank en route to Australia. The film suggests a parliamentary inquiry is essential into the Howard Government's handling of the tragedy.
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RELIGION

Rudd and the sin of overwork
- Andrew Hamilton
- 12 June 2008
15 Comments
Since public service is often seen as a sheltered workshop for bludgers, Kevin Rudd won sympathy for demanding heroic work practices. Overwork is morally unjustifiable because it makes instrumental goals central, and fails to respect deeper human values.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

The long, hairy legs of political disillusionment
- Roger Trowbridge
- 11 June 2008
1 Comment
I knew little about Chinese politics, but it suited me to be seen as a 'leftie', and a green hat with a red star left little room for political ambiguity. What appeared at first as wisps of hair were in fact the legs of a large creature attempting to step off the peak of my cap.
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AUSTRALIA

Why Gen Y loves Obama
- Charles McPhedran
- 11 June 2008
5 Comments
Barack Obama is more than just the rock-star candidate. His speech in Minneapolis invoked the tradition of liberal American reformers. For the majority of young loft-living leftists in New York, Obama is our JFK.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Rising — not falling — in love
- Shane McCauley
- 10 June 2008
1 Comment
How easy it is to fly.. when you close.. your eyes.. to shake off earth's.. muddied surface.
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AUSTRALIA

The trouble with alcoholic Australia
- Barbara Chapman
- 10 June 2008
13 Comments
Brendan Nelson told Kevin Rudd to direct his war on binge drinking at his own backyard after Young Labor delegates hosted a drunken party in a Canberra hotel. But Australia's addiction to the bottle runs deeper than mere substance abuse.
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Vol 18 No 12