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Vol 18 No 15

21 July 2008


 

  • EDUCATION

    Humanity lost in digital classrooms

    • Frank O'Shea
    • 01 August 2008
    9 Comments

    Today's teacher has to survive in a world of gimmickry. Students pay better attention to ringtones than to the human voice. In the brave new world of Rudd's Digital Education Revolution, teachers risk being replaced by technicians.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Why saying no to asylum seekers is immoral

    • David Holdcroft
    • 01 August 2008
    3 Comments

    Australia's story as a people building a nation despite hardship resonates with the experiences of asylum seekers surviving insurmountable odds to reach our shores. We deny this parallel to the cost of the entire community.

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    The ethics of climate change solutions

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 31 July 2008
    14 Comments

    The Government's Green Paper has heated debate about climate change. The debate requires a moral framework that emphasises solidarity and responsibility. We must measure our response by the needs of allhuman beings and of the world.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Uploading the undead

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 31 July 2008
    1 Comment

    Cult filmmaker Romero fears that new media has, rather than democratising the news, led to increased tribalism that is divisive rather than unifying. He articulates these fears in his latest high-concept zombie film, Diary of the Dead.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    End in sight for 'cruel' asylum seeker policy

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 30 July 2008
    7 Comments

    Yesterday's announcement of the Government's policy shift away from indefinite detention of asylum seekers brings Australia closer to UNHCR recommendations. It remains to be seen if it will have the courage of its convictions if more boats do arrive.

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  • EUREKA STREET/ READER'S FEAST AWARD

    SIEV X, the boat that sank

    • Tony Kevin
    • 30 July 2008
    6 Comments

    Coming closer, one sees these are paintings of drowning people, headsor bodies suspended in metallic seawater. There are 353 images, mostly children and women, for it was mostly children and women who boarded the boat.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Dummy cops leave child porn unchecked

    • Harry Nicolaides
    • 29 July 2008
    11 Comments

    Fibreglass police officers man checkpoints on the road to the Thai-Burmese border crossing at Mai Sai. At a market on the Burma side of the border, child pornography is peddled by the world's most malevolent cottage industry.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    His God was Dylan, Bob

    • Liam Guilar
    • 29 July 2008
    3 Comments

    The world seemed too untidy for the lyrics of a song .. but he could build a conversation from quotations. .. I wanted mountains, rivers, knowledge .. he stayed, confusing eloquence with revelation.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Singapore's cane can't restore justice

    • Michael Mullins
    • 28 July 2008
    4 Comments

    If Singapore's courts convict ABC journalist Peter Lloyd of drug charges, his sentence may include 15 lashes. In a better world, 'restorative justice' would allow him to do something positive to counter the social ills that led to his actions.

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  • EDUCATION

    'Ratbag' student activist decries Education Revolution

    • Susie Byers
    • 28 July 2008
    5 Comments

    The current higher education review is hindered by a focus on 'productivity' and 'efficient investment'. Universities should be homes of knowledge whose graduates are more than just pegs to plug the holes in Australia's skills set.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Fathoming the Iraqi quagmire

    • Shahram Akbarzadeh
    • 25 July 2008
    1 Comment

    Muqtada al-Sadr's rhetoric against US occupation and the establishment of an armed militia saw him cast as a firebrand and rogue cleric in international media. This book contextualises his rapid rise to authority in post-Saddam Iraq.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Abuse comments fuel sectarian prejudice

    • Irfan Yusuf
    • 25 July 2008
    21 Comments

    Sheik Hilaly compared rape victims to 'uncovered meat'. Bishop Anthony Fisher stated parents of abuse victims were 'dwelling crankily on old wounds'. Unequal criticism of the remarks suggests sexual assault has been appropriated as a cultural or sectarian wedge.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Superhero's dark night

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 24 July 2008

    Batman has no superpowers, but his rage against injustice elevates him to the realm of 'superhero'. He is dark and brutal, arguably a fascist, but prone to soul-searching. The Dark Knight may prove to be the best film of 2008.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    'Bumbling' Karadzic faces political justice

    • Binoy Kampmark
    • 24 July 2008

    One of the vices of nationalism is the symptom of long memory. Punishing accused war criminal Radovan Karadzic will do little to convince those who are set in their positions — Bosnia's Muslims will feel vindicated, but Bosnian Serbs are simply weary.

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    At odds with the 'celebrity science'

    • Marko Beljac
    • 23 July 2008
    9 Comments

    It is easier to get a job or get on the box doing superstring theory — the elusive 'theory of everything'. Progress in the field is being conducted without reference to empirical reality, revealing a market driven form of collective irrationality.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Pub mural's lost legacy

    • Brian Matthews
    • 23 July 2008

    The Great Uraidla Pub Mural was the wonder and enigma of locals and tourists alike. The occasional knowledgeable blow-in would be flabbergasted and deeply impressed to find 'a Tom Gleghorn' on the wall.

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  • RELIGION

    Church abuse protocol is no joke

    • Frank Brennan
    • 22 July 2008
    27 Comments

    Pope Benedict's apology to abuse victims included a directive to the local church to extend compassion and justice. The Church's 'Towards Healing' protocol is not a cheap substitute for criminal prosecution or civil liability.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The vigour of heresy

    • Earl Livings
    • 22 July 2008
    1 Comment

    In his first serious essay .. he applies Occam's razor .. to God's reputation .. he favours the universe as is .. launched by laws of urge and reaction .. no recourse to maker or judge.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Abuse victims reconciliation a work in progress

    • Michael Mullins
    • 21 July 2008
    20 Comments

    It's hard to think of anybody who would not have welcomed Pope Benedict's apology for sexual abuse. By contrast, nobody could have been pleased to hear an exasperated Bishop Anthony Fisher refer last week to those 'dwelling crankily ... on old wounds'.

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  • RELIGION

    Controversies forgotten amid 'boisterous' WYD celebrations

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 21 July 2008
    11 Comments

    Media coverage before a big event, be it World Youth Day or the Beijing Olympics, always focuses on defects and ideological conflict. Controversies regarding state funding and anti-annoyance laws aside, the young people celebrated WYD in their own way.

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