Volume 16 No.8

11 July 2006

MEDIA

There's nothing virtual about Future Shock
- Michael Mullins & James Massola
- 10 July 2006
3 Comments
Online publishing puts us in touch with many conversations. But there is a danger that it will sever the necessary link between our awareness of the cultures and debates in the world, and the humanity at the core of our being.
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ENVIRONMENT

Virtual voyeurism
- Margaret Cassidy
- 10 July 2006
Webcams allow us to see ordinary life as it is being lived around the world. A myriad of sites takes us to tourist sites, places of worship, and even to the Antarctic.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

A murder in the family
- Trent O'Bryan
- 10 July 2006
2 Comments
Karen Kissane’s book on the murder of Julie Ramage by her husband makes us ask ourselves whether the private attitudes that allowed men to claim provocation as a defence for killing their partners have really changed. Do they also need to be overhauled?
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INTERNATIONAL

Undeclared war on Haiti's poor
- Kent Rosenthal
- 10 July 2006
5 Comments
Living conditions in Ouanaminthe, a ‘town’ of around 100,000 inhabitants amount to an undeclared war on the poor. There’s a lack of services, which makes Ouanaminthe a gathering place for human traffickers, smugglers and corrupt authorities ready to profit from people desperate to leave for the Dominican Republic.
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ENVIRONMENT

Keeping an eye on our behaviour
- Tim Thwaites
- 10 July 2006
Warnings are more effective if accompanied by a photo of someone watching you. Maybe this reflects our human evolution. But if we are to talk sensibly about human evolution, we need a more sophisticated understanding of it than commonly prevails.
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AUSTRALIA

Vinnies' sad heart over Welfare to Work legislation
- John Falzon
- 10 July 2006
5 Comments
The new Welfare to Work legislation was implemented on 1 July. The St Vincent de Paul Society marked the day with a sad heart. National Council CEO Dr John Falzon says the new laws will see many people with disabilities and single mothers and their children pushed into greater poverty and indignity.
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AUSTRALIA

Old Europe reigns supreme in World Cup
- James Massola
- 10 July 2006
2 Comments
While refereeing standards have been the subject of much debate at this World Cup, and some have decried the paucity of goals, the re-assertion of ‘Old Europe’s’ footballing pre-eminence has escaped serious analysis.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

A planet of slums
- Gary Pearce
- 10 July 2006
Mike Davis' new book belongs to a long tradition of studies of the urban poor – among them, Friedrich Engels’s examination of Victorian Manchester in The Condition of the Working Class in England. Davis updates this genre for a period of globalisation.
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MEDIA

Torch lights up conflict over injecting room
- Paul Mitchell
- 10 July 2006
The Torch Project creates plays that reconcile groups in conflict. Earlier this year it staged a play that dealt with the bitter dispute about safe injecting room that six years earlier had divided Mission from Church Congregation.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Making music in Rio
- Sebastien de Robillard
- 10 July 2006
2 Comments
The film is not about the musicians, it is solely about the music. Kaurismaki set out to ‘capture the soul ….the magic feeling and the unique emotional bond’ of choro. You are left completely satisfied and even discreetly swinging your hips as the credits roll.
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AUSTRALIA

David Hicks' rights under natural law
- Daniel Baldino
- 10 July 2006
9 Comments
Howard’s legal positivist stance limits individual rights to the confines of a particular legal system. In the ‘war against terrorism’, there is no safeguard against executive excesses or the seizure by the state of absolute power, no basis to defend the dignity of human persons.
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AUSTRALIA

Long road back for Ramos Horta
- Paul Cleary
- 10 July 2006
5 Comments
In 2006, the East Timorese government’s inept handling of a dispute in the army involving soldiers from the western region of East Timor put the young nation on the brink of civil war. Now Jose Ramos Horta has been installed as Prime Minister, but will it make a difference?
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RELIGION

Does God have a sense of humour?
- Andrew Hamilton
- 10 July 2006
4 Comments
Humour differs across individuals and cultures. I may switch off Funniest Home Videos to watch the hundredth rerun of Fawlty Towers. But should I imagine God congratulating me on my superior sense of humour?
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RELIGION

The Anglican division: God's love lost?
- Charles Sherlock
- 10 July 2006
'The Anglican Church' is dividing, according to recent media statements. Some Anglicans seem to be taking such extreme stances, at the risk of turning communion as divine gift into communion as reward for holding certain stances on lifestyle. What difference does all this make to the life of an Australian Anglican diocese or parish?
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist
- Andrew Carter
- 10 July 2006
1 Comment
In Polanski's remake of Oliver Twist, the rich humanity of nineteenth century London is vividly portrayed. But the representation of Oliver Twist by Barney Clarke leaves the viewer dissatisfied, and asking for more.
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ENVIRONMENT

Filters, fixes and flimsy in new Net policy
- Paul Osborne
- 10 July 2006
Communications Minister Helen Coonan's latest plan is to give every family in the country a free Internet filter program for their computer. The government is also putting more money into its NetAlert advisory service for parents and will roll out a community education program - all at a cost of $117 million.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

I open a door in my head
- Sarah Holland-Batt
- 10 July 2006
Here is a boy in a listless room, breathing ... All is quarantine. Laughter on ration ... Nothing moves except the boy's hand.
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Volume 16 No.8