Volume 17 No.6

03 April 2007

AUSTRALIA

Debate confuses national curriculum with national standards
- Greg O'Kelly
- 02 April 2007
3 Comments
Australia is ranked 29th internationally in the teaching of maths and science. To suggest that a national curriculum would raise such a ranking is a non sequitur. Curriculum is about content. It's standards that refer to performance measurement.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Recovering Jesus through poetry
- Philip Harvey
- 02 April 2007
John Deane grew up in Catholic Ireland, which has now seen the Church questioned and rejected. But unlike those who have walked away, Deane goes to poetry to help pick up the pieces of a broken religion.
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AUSTRALIA

Our deathly cars and trucks
- Clare Coburn
- 02 April 2007
Images from the Burnley tunnel accident showed thick plumes of smoke billowing from the outlet chimney. If a shark kills a lone swimmer off a beach, we call for netting or shooting. We have a much more lenient attitude towards roads.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Walking through a human zoo
- Richard Leonard
- 02 April 2007
1 Comment
With his mother coming and going from the house and his life, Augustine has to find his way to adulthood. Running With Scissors feels like walking through a human zoo where we observe the insane antics of one caged character after another.
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ENVIRONMENT

Individuals can offset their own carbon emissions
- Tim Thwaites
- 02 April 2007
2 Comments
Pollution released by high-flying jets directly into the atmosphere is up to four times as damaging as the same amount released at ground level. Increasingly people are prepared to spend significant money to salve their consciences over flying.
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AUSTRALIA

Catholic-inspired Bayrou seeks to break French left-right mould
- Stefan Gigacz
- 02 April 2007
1 Comment
French Presidential candidate Francois Bayrou could emerge as favourite for the run off as socialists and conservatives seek to block their rivals from the Presidency. The 55 year old practising Catholic has managed to carve out political positions that respect Church teaching without necessarily alienating other groups.
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AUSTRALIA

The myth of belonging masks our insecurity
- Colin Long
- 02 April 2007
2 Comments
The Prime Minister has used myths surrounding Gallipoli and racial politics to tap into our felt, but barely understood, craving for belonging. The tenuous nature of our sense of community make us susceptible to the fear campaigns that have dominated Australian politics over the past decade.
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RELIGION

God has more humour than Helen Clark
- Peter Matheson
- 02 April 2007
1 Comment
Lively humour is deadly earnest. It erupts in the yawning gap between our dawn dreams of joy and justice and the noonday reality of cruelty and corruption. No totalitarian regime tolerates it for long.
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AUSTRALIA

Don't make the poor pay more to fight climate change
- Michael Mullins
- 02 April 2007
3 Comments
While the climate change debate has largely focused on how a levy might hurt the economy, the St Vincent de Paul Society has raised concerns about the financial impact on households on low incomes or living in disadvantaged communities.
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AUSTRALIA

Pacific Solution sends wrong moral message
- Andrew Hamilton
- 02 April 2007
4 Comments
Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews justified his decision send the 83 Sri Lankan asylum seekers to Nauru, on the grounds that it was necessary to send a message to other would-be illegal immigrants. It is like a teacher beginning class by beating a couple of boys at random in order to discourage others from playing up.
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ENVIRONMENT

Upgrading ourselves towards obsolescence
- James Massola
- 02 April 2007
16 Comments
Modern consumer society is structured so that we are constantly unhappy with what we have. Advertisers make us feel dissatisfied so we keep buying new things, which is good for the economy but bad for the environment. The 'upgrade cycle' pushes us to buy the latest and greatest, whether we need them or not.
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INTERNATIONAL

New laws may force complicity in human rights abuse
- Brian Toohey
- 02 April 2007
4 Comments
While public attention has been focused on David Hicks, questions remain about Australia's other Guantanamo inmate. Was concern about exposure of Australia's rendering him to Egypt for torture the real reason behind his release in 2005?
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RELIGION

Jesus Guilty! A slice of Roman talkback
- Peter Fleming
- 02 April 2007
9 Comments
Eight minutes past three, on this very good Friday. Call us on the open line and tell us what you think.... Well, we got him. It's been a long time coming, but, finally: he's confessed. Egg on the face of all his supporters this afternoon, as self-confessed terrorist Jesus Christ gets exactly what he deserved.
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Volume 17 No.6