The herald is reporting that the Sydney Anglican Diocese is worried that ethics classes are decimating scripture class (aka special religious education, or SRE) attendence. Wow, I thought.. there’s only 1 in 10 students stilll attending of those who were in class prior to the trials. It turns out that they’ve lost 30 to 47% and perhaps up to 60%… Read more →
Not when they actively threaten to withdraw social programs when they realise that they might have to abide by anti-discrimination laws. Of course, this comes on top of the devastating debate on the BBC, in response to which the Scottish Catholics had their own tame debate which they naturally declared they won. Of course, their poll on the topic was… Read more →
Bobbie just called me out to see a television piece on 9 news. The high school student who was involved in a school brawl has died. Apparently there have been organised fights, filmed and uploaded to YouTube, and talk of some sort of protest by students tomorrow over violence in the playground. The police media release is here, and there… Read more →
Here’s a graphic report from an ABC reporter in Jerusalem about what happened when she went to cover a protest by orthodox jews about a car park that’s open on the sabbath. It’s not that people were driving on the sabbath, but that having the carpark open made it easier for them to do so. never mind that a large… Read more →
Paul Sheehan has an article in today’s SMH that asserts that Islamophobia is a fabrication, in response to an approach from a graduate student doing a thesis on the topic. In a statement of the bleedingly obvious, Paul states that Islamophobia is a fear of Islam, or a fear of Muslims, and he states that the “prevailing orthodoxy” – some… Read more →
Bobbie just called me out to watch a segment on the news about the bushfire devastation in Marysville Victoria; it was pure disaster porn. The reporter went up to several survivors, who were obviously in shock, and asked them if they knew anyone who died, and how they felt about that – were they taking it badly… One of them… Read more →
Last night, I watched Tsipi Livni explaining to an ABC correspondent that Israel would not show restraint in pursuit of Hamas. I was hoping for Matt Brown to seek elucidation – does that mean that the deaths of all Palestinian civilians would not serve as a restraint on Israel’s actions? the deaths of all Egyptian civilians near the border as… Read more →
We all know media and politics engender mass hypocrisy. We probably expect it and therefore put up with more than we should. Once again, it’s the razor sharp mind of humorists that are good for exposing this. John Stewart is one of the best in this area, and he’s come up with a piece of reporting that needs to be… Read more →
