The Journal
Current Affairs
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Predictable Predictions
‘Will your home be underwater?’ asks the Adelaide Advertiser, which seems to be taking on a new role as the Adelaide (Labor Party) Advertiser. Under political pressure over its unspecified carbon tax, the Federal Government will…
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Assange Wins Peace Prize – Pardon?
The Sydney Peace Foundation has handed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange its gold medal for extraordinary achievement in promoting peace with justice. Excuse me while I throw up. The Foundation glowingly reports that this is only the…
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Please, Ditch the CAPTCHAs
I hate those wretched CAPTCHA things. Too hard to read, and they don’t do a good job anyway. If you have a website where people can sign on to some service, and you need to be…
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Insults Are Not Evidence
In the early eighties I went through a stage of uncertainty about the ordination of women to the priesthood. I was living in Adelaide at the time, studying at Flinders/The Adelaide College of Divinity for priestly…
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Greenpeace Not A Charity
As a contrast to the appallingly dumb judicial decision in the previous post, I offer this as a counter-example: Greenpeace has lost a High Court battle to restore its status as a charity. The environmental lobby…
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Ex Con Gets Compo For Beating Customer
This is one of those ‘What the #^*?!’ moments. A fast food restaurant manager has been awarded thousands of dollars in compensation after he broke his wrist while bashing a customer. Matthew Styles had previous convictions for…
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Thoughts on Bin Laden’s Death
I wrote a few weeks ago that the death penalty should be kept as an option, but used very rarely – when it seemed to be the only way to protect society from a vicious and dangerous…
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Bishops and Betrayal
Bishop William Morris, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Toowoomba, has taken early retirement. That’s the way he describes it. catholic-hierarchy.org puts it more bluntly. He was removed. I have met Bishop Morris. I have vague memories…
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Renewable Wonder Fuel Not So Wonderful
The World Bank’s annual index shows global food prices have soared 36 per cent in 12 months, adding a further 44 million people to the 1.2 billion who live in extreme poverty. The greater proportion of…
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Jamie’s Betrayal
‘Jamie’ is a ten year old boy. He thinks he should be a girl. When I was ten I thought I came from another planet, that my real name was Dr Zuric, and that I had secretly…
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Boards and Quotas
Fifteen years later, a letter from the then CEO of Cypress (a US designer and manufacturer of semi-conductor based technology) is still the best response to demands for quotas of women or minorities on company (or…
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Hamas Wants A Ceasefire
Nothing better than to lob a hundred mortars over the border, fire a few rockets at school buses, and then shout ‘Cease fire!’ Because then Hamas can say, ‘But we want peace, we want a ceasefire. Why is…
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Eritrea to UN: Thanks But No Thanks
I have written before that the more aid a country receives, the more likely it is to be locked into a cycle of increasing poverty. So it is interesting that Eritrea has just written to the…
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The Religion of Peace
Comment from Bill Maher on Real Clear Politics (language warning): “All this talk of people who burn the Koran and nothing about the people who reacted in such a stupid way. We are always blaming the…
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Outrage Over ‘Kate’ Misplaced
I confess myself somewhat confused by the outrage being expressed over the treatment of Air Force cadet ‘Kate.’ Even commentators like John Ray and Andrew Bolt, normally supportive of the defence forces, have rushed to join…