The Journal
All writing
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Ron Silver Died a Week Ago
He was a great actor and a brave man. From an article by Daniel Finkelstein: The night after he spoke to the 2004 Republican convention .. Ron said that he expected many of his Hollywood liberal…
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Darkness in Austrian Culture
Stephanie Marsh suggests there is a darker side to Austrian culture. The Fritzl case is proof. Well of course there is. There is a darker side to every culture. Australian generosity and mateship can descend into…
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How Could They Not Tell?
A Samoan woman coming to New Zealand on a seasonal work visa had a baby on the plane over. She left the baby in a rubbish bin before coming through immigration. Questions are being asked (understandably)…
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Ads Not So Bad
When I first read about the Baz Luhrmann tourism ads for Australia, I shared Andrew Bolt’s concern that they were both unattractive – ie, not likely to attract visitors to Australia, and that they sent the wrong message…
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Almost Home
It has been a long road, but we are almost home. Amanda and I left Wanganui yesterday and drove up to Auckland, where my brother David manages a complex of 114 apartments in the city CBD.…
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Wanganui Hospital Again
An astonishing, excuse filled response from the Wanganui (or Whanganui) Hospital in response to a front page story today in the Wanganui Chronicle about some of their failures in Amanda’s care. I have just emailed a letter…
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Wanganui Hospital Stuffs Up Again (and Again)
I wrote a week ago that I expected normal transmissions to resume forthwith. That didn’t happen. Amanda was then in the Critical Care Unit at Wanganui Hospital. I foolishly imagined that she would be safe there.…
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Good Luck Young Golfer
Eighteen year old New Zealand golfer Danny Lee could become the first amateur winner of an Australian PGA event for ten years. I’m not much of a sports fan really, but I’ll be keeping an eye on…
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I’m Happy for You 2
That is, I’m happy for Harry Nicolaides that he is out of prison in Thailand and back in Australia with his family. But I can’t see what he has to be angry about. He certainly knew the…
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I’m Happy for You
That is, I’m happy someone found peace through the ministry of ‘maverick cleric’ Peter Kennedy. It’s nice to feel empowered. Whatever that means. But if you are a Catholic Christian who is serious about your faith,…
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Mourning for Bushfire Victims
An earlier headline said that services around the nation were expected to bring comfort to those who had lost homes or loved ones in fires in Victoria two weeks ago. Expected by whom the headline did…
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Another Rau Row
Cornelia Rau was briefly detained in a detention centre for illegal immigrants by Australian offcials four years ago. She did not appear to speak English, said she did not have Australian citizenship, had no identification, and…
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Tragic for the Parish
But if you can’t or won’t teach the Catholic Faith, you have no business being a Catholic priest. If you want a do-it-yourself faith, and a do-it-yourself Jesus, why not be an Anglican?
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Conversations With Amanda
A Poem for Amanda Dressings for windows and watches and wounds I think all my zebras are coming home soon. I asked my friend Millie the mincer to fix But she sits on the mantelpiece playing…
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You Can’t Spend Your Way Out of Debt
Who would have guessed? Alarmingly this simple fact still seems to be escaping the current US administration. Kelsey Grammer is absolutely right. The ‘stimulus’ package is about rewarding people who are unproductive, or who have been…