another brick in the wall

This has to be less than ideal as a precedent for civil liberties in schools.  Another sign of a fundamental shift in our attitude to the presumption of innocence in the 21st Century, perhaps?

unscientific superstition quietly gaining influence in australian schools

The Age reports on the pressing issue of the growth of independent schools teaching from a faith-based curriculum in Australia.  Presenting religious indoctrination in the Howard era clothing of “choice”, some such schools are teaching creationism in science…

red mass: the court goes to church

The Sydney Morning Herald and Catholic News tell us that judges and other members of the legal community in New South Wales recently participated in ‘Red Mass’, a European tradition in which members of the legal profession seek…

refuse to tell your employer about your sex life, lose your job

This is an extraordinary decision by the Industrial Relations Commission.  Telstra has had its right to sack an employee upheld, where the basis of the sacking was that she had sex with another employee (or employees, it seems) outside of…

Serious Crime (Control) Bill 2007 (SA) – a bill controlling what, exactly?

I just became aware of this piece of legislation, recently introduced into the South Australian Parliament: the Serious Crime (Control) Bill 2007 (SA). You can see the bill here in Rich Text Format or here in…

Adelaide to suck slightly less

In a break with longstanding tradition, the Adelaide City Council has decided to do something innovative and interesting to the visual environment in the city centre by commissioning a (seemingly permanent) high tech light installation for the middle of…

religion is in the inverse of…

The always interesting Possum Comitatus has some analysis of voting trends and social factors at the last federal election. Tucked away in there are some very interesting graphs about religion and its correlation to several other variables (about…

police state: sneak preview

Crikey yesterday described the APEC security arrangements thus:

For the cops, APEC is a vision of the world as it should be. Expanded powers, new equipment, media support, and maybe a chance to try out new toys like the water

…

govt still meeting with extremist Christian group, rabid anti-Islamic ‘thinker’

Repeating the mantra that members of parliament meet with Australian citizens “all the time”, it has emerged that the Government’s links to the extremist Christian sect the Exclusive Brethren remain as strong as ever. As mentioned previously (

use telstra and no-one gets hurt

This has to be a new low in corporate spin, even for Telstra.  Apparently if genuine competition is allowed in the Australian broadband market, we will be more vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Conveniently this directly links Telstra’s near-monopoly position…

a big week for the separation of powers

This week is turning into a big week for the notion of the separation of powers in Australia.  As you (should) know, the separation of power between the judiciary and the parliament/executive is one of the devices included in…

australia: leading the world in spying on its citizens

This article in The Age is superficially positive – the new British PM is having trouble getting extended detention powers in anti-terrorist legislation implemented in Britain due to rational parliamentary opposition.  The reason is a report from the Joint Committee…

Typical Sydney-centric attitude

Limited/no updates this week, as your author is stuck in Sydney, home of the homeless.

Well, I’m stranded in the city that never sleeps
Some of these women they just give me the creeps
I’m avoidin’

…

two thoughts on nuclear power

There are increasing signs that Australia is going to go nuclear in the medium term.

First Thought

One way of looking at the benefits of nuclear power versus the risks is to consider the worst…

who are the ones that we kept in charge? killers, thieves and lawyers

This interesting rant on The Road to Surfdom kindly makes the point that not all lawyers are evil – just the ones who consistently seek to undermine the legal process for political gains. Others, such as Dr Haneef’s lawyer Stephen…