Wednesday, May 11, 2005
A Bill modernising oaths and affirmations taken by new citizens, public office holders and some state sector employees has been introduced to Parliament by Justice Minister Phil Goff. The major change to oaths and affirmations is that new citizens and parliamentarians will in future pledge loyalty to New Zealand, as well as the Queen, and will commit themselves to upholding New Zealand's values of democracy, and the rights and freedoms of its people. What the Bill also does is downplay the significance of the transcendent - in other words, that when we make an oath, we are acknowledging that we are accountable to someone or something higher than the government.
The Chief Censor has advised Winston Peters that the publication “Unbound” published by Jim Peron has been classified as “objectionable” because it promotes the exploitation of children and young people for sexual purposes.
Alice Miller is to family psychology as Andrea Dworkin was to feminism. If the crude characterisation of Dworkin's position was that "all men are rapists", then the equivalent caricature of Miller's psychoanalytic view would be that "all children are abused by their parents". With her first bestseller, The Drama of the Gifted Child, published a quarter of a century ago, Miller sent an entire generation into therapy when she wrote about how parents scar their children not only by glaring instances of cruelty and physical punishment but also through humiliation, neglect and inattention. She's just written a new one, published next month, which sticks to the eternal theme: The Body Never Lies: The Lingering Effects of Cruel Parenting.
India needs a coercive one-child policy like China's, says the president of the Indian Medical Association, Sudipto Roy. His controversial proposal was quickly disavowed by India's most senior health bureaucrat, P.K. Hota, who says that the federal government does not favour coercion -- although it does promote one-child families. Dr Roy's statement will hearten several states which are already using socio-economic tools to curb population growth. But India's most prominent demographer, Ashish Bose, believes that coercive population programs during the 1975-76 Emergency helped to cause population growth by destabilising the sex ratio.
"In the future you will have sex for fun, but when you want babies, you'll have IVF." That's the prediction of the chief executive of one Sydney IVF clinic. Australia is the only country in the world with unlimited government reimbursement for IVF. The industry there is worth at least $170 million and growing at a rate of 8 to 10 percent a year. And the future looks bright for IVF impresarios with the help of government subsidies. Over the past two weeks, the IVF industry has conducted an aggressive campaign to embarrass the Howard Government into dumping its plans to impose some reasonable restrictions on funding fertility treatment.
THE longstanding consensus in Australia in support of abortion on demand is collapsing. First results of the most recent national opinion survey, begun in April, also confirm that there is substantial disquiet about late-term abortion.
The Narnia trailer can now be downloaded online. The "official" English version of the trailer is only streamed (ignore the French - the dialogue is actually in English). But another can be downloaded. Just click on "Version 2" at this link. Although the dialogue in this version is in French, it's only a few words, and your schooldays French will probably cope with it.
The UK Government has pledged around £500m to rebuild every faith-based secondary school in England - overturning a 60-year-old rule requiring churches to contribute towards all school building costs.
Many US college students who have a high interest in spirituality and religion are not necessarily looking for ways to explore or practice their beliefs, according to a new study. The national study, based on a survey of more than 112,000 entering freshmen at 236 universities and colleges, found that 80% of the students expressed interest in spirituality. However, less than half said they considered it necessary to find ways to nurture their spiritual growth. More than three-quarters of students said they believed in God. But only 40% consider it "essential" or "very important" to follow religious teaching in everyday life.
616 or 666? (The number of the Beast, that is.) Which is correct, and does it matter? To answer the last question first, not really. It's all pretty academic, except for those who are hysterical about endtime events. But the issue is neither new, nor settled. Daniel Wallace says he examined the fragment five years ago, but the suggestion that the number is 616 goes back to the earliest centuries of the Christian church...and the jury is still out.
The Chief Censor has advised Winston Peters that the publication “Unbound” published by Jim Peron has been classified as “objectionable” because it promotes the exploitation of children and young people for sexual purposes.
Alice Miller is to family psychology as Andrea Dworkin was to feminism. If the crude characterisation of Dworkin's position was that "all men are rapists", then the equivalent caricature of Miller's psychoanalytic view would be that "all children are abused by their parents". With her first bestseller, The Drama of the Gifted Child, published a quarter of a century ago, Miller sent an entire generation into therapy when she wrote about how parents scar their children not only by glaring instances of cruelty and physical punishment but also through humiliation, neglect and inattention. She's just written a new one, published next month, which sticks to the eternal theme: The Body Never Lies: The Lingering Effects of Cruel Parenting.
India needs a coercive one-child policy like China's, says the president of the Indian Medical Association, Sudipto Roy. His controversial proposal was quickly disavowed by India's most senior health bureaucrat, P.K. Hota, who says that the federal government does not favour coercion -- although it does promote one-child families. Dr Roy's statement will hearten several states which are already using socio-economic tools to curb population growth. But India's most prominent demographer, Ashish Bose, believes that coercive population programs during the 1975-76 Emergency helped to cause population growth by destabilising the sex ratio.
"In the future you will have sex for fun, but when you want babies, you'll have IVF." That's the prediction of the chief executive of one Sydney IVF clinic. Australia is the only country in the world with unlimited government reimbursement for IVF. The industry there is worth at least $170 million and growing at a rate of 8 to 10 percent a year. And the future looks bright for IVF impresarios with the help of government subsidies. Over the past two weeks, the IVF industry has conducted an aggressive campaign to embarrass the Howard Government into dumping its plans to impose some reasonable restrictions on funding fertility treatment.
THE longstanding consensus in Australia in support of abortion on demand is collapsing. First results of the most recent national opinion survey, begun in April, also confirm that there is substantial disquiet about late-term abortion.
The Narnia trailer can now be downloaded online. The "official" English version of the trailer is only streamed (ignore the French - the dialogue is actually in English). But another can be downloaded. Just click on "Version 2" at this link. Although the dialogue in this version is in French, it's only a few words, and your schooldays French will probably cope with it.
The UK Government has pledged around £500m to rebuild every faith-based secondary school in England - overturning a 60-year-old rule requiring churches to contribute towards all school building costs.
Many US college students who have a high interest in spirituality and religion are not necessarily looking for ways to explore or practice their beliefs, according to a new study. The national study, based on a survey of more than 112,000 entering freshmen at 236 universities and colleges, found that 80% of the students expressed interest in spirituality. However, less than half said they considered it necessary to find ways to nurture their spiritual growth. More than three-quarters of students said they believed in God. But only 40% consider it "essential" or "very important" to follow religious teaching in everyday life.
616 or 666? (The number of the Beast, that is.) Which is correct, and does it matter? To answer the last question first, not really. It's all pretty academic, except for those who are hysterical about endtime events. But the issue is neither new, nor settled. Daniel Wallace says he examined the fragment five years ago, but the suggestion that the number is 616 goes back to the earliest centuries of the Christian church...and the jury is still out.
