Friday, May 13, 2005
You are being taxed more. Wage increases are getting bigger: 33 per cent of pay rates increased by 3 per cent or more over the past year, up from 31 per cent in the December year. One consequence is that someone on the average wage of just under $800 a week or $41,300 a year now falls into what until 2000 was the top tax bracket. But there is no sign that Finance Minister Michael Cullen is about to raise the $38,000 threshold at which the 33c in the dollar rate kicks in.
Girls are creeping further ahead of boys in school achievement and are even topping the class in traditionally male-dominated subjects, the latest secondary school exams reveal. Results from last year's NCEA show girls are easily outperforming boys in languages, the arts and social sciences. They are also stretching ahead, albeit slightly, in maths and science subjects. Only in technology do boys retain the upper hand, according to the results released yesterday by the Qualifications Authority.
Medical experts fear Australia's children are a "bubble-wrap generation", prone to obesity and mental disorders because parents are too protective. Responding to a new report (A Picture of Australia's Children) which noted positive health trends such as a decline in infant deaths, Professor George Patton and others wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia that there were other, worrying trends. "There are concerns that a greater investment in fewer children, tied with heightened parental anxieties, has produced a 'bubble-wrap generation'. The effects of limiting independent exploration, risk-taking and physical activity on children's development may be profound," they said, noting that many kids can no longer walk or ride a bike to school because of safety concerns. Dr Patton, a psychiatrist and epidemiologist based at Melbourne's Murdoch Children's Research Institute, said about half a million Australian children - 14 per cent - had a mental disorder, according to the best available evidence. This might be partly due to not "giving children the opportunities to learn how to look after themselves". ~ AAP, May 3
A US commission that studies religious freedom around the world has issued its list of countries that oppress people of faith. One of the countries of particular concern is Saudi Arabia. Outgoing USCIRF Commissioner Nina Shea, who works with the human rights group Freedom House, said: "(It's) not just the fact that there have been 100 Christians arrested in Saudi Arabia in the last month alone, and they . . . were arrested for praying in a private home. . . but also the fact that they are propagating an extremist hate ideology around the globe—and even here in the United States — against Christians, against Jews, against dissident Muslims." Other countries singled out include Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Korea, Sudan, Iran and China — where Christians are tortured and arrested because of their faith.
Maybe the USA will make the list soon. A huge battle is raging across the US over issues related to separation of church and state, and religious freedom. Among the latest PC madness, a Vermont man is fighting the state government over its refusal to allow him to have a license plate with a reference to a Bible verse. The state last month turned the motorist down because it claimed license plates are state property and a religious message placed on them could be viewed as a government endorsement of religion.
My father played representative rugby for four provinces in New Zealand, and was an All Black triallist. Back in those days, players turned up for a couple of practices a week and then the game on Saturday. Fitness was largely their own concern, and such ideas as personal trainers, motivators and full-time psychologists would have been laughed off the paddock. This interview with Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie shows just how far things have changed.
Tail-out: And more on creeping tax. In 1981, when Marion County, Ind., needed a new sports stadium for Indianapolis, a temporary 1 percent tax was put on restaurant food. The Hoosier Dome was built -- and now plans call for it to be torn down to make room for a new stadium. But that's fine, right? The tax passed in large part because it had a two-year "sunset" clause, since that's all that would be necessary to pay off the $77 million stadium. But even though the tax has raised more than $250 million so far, it's still on the books. Politicians say that's because the tax is "co-mingled" with others and has been used to pay for other things, like an expansion of the convention center. In fact, so many things have been charged toward the tax that it must stay on the books until at least 2030 to pay it all off; nearly a half-billion dollars remain to be paid. So how will Indiana pay for the replacement for the Hoosier Dome? Politicians have proposed an additional 1 percent tax on restaurant food. (Indianapolis Star)
Girls are creeping further ahead of boys in school achievement and are even topping the class in traditionally male-dominated subjects, the latest secondary school exams reveal. Results from last year's NCEA show girls are easily outperforming boys in languages, the arts and social sciences. They are also stretching ahead, albeit slightly, in maths and science subjects. Only in technology do boys retain the upper hand, according to the results released yesterday by the Qualifications Authority.
Medical experts fear Australia's children are a "bubble-wrap generation", prone to obesity and mental disorders because parents are too protective. Responding to a new report (A Picture of Australia's Children) which noted positive health trends such as a decline in infant deaths, Professor George Patton and others wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia that there were other, worrying trends. "There are concerns that a greater investment in fewer children, tied with heightened parental anxieties, has produced a 'bubble-wrap generation'. The effects of limiting independent exploration, risk-taking and physical activity on children's development may be profound," they said, noting that many kids can no longer walk or ride a bike to school because of safety concerns. Dr Patton, a psychiatrist and epidemiologist based at Melbourne's Murdoch Children's Research Institute, said about half a million Australian children - 14 per cent - had a mental disorder, according to the best available evidence. This might be partly due to not "giving children the opportunities to learn how to look after themselves". ~ AAP, May 3
A US commission that studies religious freedom around the world has issued its list of countries that oppress people of faith. One of the countries of particular concern is Saudi Arabia. Outgoing USCIRF Commissioner Nina Shea, who works with the human rights group Freedom House, said: "(It's) not just the fact that there have been 100 Christians arrested in Saudi Arabia in the last month alone, and they . . . were arrested for praying in a private home. . . but also the fact that they are propagating an extremist hate ideology around the globe—and even here in the United States — against Christians, against Jews, against dissident Muslims." Other countries singled out include Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Korea, Sudan, Iran and China — where Christians are tortured and arrested because of their faith.
Maybe the USA will make the list soon. A huge battle is raging across the US over issues related to separation of church and state, and religious freedom. Among the latest PC madness, a Vermont man is fighting the state government over its refusal to allow him to have a license plate with a reference to a Bible verse. The state last month turned the motorist down because it claimed license plates are state property and a religious message placed on them could be viewed as a government endorsement of religion.
My father played representative rugby for four provinces in New Zealand, and was an All Black triallist. Back in those days, players turned up for a couple of practices a week and then the game on Saturday. Fitness was largely their own concern, and such ideas as personal trainers, motivators and full-time psychologists would have been laughed off the paddock. This interview with Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie shows just how far things have changed.
Tail-out: And more on creeping tax. In 1981, when Marion County, Ind., needed a new sports stadium for Indianapolis, a temporary 1 percent tax was put on restaurant food. The Hoosier Dome was built -- and now plans call for it to be torn down to make room for a new stadium. But that's fine, right? The tax passed in large part because it had a two-year "sunset" clause, since that's all that would be necessary to pay off the $77 million stadium. But even though the tax has raised more than $250 million so far, it's still on the books. Politicians say that's because the tax is "co-mingled" with others and has been used to pay for other things, like an expansion of the convention center. In fact, so many things have been charged toward the tax that it must stay on the books until at least 2030 to pay it all off; nearly a half-billion dollars remain to be paid. So how will Indiana pay for the replacement for the Hoosier Dome? Politicians have proposed an additional 1 percent tax on restaurant food. (Indianapolis Star)
