Canary in the Mine

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)

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 government finds itself caught in a crossfire over the Iraqi immigrants dilemma. The United Nations body that vets refugee applications says some of Saddam Hussein's former officials would have a legitimate case to be allowed to settle in New Zealand. It will be an interesting next round to see how Paul Swain copes with trying to round up all "undesirable" immigrants (a desire based on panic more than reality), and at the same time placate friends at the UN.
Winston Peters' bill to remove treaty "principles" from our laws is due back in the House tomorrow.
Enforcing the law is a right and was, only a short time ago, a responsibility of every able-bodied person. It is time we challenged the smugness of that common judicial pronouncement “I can't allow you to take the law into your own hands”. It has always been in those hands. There has never been a time when there could be enough police to protect every New Zealander in this stretched-out land. The mutual trust and security that was part of our heritage did not come from having police to watch every scumbag. It came from decent and self-reliant families who knew they shared responsibility for upholding behaviour standards and the law in their communities. Sir Robert Peel, who founded modern policing, was insistent that the police had no special privileges. They merely did full-time what all citizens could and should do when necessary. Over the past two decades citizens’ arrest has been strongly discouraged. Our police have become instead a class privileged with special rights." They are not better off for it. Strong and timely words from Stephen Franks.
NZ Herald economics editor Brian Fallow has begun a series of articles on the state of the economy as a prelude to next week's Budget. A very readable Economics 101 backgrounding key issues.
Sweden's Supreme Court has said it will review the acquittal of a Pentecostal pastor who denounced homosexuality as "a deep cancer" in a sermon. Ake Green was convicted of hate crimes in June 2004 and given a 30-day suspended prison sentence. But then an appeals court in February threw out the case, saying it was not illegal to offer an interpretation of the Bible and urge others to follow it. Sweden's chief prosecutor said that in his view, Mr Green's comments did amount to hate speech, and so he was seeking a review.
Meanwhile, in the first case of its kind to come before the Durban Equality Court in South Africa, a white woman has been found guilty of hate speech and unfair discrimination and ordered to pay financial damages to a black complainant.
Hayek wrote The Road to Serfdom in the 1950s, as a counter to the rapidly rising socialist economic theories of the time (which still hold considerable sway in New Zealand). How have we developed as a society since then? Theodore Dalrymple looks at the roads that we are now following.

When two homosexuals tried it on in the recent dance competition programme aired on Prime TV earlier this year, they were promptly culled by the judges. Sadly, NZ audiences were not quite so discriminating. Despite looking like a sack of spuds being wheeled around the floor, Georgina Beyers was lauded by the kiwi voters. The judges got it about right in Round 1, but succumbed to a fit of PC last night, and then the "popular" vote kept her on while the far more able dancer, Nicky Watson, was put out. As the phone-in vote (which is totally unrestricted, so all your friends could keep txting until their fingers fall off) counted for half the marks, two guesses who was orchestrating the campaign for Mr Beyers behind the scenes. Whatever credibility the show had in the beginning -- and with Jason Gunn's hosting style, that was minimal -- it's totally lost now. All I can say is, "go Norm". All your Rugby mates should ensure you have a good chance of being there in the play-offs.

New Zealand has the balance "about right" in relation to the freedom of expression and the protection of minority and vulnerable groups, the Human Rights Commission told the government's Inquiry into Hate Speech. "The vast majority of New Zealanders deplore hate speech and the harm it can cause individuals and groups. But legislation alone is limited in curbing the most harmful effects of hate speech. The Commission believes the promotion of positive relations between groups in society through education and public awareness are equally important," said Commissioner Judy McGregor. But there was a sting in the tail of the submission. The HRC proposed that section 131 of the Human Rights Act 1990 should be replaced by criminal legislation covering race, colour, nationality, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age or disability. In other words, discrimination should not just be prohibited, it should now be criminalised.

Confused employers are ignoring school leavers' NCEA qualifications and setting their own tests for job applicants.

American stem cell scientists now have guidelines which will allow them to handle, destroy and clone human embryos ethically. A long-awaited report from the National Academies of Sciences recommends thorough documentation and close scrutiny of embryo research even though it sets few firm ethical boundaries. Given the prestige of the National Academies, these recommendations are likely to be widely followed although they have no legal status. At the moment, the Bush Administration effectively discourages embryonic stem cell research and there are no coordinated national guidelines for scientists to follow.

A British research team has discovered a new argument in favour of sending baby to day care. A 10-year study by the Leukaemia Research Fund has produced compelling evidence that exposure to childhood infections in infancy can prevent childhood leukaemia by priming the immune system.

In January the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that a child who, before turning seven, has a younger brother or sister less than two years of age, has a significantly lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis later in life. The research showed that the more siblings, the greater the protection.

Virgins rank higher on scales of life satisfaction, per capita income, positive net worth and lower divorce rates, according to a study published in the journal Adolescent and Family Health.

The Methodist Church’s expected decision to move towards the appointment of bishops could potentially result in the second largest church in Christendom, The Times believes. A positive decision at the Church’s Torquay conference next month could result in the consecration of bishops in 2010 and pave the way for full unity with the Church of England. If Methodists and Anglicans moved to unity worldwide, they would create a church of 150 million members, second only to the 1.1 billion-strong Roman Catholic Church.

Giving school class time to the concept of creation is the claim behind six days of courtroom-style hearings which began in Topeka, Kansas, on May 5. Debates over what children should be taught about the origins of life are going on in more than a dozen states of the USA, and there is a bill in the Kansas legislature allowing for the theory of intelligent design to be discussed in class alongside the theory of evolution. Many scientists have said they will boycott the Topeka hearings, which they allege are part of a nationwide effort by religious interests to gain control over government.

Tail-out: A monastery-based TV reality show has changed the lives of its five participants far more than they or their hosts had expected. Five men, including a producer of sex chatline trailers and a former UDA paramilitary, spent 40 days following the disciplined rules of Benedictine life in BBC 2’s The Monastery. The experience affected atheist Tony Burke so deeply that he gave up his pornography industry job and ex-paramilitary Gary McCormick began to overcome his inner demons. Fr Christopher Jamison said the monks had hoped their visitors would find the experience "a spiritual health farm", but they hadn’t grasped "how this particular kind of break … would change them".