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For the Sake of Argument - by Damo

Time to move on after 9/11

It has been five years since 9/11 and we are still being shown pictures of the event at regular occasions. The whole ethos of today is framed around the post 9/11 mentality. Often you will hear politicians say that the world changed after 9/11 and that we can no do this or that. As each anniversary comes there is a new ceremony and spectacular monument to the occasion. Ground Zero in New York has some very spectacular water fall and blazing light for the night. There is no shortage of television specials to remember the occasion and documentaries that cover even the most trivial aspect of that day. The man that fell from the building; the ‘flag or bag’ photograph; messages from the UN all add to the special atmosphere of the day. Perhaps one day to remember is fair enough but there are also constant reminder of the 9/11 attack. New security laws; two major films at the cinema and a range of television dramas focus on terrorism. This goes on all year as if to force everyone to remember the event whether they wish to or not

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Tourist Oath of Loyalty to Australia

September 12th 2006 13:06

Tourist Pledge of Loyalty

Kim Beazley dropped a bomb shell when he suggested that visiting tourist should sign a declaration to respect Australian values. The plan could be seen as a response to John Howard’s suggestion that new immigrants should be given lessons in Australian values

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Neck Ties to be Abolished?

September 11th 2006 01:20

Neck Ties to be Abolished?

Go into any office place in the city and you will see them. They hang below the chin of the corporate world like a flag. So many styles and colors but usually in only two varieties: Bow and Standard. Why does do they exist

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Germaine Greer's Obituary?

September 8th 2006 11:49

Only kidding, but here is her fake Obituary anyway.

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9/11 five years on

September 7th 2006 11:06

9/11 five years on.

Time for some sober reflection on the sober reflection we did five years ago. The events of 9/11 and the collapse of the twin towers was seen by millions on live television. After days of non stop analysis and repetition of the images there was sense of injustice and indignation about the crime. At the time it was a safe bet to image that somewhere there would be a heavy price to pay. America was angry and someone was going to get blasted for it. A comparison with America’s reaction to Pearl Harbor was easy to draw. Suddenly George Bush was transformed from a fairly mundane and unpopular to president to the savior of his nation and the world. Bin Laden was identified as the prime suspect and Afghanistan his protector. The mindset made War inevitable

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Steve Irwin attacked by Greer

September 5th 2006 12:06

Steve Irwin attacked by Greer

Steve Irwin was a hero to a generation of animal lovers and naturalists alike. Suddenly with the flick of a stingray tail his mortality was brought home to all. The outpouring of shock and grief rivals the death of Lady Diana. All over the world people have a need to express their sense of personal loss for a person that few had met face to face but many believed they knew. Reading the hundreds of comments on the BBC web site I came to see one word repeatedly used to describe this man: Legend. The validity of such a title will be tested in the fullness of time

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Cloning Ambitions

September 4th 2006 13:21

Cloning Ambition

The Cloning debate has resurfaced but who gives a Dolly about the science? Instead we have a debate that is driven by partisan politics, utopian dreams and fear. Before the private members bill has hit the parliament for debate many people have already chosen a side. Even before the Lockhart Review into the Prohibition of Human Cloning had started their review sides had been chosen. Even before the Australia's Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002 and the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 was debated sides were chosen

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These Films aren't Scary

September 2nd 2006 12:47

You call that a Horror Film?

A long anticipated horror film a few summers ago was ‘Van Helsing’. The film was full of every creature that was in almost every classic horror but it was anything but scary. It got me wondering about other horror films of recent years, were they living up to scare factor that they should? Was I cringing in fear at precise intervals and jumping out of my seat? Did they make my grind my teeth in the hope that this would be over an I'd be safe again? Was I being disturbed and tortured as much as the actors were on the screen? In short did they horrify me? In the vast majority of films I would have to answer no to all questions

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Fear This

September 1st 2006 02:40

Fear This

I once stood in the center of the temple which supported the Bo Tree that was cultivated from the original tree that Lord Buddha was said to have found enlightenment under. Some years, I think it was 1983 or 84 when terrorist had burst into the temple and killed 40 monks, later the same day they attacked the bus station killing 21 civilians. What I found interesting at my visit in 1993 were the bullet holes that still remained in the heavy doors and walls. Some years earlier in 1990 I went with my wife to Sri Lanka for the first time and was introduced to her next door neighbors. A meeting that still find hard to forget. There son who was around the same age as my wife and used to travel with her on the same bus had been killed in a bomb blast in Colombo. They showed us his wallet that was pot marked with tiny shrapnel scars and explained how a tiny piece of metal that had killed. This happened one month after my wife migrated to Australia, at the same bus stand and at the same time that she usually caught the bus. More than 300 people we killed that day

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Weapons worth Banning

August 31st 2006 01:31

Weapons worth Banning

Several years ago I was speaking with technical officer who was sent to Cambodia to help build telecommunications. He explained to me some of the safety advice that he had been given which surprised me. Don’t go behind a tree if you need to relieve yourself and don’t go into open fields that are yet to be cleared for farming. The culprit of this fear was Landmines left during the reign of Pol Pot. To me it seemed a cruel fate for nation to be removing unexploded landmines for generations after a conflict was over. Yet at the campaign to ban Landmines had only just begun and was seen as more of a crazy suggestion then a crying need. How could some weapons be banned when war is dirty and anything is fair if you win? The answer lays more in the nature of the weapon and how it is used that determines where it should ever be used

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September 2006

9 Posts

August 2006

4 Posts