JEFF RICHARDS' WEB DIARYNOTES FROM THE FRINGES OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY(Untitled)- May 30, 2003 Listening to a Human Shield At this months Labor Party sub-branch meeting I had the opportunity to listen to the story of one of the &145;Human Shields&146; during the invasion and occupation of Iraq. I thought it would be a good opportunity to try an understand what motivated some people to put their lives at risk. I don&146;t particularly like the term &145;Human Shield&146;. Most of those who went were not silly enough to place themselves in the line of fire or in the path of a tank or APC...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/05/30.html#a87 (Untitled)- May 25, 2003 Privatisation of the Tertiary Education System. A few weeks ago I heard some voices on the radio telling us that the political conversation that followed the release of the federal governments policies on tertiary education was missing the point. The argument was over the details, while what was truly significant was the whole. What is occurring is the privatisation of Australian education. Brendan Nelson -once the earring wearing president of the Australian Medical Association, and a person...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/05/25.html#a86 (Untitled)- May 24, 2003 Politics and Religion The most important conversation in Australian is the Governor General Peter Hollingworth. If ever there was an example of a past returning to haunt a man, this is it. First the scandal of covering up for child molesters in the Anglican Church. Then the accusation that he raped a young woman in the mid 1960&146;s. Now a repeat performance of blaming a victim for an abuse of power (A 14 year old school girl has an affair with her Anglican school master. The most amazing...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/05/24.html#a85 (Untitled)- May 24, 2003 Vitamins and Politics Today we are in the middle of what is probably the largest recall in Australian history of dietary supplements and non-prescription medications. The therapeutic goods administration has set off a process that is bringing chaos and anxiety among those who consume alternative therapy medications and supplements. They investigated the production process of one the largest manufacturers of non-prescription medications and dietary supplements, Pan Pharmaceuticals and decided...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/05/24.html#a84 |