Sunday 22nd of December 2024

amen .....


 

From the ABC …..


Easter prayers focus on peace, justice
 

Religious leaders are calling on
Australians to embrace the values of peace and justice this Easter. 

Catholic and Anglican archbishops
say international differences can be overcome. 

The head of Australia's Anglican
Church, Dr Phillip Aspinall, says Easter signals a new beginning. 

"Even people who are not
deeply religious still intuit of the significance and importance of the
occasion," he said. 

He says it is possible to do
something about the tensions among religious groups and countries. 

Brisbane's Catholic Archbishop
John Bathersby agrees, saying asylum seekers should not be regarded as
enemies. 

"We should reach out to them
with love and wherever possible we should be in dialogue with them rather
than in conflict with them," he said. 

Read more at the ABC

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the world...

Asking a few more questions

It's a pity that Richard Carleton did not push forward many unanswered questions on the nuclear industry when he presented a story on Chernobyl Last night...

For example, the cost of creating a new "sarcophagus" for the defunct reactor is around 1 billion US dollars, possibly 2 billions when completed, but this pales in comparison with the clean up of UK's aging nuclear power stations. The UK energy minister is prepared to foot a nuclear bill of around 56 billion pounds (around 120 US billion dollars) for this clean up. Many analysts thinks that the bill, now to be going to private enterprises, will be at least double that.

We also know that in places where depleted uranium has been used in warfare, incidence of certain forms of cancers and deformity do increase several folds, in a similar way to those of people and their subsequent offsprings at Chernobyl.

The damage done by radiation can be to various degrees whether we are just exposed, to what extend we've been exposed and if we have ingested radio-active material... and other situations

Armed with more than a baseball cap

From the SMH

A quiet word to loud Americans
LOUD and brash, in gawdy garb and baseball caps, shuffling between tourist sites or preparing to negotiate a business deal, they bemoan the failings of the world outside the United States.

The reputation of the ugly American abroad is not just some cruel stereotype. Rather, says the United States Government, it is worryingly accurate.

Now the State Department in Washington has joined forces with US industry to plan an image makeover by issuing guides on how to behave for Americans travelling overseas.

Under a program starting next month, several big US companies will give employees going abroad a "world citizen's guide" featuring 16 etiquette tips on how they can help improve their country's battered international image.

read more at the SMH

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Gus thinks that Bonsai Dubya Bush, first offender ordinaire, would be the perfect candidate as a primary student to this school of anti-stereotyping. He'd be in need of ten times the amount of etiquette tips, not so much for his awkward tailoring and cowboy hats which we can live with, but for inside his tantrum-afflicted mind which is quite untidy... arrogant and full of pigeon-coop fertiliser.

amerikan make-over .....