Notes: Tuesday, April 5-Monday, April 11, 2011

1. A few items regarding Russia and/or the Russian Orthodox Church

1.1 Significant recent Russian space mission carried "an icon presented by the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/international-mission-marks-50-years-of-russian-space-flight/story-e6frg6so-1226033950957

Labels: R.O.C., Russia

1.2 "In Russia, the dissolution of the Soviet Union led initially to a more world-oriented curriculum in the 1990s, with an emphasis on ''common human values'', but more recently, in line with Russia's foreign policy, it has been moving back to a more national and patriotic story"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/new-curriculum-will-ultimately-mould-our-national-identity-20110405-1d2uw.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Russia

1.3 "Russian prelate says 'godless' West doomed to collapse"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36808

Labels: R.O.C., Russia, secularism

2. A few items regarding Ireland

2.1 "Irish Minister says religion in schools is a waste of class time"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36735

Not without disagreement, though:

"Former Irish prime minister defends religious instruction"
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36807

Labels: catechesis, education, Ireland

2.2 "Irish State to seize religious order’s property to pay victim’s comp"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36734

Labels: Ireland

2.3 "Irish report argues against hasty government takeover of Church-run schools"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36768

Labels: education, Ireland

3. "The Roman Catholic Church is the official state Church in Monaco"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36736

I did not know that that was the case.

Labels: Church and State, Monaco

4. Gay man reflects on the implications which legalising 'gay marriage' has for legalising polygamy

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/blogs/over-the-rainbow/4407748/Is-polygamy-such-a-bad-thing

Labels: G.L.B.T., marriage, morality, polyamory

5. Dr. Brown on the theology of the Blessed Sacrament

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/04/maynooth-seminary-in-ireland-fit-for-mission/#comment-264609

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/04/maynooth-seminary-in-ireland-fit-for-mission/#comment-264910

Labels: Sacraments, theology

6. "With the battle over legalised euthanasia touch and go in South Australia and Tasmania, the president of the Australian Nursing Federation, Coral Levett, has taken the extraordinary step of personally endorsing it"

This article is valuable for other nursing-and-euthanasia-related information in it, too:

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/nurses-not-neutral-on-lethal-needle/

Labels: euthanasia, nursing

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Leo I., Pope, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, A.D. 2011

Notes: Thursday, June 24, 2010

H.S.H. The Sovereign Prince of Monaco to marry

Body of the article from today's edition of The Australian:

PRINCE Albert II of Monaco has announced his engagement to 32-year-old South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock.

Albert, 52, has ruled the tiny Mediterranean principality since succeeding his father Rainier III in July 2005. Wittstock was a school teacher and is a former Commonwealth Games 100 meter backstroke champion.

The prince, a longtime bachelor who many thought would never marry, is the son of famous American actress and style icon Grace Kelly.
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/prince-albert-to-marry-olympic-swimmer/story-fn3dxity-1225883404831]

A letter to The Australian comparing the taxation of single- and double-income families

Body of the letter:

PETER Apps (Letters, 22/6) seems to have forgotten that families where both mum and dad have a paid job have two $6000 tax-free thresholds.

Families where dad has a wage and mum cares for the kids pay much higher rates of tax on the same total income.

The Howard government introduced the family tax benefit part B to lower the tax rates of single-income families, but it's not full compensation. Income-sharing for tax purposes would be a fairer solution.

Apps should redo his sums, taking total family tax into account. He would find that on average, families where mum receives paid parental leave will be better off by thousands of dollars than families with a stay-at-home mum and the baby bonus.
A. Carman, Greenacres, SA
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/parental-pay/story-fn558imw-1225883050290]

A Herald letter on accessing The National Library of Australia's on-line resources

It's all there online

I was amazed to read Bruce Ryan's complaint about the lack of online library access in Australia (Letters, June 22). His experience is not mine. I don't claim to be an academic, but I am retired and a researcher who specialises in colonial South Asia.

Through the National Library of Australia I can access a wealth of digitised resources from home, which are the envy of friends and colleagues in Britain and elsewhere. These include historic and current newspapers, magazines, academic journals and innumerable books. All Australian residents need is internet access and a National Library reader's ticket, which they can apply for online without charge.

Sylvia Murphy Telopea
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/emerging-nation-cries-out-for-breathing-space-20100623-yyvg.html?skin=text-only]

On N.A.T.O.-Russia military co-operation

From a post at AQ:

Despite tensions over the deployment of Patriot missiles, Russia and NATO are cooperating with increasing closeness, especially in military training.

At least 10 Russian combat units are heading to various NATO countries, including the U.S. and Germany, to participate in international military educational programs.

This comes as part of collaboration on military training exercises within the framework of Russian-NATO relations, which includes cooperation on broader issues like fighting terrorism and drug trafficking.

Launched in 2004, the joint exercises will resume for the first time since the conflict in South Ossetia two years ago that severely strained relationships between Russia and NATO.

The positive trend was also reinforced by the presence of NATO troops from the US, Britain and France taking part in the Victory Day Parade on May 9 in Russia this year.

The Russian armed forces also announced they will be ordering a new fleet of military transport aircraft from Ukraine.
[http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32195]

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Nativity of St. John the Baptist, A.D. 2010