Notes: Tuesday, May 6-Thursday, July 31, 2014 (part 2 of 4)

5. "the OECD has found that paid parental leave beyond 20 weeks “appears to have a negative effect on female participation”"

The quotation in that headline comes from the opinion piece "Abbott has dug himself into a hole over paid parental leave", by Dr. Anne Summers A.O., dated May 5, 2014, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/abbott-has-dug-himself-into-a-hole-over-paid-parental-leave-20140505-zr4r4.html?skin=text-only

(Originally, I was also going to quote Dr. Summers regarding her statement in that opinion piece that women who earn less than the minimum wage would be worse off under The Hon. Tony Abbott M.P.'s paid maternity leave plan compared to the current one (because the current one pays the minimum wage to those women, whereas Mr. Abbott's scheme would pay them, so Dr. Summers thought, only their pre-leave level of income) but it turns out that Dr. Summers was mistaken; see the letter published under the sub-heading "Low paid will benefit" on the Herald's letters page of May 6, 2014 ("Reconsider Bondi brawler's gaming licence") (and that letter has been appended to Dr. Summers' article, with her response to it below it.)

Labels: economics, P.P.L., work

6. A few recent items regarding divorce

6.1 The late Prof. Becker on no-fault divorce

See the opinion piece "Exposing the dangers of welfare", by Mr. Adam Creighton, dated May 9, 2014, downloaded from (behind the paywall at) The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/exposing-the-dangers-of-welfare/story-fnc2jivw-1226910947505

Labels: divorce, law, marriage

6.2 "DIVORCE and family breakdowns are costing the national economy more than $14 billion a year in government assistance payments and court costs"

The quotation, including the capitals and bold type, in that headline comes from the article "Divorce is costing the Australian economy $14 billion a year", by Lauren Wilson and Lisa Cornish, dated July 6, 2014, downloaded from the Herald Sun's website:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/divorce-is-costing-the-australian-economy-14-billion-a-year/story-fni0dqfm-1226979027353

(That article came to my attention via this blog post by Mr. Muehlenberg.)

Labels: divorce, marriage

6.3 Mr. Creighton on no-fault divorce

See the opinion piece "Divorced wives deserve compensation for hardship", by Mr. Adam Creighton, dated July 11, 2014, downloaded from (behind the paywall at) The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/divorced-wives-deserve-compensation-for-hardship/story-fnc2jivw-1226984851502

Labels: divorce, law, marriage

7. A couple of recent Gay/sport items

7.1 In order "to send a clear message" about discrimination, the National Rubgy League penalised, with a two-match ban and a requirement "to attend an anti-vilification education and awareness program", a player "for breaching the League’s anti-vilification policy" by calling another player "Gay" (though the player called "Gay" isn't Gay)

The first two quotations in that headline come from the article "Mitchell Moses has been banned for two matches for breaking the NRL’s anti-­vilification policy", by Mr. Dean Ritchie, dated May 5, 2014, downloaded from the Sydney Daily Telegraph's website:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/mitchell-moses-has-been-banned-for-two-matches-for-breaking-the-nrls-antivilification-policy/story-fni3fbgz-1226906300123

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the headline "Young Wests Tiger's two-week ban for homophobic slur", by the same author, on p. 67 in the "NRL" pages of the "SPORT" section of The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday, May 6, 2014, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.) The third quotation comes from the press releases "NRL suspends player for homophobic remark" and "Moses banned for two games for homophobic comment", neither of which has a byline, both dated Monday, May 5, 2014, both downloaded from NRL.com:

http://www.nrl.com/nrl-suspends-player-for-homophobic-remark/tabid/10874/newsid/78159/default.aspx

http://www.nrl.com/moses-banned-for-two-games-for-homophobic-comment/tabid/10874/newsid/78160/default.aspx

See also the opinion piece "NRL bosses are totally gay", by Miranda Devine, p. 13, The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday, May 7, 2014, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd., available online under the same headline, by the same author, but dated Tuesday, May 6, 2014, at Ms Devine's blog:

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/nrl_bosses_are_totally_gay/

Labels: G.L.B.T., sport

7.2 "Our sponsorship of the Bingham Cup [a rugby union competition for gay players] has been a catalyst for change: we were able to use our leverage as a major advertiser to persuade the main sporting codes to sign up to an anti-homophobia policy, which they all did at the bank a few weeks ago."

The quotation, including the square-bracketed interpolation, in that headline comes from the appendix "SMASHING THE GLASS CLOSET" to the article "Don't ask, don't tell", by Jane Wheatley, dated June 7, 2014, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/dont-ask-dont-tell-20140602-39d0g.html?skin=text-only

(The sub-section (presumably minus any editorial interpolations) from which that quotation comes is attributed to Andrew Hall, "head of corporate affairs at the Commonwealth Bank", so the pronoun "we" and the possessives refer to the Commonwealth Bank.)

(That appendix and article came to my attention via the versions printed under the same respective headlines, with the same respective authors, on, respectively, p. 25 and pp. 22-25 of Good Weekend magazine, June 7, 2014, published by Fairfax Media Publications Pty. Ltd., inserted in The Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, June 7-8, 2014, Issue No. 55118, ISSN 0312-6315, published by Fairfax Media Publications Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: G.L.B.T., sport

8. Some recent items regarding abortion

8.1 "UP to 23,000 abortions take place in Victoria each year", as at 2008, and "180 late-term abortions were carried out in 2005 on healthy fetuses for "psycho-social" reasons"

The quotations in that headline come from the article "Victoria is Australia's abortion 'capital'", by Laurie Nowell, dated June 1, 2008, downloaded from the Herald Sun website:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/victoria-abortion-capital/story-e6frf7kx-1111116500184

(That article came to my attention via this blog post by Mr. Gaynor.)

Labels: abortion, Victoria

8.2 "In 2009 there were 154 stillbirths related to termination of pregnancy for congenital abnormality and 42 neonatal deaths where the parents decided to have labour induced early resulting in the early birth of their infant (Table 96)."

The quotation in that headline comes from p. 111 of the Annual report for the year 2009, by the Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity, ISSN 1327-4473, authorised and published by H.M. Victorian Government, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, July 2012, © Copyright, State of Victoria, Department of Health 2012, downloaded from the "Document library" at the official website of the Department of Health, Victoria, Australia:

http://docs.health.vic.gov.au/docs/doc/Annual-Report-for-the-Year-2009-%28including-Births-in-Victoria%29--Full-Report

or go straight hither:

http://docs.health.vic.gov.au/docs/doc/C3F3B2341D9B4F99CA257A5C00099475/$FILE/1202025_CCOPMM_AR_2009_WEB.pdf

(That report came to my attention via this blog post by Mr. Gaynor.)

Labels: abortion, Victoria

8.3 "Of the 51 neonatal deaths[ in South Australia in 2008], 42 (82.4%) were lowbirthweight babies and 10 resulted from terminations of pregnancy."

The quotation, excluding the squate-bracketed interpolation, in that headline comes from p. 24 (p. 28 in your reader) of Maternal, Perinatal and Infant Mortality in South Australia 2008, by the Maternal, Perinatal and Infant Mortality Committee of the Pregnancy Outcome Unit of SA Health, H.M South Australian Government, ISSN 1032-4801, published by SA Health, H.M South Australian Government, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, November 2009, © SA Health, downloaded from the official SA Health website:

http://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/6f561300440868f38a40aa5fc19a2cbb/mortalityreport-operations-sahaelth-2008.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=6f561300440868f38a40aa5fc19a2cbb

(That report came to my attention via the comment by Heidi on May 10, 2014 at 6:52 pm in the combox of a blog post by Mr. Gaynor.)

Labels: abortion, S.A.

8.4 Some up-to-date figures on contraception and abortion in Australia

See pp. 149 ff. and 195 ff. (but add 18 to desired page numbers when typing them into your reader's page number field) of the report Reproductive and sexual health in Australia, no author credited, ISBN 978 1 877026 29 4, published by Family Planning NSW, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia, 2013, © Family Planning NSW 2013, downloaded from Family Planning NSW's website:

Warning: Given the subject matter, beware of potentially scandalous terminology:

http://www.fpnsw.org.au/688423_21_13559012.html

Or go straight hither:

http://www.fpnsw.org.au/rshinaust_book_webedition_1.pdf

(That report came to my attention via this or this Herald article.)

Labels: abortion, contraception

9. "the more children a family has, the less likely it is that both parents will remain in paid employment. Therefore, encouraging larger families will increase the number of future workers and taxpayers, including women."

The quotation, including its italics, in that headline comes from the article "CHILD CARE INQUIRY: Should parents or paid strangers raise children?", by Mr. John Ballantyne, dated May 10, 2014, downloaded from News Weekly's website:

http://newsweekly.com.au/article.php?id=56572

Labels: economics, families

10. "The early moderns wanted to get rid of formal and final causes as immanent features of nature, and thus replaced them with the notion of “laws of nature” conceived of as externally imposed divine decrees."

The quotation in that headline comes from the blog post "School’s out forever?", by Dr. Edward Feser, dated Friday, May 2, 2014, downloaded from his eponymous blog:

http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2014/05/schools-out-forever.html

Labels: philosophy, science

11. "a quarter of our students[, i.e., of pupils in nominally Catholic schools in New South Wales,] are not Catholic", and "[a]t 44 per cent, SA Catholic schools have the highest proportion of students from non-Catholic backgrounds of any mainland state" ("[t]he national average is 29 per cent")

The first quotation, excluding my square-bracketed interpolation, in that headline comes from the letter published under the heading "Not weeds, flowers", from Dr. Brian Croke ("executive director, Catholic Education Commission NSW"), on the May 22, 2014 letters page (headline: "Tony Abbott lacks John Howard's bravery in facing Deakin University protesters"), downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/tony-abbott-lacks-john-howards-bravery-in-facing-deakin-university-protesters-20140521-zrjwl.html?skin=text-only

The last two quotations, excluding my square-bracketed replacement of capital letters with lower-case ones, in that headline come from the article "Big growth in number of non-Catholics attending Catholic schools in SA", no byline, dated June 1, 2014, downloaded from news.com.au:

http://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/big-growth-in-number-of-noncatholics-attending-catholic-schools-in-sa/story-fnii5yv4-1226939166470

(That article came to my attention via this CathNews post.)

Labels: Catholic schools

12. "It is significant that at a time when the federal Coalition government is cutting support for single-income two-parent families by cutting Family Tax Benefit B and increasing costs of medical treatment and pharmaceuticals, it is increasing spending on institutionalised child care (primarily used by two-income families), on top of its paid parental leave scheme which is also a subsidy for two-income families."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "CANBERRA OBSERVED: Single-income families bear the brunt of Budget pain", no byline, dated May 24, 2014, downloaded from News Weekly's website:

http://newsweekly.com.au/article.php?id=56587

Labels: childcare, economics, families, tax

13. Mr. Muehlenberg with some recent items regarding Gaiety

See the blog post "Truth-Telling and Homosexuality", by Mr. Bill Muehlenberg, dated June 9, 2014, downloaded from his CultureWatch blog:

http://billmuehlenberg.com/2014/06/09/truth-telling-and-homosexuality/

(And read the comments there, especially the one by Dr. van Gend.)

Labels: G.L.B.T., mental health

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Confessor, A.D. 2014

Notes: Wednesday, March 21-Tuesday, March 27, 2012

1. "There were 44 million abortions worldwide in 2008 according to last month’s issue of The Lancet."

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=3&subclassID=7&articleID=9733&class=Features&subclass=Cardinal's Comment

Labels: abortion

2. Prof. Albert on Lawrence M. Krauss's A Universe From Nothing

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/books/review/a-universe-from-nothing-by-lawrence-m-krauss.html?_r=2

(That came to my attention via this blog post by Prof. Feser.)

Labels: atheism, God's Existence, Lawrence Krauss, philosophy, physics, theology

3. The Royal Irish Academy's website on the historical St. Patrick:

http://www.confessio.ie/

(That came to my attention via this comment at Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog.)

Labels: St. Patrick

4. "[A Catholic-Voices-commissioned ComRes] poll also found overwhelming majority support (70%[ "of British people", presumably]) for retaining the current definition of marriage as a between a man and a woman"

http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/03/15/3454073.htm

(That came to my attention via this blog post by Mr. Schütz.)

Labels: Catholic Voices, marriage, U.K.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. John Damascene, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, A.D. 2012

Notes: Monday-Monday, January 24-31, 2011

1. Projections for Muslim population growth

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/muslim-population-growth-to-boom-study/story-e6frg6so-1225995607652

Labels: demography, Islam

2. On abortion and suicide

2.1 Some figures on abortion in the U.S., South Australia, and Russia

U.S.:
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35748

South Australia:
http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/msg/1296030442.html

Russia:
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3284

2.2 Mr. Obama and the European Court of Human Rights on the implications of a 'right to privacy' for, respectively, abortion and suicide

Today marks the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, and affirms a fundamental principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters.
[http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/22/statement-president-roe-v-wade-anniversary]

Of course, to be more precise, what Mr. Obama meant to say when is he said that "government should not intrude on private family matters" is that 'government should not intrude on some but not all private family matters'--presumably he thinks, despite the logical inconsistency, that a father should be prevented, where feasible, from committing infanticide.

Meanwhile,

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the “respect for private life” found in the European Convention of Human Rights includes the right of individuals to choose freely to commit suicide.
[http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35725]

(See this AQ comment for a different, but still valid, perspective on Mr. Obama's comment.)

Labels: abortion, Barack Obama, demography, E.C.H.R., human rights, morality, suicide

3. "SCIENTISTS are getting closer to finding a non-physical definition of the kilogram"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/race-for-new-kilo-equivalent/story-e6frg6so-1225993858116

Labels: physics

4. Various letter-writers on so-called gay marriage and related questions

Below is my transcription of four letters, apparently not available on-line, which were published in The Weekend Australian Magazine's "Feedback" section (page 4) last Saturday. I don't necessarily agree with the whole content and/or expression of each of these letters, but each makes at least one good point:

"Tying the Knot" (Jan 15-16), eulo-gising "same-sex" marriages, is sugar-coating a poison pill. The usual anec-dotes are presented about happy homosexual unions. We are beguiled with images of beautiful babies with same-sex "parents". Wait for the posion pill to act on these babies. Then we will see a little girl wrapping herself around a male father figure, or a male young-ster crying, "I wish I had a mother."
Ian Seccombe
Epping, NSW

Most people probably have no serious objection to same-sex relationships or legalised unions, but expropriating the word "married" so that its traditional meaning is lost is another matter.
Rob Davies
Point Lonsdale, Vic

I have been in a male gay relationship for 31 years and my partner and I both agree that marriage is a binding commit-ment between male and female. How I would have preferred to be born a heterosexual and to be able to have had children of my own, but I recognise they are my wants only, without considera-tion for the child. I believe that a child needs that father and mother parenting role model to have the opportunity to achieve the best for their life. Same-sex parenting must surely have a confusing influence on a child's development.
Roger Phillips
Adelaide, SA

It is wonderful that couples, gay or straight, who are unable to conceive children naturally have the opportunity to become parents but please consider the rights and feelings of their offspring. They may not want to know their full identity now but I can assure you they will at some time in the future. Surely it is everyone's basic human right to know their full identity.
Bronwyn Vincent
Macgregor, ACT

Labels: families, G.L.B.T., marriage, morality, parenthood

4. "Gays vow respect in marriage debate"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/gays-vow-respect-in-marriage-debate/story-e6frg6nf-1225997089933

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

5. Blog comments by me

Two which I've submitted at Joshua's blog here and here, and this one at Terra's blog:

Cardinal Pole said...

"[Felix is] disconcerted by the lack of fairness in referring to the SSPX.

"As whenn Father Gerald says that "the Lefebvre group stresses Latin for the Mass ...", trivialising their actual concerns."

I agree that Father trvialises the S.S.P.X.'s concerns about the N.O.M. Isn't Msgr. Lefebvre on record as saying something like that if the T.L.M. had simply been translated into the vernacular without any other modification then the S.S.P.X. could not justifiably have rejected such a Mass? (I don't ask that rhetorically; is my recollection accurate, and if so where might it be verified?)

February 1, 2011 2:39 AM
Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval.
[http://australiaincognita.blogspot.com/2011/01/just-call-me-catholic-please.html]

I address the questions which I've asked there to my readers here, too.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. John Bosco, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Saturday-Wednesday, December 25-29, 2010

1. "[A]mong lesbian couples, generally both women take on a mothering role"

As one would expect. But who takes on the fathering role?

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/gay-parents-are-more-equal-than-others-20101228-199bm.html?skin=text-only

2. "Two of Russia's biggest spy agencies are at war with one another as attempts are made to merge them and create an intelligence service modelled on the Soviet-era KGB, according to a Russian intelligence expert"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/falling-out-among-spies-20101227-198j8.html?skin=text-only

3. Two letters from yesterday's Herald: One on defamation law in Australia, the other on traditional Christmas decorating

The former:

Facts on truth

Wayne Lawson (Letters, December 27) is correct that freedom of speech is not enshrined in the constitution, but substantial truth has been an absolute defence in defamation law since January 2006.

Geoff Holland Faculty of Law, University of Technology, Sydney
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/hurdles-on-the-road-to-decriminalisation-20101227-198f8.html?skin=text-only]

The latter:

Undeck the halls

Commercial interests have completely distorted the dates and extent of the Christmas season for their own purpose, which is to encourage increased spending. No wonder the public is confused, and I don't doubt that some no longer remember that, properly speaking, the season runs from
Christmas Day to Epiphany, January 6 - 12 days, no more.

Decorations should be put up on Christmas Eve and taken down on January 7. Ignore what the shops do; if householders want to do it, we can at least get it right.

Mona Finley Darlington Point
[Ibid.]

4. Mr. Katter on his ancestry:

''[His grandparents] were very religious people - there wouldn't have been too much playing up - my grandfather's uncle was head of the Maronite Church - that's almost equivalent to the pope.''
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/who-do-they-think-they-are-20101225-197fv.html?skin=text-only]

5. Dr. Daintree on, among other things, references to Christianity and religion in the draft national curriculum for history:

Yet the compilers of the draft curriculum have chosen the simplest strategy of all: deliberate, pointed, tendentious and outrageous silence. In its 20 pages, the draft ancient history curriculum mentions religion twice. There is no reference to Christianity anywhere in the document.

The draft modern history curriculum is 30 pages long. Christianity is simply never mentioned, at least not explicitly. The word religion appears twice, the first occurrence in the context of Indian history, the second in the context of Asian and African decolonisation. However the precise phrase in which it is found discloses the agenda of the compilers: "The effect of racism, religion and European cultures."

This, surely, is an oblique mention of Christianity and a judgment upon it at the same time.
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/christianity-has-role-in-learning/story-e6frg6zo-1225977422170]

6. R.I.P. The Lord Bishop of Sandhurst

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/church-mourns-exceptional-bishop/story-fn3dxity-1225977402274

7. "Watch out for Russian wild card in Asia-Pacific"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/watch-out-for-russian-wild-card-in-asia-pacific/story-e6frg6zo-1225977417402

8. "Church free to ban gay foster parents after NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal ruling"

This is, in several respects, and interesting article:

CHURCH groups are free to discriminate against homosexuals after a landmark judgment in which a tribunal ruled religious charities are allowed to ban gay foster parents.

The ruling, made in the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal, has been hailed by the Catholic Church but has outraged civil libertarians, who are demanding religions no longer be exempt from anti-discrimination laws if they receive public money.

[...] Even the tribunal itself, whose judgment came down in favour of the ban, said it was effectively bound to reach the decision because of the very broad exemptions in the Anti-Discrimination Act relating to religious groups.

And, it went as far as suggesting that Parliament may wish to revise those laws.

The decision marks the end of a seven-year legal battle for a gay couple who attempted to become foster carers through Wesley Mission Australia but were knocked back because their lifestyle was not in keeping with the beliefs and values of Wesleyanism, a Methodist order of the Uniting Church.

The ADT initially awarded the couple $10,000 and ordered the charity to change its practices so it did not discriminate but an appeals panel set aside that decision and ordered the tribunal to reconsider the matter.

The tribunal then said it had little choice but to find that the discrimination was "in conformity" with the church's doctrine because the test in the law "is singularly undemanding". [...]
[bold type in the original,
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/church-free-to-ban-gay-foster-parents-after-nsw-administrative-decisions-tribunal-ruling/story-e6freuy9-1225976419514]

Unless the N.S.W. Government has already exempted religious adoption agencies from having to offer their services to same-sex couples (I can't remember whether it has or not), this ruling could have (favourable) implications for the Government deciding whether or not to grant such an exemption. For more on this, see here.

For The Australian's editorial on the ruling, see here.

9. This generation of youngsters to have a lower average I.Q. than previous generations?

I was interested to read the following in the Sydney Daily Telegraph the other day:

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons trauma committee deputy chair Professor Danny Cass said the level of heavy drinking in society would lead to brain damage among this generation.

"There's going to be a group from this generation who will have lower IQs," Professor Cass said.

"They are lowering their IQ by drinking at a young age, when their brains are still developing."
[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/kebab-stall-a-violent-hot-spot/story-e6freuy9-1225976427236]

But then, most generations have probably had such a group. As one commenter says in that article's combox,

Steve R of Sydney Posted at 7:44 AM December 27, 2010

Its always been the same. Just more media coverage these days.

Comment 4 of 33

10. Of Foucault pendulums

An interesting item from the other day's edition of the Herald's "Column 8" section:

Here's a concoction of science and dark deeds to mull over. ''During the 1954 solar eclipse Maurice Allais reported unusual motion of a Foucault pendulum (a device that demonstrates the rotation of the Earth),'' we are told by Joe Wolfe, of the University of NSW School of Physics. ''Since then, a number of different or null effects have been reported for Foucault pendulums at eclipses. One possible explanation is that, during an eclipse, physicists are usually outside observing it rather than indoors watching to see whether anyone tampers with a pendulum. The University of NSW School of Physics has a Foucault pendulum in the foyer. On the day of the lunar eclipse last Tuesday this pendulum suffered unusual motion: it vanished, leaving a suspending wire that appears to have been cut. So, if your Christmas stocking contained a 60cm varnished sphere of jarrah wood, please alert the school of physics. We would like it back.''
[http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/column-8/column-8-20101226-197tr.html?skin=text-only]

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of St. Thomas of Canterbury, Bishop, Martyr, A.D. 2010

Notes: Saturday-Monday, November 6-8, 2010

1. Interesting review of The Grand Design

The review in question was published in The Sydney Morning Herald's Spectrum supplement at the weekend, and is available on-line here. The following excerpt was remarkable:

Even if M-theory is the best candidate for a Theory of Everything, it will not, as Hawking concedes, result in anything more than a collection of unproved and unprovable hypotheses.

2. Exactly (precisely?) what I was thinking!

Here's a letter which was published on page twenty-five of today's edition of the Sydney Daily Telegraph and which points out an all-too-common grammatical error which vexes me too:

For years the signs at railway stations have warned us that steps "may be" (that is are permitted to be) slippery when wet. Finally, this ungrammatical phrase is now correct. To avoid slips on the newly refurbished Macarthur station, carpets are being laid as a safety measure. Perhaps State Rail should have warned the wet areas "might be" (this expresses possibility, not permission) slippery.
M. Chaldecott Lindfield

The four effects of law are to command ('You shall ...'), to forbid ('You shall not ...'), to permit ('You may ...'), and to punish (to trangress any of the preceding three is to incur the obligation to suffer the just penalty); see St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, Ia IIæ, Q. 92, a. 2.

3. The Stockholm Bloodbath: An episode in Scandinavian history of which I had not heard

I was interested to learn the following in the "on this day" section of the history page of today's Sydney Daily Telegraph (p. 39):

1520

The execution of more than 80 Swedish nobles and clergy, who opposed their country's invasion by Christian II of Denmark, begins in Stockholm. The dissidents are accused of heresy.

Apparently that episode is known as the Stockholm Bloodbath, about which you can read more at Wikipedia's page on it.

4. The latest development/s in Australia regarding so-called gay marriage

4.1 "Mark Arbib wants Labor to back gay marriage"
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/arbib-wants-labor-to-back-gay-marriage/story-fn59niix-1225948555751

4.2 "Powerbrokers call for gay marriage debate"
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/powerbrokers-call-for-gay-marriage-debate/story-e6frea8c-1225948877549

(See also the responses in The Australian's editorial and letters sections.)

5. Interesting books reviewed in the weekend papers

A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life's Hardest Questions
Edited by Dallas Willard
IVP Books,321pp, $27.95

[...] Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Differences
By Cordelia Fine
Icon Books, 338pp, $29.99
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/where-faith-and-reason-meet/story-e6frg8nf-1225946773855]

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of the Four Crowned Martyrs, A.D. 2010

Notes: Tuesday-Wednesday, October 12-13, 2010

"Drug taken before pregnancy confirmed" (Queensland miscarriage procurement case)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/drug-taken-before-pregnancy-confirmed/story-e6frg6nf-1225937859544

It is believed to be the first abortion-related trial in Queensland in 24 years, and pro-choice demonstrators from around Australia have converged on Cairns to call for the decriminalisation of abortion. Anti-abortion activists are also watching the case closely.

Interesting choice of descriptions there: "pro-choice" and "anti-abortion". Why not be consistent and speak of either pro- and anti-abortion (if we are to describe them by reference to their respective attitudes to the matter at hand, namely abortion) or of pro-choice and pro-life (if we are to describe them by their respective preferred descriptions)?

"I wanted to give my kid the best," Mr [Sergie] Brennan told the police, in an interview replayed to the court. "At that moment I felt I couldn't give my kid the best."

You couldn't give him or her the best, so you gave him or her the worst? Talk about making the perfect the enemy of the good.

"Synod bishops raps Israeli plan for citizenship oath"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34147

Interesting AQ thread on geocentrism

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33799&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Particularly this:

if we look at the Church's constant teaching, we find that She holds that the objective, physical geocentricity of the universe is a fact that can only be known by Divine revelation. (See St. Thomas Aquinas.)
[http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=383042#383042]

Mr. Ferrara on "Christ the King and the Catholic Tea Party"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34142

I was interested to learn that

in 1874 a nationwide movement of prominent Protestant clergy, academics, legislators and jurists known as the National Reform Association (NRA) presented a Memorial and Petition to Congress, which had been circulating since 1864, calling for nothing less than an explicit recognition of the sovereignty of God and the Social Kingship of Christ in the Constitution. Referring to “our national sins, which have provoked the Divine displeasure”—that is, the Civil War—and the need of “of imploring forgiveness through Jesus Christ,” NRA’s petition called upon Congress to initiate the process for amending the Constitution’s Preamble to read as follows:

We, the people of the United States, [humbly acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ruler among the nations, his revealed will as the supreme law of the land, in order to constitute a Christian government,] and in order to form a more perfect union…
[italics and ellipsis in the original]

Related (to the Kingship of Christ) post by Fr. Zuhlsdorf:

"Card. Rivera: Priests must work to transform society"
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/10/card-rivera-priests-must-work-to-transform-society/

"Stemma Papale"

"On Sunday a new stemma papale [the Pope's coat-of-arms] was seen"--with the Papal Tiara replacing the mitre which the Holy Father has on his coat-of-arms:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/10/stemma-papale/

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Edward, King, Confessor, A.D. 2010

Notes: Saturday-Tuesday, September 18-21, 2010

"Bishop Fellay Sends Bouquet of Rosaries to His Holiness for the Consecration of Russia on June 24th 2010 Feast of Saint John the Baptist"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33771

Mr. Carlton on a bygone era

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/godbothers-go-to-war-with-ofarrell-caught-in-the-middle-20100917-15g4f.html?skin=text-only
(the second of the three items at the web-page to which that link leads)

Prof. Bagaric on euthanasia

Interesting to see Prof. Bagaric's reasons for his opposition to its legalisation here, given that he thinks that "from the perspective of the parties directly involved in euthanasia (the patient and health worker), the practice is not inherently objectionable":

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/dont-encourage-the-grim-reaper/story-e6frg6zo-1225926991462

(Interesting to see that The Sydney Morning Herald is opposed too, though the three letters on the matter which it has published today are all supportive. Check those letters out if you want to refresh your memory of the standard arguments for it so that you can be ready to refute both their logic and their rhetoric.)

Interesting books reviewed in the weekend papers

Just one this week (and a brief review at that):

"Einstein: A Hundred Years of Relativity
"Andrew Robinson, ed.
"Palazzo, 256pp, $29.99"
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/the-good-oil-on-energy/story-e6frg8nf-1225922358888

Two interesting speeches by politicians

Mentioned by Mr. Phillip Adams in his column in last Saturday's edition of The Weekend Australian Magazine (apparently not available on-line, so my transcript of the excerpt follows):

I remember Billy McMahon delivering the speech of his life, supporting a woman's right to choose abortion. Ditto Edward Heath in the Commons denouncing capital punishment.
["Spare the whip", The Weekend Australian Magazine, September 18-19 2010, p. 3]

I would be interested to read the text of those speeches.

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist, A.D. 2010

Notes: Wednesday, September 8, 2010

"First Annual Catholic Conference on Geocentrism - South Bend, Indiana; Nov. 6"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=378485#378485

"Saints' Books"

Free on-line versions of books by Saints and others (brought to my attention by this AQ post):

http://saintsbooks.net/BooksList.html
(link also added in this blog's "Miscellaneous" links section)

"Coptic [Catholic] patriarch: Desire to divorce leads Catholics to convert to Islam"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33531

I've left the following comment there:

Quote:
The patriarch, for example, noted that Egyptian law leaves marital issues to the different religious bodies, allowing the Church to uphold the indissolubility of Christian marriage.
[my emphasis]

Is His Beatitude correct about the Church being allowed to uphold in Egypt the indissolubility of marriage?

Quote:
In May [Egypt's highest] court ruled that because "the right to family formation is a constitutional right," no religious body can deny that right [to divorce and remarriage].
[http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32025]
[http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=378543#378543]

"Boniface" on Dei Verbum and Scriptural inerrancy

http://athanasiuscm.blogspot.com/2010/09/inspiration-for-sake-of-our-salvation.html

'Same-sex adoption Bill likely to pass in N.S.W. Upper House' (or by now, '... to have passed ...')

From yesterday's Sydney Daily Telegraph, page fourteen (there seems to have been no mention of this in yesterday's editions of the Herald or The Australian, though I'm not sure yet whether there is mention of the outcome in today's editions of either paper):

Gays legal vote

GAY and lesbian couples will be able to adopt children with legislation expected to scrape through in the NSW Upper House tonight. The Bill is likely to pass by a margin of three to five votes.
Upper House Greens MP Ian Cohen said new laws would allow same-sex couples who already foster children successfully to take the next step and adopt.
"I've seen many examples of wonderful children raised by single parents and gay parents," he said.

Popular T.V. show "sort of a gay Trojan horse", admits one of its stars

From an article, apparently not available on-line, entitled "Comedy hits the sweet spot", on Modern Family:

Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell): I'm very protective of Mitchell and Cameron, of their relationship. I would like to see them show more physical affection – we film scenes several ways, including kisses – but at the same time we're moving cau-tiously, because it's sort of a gay Tro-jan horse in people's living rooms.
[bold type and dashes in words which spanned two lines as in the original,
p. 6, Spectrum (Sydney Morning Herald supplement), September 4-5, 2010]

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, A.D. 2010