September 27, 2006 | Graham

Church in disarray in Rome, still militant in Somalia

The Pope may be finding ways to soften his message about Islam, but his frontline is holding firm, according to this report from Yahoo! News. When news of killings in response to Pope Benedict’s Regensburg speech arrived in my in-box I didn’t notice that one of the dead was in fact a Muslim. But that appears to be what happened judging on this moving excerpt from the homily delivered at the funeral of Italian nun Leonella Sgorbati by Giorgio Bertin, bishop of Djibouti and Somalia:

“Her life shows that a new earth is possible, that a new Somalia is possible,” Bertin said, adding it was probably no coincidence a Somali bodyguard died with her.
“The death of an Italian with a Somali, a European with an African, a white with someone almost black, a Christian with a Muslim, a woman with a man, tells us that it is possible to live together as we die together,” he added.

The funeral was held in Kenya but the nuns say they are keen to return to Somalia as soon as possible.

Posted by Graham at 2:41 pm | Comments (2) |
Filed under: Australian Politics

September 26, 2006 | Graham

Telstra goes imperial.

Exactly who does the Telstra board think it is accountable to? Corporate theory says that boards are responsible to the equity holders. They are certainly in theory appointed by them, even if shareholder apathy more often than not confers re-election by delivering proxies to the Chairman. So why is the Telstra board recommending against Geoffrey Cousins, the nominee for director of its majority shareholder, the Federal Government?
You can question whether Cousins is the right person, but it’s bizarre that the board is recommending against his appointment. The shareholder obviously has concerns about the board, and is well within its rights in appointing someone to do something about what it perceives as a problem. One indication of board incompetence is going against the major shareholder publicly like this. Another is not knowing of the major shareholder’s intentions in the first place.
Can you imagine the Newscorp board recommending against the nominee of its major (not majority) shareholder, Rupert Murdoch, or anyone even questioning his right to make a nomination and see that person elected? Who does the board think it is running the company for?
A problem in corporate Australia is the spread of a management aristocracy who reap equity rewards for merely putting in the hours. This is partly a reflection of the fact that substantial shareholders are these days more likely to be superannuation funds than individuals, and superannuation funds are run by managers and don’t have any entites, apart from trustee companies, again run by managers, with anything like an equity holder’s interest. So we have managers managing managers, and if things go wrong, the worst loss anyone is exposed to is perhaps a decelerated career path.
As a result shareholders are less inclined than ever to question boards, leaving them to run, virtually unhindered, as personal fiefdoms, someone else’s property. While the federal government may share many of the attributes of superannuation funds, at least in this case it is taking a genuine interest in corporate governance. It’s move to appoint a director, against the wishes of its board, is to be welcomed.

Posted by Graham at 9:17 am | Comments (4) |
Filed under: Australian Politics

September 21, 2006 | Graham

The Carbon Dioxide Wars

I’ve just seen Al Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth” and it has all the weight of a CIA dossier on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in 2003. He must be the only one in the world to think that Tuvalu and Kirribati have sunk into the Pacific Ocean!
The whole reeked of either another bid for President, or an extreme case of limelight deprivation syndrome, which set me thinking. One critique of George W is that the War on Terror is a way of his maintaining power. He creates an external enemy as a way of uniting the people behind him. So, what would Al Gore (“I used to be the next president of the United States”) have done if he had won the election?
I think we now have the answer – the War on CO2.
But then, another analysis of Bush’s Iraq adventure is that it is about “resource security”, which is another way of saying, enough oil at reasonable prices to keep filling up our cars so that they can continue to emit CO2 into the atmosphere.
So, in a future US presidential election, we could be looking at the CO2 wars – one side wanting to keep the fossilised CO2 flowing, and the other trying to mitigate against its effects. Or can we? Hard to imagine an American president being elected on the basis of phasing out the automobile.
If you want to read a good analysis of the movies “facts”, by someone who believes that global warming is occurring, then click here. There are a lot more errors of the Tuvalu/Kirribati kind. And yes, I know this author has some indirect links with oil companies. Isn’t it a pity that we have to rely on oil companies to finance the devil’s advocate position on global warming?
And if you’re inclined to that style of rebuttal, just bear in mind that Al Gore’s political career was financed in part by the tobacco industry.

Posted by Graham at 9:22 am | Comments (8) |
Filed under: Environment

September 19, 2006 | Graham

Better to have been silent than to apologise

Pope Benedict’s error wasn’t to criticise Islam, it was in not being prepared to back-up his criticism. His speech is a difficult one, and I wouldn’t pretend to understand it anywhere near completely. But I understand it enough to know a few things.
It is disingenuous to suggest that he was making a minor point about Islam. It was a major point, and it was that what he sees as authentic Christianity incorporates reason into its theology, whilst Islamic theology does not. So the Christian god is bound by the rules of the world he has created, and cannot act capriciously. He is to be discovered, not imposed. This is contrasted to Islam where God is transcendent from Creation and can act as he likes, capriciously or otherwise. Muslims can legitimately justify conversion by force; Christians can’t.
I don’t entirely agree with the Pontiff’s exposition of authentic Christian theology on this point, although I do agree that conversion by force is not authentic. Be that as it may, his discussion of Islam and Christianity is his first dissection on the way to differentiating authentic Catholicism from Protestantism and Liberal Catholicism and making a plea for the reintegration of theology into intellectual inquiry. It is therefore very deliberately chosen and the speech as a whole is very important. Indeed, the version on the web at the moment is to be replaced with a more detailed version, including footnotes. Students of ecumenism and proponents of the separation of church and state should read this piece very carefully, because it suggests that this pope will be less accommodating of both.
That being the case, he should have been prepared to defend his position. Just as he should be prepared to defend himself against the criticism and arguments that he will get from protestants and liberal christians.
Perhaps he demurred because of the risk of violence to Roman Catholic people and property. While in a rational context this is understandable, in the context of an organisation with a proud tradition of evangelism and matyrdom for the faith, this is a betrayal of all that is authentic in Christianity.
This suggests that, while he may attempt to distinguish Roman Catholicism from other religions and denominations, these distinctions will have all the force of vapid sophistries, because the modern Catholic (and Protestant) church has become too reasonable and doesn’t appreciate that its God frequently asks his followers to do things which may seem unreasonable and irrational. That’s the strength of Islam. In an odd way, it’s also what George W Bush brings to the table.

Posted by Graham at 10:44 pm | Comments (6) |
Filed under: Religion

September 09, 2006 | Ronda Jambe

Very Gore-y, but not gory enough

A friend on the East Coast of the USA complains that An Inconvenient Truth is not playing at any of the local cinemas. That’s about 150 films per day within a 30 km radius of her house. After seeing the SBS program about the Bush admin’s suppression of information about the reality of global warming, it makes me wonder what’s going on.
But she’ll see it eventually, as I hope all of you will. Whatever the reviews have said, whatever your disposition on the issue, it is the prime obligation for a citizen right now to be as informed as possible about this one.
The show is easy to watch, and Gore’s laconic approach is almost laid-back Aussie. He does not confront, just the facts, M’am. The stats and video clips of dissolving glaciers are (pardon me) chilling. He hints at but doesn’t dwell on the worst case scenarios. These can be gleaned from the news, which every day now seems to offer another finding about the speed and impact of what may now be ‘the tipping point’.
The web site he refers us to, http://www.climatecrisis.net, offers the usual mild exhortations to walk more, insulate, only run the dishwasher when full, use a clothesline, change to low energy light bulbs, etc. And of course, we are encouraged to get involved, lobby for change, etc.
The presentation, while clear, correct and memorable, was surprisingly US-centric, considering it has been shown to many international audiences. And as with most of the discussion about global events, it passed over or underplayed the impact of sheer numbers of humanity as a key driver of crisis.
About 75 years ago, there were just 1.5 billion of us, and almost no cars. Surely there is an optimum number of people for this planet, given that most of us want electricity, fridges, computers, and access to old episodes of Black Adder.
So I’ll turn down the thermostat, compost my food scraps, eat still less red meat and ride my bike until eventually, my sight and hearing failing to keep me alert, someone in a 4 wheel drive mercifully runs me over.
But until our government wakes up to the need for change, the odd green gesture is unlikely to have much impact.
A quote from Einstein: We can’t solve the problems of today with the same kind of thinking that created those problems in the first place.
And expecting indivdual action to solve climate change, while national policy rampantly undoes all those small efforts, is just more of the same. An article in this week’s New Scientist by George Monbiot (one of my heros, and he has a new book coming out) dumps scorn on the idea of electricity micro-generation, particularly the micro wind generators that are getting a lot of good press lately. He says they just don’t deliver, are more expensive and more trouble than they are worth, and that off-shore wind farms have much more promise.
Well, there go my fantasies of mini-wind generators for a little eco-village at the coast….
But do see the Gore film, even if you’re up on the science of global warming. It is apparently one of the top grossing docos in the US, hence my suspicion about it not being available in the cinemas. You may then want to keep up with fast moving events on http://globalwarminginthenews.com/ or the climate change articles on http://www.sciencedaily.com/
And a different approach can be found in Ervin Laszlo’s book The Chaos Point – Earth at the Crossroads. The author is a systems analyst, and takes us through the well-rehearsed complexity background about bifurcations and alternative attractors. Maybe having 8 different kinds of bottled water to choose from in the supermarket isn’t the best measure of national success, regardless of their contribution to GDP or tax revenue.
He suggests that we will break through or break down. So far, my money is on break down, given the evidence of observing the decrepitude of Canberra’s processes and my painful experiences as a Commonwealth public servant.
Did you know the word ‘Commonwealth’ is now out of fashion, and isn’t being used in official documents? They don’t want anyone to actually remember that there is such a thing as ‘common wealth’.
So if we want to wrest power from a corrupt and decadent bunch (the current scandal with Mark Foley in the US has parallels and echos here, but our defamation laws keep the gossip down) we will have to find people who have both ideas and integrity, and who are electable. Can you think of anyone?

Posted by Ronda Jambe at 1:35 pm | Comments Off on Very Gore-y, but not gory enough |
Filed under: Environment

September 06, 2006 | Ronda Jambe

Vale Steve Irwin – a man whose love took him too far

He didn’t need to die, but his passion for bringing the world’s attention to the loss of habitat eventually contributed to his death. He was sincere, committed, decent, inspired and worthy of our highest regard.
Vale, Steve Irwin. While you were alive it was easy to see you as a larikin. We took for granted your achievements and your shining beauty. In retrospect, we must acknowledge him as a noble martyr for the cause of creatures unable to defend themselves. Steve was driven by love, not hate. His spirit transcended the media games of fame and fortune. He shouldn’t have died, yet he was mortal.
Beyond irony is his death, venturing with a film crew too close to the usually harmless sting ray. He had taken many risks before, seeking only to share his love of animals and make us all aware of their needs.
His untimely death leaves us all the poorer. We needed him, and now he is gone. An enormous weight now falls on his wife’s and childrens’ shoulders, to maintain his drive and efforts. They need and deserve our support, as Steve Irwin’s mission was on behalf of us all, not just his family. Terry saw that in him, and shared his passion. We can only offer her whatever strength and kindness we can as she comes to terms with a loss greater than that of a family’s father.
Hopefully, Australians and others of good heart will now rally around his family, and support whatever initiatives emerge to continue his work, and recognise the ultimate sacrifice of this courageous and gentle man.
Vale, Steve Irwin.

Posted by Ronda Jambe at 2:17 pm | Comments (1) |
Filed under: General