If You Don’t Have Sex With Your Spouse Every Day, Do the Gays Win?

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Agora, author: Hugo Schwyzer, source: JEZEBEL

You know Christian conservatives don’t believe in sex before marriage. You probably know they also tend to believe in having lots of sex aftermarriage. But a new argument is emerging: the sex isn’t so much about making babies as it is about pleasure. Not pleasure for its own sake, however, but for the purpose of strengthening Christian marriages so that they can be bulwarks in … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Discrimination, General, Global issues, Religion, Social Issues, Young generation | Leave a comment

Wood smoke adds billions to health bill, says report

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Agora, author: Ben Cubby, source: smh.com.au

THE smoky haze from wood fires is Sydney’s biggest source of air pollution in winter, and wood smoke will add $8 billion to the health budget by 2030, says an independent report commissioned by the state government and kept secret for six months. A tax on wood fuel … suggested by an AECOM report. Photo: Andrew Sheargold One of the options put forward by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Australasia, Climate change, Culture, Energy, Environment, Health, Study | Leave a comment

The world war on democracy

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Agora, author: John Pilger, source: TheDRUMopinion

Lisette Talate died the other day. I remember a wiry, fiercely intelligent woman who masked her grief with a determination that was a presence. She was the embodiment of people’s resistance to the war on democracy. I first glimpsed her in a 1950s Colonial Office film about the Chagos islanders, a tiny Creole nation living midway between Africa and Asia in the Indian Ocean. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Aggression, Culture, Global issues, Hegemony, Historical, Humanity, Opinion | Leave a comment

The art of making money

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Agora, author: Tania Lee, source: China Daily

This example of Chinese contemporary sculpture was displayed at 798 Art District in Beijing in the fall. Provided to China Daily Where to invest or stash that extra cash. Tania Lee reports. It’s a good time to be a contemporary artist in China. Rapid changes in society, driven by a thriving economy, have fueled creativity and strong high-end demand. As a result, China is now … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Asia, Culture | Leave a comment

The Mob Violence That Wasn’t

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Agora, author: Ben Eltham, source: New Matilda

The media has framed it as violent but the tent embassy protest was basically peaceful. It’s this gross distortion – and the heavy-handed response of the AFP – that warrant criticism, writes Ben Eltham Somehow, with the strange alchemy that the media seems to summon, the dominant angle of reporting about yesterday’s Australia Day kerfuffle involving the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition … Continue reading →

Posted in Australasia, Culture, Discrimination, Politics, Protest, Reconciliation | Leave a comment

Chileans protest domestic worker treatment

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Agora, source: -AP / nzherald.co.nz

Felicita Pinto arrived early at gates of the luxurious community where she labors as a maid, but the minibus to her employer’s home was late. Felicita Pinto. Photo / AP So she decided to walk six blocks to work, on streets lined with broad lawns and imposing homes. Security guards quickly chased her down and forced the 57-year-old widow back to the gate. Pinto’s employer … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Discrimination, Law & Order, Protest, Social Issues, South America | Leave a comment

Tent embassy antics a disaster for the indigenous cause

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Agora, source: WAtoday

The image of the self-appointed spokesman for Aborigines, Paul Coe, holding Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s shoe and calling for her to “show an act of good faith” and come to the Aboriginal tent embassy in Canberra and collect it – when exactly the opposite was required – reminded me of the last time I encountered Coe. video http://www.watoday.com.au/opinion/politics/tent-embassy-antics-a-disaster-for-the-indigenous-cause-20120127-1qkqo.html Come and get your shoe, Julia Members … Continue reading →

Posted in Australasia, Culture, Opinion, Protest, Reconciliation | 1 Comment

Alain de Botton reveals plans for ‘temple to atheism’ in heart of London

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Agora, author: Robert Booth, source: guardian.co.uk,

Writer wants to build tower to celebrate life on earth as an antidote to Richard Dawkins’ ‘destructive’ approach to atheism Alain de Botton has said he wants to borrow the idea of awe-inspiring buildings from religion to give people a better sense of perspective on life. Photograph: Eamonn Mccabe Article history Plans to build a £1m “temple for atheists” among the international banks and medieval … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Europe, Global issues, Opinion, Philosophy, Religion | Leave a comment

UNO on how to build a better future

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Agora, author: Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey, source: Pravda.Ru

With so many experts working in so many different fields, with so much collective academic weight and expertise, it seems strange that the United Nations Organization speaks about the ways and means to build “The future we want” – you would have thought they would already have done it, rather than be still speaking about it. Let us examine what Ban Ki-Moon suggests that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Global issues, Humanity, Opinion | Leave a comment

From Vigilantism to Terrorism in Cirebon

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Agora, source: ICG

Involvement in violent campaigns against vice and religious deviance has become one pathway to terrorism in Indonesia. Indonesia: From Vigilantism to Terrorism in Cirebon, the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines the radicalisation of a group from Cirebon, West Java that was behind the 2011 suicide bombings of a mosque and a church. It argues that ideological and tactical lines within the radical … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Opinion, Religion, Security | Leave a comment

Rising CO2 emissions ‘damaging’ fish brains

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Agora, source: THE TIMES OF INDIA

Rising levels of human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous system of sea fishes, thereby threatening their survival in the long run, a new study has suggested. According to Professor Philip Munday of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University, carbon dioxide concentrations predicted to occur in the ocean by the end of this … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Fishing, Science, Study | Leave a comment

Hogg tweets Australia Day slur to Muslims

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Agora, author: ANDREW WU, source: THE AGE

Former Test cricketer Rodney Hogg is embroiled in a racial controversy after an anti-Muslim slur on Twitter today. Rodney Hogg … tweet slur. This tweet appeared on Hogg’s Twitter account about midday: “Just put out my aussie flag for Australia Day but I wasn’t sure if it would offend Muslims…So I wrote “Allah is a shit” on it to make sure.” The remark sparked a … Continue reading →

Posted in Australasia, Culture, Discrimination | 3 Comments

Welcome To “Dementia Village”

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Agora, author: Beat Bühlmann, source: TAGES-ANZEIGER/Worldcrunch

A European Experiment In Long-Term Alzheimer’s Care Following a similar project outside of Amsterdam, Swiss developers plan to build an entire village for people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. (Visentico / Sento) The $27 million Swiss facility will recreate the environment of the 1950s. Not all think it’s such a good idea. It’s a village like many others. Street signs, front gardens with … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Europe, Global issues, Health, Social Issues | Leave a comment

Scientists urge unis to axe alternative medicine courses

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Agora, author: Kelly Burke, source: brisbane times

MORE than 400 doctors, medical researchers and scientists have formed a powerful lobby group to pressure universities to close down alternative medicine degrees. University reputations at stake … a new lobby group for doctors and scientists claims undeserved credibility is given to disciplines “better described as quackery”. Photo: Gabriele Charotte Almost one in three Australian universities now offer courses in some form of alternative therapy … Continue reading →

Posted in Australasia, Culture, Educational, Global issues, Health, Science | 2 Comments

Russian expat invasion of Cyprus also has sinister overtones

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Agora, author: Luke Harding in Limassol, source: guardian.co.uk,

Many Russians have made their home on the holiday island, but the Putin regime seems to be reaching deep into the tiny nation Article history Tourists pass by a menu written in Russian outside a restaurant in Limassol, where thousands of Russians have made their home. Photograph: Laura Boushnak/AFP/Getty Images A mysterious Russian cargo ship limped into the Cypriot port of Limassol, this month, forced … Continue reading →

Posted in Arms sales, Corruption, Culture, Diaspora, Diplomacy, Europe, Intelligence, Middle East, Russia, Security, Spying | Leave a comment