No-one leaves this butcher’s shop alive; that’s why no-one talks about it. Nobody knows how many of China’s Falun Gong practitioners have been subject to “involuntary organ-harvesting”. This antiseptic term describes the practice of cutting up victims while they are still alive for their vital organs, which are often transplanted on demand into wealthy people…
Today, all of the political commentary seems to be focussed on Julia Gillard, her poll ratings and “saving the furniture”, meaning how many Labor seats could survive the forthcoming election. To an outside observer it would appear that we in Australia live in a world where wars never happen, where the lion lies down with…
A bill being debated in a Senate inquiry on gender-selection abortion is most timely given the headline in Melbourne’s Sunday Herald Sun (April 28, 2013). It reads: “Couple abort girl because they wanted a boy”. Definition of barbarism: killing a human being simply because selfish adults wanted one of a different sex. Victorian DLP Senator John Madigan’s bill seeks to end this very thing by banning Medicare rebates for gender-selective abortions. I discussed it in a recent post of mine, “Say no to sex-selection abortions” (CultureWatch, April 22, 2013). But the recent Melbourne front-page story reminds us of the urgency…
BILL THE BASTARD: The Story of Australia’s Greatest War Horse by Roland Perry (Sydney: Allen and Unwin) Paperback: 288 pages ISBN: 9781743312629 RRP: $27.95 Reviewed by Michael E. Daniel Recently, the popular Steven Spielberg film War Horse, based on British author Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 children’s novel of the same name, has captured the public’s imagination. It tells the story of Joey, a horse purchased by the Army for service on the Western front during World War I. Australian historian and best-selling author Roland Perry, whose previous works include a biography of General Sir John Monash and the Australian…
