from the Monthly

The question remains whether, in the same way that sacred images can be consumed and dismissed by those whose fickle tastes have been formed by the visual orgy that is modern media, the disciplines formed through the patient contemplation of icons might in fact redeem the otherwise sterile inanibus phantasmibus of our media age. But that will have to wait for another time ...

Scott Stephens is the Religion & Ethics Editor for ABC Online.

Tony Abbott leads the world's first Tea Party Government — something that simply does not fit into Australia's usual political spectrum, writes Cathy McQueen.

In the Exodus account, Israel suffered without apparent sin. It prays (cries) for help, and God hears and sends a redeemer [Moses]. In prophetic accounts of the First Destruction, Israel suffers for its sins, but also suffers beyond measure. As very briefly sampled here, late rabbinic accounts of the Second Destruction both imitate features of the prophetic accounts of Israel's sins and also add a new voice: Israel seems fated to its suffering as if there were no apparent reason for it. The Second Destruction appears to challenge Israel's relation with God in unforeseen ways.

Unless you've been living on one of the moons of Saturn, you've heard by now of the NSA's comprehensive collection of information from millions and millions of Americans. Phone calls, email messages, and even pictures you posted on Facebook: All of it is sitting in a supercomputer in Maryland, waiting to be dealt with by our avatars of surveillance freedom in the intelligence community.

It is clear that neo-fascist capitalism does not like freedom... This could seem an idiotic statement, but it is true. When most neo-fascist capitalists talk about freedom, it is only on their own term, within the box that they create, including justifying the destruction or conquest of "others" for the box to exist.

Capitalism is only a tool of trade.

The boogeyman as promoted by the merdia press...

Have you ever been in a classroom where the same pupils seem to always get the blame for misdeeds?... Whether it's the class bully or the poor simpleton, it's rare the real culprit for a misdeed is punished. I've seen some angelic clever kids doing their worst to see how someone would react for being blamed for something they did not do...

Now that, third time lucky, the Carbon Tax Repeal legislation, suitably amended, has passed the House of Representatives, and god and Clive Palmer and Bob Day and David Leyonhjelm willing, will pass the Senate in the next day or two, I have been reading some of the propaganda from the Liberal and National Parties before the September election about the impact of the carbon tax on the cost of living.

Of the 298 murdered on Malaysian Airways Flight MH17, 36 were from Australia. The outpouring of grief and support from ordinary people here in Australia has been overwhelming. It restores hope for the future, a future in which we working people, compassionate and caring, run society.