a con-trick

First these pamphlets are sexist. They mention anyone can rid "himself"... "his" mental potential fully... Second the concept that we only use ten percent of our mental potential is bullshit. It's time that the Church of Scientology gave up this line — and gave up using Albert as a measuring stick to their neat "improvement" techniques of the self.

I am not disputing that the Church of Scientology can help some people develop some better mental ability, but this is not exclusive to this organisation — an organisation that could also suck you dry of your own will and implant a new willingness to part with some of your cash. Nothing new.

A specially appointed member of the Vatican's commission on child protection has accused Cardinal George Pell of being "almost sociopathic" in his treatment of victims.

Art is the supreme task, as Nietzsche would have it. How can we balance creativity with rationality? And what are the dangers of letting the Dionysian genie out of the bottle, especially in the public square? Dr Laura D’Olimpio, a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame WA, appraises the value of a creative life.

We know that when Tony Abbott doesn’t approve of something, he is not backward in coming forward about it.

He’s made no secret, for instance, of his disapproval of refugees attempting to get to Australia by boat, Aboriginal people indulging their “lifestyle choices” in remote communities and women who access more than one maternity leave entitlement.

Uefa reacted to the latest events by saying they were "a disaster for Fifa and tarnish the image of football as a whole".

It said corruption was deeply rooted in Fifa's culture.

The European body said Friday's congress risked becoming a "farce" and that the vote should be postponed.

One can read, behind a Washington Post pay wall, an article published on the 26th of May 2015 by Kathleen Parker about William Kristol's self-loathing attack on baby boomers. 

One couldn't help but admire an unusual gambit by the man in charge of the nation's economy, when asked about conflicting messages on super and pensions: "I'm not a financial advisor". It was a confession that rather invited its own punchlines so we won't bother listing them all here, but perhaps more surprising was the repeated utterance of the most scarce word in the political dictionary: "Sorry."

It would be good, one day, to have radio announcers not to say "We all do this" or "We don't listen". This gets my feathers bristling. Sure some "people may not do this" and some "people may do this" or are stupid. But the generalisation tends to tell us we're all morons and we'd better listen. 

And one who sometimes does this annoying generalisation caper is a certain Natasha Mitchell on Life Matters, ABC Radio national.