​Photo by Brian Cassey published in The Stringer in an article called Australia’s Aboriginal children – The world’s highest suicide rate by Gerry Georgatos.  February 27th, 2013.

Pilger's article led me to the Stringer where Gerry Georgatos  reported ​that Australian Aboriginal children have the highest suicide rate in the world.

Can you believe such a thing? In the United Nations Quality of Life Rankings, Australia comes 2nd in the world; something to be proud of (particularly when we are entering our 20th year of economic growth which no other country in the world can boast during this time) and yet our Indigenous are ranked 122nd. ​Yes, you read that right.

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It’s astounding to read the redneck comments all over the web. Anything even remotely left is considered something to be vigorously and vociferously pounced on; Marxism, socialism = bad. “You must be some kind of communist” is a heinous accusation and one from which at all costs you must avoid even the mildest taint of possible accuracy sticking to your Armani suit.

Today I awake on Easter Sunday morning and I am ashamed. It is a time of rebirth for Christians; a time when we celebrate Jesus' overcoming death and yet... I open the Guardian as I do each morning and find that there are hundreds of thousands of women all over the world who are enduring a living death.

Photo by Gary Calton for the Observer Women suffer under Egypt's radical rule. guardian.co.uk, Sunday 31 March 2013 00.06 GMT​

We've been reading a lot about South Africa in the papers lately and none of it good. It seems to be, still, the haven for racism and violence it once was. And now we discover another dark side; a misogynistic society (although they seem to go hand in hand don't they?) Perhaps because it's a misogynistic society violence proliferates?

Today in a major incident in downtown city, a catastrophically sudden deluge of water rose to well in excess of 3 1/2 centimetres. Tragically, an elderly woman almost drowned when her runabout capsized as the motor caught in mud and she was forced to stand up and scramble to safety...

In today's Guardian, an article by Jill Filipovic about the UN Commission's report regarding women showed some fairly horrific statistics; the main one I found appalling was that a woman is far more likely to die from violence than from malaria, HIV, cancer, accidents and war combined.

Many loved Benedict. I'm afraid I was biased from the outset as Cardinal Ratzinger refused to acknowledge the spiritual genius of Anthony de Mello. Anyone who could not discern a true Christian should be viewed with deep suspicion. I am ignorant of the great encylicals he may have penned or of the wonderful speeches he made that so entranced the local clergy but the one thing I found abominable was that at great expense, loss of valuable time and resources, a new Catholic order of the mass was issued around the world. The purpose? I've no idea. But the inclusion of the word 'consubstantial' was hardly a move toward moving the liturgy of the word closer to the populace. In addition the lovely rite of greeting others around you with "peace be with you" was transmogrified (how do you like that?) into "peace be with your spirit". WTF?