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Summer madness?

The media Silly Season strikes. Wondering if anyone's gpt anything they'd like to discuss?   Maybe it's the right time to scribble something?  Or perhaps we should open up a random rambling thread to while away January?  All ideas welcome.
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FTA Prizegiving

We should offer a prize for the worst Summer madness article.

My vote goes to this Opinion piece:

Free trade brings heaps of benefits | The Australian .

The author argues that Australia has gained more from the FTA than the US because though our trade deficit has increased, it's being paid for by us selling them our productive companies.

The way it works is: we pay to train our youngsters. They join the US entertainment industry. We sell our shares in Telstra to watch their movies. Otherwise, we pay the AFP to do a dawn raid on Grandma because her grand-daughter used her computer to download some songs. After all, PIRACY - sounds worse than terrorism.    

One doesn't need to understood economics. It's Social Hierarchy 101. The pack leader feeds first and best. There is no way Australia could have got a better deal.

a "natural"disaster.

Speaking of genocidal tyrants, how about that stunning event in tragic Caribbean Haiti.

Haiti was of course the former domain of that grotesque, Duvalier and his idiot son, Jean Claude and their secret minions, the legendarily notorious Tontons macoute.

Proof positive that Korea is not the only third world poverty and war stricken "failed" nation to suffer the odious excesses of combined totalitarianism and nepotism.

Elsewhere people have sneered at Haiti's (like Timor L'este's) inability, with the pitifully small infrastructure at its disposal, to bring aid in from outside quickly enough.

But the US, which has a "history" with Haiti dating back to the successful slave revolt against France in Napoleonic times (bad example, that!) will not be too worried that C130 's can't land there, because it has been long happy for Haiti to stay in just the state it is.

A few years ago, when it was welcoming so called "refugees" from more prosperous Cuba, it turned back Haitian refugees to certain death - the current Clinton stuff is just to make them look a "big fella" for teev and the sort of help needed to finally this two centuries of agony for Haiti will doubtless not happen any more than in the past.

A song for madman meataxe dinnerjacket

This is dedicated to the world's  favourite still living lunatic genocidal nazi tyrant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDSVtAVWb6g

May he soon be wormbait.

 

 

A new God for a new year

Dear Father Park, it is true, you never made any promises regarding that Pearly Grapes gig; your surviving brain cells (at least in your case I can use the plural) remain sound. It's just that the DAB needed a replacement St. Peter ASAP and asked me if I knew any suitable souls.

You, dear Father, came to mind as you have always been kind to  children, sheep and most things that live in a bottle. As such, the Board decided you appeared to be the type of soul who would, in our time of need, bacchus up in a most salubrious manner.

Dear Paul, the DAB would like to express their regrets in regards to your non-application. You would make an excellent applicant and your inference to Zeus, bonking virgins, and naughty stuff reveal you must have loads of spunk to fill the positions; however, we have already found a replacement God who looks very promising indeed, and accepts the terms of the franchise.

Also, the terms of the Christian God agreement clearly state that virgins (and all other life forms) can only be deflowered using the immaculate method, which is no more exiting than a dry root or a wet dream (glad Jesus ain't around to hear that one). Anyway if you want to get involved with the real stuff then the DAB will be gazetting the following vacant positions in the near future:

  • Lempo - Finnish god of Frenzied love (requires a bronze medallion or better).
  • Xtabay -  Mayan goddesses of Seduction (brush up on your poetry).
  • Flora - Roman goddess for  Love/Prostitution (requires an upfront payment to the DAB - and a gentle kiss).
  • Al-Lat  - Arabic goddess  Fertility/Procreation (excellent position for someone addicted to nappies and no sleep).

Paul, if you find any of the above vacancies to your fancy then I will have you put on the waiting list/s, although the waiting lists for those positions reach all the way to Hell and back.

The good news is we have quite a turnover in those positions owing to sagging interest, exhaustion, paternity suits and for some strange reason a significant percentage of incumbents turn gay.

A guy by the name of Morrella has offered the DAB 127,000 barrels of oil to get on top of the list for the Finnish God Lempo - poor soul doesn't know we refer to it as the Limpished gig for most applicants end up limp and finished in no time flat. But they do supply most of the X rated stuff to GGN.

Dear Mr Pahoff, the DAB, having examined all 22,473,222 applications (although 22,473,221 came from the same person) has decided to offer you the position of Christian God. Well done and that sexy pic does you justice - although we suspect there may have been a bit of air brushing involved, as nobody could look that good - especially while eating an entree.

Should you accept the position as the new Father, Son and Eliot, er Holy Ghost, then you can start immediately. The DAB trusts you will exorcise your duties with the glorious brutality and finesse we expect from all our Christian Gods - A New Year's Day earthquake would be an absolute cracker, two or three would be better, so you'd better get cracking.

Amen and good luck.

Walter's pronouncment on O'Toole's corollary on Murphy's Law.

Jus,  from the place where I've fallen to lately, even a wet dream or dry root would be a luxury.

I have a ( sort of ) Midas touch with just about everyone but particularly women at the mo.

Whereby, as a guiding priciple, all gold turns to sh-t at a glance, let alone touch.

The Corporate Midas Touch- Midas well have the lot

Not sure about that, Paul- till I lost track of you on New Year's Eve you seemed to be travelling well.  I've greatly enjoyed, over the last twelve months, translating our frienship from the electronc world to "normal" reality.

I've been watching the whole "Christmas Festivity" thingo this year from a fairly detached headspace, observing from the hypothesis of cultural catharsis.  So many emotions are heightened at this time of the year that much can go skewiff.  The important moments are still inttrinsic, but sadly nowadays more of a sideshow, a mechanism to generate emotional hyperintensity to generate greater corporate profit.  Even the Christmas horoscops (I believe, after watching for several years in a row) are calculated to create a domestic unrest that might create  illogical spending in the Boxing Day sales.  

Partnership splits, family arguments, loneness, suicide, all bearable collateral damage in this War On Profit Margins

Needless to say, I'm not impressed that creating so much unhappinsess is considered an acceptable side-effect of a bastardisation of a time intended to be one of companionship.

Personally, I've probably have had too good a time, albeit a catharsis in itself.  Locking myself at home for a day of perusing and thinking, I'm coming to wonder if we should be wondering wherther we'll see Christmas 2012.   If the Mayans are right...

The Mayan concept

Yes, the Mayan concept of time seems like that of the kindred Aztec civilisations of Central America. There is something of the detached Hindu sense of eons outside our own laughable time spans- of games within games and unsensed processes owned by others.

The Central Americans predicted quite accurately their own downfall and there is a sense that they see post-Conquistador society as part of a process unknown outslde their own religions that must have its time is a feat of acceptance coming from the hard fact of hard lives, generation after generation.

But we affluent Westies are hung on the petard of multiple choices sometimes seemingly boundless, unknown to the poor, who only have themselves as sources of consolation in  fearfuly contingent lives.

This is the thing that you realise, Richard, that others have never been able to get their heads around. That people are unaware that big capital is a collection of unrevealed states within states who have no sense of being part of society, who see it merely as prey, which is a bit po mo and right on the money to me. marvellous   News Year Eve was a deliverance from another gloomy time be spent alone and for the best was a fascinating experience for Rip Van Winkle, including in the didacic sense.  But for me a Steppenwolf moment entered into it, a sense of the years having passed too quickly, too irrevocably..

My karmic restlessness is of course only a symptom of me forgetting to be grateful, which is a trait of most people from prosperous countries.

Mayan Long Count Calendar

December 23, 2012 in the Mayan Calendar ticks it over from 12.19.19.17.19 to 13.0.0.0.0.

Since it is a modified base-20 counting system it doesn't "end" until the day after 19.19.19.17.19, which will be in 4771AD. And even then, the Mayans, who could count, would probably say the next day is just 1.0.0.0.0.0 and carry on with life.

happy new year (not)

Come on Jus, surely not something as boring a an earthquake- how about a mass martyrdom or two, or the Spanish Inquisition, or a bit of witchhunting (now, that's always a good razz).

You can bet Geoff won't invoke Armageddon tho. It would put him out of a job.

I think Father Park might have been a better choice, as a strict teetotaller. Has refused to contemplate even a sip of water, since that last embarrassing incident some time back, despite first the forgiveness of his family and friends; turning to the taunts and exhortations of his (water swilling) mates:

 "Cummon ya sook, at least have an ice cube or Perrier, a drop won't hurt ya, etc, weedy poofter, make a man of ya, yer ",  etc, so on.

 And of course the dealers.

 "Hey man, I gotta special mains connection AND garden hose, PLUS my own rainwater tank, just give me the three hundred now and will be back before Armageddon..."

On the contrary, he watches others closely, making sure they don't slip a "micky" of water or ice into  his brandy or whisky. Altho he did praise the publican when he caught him watering down the beer the other week. reckoned it was "affirmative" and "inclusive".  

After all, with the price of water the way it is, many would have questioned the landlord's very sanity, until they realised it was a trick to rob teetotallers by beering down their water.

Aphrodite's revenge.

Well, Justin, followed your link and wondered if it might be Peter Cockroft, on Cat Stevens, but on scrolling down much further, discovered a more likely prospect for our missing silly-billy.

Yes?

On another topic, you would do well to include the missing part of the contract, that would draw a better flow of applicants- namely the right to buzz around over the place bonking virgins helter skelter, like Zeus and his nymphs.

Apart from that, a resounding "no" to the position of "Father"- maintenance, access and custody issues these days, you understand...

Equal opportunity - Jews and atheists welcome.

Dear Mr Pahoff

Thank you for your enquiries in relation to the Christian God as advertised via GGN on Xmas Day. The Board was very impressed with your enquiries, which have in-fact assisted us in the restructuring of Christian theism, as such we trust the following will help with your application.

It is the position of Father that is vacant at the moment; the Son as you know got topped some time ago and the board has been unable to find a suitable replacement for His next great gig. Unfortunately the current Holy Ghost has gone missing in action - Eliot has been nowhere to been seen for yonks (though rumour has it he surfaced briefly in the SMH  the other day with another name), so it would be safe to say we are also looking for a brand new Holy Ghost.

Mr Pahoff, your suggestion of job sharing, under the circumstances, appears to be an excellent suggestion. Our budget has been cut back recently owing to environmental concerns in Heaven. Bloody St Peter spends most of his time as pissed as a newt while all and sundry march through the Pearly Gates (even bloody Scientologists for Tom's sake); Heaven is busting at the seams and we have major infrastructure work ahead of us to accommodate all of those illegals. At least it pisses Satan off no end - hehe.

As such, we have fired St Peter (locked up the Pearly Gates until we can find a more suitable gatekeeper) and rationalised the positions of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Somebody who has been blessed with a tri-polar personality disorder would be ideal for this combo.

This position will require the incumbent to receive prayers, create and or destroy universes, get sworn at on a regular bases, and be crucified at the whim of the mob.

The position is not covered by any workplace agreements nor will there be any remuneration involved other than a dedicated contract to provide GGN with natural disasters and nasty stuff that can be transmitted across the Galaxies (think ratings, blood, guts, explosions and lots kinky stuff). More "news" more cash. Actually the last God made enough during His tenure to purchase the Crab Nebular, twenty two black holes and the complete 822nd dimension before He threw in  the towel.

Is the position open to Jews? Of course, after all Jesus was a Jew; all our Godly positions are equal opportunity and have always been such - it's true that many of our Gods have, in fact, been atheists, whom for some reason seem to make the best Gods. In fact,the current Zoroastrian Deity (an atheist) is moonlighting as the current Allah; She has been good enough to fill both positions while we find a new Allah. Apparently the old Allah recently ran into the missing Holy Ghost and freaked out big time, haven't seen Him since - bloody Ramsay!

In summary the Board is looking for a breathing organism with tri-polar personality disorder that is preferably an atheist, willing to be crucified and inflict death and destruction at will - but not freak Allah out. And if you have anytime left  the occassion act of kindness would be OK, especially to animals.

If this sounds like YOU then get your application in now - and don't forget the sexy pic.

Yours etc.


HR

DAB ( a fully owned subsiduary of the Greater Galactic Network).

PS. The position of St Peter has just been filled. A very sober Father Park has promised to take care of "eweryfing" at the "Pearly Grapes" - I think it will be OK.

Application - Sexy pic enclosed as requested

I'm your man!

I just love animals ...

 

The right goy (a).

Now there goes a bloke who looks like he likes his tucker.

Bet his mum never had trouble getting the greens down his neck.

Not necessarily vegies either. This fellow looks fonder of a good intestine or two. Perhaps his lady friend is an example of what he regards as "haggis".

Altho it could be a representation of political parties in opposition,"eating their young"- literally in the case illustrated.

Or, perhaps a deranged hippy with the munchies?

But so what. Who are we to complain of a fella who has his girl over for dinner?

Crumbed brains and sauteed kidney, anyone?

The less said...

..about "grapes" the better Justin!

Seems I'm making promises my memory fails to log. That was likely last Sunday; it will be logged with the other stuff I've forgotten...

I will hold the grapes, er, gates. Myself and a Elderton Shiraz. And a Black beer. And another.

I should confess to having become "ecumenical" of late. I have taken to Mythos beer. Just how the good Lord and, more importantly, the Rectory will take to this "cross-faith" - indeed pagan -  imbibing is another matter.  Also, in view of the excruciating and public excoriation of the idolators' fallen favourite, I have been seen imbibing Tiger as well.

That probably isn't an admission one should make publicly...

Room for another myth or two: this time I believe I shall drink the "Rape of Persephone" and then move onto Aphrodite. Postulants! A Mythos please!

Praise be to Dionysus...

Father Park

Vacant Positions

GREATER GALATIC NETWORK - GGN

VACANT POSITIONS

25 December 2009 - PETZ (Planet Earth Time Zone)

The position of  Christian God was rendered vacant when the current one resigned in a bluster of fire and brimstone at 3am today.

After a long fight with omnipresent depression, recently seeing his misunderstood son crucified for no good reason, and having his authority usurped by a black dude from America, God has decided to retire for personal reasons and to spend more time with his long neglected family.

God issued the following press release this morning:

Piss off the lot of you, I'm done. I've tried, really I've tried, but you guys just don't get it. If you want a bloody god then go see Allah, he's a good bloke and thinks my son was a cool dude. Anyway I'm gone, finished, kaput and thanks for all the climate change scientists.

And PLEASE, no more of those stupid prayers. Fuck, every Sunday I get bombarded with an avalanche of prayers; sheesh, you bastards know Sunday is my day off, but no Sabbath for me. A little bit of respect would do, but NO, you lot just don't know when to stop.

Good night, good luck and AMEN.

PS. I will still be available for the odd consultancy job if any of you other gods get overloaded with the usual crap.

If any of GGN readers would like to apply for the position of Christian God then please forward your application to The Deity Deputies and Admissions Board, C/- GGN, outlining you qualifications, experience, random hallucinations and miracles performed, both attempted and successful. A sexy photo would help.

Have a great Christmas Richard, Fiona, David and the good ship WD.

Dear Sir/Madam ...

To   HR Director

        Deity Admissions Board

 

         Your Reference:   Christian God

I advise that I am interested in applying for the position of Christian God  as recently advertised on GGN and in that regard would appreciate further information in respect of the following:

  • Is it envisaged whether this will be a Trinitarian or Unitarian Godhead? Are the positions of Son and Holy Spirit also vacant and, if so, are all three positions open to the one applicant? Does the Board permit job sharing? In the event that the current incumbents are continuing in their respective roles, are there formal protocols in place regarding chain of command?
  • Does the Board have a written Workplace Health & Safety program in place?  Are Commonwealth and/or State regulations applicable, in particular regarding the performance of crucifixions outside the city walls?
  • Is the Board an equal opportunity employer? In particular will the Board consider applications from Jews, notwithstanding its experiences with the previous incumbent?

Thanking you in advance.

Sincerely,

 

Refugee convention breached?

One thing I couldn't understand is the Oceanic Viking unloading.

Isn't a ship part of the sovereignty of the flag it flies, and therefore those on the ship eligible for Australian protection under the refugee convention?

nordic myths

Hidden away like a dirty secret in an obscure corner of a news paper a day or two ago, was the story that Indonesia is pressuring Australia to extend the same conditions afforded to those aboard Viking to those still confined, as I read it, on that larger boat that was intercepted at the same time and sent back to Indonesia.

Looks like Kevin has to learn that sticking his head in the sand is not the most effective way to make a problem go away.

Particularly when eyes wide shut fails to detect a rapidly oncoming boot aimed at the butt of the one with head in sand.

Mr Walter opens Pandora's Box, no Sanity Clause

Far from a sceptic Paul,.  I spent a recent Sunday night reading three New Testament Gospels; the timespan between now and the last time I opened a Good Book having been filled with numerous vintage science/philospophy  fiction works.  I realised how good a propagandist was Jesus Christ.

As so many suchlike schemes gang aglay, I often wonder whether Christ was teaching the power of the humand mind, and that any such possible aspects of human ability have been copyrighted by organised religion.

Aah but of course such notions are extremely heretical.. after alll didn't round nine millioin European women convicted of witchcraft by the Spanish Inqueistion get executed.? Kept women "in their place" a couple more centuries than possibly otherwise, methinks.

 

guidance.

A good spanking is often the way.

Not all sources claim 9 million witches were Kentucky fried, or given the Monty Python  treatment. One doco on telly recently suggested the figure was smaller, can't remember exact number. Often about laying hands on property, set your victim up as a witch then collect while the bakings done, with maybe a backhander behind closed door for the complicitous.

As to the Gospels, these were written some thirty to sixty years after Christ's death. Then whatever the original theology or philosophy involved,  the new testament writings were then syruped even further, as the Church began to control the material more, as it became bigger and began a sort of negotiation with Roman society. It gradually further filter out gnosticism and other theological viewpoints that the Patriarchs felt failed to coincide with the message they wanted to present.

For all that, I still think the Gospels and Parables still have their good moments, too.

Our Father

I seem to recall coming across a survey of pastors (christian, catholic?) a decade or so ago where a sizable portion (majority) secretly confessed to actually not believing in a factual God. A quick google found this .

All said and done, I believe/suspect that churches/organised religion has done more good than harm.

ccheeeuutt!.

Richard , you really are an utter sceptic, aren't you?

Past, present, future

Many thanks Jay. looking forward to reading through this. given the PNAC philosophy was to get three hundred years worth of stuff underway in ten, it's worth keeping tabs. I've put your links on the "apres Christmas reading list.

Geoff, I was listening to an explanation of the Feeding of the Five Thousand the other day, the theory being that it was a clever piece of psychology.. pass a plate of tucker around and show folks how little there is so they'll eat their B.Y.O.s.  Quite feasible.

Now, if I can make my budgets stretch to cover the Christmas prezzies.. that will be a miracle!

Cancer miracles

If focussing on an icon does the trick.. great! However if that's how you get a sainthood then there's a bloke who performed many such miracles, and his techniques survived him.

In spite of having his right leg amputated in January 1975, extensive bony and pulmonary metastases were diagnosed as early as December 1975. While given just 2–3 weeks to live in March 1976, he survived until September of the same year. Following three subsequent (unsuccessful) rounds of palliative chemotherapy (involving the administration of vincristine, adriamycin, cyclophosphamide and dacarbazine) and some radiotherapy, the patient chose to stop these treatments since his condition failed to improve and continued to worsen instead.

The patient tried many alternative treatments and modalities, including acupuncture, faith healing, massage etc. He strictly followed the Gerson juicing-based diet for 3 months, and subsequently adopted a wholefood vegan diet*.

When consulting Dr. Ainslie Meares, he presented with extensive bony tumours protruding from his chest wall and was coughing up blood containing "needles" made of bone.

After learning from Dr. Meares to meditate (likely in the form of the "Stillness Meditation**" developed by Dr. Meares) and practicing intensive meditation for 3 to 5 hours daily, the patient's metastases regressed (his osteogenic secondaries being resorbed). After this spectacular recovery, he returned to full-time work.

I have an ex-brother-in-law who, after being given Last Rites of Catholicism, was sent to this doc as a last resort.  His cerebral cancer disappeared.. not into remission, but totally gone!

I worry sometimes that churches claim too much ownership of what's already available in peoples' minds.We had an interesting thread on such matters a couple ofyears back

 

better late than never?

I C my original post on this didn't get thru yesterday.

Richard:  Buggered if I know why, Paul, never saw it!

The one where, blown away by recollection of the classic F Kendall comment concerning "delusional" stuff on the ABC:

"...often such as this involves men coming to understand that God needs men to have sex with virgins","

And my instinctive response,

"why just virgins?"

I C my original post on this didn't get thru yesterday.

It's a miracle! A miracle I tell you!

O When the Saints ...

Oh, you mean Saint Ainslie? I remember him from the seventies. Too late Richard. He was beatified years ago. 

Newsflash! Shock! Iraq works! Horror! Neocons right all along!

 And if I may indulge myself with some more good news. Strictly business you understand ...

OIL: IRAQ is on track to outstrip Russia as the world's second-largest oil producer after the award of a giant production contract to Royal Dutch Shell.

Shell and its partner, Petronas of Malaysia, secured access to the Majnoon field in the country's south, which contains an estimated 12.6 billion barrels of oil, more than three times as much crude as is left in the North Sea.

Iraqi oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani said the projected increase in capacity from Majnoon, plus a string of other deals signed with BP, Exxon Mobil and others, had placed Iraq on course to quadruple its current production of 2.5 million barrels a day to 10 million within seven years.

Vulgar and discredited

 Here's another view on Iraq, its oil reserves, its present and likely production levels and the motives for war.

Christopher Hitchens in The Australian 19 December 2009. [Geez the left must hate this bloke. Afterall he's one of them. One of the few who consistently makes some sense] 

IF the intervention in Iraq was indeed a war for oil, some of that war's more positive consequences were to be seen in Baghdad last week. The country's oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, presided over an auction at which development rights for seven major oil fields were awarded in competitive bidding among several international consortiums.

Three features of the outcome were worthy of note. The auction was to award service contracts rather than the production sharing agreements that the major corporations prefer.

The prices were set at less than half the $US4 ($4.50) per barrel that the bidders originally proposed. And corporations from the US were generally not the winners in an auction in which consortiums identified with Malaysia, Russia and even Angola did best. (ExxonMobil and Occidental Petroleum have, in previous negotiations, been awarded contacts in other Iraqi oilfields.)

Thus, the vulgar and hysterical part of the war-for-oil interpretation has been discredited: Iraq retains its autonomy, the share awarded to outsiders in development is far from exorbitant and there is no real correlation between US interests and the outcome. Except that we do have a genuine interest in the success of this endeavour as it unfolds. [My emphasis]

Miracles and mandibles

Alan, I bet you loved Rudd (originally a Catho then C of E convert)sneaking in a quick mass to get some McKillop photo-ops before dashing of to serve as Obama's envoy.Oh well, it will be good for tourism down Penola way, and somehow, you'd hope, some form of saintly karma will ensure that the money generated by the Sainthood goes to where it will do the most good.  This could become known as Mary's Third Miracle.

I am relieved, Paul, that I'm not the only one watching the portioning out of the spoils of the War On Iraq with a sense of long-term fascination  Looking at blogs I wrote a few years back (whilch still seem to be read consistently) I can see more clearly now how many projects were faits accompli long before the charades that enabled their actualisation took place.. eg I knew that Halliburton/KBR (which this government are also calling an Australian company) had the engineering gig on the Gorgon project four years ago. I learned it because a trancript of a phone conversation between a couple of head honchos somehow found it's way onto the net That's tip of the iceberg when you get to see details of longer timespanned plans being carried out.

I'm setting some time aside in January to pull together a "Where are they now" on the signatories of PNAC's statement of intent.  You may remember that knowledge of the Project for A New American Century came to the attention of the English speaking world via the translation of a German piece appearing on Webdiary.  That in itself is a more than good enough reason to do a follow-up on this mob.  I love some help.  Jay, are you interested?

The oil-hyenas are laughing as they rip away pieces of Iraq's flesh, and yet everyday life appears to be as normal as it ever was.  Paul, I empathise with your disturbance.

Maybe we should call in the newly empowered Mary McKillop to sort out the mess the world's getting itself into. 

 

The resurrection of PNAC

From what I can gather, PNAC died a quiet death around 2006, but some of the same players resurfaced in a 2009 organisation called the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI). This profile provides a fairly detailed (and as far as I can see accurate) history. The profile of the  American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is also worth reading. The FPI website appears quite active. From my rather cursory reading, I get the impression that the AEI has moved more towards the centre with the appointment of a new CEO, which has boosted FPI's strength. 

one dei at a time

McKillop appears to be one of those who would try, if what I've read about her is true.

I do not know if she is a saint or not,  but my insisent vibe, plus what I've read about her is that she was a good person, someone you would be glad to know.

Failing McKillop, looks like plan "B", which would be  Maxine Mckew I suppose.

As for "disturbances", a person I had had high hopes of in Penny Wong, disappointed me intensely on tonight's news, as she tried to fob off blame for The Cop15 failure onto poor nations.

A dose too many of castor oil,  that one for me.

self presentation

Alan, am far closer to you, as  to this particular scam, than with many things. That's not meant to be an attack on all of Catholicism or the obviously quite remarkable Mary McKillop, btw, for others (mis)reading this: more a comment on its decline to  a level of what Alan might regard as snake oil salesmanship. 

Bogan poetry

Firstly, homage to Phil Moffat for perceptive the inclusion of that touchingly nuanced and sensitive, yet deceptively well structured, philosophically coherent and even didactic Vogon poem.

I remain stunned. Truly.

Secondly, as said earlier am still coming to terms with a new picture derived of elements like the Great Population Explosion for Growth and Development suggested by Rudd, Copenhagen, the "oil raffle" in Iraq and Australian leaders pieties concerning tree planting in the third world  as they ravage thru the remnants of Aussie old growth  and suburban parks alike, even turning the country into a police state, as an article by Paul Austin in the Age concerning Victoria a couple of days ago, described.

And how will you know of these things,  with Conroy still sabre rattling in promotion of his lunatic net censorship thingy?

Mary MacKillop

It looks as though the recognition of Australia's first saint Mary MacKillop is due any hour now. If this happens the Catholic Church is going to make a lot of money out of her, selling pictures and statues. Perhaps NSW Premier Kristina Keneally a devout Catholic can recoup some of the money we wasted on World Youth Day.

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Fiona Reynolds: Dear Albatross in Not with a bang ... 13 weeks 2 days ago
Michael Talbot-Wilson: Good luck in Not with a bang ... 13 weeks 2 days ago
Fiona Reynolds: Goodnight and good luck in Not with a bang ... 13 weeks 3 days ago
Margo Kingston: bye, babe in Not with a bang ... 14 weeks 8 hours ago