Its not actually World Youth Day

For a start, its not a Day - it goes from 15th to 20th July. And its not really about the Youth of the World either - its about the Catholic Church and the Pope. This is what the WYD website says "Organised by the Catholic Church, WYD brings together young people from around the globe to celebrate and learn about their faith on a more regular basis." Now I hope I'm not being too cynical here but I cant help wondering why they deliberately - and it could only have been deliberately - left the word Catholic out of the title to this so called "Youth Event". Their PR guys obviously decided it would be better not to mention the Catholic Church and dress it up as something for everyone. But seriously what non catholic youth - or any non catholic for that matter- is going to be lining up for these events, the first three events listed under "Youth Festival" on their website:

• Adoration in St Mary's Cathedral Crypt, hosted by WYD08
• Prayer with relics of St Gemma Galgani, St Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin and St Maria Goretti, presented by the Passionists
• Liturgy of the Hours, hosted by Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict

Mind you if those dont appeal theres always the "Papal Boat-a-Cade" on the 17th and the "Evening Vigil with the Pope" at Randwick Racecourse - "sleep out under the stars" - on the 19th.This stuff is really only for the seriously hard core catholic, a once-in-a-lifetime church-fest, an orgy of religious ritual,worship,prayer, adoration and devotion. But to describe it otherwise and ignore the elephant in the room, the Catholic Church, and pretend its really for everyone is a cheap PR trick that might be the real reason so many people are cranky with the whole thing.

Yes, theres a whole lot of people out there getting all steamed up about WYD.Theyre arguing about how much its all going to cost taxpayers, and about how inconvenient its going to be to have the Harbour Bridge closed for 12 hours and train timetables all rearranged. Theyre saying its just a big fund raiser for an outdated superstition peddling, idol worshipping global oppressor of the poor. Theyre arguing about such things as the Catholic Churches relationship to Nazi Germany, to paedophiles in the Church and the Popes views on abortion and condom use in Africa, on the way women and gays are treated and about its massive wealth.

It gets messy. But no one could deny that much that is good has also come from the Church and many of its members are wonderful caring human beings. Should we deny them their right to practice their religion as they see fit? And the Pope, revered by millions of Australians is a bona-fide Head of State - shouldnt we welcome him?

One last thing : its been worked out that the NSW Catholic dominated government - and no, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I just wanted to point that out - will spend around $100 million supporting this thing. However the number crunchers have worked out that the Pilgrims are going to spend anywhere from $150 million to $230 million in NSW, creating a nett benefit to the local economy. From a rather worldly and pragmatic perspective then, maybe we should just let them get on with it?

The odd thing is though, that if Jesus knew about this unholy alliance between Politicians, Entrepreneurs and the Church I'm pretty sure he'd be against it. Remember how he threw the Money Changers out of the Temple?
15 And they came to Jerusalem. And Jesus went into the temple,and began to cast out those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves.
16 And He would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And He taught, saying unto them, "Is it not written, `My house shall be called for all nations the house of prayer'? But ye have made it a den of thieves." Mark 11

Alan Bond,Christopher Skase, Peter Foster and now Tim Johnston

This deluded creep has made himself super rich by tricking people into giving him their money - in that great greedy Aussie tradition made popular by Bond, Skase, Foster and Henry Kaye. Some of Johnstons victims were just as greedy as he was and couldnt resist his temptations, believing his lies that if they invested in his company "Firepower" they would be super rich themselves in no time. If they'd bothered to check him out, or to find out what exactly it was that Firepower was selling, they would have realised soon enough he was a plain old con man, and the Fuel Pill that was going to revolutionise the world oil and petrol industry was snake oil. His product was tested in New Zealand ten or more years ago by the NZ Automobile Assosciation ( The Kiwi equivalent of the NRMA) and they showed it was worthless. So In Australia he claimed it had been tested on a TANK ! in Russia and on 3 taxis by some Greek woman. "Oh yeah right then it must be OK Tim, no worries heres my 250,000 " And so you might say they prove the saying that a fool and his money are soon parted.

But what about the Sydney Kings basketball players? Johnston bought the Club early last year trying to impress everyone and now it has been kicked out of the League because of unpaid debts and the players who have also not been paid wages or super are unemployed and heartbroken that their proud Club has been gutted by Johnston. Read this poor guys story :http://www.smh.com.au/news/basketball/devoted-kings-dream-life-falls-apart/2008/06/12/1212863835354.html This was the Team that won the National League three years in a row.

Now to be honest I've never been a fan of that particular sport but I feel sorry for the players who've been putting everything they've got into training and preparing for their competition, and their fans who've loyally supported them over some difficult years when they first entered the competition. They've all been shafted by this bloated egotistical scumbag who is now being sued by his own lawyers - but hes left the country and isnt taking calls. So now they're looking at this $5 million mansion in Queensland which is owned by ..guess who? His wife of course..... now where have I heard that story before?

Bush Walk

Just look at this beautiful valley, unspoiled native bush as far as the eye can see and not a single sign of human civilisation.(if you click on it, it will open as a much bigger and detailed picture) Just sitting there looking at it makes you feel alive and refreshed again. Sue and I walked to this spot near the Tallowa Dam and Kangaroo Valley today, it was 12km there and back and a really beautiful crisp winter day. The unspoiled world is such a marvel....

The actual world of human endeavour however is a different kind of marvel. My next posts will be about The Sydney Kings basketball team, and World Youth Day- too tired to do it tonight!

Winter Solstice

On the day of the Summer Solstice, The Druids peform their secret rituals at Stonehenge , a place which existed centuries before Druids did, but never-the-less they claimed it as their own. But it would appear that Stonehenge was more than a Temple - it was a giant astronomical calculator whose construction in stages over many centuries began around 2900BC. Then it was a circular ditch with a bank and gaps that seem to be aligned towards the summer sun at the Solstice, and 56 holes in the ground inside the bank provided fixed reference points for the ancient astronomers to calculate phases of the moon and perhaps eclipses of moon and sun. The big stones making up the Sarsen Circle came 500 years later.

We've just passed theWinter Solstice, the date of the longest night.The shortest day followed and lasted 9hours 53 minutes and 35 seconds.The next few days will be 1,4 6 9 and 12 seconds longer and in a month the day will last 10hours 12minutes and 49 seconds. For what its worth...
This photo shows the sun rising above the Heel Stone looking out from the middle of Stonehenge on the Summer Solstice. Theres more to read about stonhenge here http://witcombe.sbc.edu/earthmysteries/EMStonehengeD.html

Torture is always Wrong

On my way to work listening to the news on the radio this morning they were reporting an investigation into techniques used by the CIA and the military to get information from prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. One technique was called Waterboarding where they simulated drowning. They also used "sexual humiliation, sensory deprivation and menacing dogs" And God alone knows what else happened. It would seem despite denials that Donald Rumsfeld knew and approved all this.

Can you stare into this image for a minute, think about the people that would have been in that room, who rigged up that apparatus, their victims and what must have happened there and not feel dread?

The apalling thing about torture, quite apart from the morality of it, is that for all the horror and pain it inflicts torture just doesnt work. We know this because it was recorded in minute detail by the Inquisition that people confessed under torture to being witches, to being able to fly, to having had sex with the Devil and to being able to turn themselves into cats and bats and goats, and to having given birth to babies with the heads of frogs and legs of spiders. As a result these poor wretches were strangled or burned.

How on earth can anyone argue there is a place for Torture anywhere under any circumstance if it just doesnt work?

A Good Place

I have been corrected - and I pass this little gem on. The Cafe where the Coffee came from is spelled "Eutopia" not Utopia which was how I spelled it. The difference is that even though we all think Utopia means a place where everything is perfect, it actually means a place that cant possibly exist, a non place and was a term - I looked this up - coined by Sir Thomas More to describe a mythical Island in the Atlantic where everything was perfect. His point was that such a place couldnt exist. However, a "Good Place" (eu = good and topos = place) can exist , and this is why Peter the Good Barrista of Kaiwaka chose to call his wonderful cafe (see picture above) Eutopia.

Heres an extract from Wikipedia:
More's utopia is largely based on Plato's Republic. It is a perfect version of Republic wherein the beauties of society reign (eg: equality and a general pacifist attitude), although its citizens are all ready to fight if need be. The evils of society, eg: poverty and misery, are all removed. It has few laws, no lawyers and rarely sends its citizens to war, but hires mercenaries from among its war-prone neighbors (these mercenaries were deliberately sent into dangerous situations in the hope that the more warlike populations of all surrounding countries will be weeded out, leaving peaceful peoples). The society encourages tolerance of all religions. Some readers have chosen to accept this imaginary society as the realistic blueprint for a working nation, while others have postulated More intended nothing of the sort. Some maintain the position that More's Utopia functions only on the level of a satire, a work intended to reveal more about the England of his time than about an idealistic society

The Blog Theme Tune: And Cheap Day Return

Flat White

I got this flat white at Cafe Utopia in Kaiwaka, Northland, New Zealand. Ive always enjoyed coffee and used to rave about one particular brand of Instant Coffee "Blend 43" but now I rave about the Espresso's that I make in a little stove-top classic espresso maker that my son Rankine got for me in Rome for my birthday. Thanks Rank!

Wandering Allowed

I was thinking about naming the Blog "Wandering Allowed" a word play on the title of a song - actually spelled "Wond'ring aloud" - from the album Aqualung by Jethro Tull.

Heres the lyrics:

Wond'ring aloud --how we feel today.
Last night sipped the sunset --my hands in her hair.
We are our own saviours as we start
both our hearts beating life into each other.

Wond'ring aloud --will the years treat us well.
As she floats in the kitchen,I'm tasting the smell of toast as the butter runs.
Then she comes, spilling crumbs on the bed...and I shake my head.
And it's only the giving that makes you what you are.

I cant figure out how to upload the music file, such a sweet and hopeful tune. In a later album, Living in the Past, the band revisited this tune with "Wond'ring again" The last line then became "Its only the taking that makes you what you are"