WORLD YOUTH DAY DOWN UNDER

The youth of the world have gathered in Australia. An Aussie friend of mine said that he and his daughter and some other friends spent some time there and the atmosphere was thick with the Spirit. I was happy to hear that from him. I have to say that I am glad that I was not and am not there.

It's hard to think of the Pope getting there and replaying the same record that he played so often and so poignantly here in North America. How many times and in how many countries does he have to unwrap the child abuse thing? Now, especially at a rally for the youth of the world? Doesn't he have more inspiring things to bring out of his bag? Why does he even have the conviction that the Pope has to repeat himself in every country that he visits? The message that he laid down here was heard by one and all. The Pope after all is the universal unifying personage in the world. This is his authority. It is spiritual, moral, emotional, economical and political. What he said here has had its impact. What he should have done in Australia is to bring the message from his North American visit forward to a newer, higher and more positively inspiring level. After all, what he says in the first world resonates throughout the planet. What he says outside of Europe is all the more meaningful and rings all the more loudly. Why repeat it?

Finally, why all the hand wringing about the guilty priests? What about some hand wringing for the thousands of innocent priests many of whom have been falsely accused and falsely convicted and punished? They are victims too. They suffer from the denial of due process and the right of defense [Canon 221]; they and their attorneys are denied access to their files so that they can know the allegations against them. These are violations of basic human rights practiced at the highest levels of Church governance. Many of them are in jail and never get a visit from those who are bound to care for them. Don't they deserve to hear their plaint ring out in one of these Papal orations? Why aren't they ever mentioned? Is it because they are a part of the lingering scandal which still worms its way through the fiber of the Church?

Speaking about the lingering scandal, you know, the acrid, lung searing blue atmosphere that hovers over the zealous apostles who have to wonder what nasty looks they are going to accounter on the street and from the pews on any given day? The true celibates who believe in the sacrifice of their procreative power and who have spent years hugging the Bride of Christ for the good of the world are victims too. I implore Pope Benedict XVI to start taking his perorations to a higher level. The good priests of this world have to know that the Bishop of bishops loves them and is convinced that they are the keys to the salvation of the Church. The Sacerdotal Community needs some balm for the burning wound that is so slow to heal. It will be better for the Pope to stop beating the Church's breast and to start singing the praises of the remnant.

Finally, the laity, the Holy Priesthood, as Peter puts it, is fed up with all this breast beating from the Pope. If it makes him feel good, it leaves a lot of us uneasy with a rucksack full of unanswered questions. We can devise our own answers if we don't have to listen to the same doleful refrain over and over again. We are becoming more and more convinced that the focus on this issue is now a convenient distraction to ignore the global problem by the Church and governments. We know who the good priests are and we know what they do. We don't need the hierarchy above them to tell us what we already know about the bad ones. The good priests who are left, and the good ones who were bulldozed out are victims of some bishops who treated the confrères of this remnant with such cold hearted, self-serving disdain. These priests who are left have to continue serving the flock under bosses who have bankrupted not only the coffers, but the hearts and minds of some of their most faithful servants.

Holy Father, the next time you address your people on this subject, please make sure that you mention that we all have the equal right to a high quality of life in safety, security and love.

NEW PERSPECTIVE ON HORSES ASSES

This is a rather wonderful story, just about perfectly made for a Kurmujjin like me. This is the first time I ever publish a story that I get through email networks. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England , and English expatriates built the US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England ) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.
And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a Specification/ Procedure/ Process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with it?' you may be exactly right.
Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.) Now, the twist to the story:
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass x 2.
And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything...and CURRENT Horses Asses are controlling everything else !!

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA = PRAYER TO JESUS CHRIST???

ENCOUNTERING THE LIVING CHRIST -- OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

REPORT ON "CATECHIST DAY"
ST. CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA CHURCH
41875 C. STREET
TEMECULA, CA 92592
SEPTEMBER 22, 2007

INTRODUCTION: We meet Christ with joy in our Creation and in each other. Jesus is here, we welcome Him as we journey together in prayer.
+In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

CHANTING: OM NAMAH SHIVAYA Huh? "I bow to Shiva."

Who? The Indian god of destruction, that's who. So, all you sweet, dedicated Catechists, meet Jesus Christ, alias Shiva in the mantra of the day.
The parenthesis beneath the mantra reads: "The blessed name of God, being one with His creation."
Either the innocent one who believes in Shiva as the Blessed God or the disingenuous one who wants to appear chique with a secret knowledge of Far Eastern Spirituality is leading simpler folk astray here. Who would have the testosterone to equate Jesus with the pagan God Shiva? "We meet Christ with joy..." and we send up a mantra to Shiva? This is frightening ignorance, at the least, and fraud at the worst. While they were at it, why didn't they offer a mantra to Shakti, the Indian God who engenders energy? Since we are talking about Jesus and Shiva and Shakti, and we say that Jesus is here "in each other", shouldn't we be talking about energy flowing from chakra to chakra? Maybe that's how Jesus is with us. If we're talking
mantras here, we may as well talk about male and female gods whose energy flows from chakra to chakra, just like Jesus' energy, right? Maybe you're talking about the tongues of fire" Start with a flame at chakra seven and drive your way down to chakra one and ground yourself in divine freedom between heaven and earth.

Whoever you are, you went to guide people on the way to developing a deeper relationship with Jesus. At least that's what the theme line says, "Encountering the Living Christ." You grounded them in a mantra to the pagan god of destruction. Do you think that because you are sent to an inland, back-water region that you can feel free to pass off your twisted concept of spirituality with impunity? Do you think that you are the only "advanced" spiritual theology person in Riverside County?" Did you ignore that there are others here who would know what "Om Namah Shivaya" would really mean?" Did you forget that the Catholic
Tradition of spirituality goes back to more than 2000 years, including the Essenes? Did you consider how brazen you are to invite your followers for the day to sing to Shiva rather than to Yaweh, Or Jesus? Did you consider that during such a gathering, Hallel-luia would have been just as effective? Do you even know what Hallel means? What would have been so wrong with singing, Yaweh, Je'shua, Marana-tha? That may be a big secret to you since you seem to be more versed in Indian paganism than in Hebrew-Judaic-Christian Faith.
Whoever you are, you have a lot to learn. You also must convert your heart back to the grace of the resurrected Christ. If this rant strikes you as being ultra-conservative, you may want to consider the truth of the fact that in Temecula, back in September, you praticed synchretism. That's a Greek word, so you may have to look it up. I don't know what the Indian synonym is. I do know that according to Catholicism, it is a sin. You can look it up.

California is looking at sexually malfeasing teachers

Check this out.

ROBERT TANNER and JULIET WILLIAMS AP Writers California lawmakers say they will explore changes in how the state disciplines teachers accused of sexual misconduct.

Now this is interesting for a Catholic like I am. I'm sitting here wondering a couple of things. How is the suspension of the statute of limitations going to be applied against these unionized ne'er do wells? How hard is the state going to attack the perpetrators, living and dead? How many careers is the state willing to ruin within the confines of its own sandbox? It was easy dealing with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Rarely were the howitzers turned back on the accusers. In fact, SNAP was formed and Catholics attacked Catholic hierarchy and actually banded together with the accusers. Is that going to happen here? Is this going to give birth to an organization of unionized teachers that will turn against its own in outrage for their pedophilic behavior? Would this organization hunt down the managers and executives who shuffled the sexually active teachers into other posts under false pretenses? Worse, to save the hide of a friend with a smoke-filled back-room sweetheart deal?

I want to thank Mr. Tanner and Ms Williams for their courage in uncovering this secret. All honest people knew that it was not just priests who were molesting children under the color of authority. Trouble is, when it comes to sexual abuse of our underage citizenry, there is very little honesty, just emotional volcanism and groundhog hole diving for protection from casting too long a shadow.

What is going to be interesting here is not just the spectacle of watching the unions scramble for pretexts and excuses to protect their own, but the side show of what is going to be said about the sick behavior of many married people of both sexes who are guilty of this behavior. Who is going to retract the stupid comments that were made by many and sundry that if priests were not celibate males all this would never have occurred? How about all the garbage about homosexual priests acting out in a criminal way? I think no one, because as I noted above, this is not going to be an exercise in finding out cold hard facts but in an emotional scramble to protect the crass hides of the criminally warped purveyors and practitioners of extra-curricular underage sex.

So, I am going to sit back and watch what develops. You've had your fun with the Catholic Priests, now you're going to provide this Catholic with some fun of his own.

SOCAL H2O CONSERVATION --- BEWARE INCREASE IN RATES

Well, here we go again. Now it is a judge who orders us to conserve water. I for one will not conserve one single drop that would take me out of my comfort zone.
The last time I was in a conservation drive, I got screwed by the PUC and the San Diego Water Department. Some of you remember that year, the times of the saying, "If it's yellow, be mellow; if it's brown, flush it down."

The campaign and the the conscience of the consumers were so successful that the water meters registered magnificent conservation success and the water supply was in fact maintaining sustainable levels. This great success had some consequences. ONE, the water bills went down.
TWO, the water department was therefore forced to decide about whether or not to lay people off, keep gasoline in the fleet vehicles or raise the rates to bring the income back to comfort levels. You know what happened. The consumer lost. The civil servants won. Remember, this is in San Diego where every December General Dynamics would lay people off because it was the end of the government contract year.

Readers, whoever you are and no matter where you are. Do not conserve one drop of water nor one single kilowatt because you will be the one punished for your sacrifice. Judge, whoever you are, I abjure you to be honest in this matter and to force the utility to follow the rule of economics in these United States, layoffs come before the punishment of the consumer. You, judge, have to stand up for the consumer and reward the one making the sacrifice, not the bureaucrat printing out the bills. You see judge, the consumer has a long memory. If the elephant had died before this present drought, you would not be reading this. Unfortunately for you and for the utilities, there is always at least one elephant who survives long enough to excercise his memory.

Water conservation, "Bah, humbug." Why haven't we constructed an aquaduct from Lake Louise to San Diego? The Romans could have, would have. Are we too concerned over some minuscule form of wildlife that our urban life style has to enslave itself to wildlife preservation rather than to the preservation of urbanized capitalism? I, for one am not. See you in court, I guess.

Where is the $93 Million SuperLOTTO Plus Winner?

I KNOW WHERE THE WINNER IS. The winner has gone to the FedEx/Kinko's store and made copies of the winning ticket. The winner has signed the ticket and has rented a safe deposit box at the bank. Then, the smart individual has gone to a reputable law firm and engaged a capable lawyer. The individual is in the process of creating a legal tax protection system before claiming the prize. The individual is having an attorney read all the fine print of the lottery laws, rules and regulations before claiming the prize. The winner is no doubt consulting the attorney of his/her choice about how best to avoid invasions into the bundle by outside interested, family included. The winner is protecting himself/herself from the high pressure tactics of the State of California to make the claim without the protection of a strong, raw- meat-eating lawyer. That's where the winner is. Back off, your invasive tactics are despicable to watch and they betray you for the unethical bunch that you are. Winner, where ever you are, I hope you really are where I say that you are. Best of luck to you.

FILMAKER'S SHORT BIOGRAPHY

There are a lot of people out there looking for work. The link below will lead you to one of them.

http://eastsideccproductions.blogspot.com/2007/06/filmmaker-for-hire.html

This is a person who has a ton of talent in the film editing, film making area. He is a guy who never quits. A guy who went out in search of himself after high school and required about four years before he turned the right corner and liked what he saw. He then moved into a small, cramped apartment with his mother and father so that he could attend the school of his dreams. I
t was exceedingly impressive to see a 22 year old student spend 14 and 15 hour days at school just about every day of the week. He would then get on the commuter train after school and come back to the apartment to rest and prepare for another long day. Over time he even latched on to a part time job as a security guard in order to disencumber his parents from the full load of school, food and rent. It got a little bit better for him as he became more acquainted with the school system. Further relief from the long commute came with the introduction of online classes at his level. It took nearly five full years for him to get his mortar board, but he did it.

Now he is faced with a challenge of another nature. He is a single male, unattached, ready and raring to go anywhere in the English speaking world, even if English is the second language. He does have some experience in film making and has come to discover that he writes quite well too.

Take a moment to check out his simple website. You'll like what you see.