Now thats what I call Class!

Sixty-odd years, and I still remember watching this young lady take the burden on to her shoulders.

Fantastic!

I’m not………..bothered!

For many years, I was a dutiful Catholic. The faith which I was brought up to believe in, stayed with me for many years, my kids were all baptised; the finest person I have ever had the privilege of knowing is a very elderly lady who has been in that same religious life for over seventy years, other members of my wider family are or have also been in religion. I have walked and talked with men of astounding faith, and I have also talked with equally astounding evil, without recognising that evil in at least one man, and over the years, I have come to a conclusion. I have not left my religion; because of stances taken, or of judgements made, of decisions and rulings given, I reckoned that my religion has left me.

The stance taken by the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Germany is a case in point. Not many British people either know or care that a part of the general taxation in Germany, as well as other European countries, is specifically targeted at both the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, but, according to the latest calculations, the totals amount to some 5 billion Euros (£4 billion) for the German Catholic Hierarchy, and about 4.3 billion Euros for the Protestant Churches in 2010 alone. This substantial amount of cash is, to use an accountancy phrase, what is budgeted for; and if the tax collection drops, the bishops don’t get the petrol bills paid for their BMW’s, and that can get a little bit disconcerting! As a direct result of the ‘child abuse scandals’ many Roman Catholics have just given up going to church, as they have lost faith with their Church, not with their Faith, and in Germany, one of the things which churchgoers can do to make a point is to advise their friendly tax collectors that the portion of their taxes which is earmarked for their Church is no longer to be collected from their earnings. As the ‘leaving’ numbers have rocketed towards 181,000 last year alone, you can well imagine the worry beads coming out of the closet all over the German Catholic churches, never mind the Protestant ones.

So the true Germanic mind, so well-known in certain military circles as believing in order, and also that ‘an order is an order’, reacted in the worst possible manner by declaring that people who ‘opt-out’ of the church tax system should not be given sacraments and religious burials, getting tougher on worshippers who choose not to pay. Alarmed by a wave of dissenting Catholics quitting the faith, the bishops issued a decree on Thursday declaring such defection “a serious lapse” and listed a wide range of church activities from which they must be excluded. Those who have refused to pay the tax are excluded from choirs, they cannot marry in a Catholic church, they cannot work in church schools, they cannot be buried in consecrated ground. This ‘Ordnung’ was backed by, who else but the Vatican!

simony,  the buying or selling of something spiritual or closely connected with the spiritual. More widely, it is any contract of this kind is forbidden by divine or ecclesiastical law.

Trust the Krauts to get it so wrong, in the pursuit of something they believe is so right!

a reminder that ‘this’ hasn’t gone away either.

As with the ‘Colleagues’ in Brussels, who never, ever forget a proposal once pushed forwards by the Commission; so with the fanatics who contemplate tampering with an idea which has lasted for centuries, all in the cause of ‘Equality’. Yes folks, the ‘Gay Marriage’ agenda is being rolled out once again. With Cameron leading the charge, as the whole idea seems to suit him perfectly, the ‘Gay Marriage’ plan is once again running on the Westminster rails.

Those who oppose the very idea that somehow Marriage can be bent and twisted into an institution which is ‘friendly’ towards homosexual or lesbian couples, have been condemned as ‘bigots’ by no less a figure than the Deputy Prime Minister; a statement which was speedily withdrawn from the Press Releases once the ‘spin’ men got their eyes on the words, but by that time the damage had already been done. We have often suspected that senior politicians of all parties hold the electorate in contempt, but it is nice to see proof of that contempt brought out into the public gaze.

We hear the soothing syrup of Cameron’s words as he tries to pass a change of more than major significance as just a ‘minor adjustment’, and we know how much faith to place in this particular so-called Tory’s words.

To check out whether the proposed Legislation is just a ‘minor adjustment’ or a major stumbling block, check out the words of warning produced by a senior Q.C. for the Campaign 4 Marriage, and decide for yourselves.

An alternate view of that Report!

In the earlier part of my life, whilst I lived in England, I used to hold the Police as, generally, a friend. My support for the Police has decreased over the years as they have steadily become more and more politicised and political; in their structure, their controlling philosophies, their attitude towards civil liberties and the Rule of Law. It is a fact that the vast majority of law-abiding British people accept the Police, but don’t really trust them. The failures of Policing over the past thirty years are both well-known and substantial, and many of these failings stem from a grasping of the ‘politically-correct’ attitude at all times. But some of the failures are also known because they literally tried too hard, knowing that the accused were guilty, and therefore attempting to gild that same lily with evidence not manufactured but ‘embellished’.

But after going through the ‘Report’ from the ‘Independent Panel’ ( and you can well believe that the title was given them by the last Labour Government without a single blush), I can see that the Police are being hung out to dry. I did not listen to the nauseating self-justification of the Bishop of Liverpool on the BBC this morning, but I would lay good odds on the inclusion of the phrases ‘Justice for the families’, as well as the well-worn words of ‘the truth finally emerging’ about the deaths of 96 football fans at the Hillsborough ground those 23 years ago.

These questions, after the production of this truly self-serving and nauseatingly-righteous report, should be asked:-

What was the common identity of the clowns who massed against the fences, crowding so much that a mounted policeman on his horse felt unable to move? Answer…Liverpool ‘fans’.

The layout of the fencing and manner of static control within the ground had been made necessary by much previous riotous and threatening behaviour by whom?  Answer………..Football club ‘fans’ of all shirt colours and hues, whose behaviour could best be described as animalistic.

What was the mass identity of the crowd who literally tried to smash the fencing around the entry gates?                Answer……….Liverpool ‘fans’.

Did the ‘alterations’ of police and witness statements provide evidence that any one of those people who died that day could have been saved?  Answer………Probably not!

Did the actions of a panicked senior policeman by ordering the opening of the access gates contribute to the crowd packing into the tunnel?  Possibly yes, but the police were simply outnumbered by an aggressive, booze-fuelled crowd of Liverpool ‘fans’.

What has been the driving force behind the eternal call by the ‘victims families’ for a re-opening of Inquiries etc.   Was it Justice? Was it that the truth finally come out? Was it revenge on a Police Force which, they believed, contributed to the deaths of those ninety-six people?

Or was it just for the Money?

…..is Golden!

The ‘Scouse’ Hillsborough mob are calling for a ‘silence of remembrance’ at 15.06 p.m. this afternoon. I for one would gladly go along with that call, except to modify the arrangement so that the ‘Silence’ lasts another 23 years!

And so….

Bollocks to Islam!

Not the only thing built on sand…

Reading the ATW  post on the Great One’s statue, I realised that I needed to go forth and gain education on the one thing which America holds dear, but seems to be in great danger of losing through neglect. That one item is a sheet of paper which has distilled the many traits, failings, glories and achievements of America into a single publication. It is of course the Constitution of the United States of America. Of the statements made, and Amendments written and agreed, there seems to be little argument as to the to items which are most important; important that is to people who claim or wish to live in freedom. The first is the absolute right of ‘free speech’ in America. for without debate, without concurrence and agreement, there can be no true consensus. If a position is taken by a Congress Representative, or Senator, everyone else is at liberty to state their views to their own locality, constituency and representative. Similarly, if a citizen debates a Law, or indeed the lack of a Law, he or she can speak, and write about that Law until either the Law is changed, or indeed struck down through the Federal or Supreme Courts. In recent years, the Feds, have acted against Arizona on immigration, and again in florida on voter registration, but this is all in accord with the Constitution.

So why is it that no-one, or indeed virtually no-one at all, has acted or spoken to demand that proof, absolute proof, be given and tested, that the present President of the United States is in fact legally entitled to hold his job down in the first place?  As in “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.” Romney had the opportunity,  and he fluffed it away in a sad little joke.