Now I don't know about you, but my local chippie is a quiet family-run business which also sells hamburgers to go. 
In Rome it must feel as though the Christian god has taken his eye off the latest incumbent in that long dynasty of power-hungry old men, as the media unearths more and more about Pope Benedict's failings in relation to the pastoral care of his flock and his alleged protection of paedophile priests.1985 Letter to Oakland Bishop John S Cummins, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, concerning a then 38 year-old priest who is reported to have plead guilty in 1978 to misdemeanour charges of lewd conduct for tying up and molesting young boys in a church presbytery:
Most Excellent Bishop
Having received your letter of September 13 of this year, regarding the matter of the removal from all priestly burdens pertaining to Rev Stephen Miller Kiesle in your diocese, it is my duty to share with you the following:
This court, although it regards the arguments presented in favour of removal in this case to be of grave significance, nevertheless deems it necessary to consider the good of the Universal Church together with that of the petitioner, and it is also unable to make light of the detriment that granting the dispensation can provoke with the community of Christ's faithful, particularly regarding the young age of the petitioner.
It is necessary for this Congregation to submit incidents of this sort to very careful consideration, which necessitates a longer period of time.
In the meantime your Excellency must not fail to provide the petitioner with as much paternal care as possible and in addition to explain to same the rationale of this court, which is accustomed to proceed keeping the common good especially before its eyes.
Let me take this occasion to convey sentiments of the highest regard always to you.
Your most Reverend Excellency
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Bishop Cummins letter to the then Pope John Paul II:
DIOCESE OF OAKLAND
VOTUM EPISCOPI
Most Holy Father:
I wish to present the petition of Father Stephen Kiesle for laicization. He wishes to return to the lay state and to be relieved of all the obligations of the priesthood, including celibacy.
Father Kiesle was born on February 14. 1947 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended elementary school in Lakewood, California and San Lorenzo, California. He entered St. Joseph's High School Seminary in 1960. Upon graduation he entered St. Patrick's College Seminary in 1964 and began his theological studies at St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park in 1968. Father Kiesle was ordained on May 19, 1972 at St. Francis de Sales Cathedral by the Most Reverend Floyd L. Begin, Bishop of Oakland.
It does seem clear, now, with hindsight, that quite probably Father Kiesle should never have been ordained.
He has experienced a variety of psychological, emotional, and sexual difficulties during his pri"esthood. In August of 1978 he was arrested by the police and charged with having taken sexual liberties with at least six young men ranging from eleven to thirteen years of age during the period of November 1971 through May 1978. When he appeared in court, Father Kiesle pleaded "nol o contendere" to the charges. He received a three year suspended sentence and was to remain on probation for three years. He was to meet regularly with his probation officer. He was not to be alone with any juvenile, nor was he to work with any juveniles without an adult being present. He was also required to register with the police department of any city in which he would be residing. It was during this period of time that Father Kiesle took an extended leave of absence.
Unfortunately, from the time of Father Kiesle's first court appearance there was a great deal of publicity surrounding his conduct. Lengthy news reports appeared in all of the major newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area. as well as throughout California. Some of the publications also printed pictures of Father Kiesle. As a result his case and alleged wrong-doings received maximum publicity exposure. Some of the newspaper accounts were able to obtain rather specific details of his conduct from the police report. Father Kiesle has been in psychiatric therapy since this difficult situation first became public in August of 1978. He still continues to see a therapist on a regular basis.
I would credit Father Kiesle with great cooperation in seeking out psychiatric help when asked. On the other hand, his dealings with me as expressed in his own statement unearthed for me the problem he had with authority and obedience. I had arranged with two neighboring bishops to provide employment in special assignments for him outside of pastoral ministry during the months that he would be in thereapy. He adamantly refused to consider these although later, on his own, he took a temporary assignment in one of those same dioceses. I felt obliged to poi'nt out the inconsistency of his judgment.
I prevailed on one of our excellent young priests to provide him a home with some possibilities of limited work. That assignment carried on for many months but it was obvious that there was no development either in work or in any other interests. I feared the wasting of time was profoundly detrimental to a man of his age. At the time, therefore, that he did procure a job of reasonable support, I asked him to take a year away from the parish and assume responsibility for the managing of his own life. That decision, as hard as it was, seems to have been very beneficial to him. I believe it has contributed much toward his present resolution of his life.
Given all of the circumstances surrounding this case and Father Kiesle's irrevocable decision to leave the active ministry, it would seem to me most prudent that his petition be granted. Therefore, since all of these things are attested to in the Acts of the case, it is our opinion that this case should be submitted to you with the petition that Father Stephen Kiesle be relieved of all of the obligations of the priesthood.
Given at the Chancery of the Diocese of Oakland this 19th day of June in the Year of Our lord 1981.
John S. Cummins
Bishop of Oakland
Broken Rites list of 117 Catholic priests, religious brothers and seminarians who have been sentenced in Australian courts since 1992.
UN judicial official suggests trial of Pope for 'crimes against humanity'
Richard Dawkins: I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI
...this and that.
Wikileaks gets dissected by US Army counter intelligence
In March 2010 Wikileaks amusingly blew the whistle on a 2008 assessment of its own organisational structure and aims by US counter intelligence .
An underlying cause for information security weaknesses identified at federal agencies is that they have not yet fully or effectively implemented key elements of an agencywide information security program, as required by FISMA. As a result, they may be at increased risk of unauthorized disclosure, modification, and destruction of information or disruption of mission critical operations. Such risks are illustrated, in part, by the increasing number of security incidents experienced by federal agencies.
A breakdown of the Easter message coming from major Christian religions this weekend:
Last year the local community of ***** (name removed) buried young ****** (name removed).
"From today, 1 January 2010, the new Irish blasphemy law becomes operational, and we begin our campaign to have it repealed. Blasphemy is now a crime punishable by a €25,000 fine. The new law defines blasphemy as publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion, with some defences permitted.
This new law is both silly and dangerous. It is silly because medieval religious laws have no place in a modern secular republic, where the criminal law should protect people and not ideas. And it is dangerous because it incentives religious outrage, and because Islamic States led by Pakistan are already using the wording of this Irish law to promote new blasphemy laws at UN level."
Go here for the 25 blasphemies published in response to this law which apparently got through the parliament by a margin of one vote.The growing litigation pile belonga Monsanto:
"A mountain of lawsuits against Monsanto and related companies have been removed to federal court.This summer and fall, 161 lawsuits were filed in Putnam Circuit Court alleging Monsanto and related companies are responsible for causing cancer." {The West Virginia Record 23rd December 2009}
Worst OZ commercial decision of 2009:
iSnack 2.0 - nuff said!
Something for the 'Obama is the Anti-Christ' assorted nuts:
"The first family arrived on the island of Oahu and President Obama and his wife Michelle started Christmas Day with a gym workout at 6.40am, returning more than an hour later. The first couple did not exchange gifts, aides said, and did not attend church." {The Sydney Morning Herald 27th December 2009}
A little festive season hysteria:
"Police from Blacktown Local Area Command want to dispel rumours circulating on a social networking website that a man, Dennis Ferguson, is living in Doonside in Sydney’s west.The claims have been investigated by police, in consultation with the Department of Housing, and the information posted on the website is incorrect. This is a case of mistaken identity and the resident of a street in Doonside is not Dennis Ferguson as has been reported on the social networking site. Police are urging those people transmitting false information to cease immediately." {NSW Police media release 22nd December 2009}
Most disturbing statistic of the year:
"NSW Council for Civil Liberties secretary Stephen Blanks said a pattern of police shootings had emerged in the past year. Four people have been killed by NSW Police this year." {The Sydney Morning Herald 27th December 2009}
This propensity to ape a fictional vision of police machismo by using deadly force appears to have been growing steadily in recent years.
Between 1990 and 2007 87 people were shot and killed by police in Australia and the most dangerous time of day to have an aggressive confrontation with police seems to be between 4pm and 8pm.
Most likeable blog:
Still Life With Cat - Clarencegirl once told me that this was a quietly insightful, gently humorous, venom-free zone and I wholeheartedly agree!
That unwanted prediction for 2010:
"ELECTRICITY, gas, water and public transport costs will all increase in 2010, while the average grocery shop will make a bigger dent in the family budget." {The Sydney Morning Herald 27th December 2009}
Most laughable Oz politician of this any year:
Just take your pick! Abbott, Abetz, Tuckey, Minchin, Pyne, Joyce, Fielding, Keneally,............
The Arsehat of all Arsehats in 2009:
Andrew Bolt - for services to Oz's racist underbelly, the anti-science lobby and general contrariety. {See almost any post on his Herald-Sun blog}
Pic from Crikey
The other side of the coin: Usually I don't mind Christmas, don't love it but I tolerate it and look time to spending time with family.
Last year I asked Santa for a baby, I wrote a note and put it on our tree hoping that we may get some kind of Xmas miracle. It didn't happen......
And a final word from a satirical post at Glossy News:
Oh yes, Christmas is coming, just around the corner in fact. The Festive Season of Peace on Earth and Good Will to all Men.
So, are we all prepared for an evening’s visit from our local Church group’s carol singers? Mince pies and mulled wine at the ready, along with a handful of shiny silver coins for the collection tin?
Er – actually no – the Spirit of Xmas, under new E-USSR ‘Scrooge’ legislation and personal household security guidelines, has gone the way of the dinosaur and is deader than the Dodo.
While the sound of carol singers at the door at Christmas is as traditional as stuffing the ubiquitous turkey, since the Treaty of Lisbon has now been ratified and the Brussels bully boys can impose their totalitarian iron will, carollers will be banned from approaching private houses anywhere in the European community.
Householders across the UK are being provided with posters by local council jobsworths that warn carol singers will not be welcome this Christmas because many residents are ‘uncomfortable’ with having groups of strangers knocking at the door of their manky mangers – even if they are posing as Wise Men and bearing gifts of gold, frankenstein and myrrh (WTF is myrrh?).
The posters are to be affixed to windows or garden gates – or hung from a Pit Bull’s collar – informing carol singers that their unsolicited ‘cold call’ intrusion is an assault on privacy and constitutes an act of gross harassment – and further advises that they f*ck off sharpish-like and ply their joyful hymns and festive spirit elsewhere..........
Craigslist expands outside San Francisco (2000)
In 2000, the free classifieds site broadened its reach outside of San Francisco into nine additional U.S. cities, sending chills down the spines of newspaper publishers everywhere. Today Craigslist serves free listings in more than 500 cities in 50 countries, serving as a model for no-frills business and community success and the catalyst for countless jobs, apartments, and just about anything else you can think of.
Google AdWords launches (2000)
With the launch of AdWords in October 2000, Google turned advertising on its head. The self-service ad program opened up the marketplace to any business, no matter how big or small, and allowed advertisers to target their customers with laser-sharp precision.
Wikipedia launches (2001)
Containing 20,000 articles in 18 languages by the end of its first year online, Wikipedia today boasts more than 14 million articles in 271 different languages. The free open-source encyclopedia epitomizes the Internet's power to bring strangers from around the world together to collaborate on projects both big and small.
Napster Shut Down (2001)
Although Napster was shut down in 2001, it opened the file-sharing floodgates. Its demise sparked a wave of innovations that forever changed how we obtain and experience music and video - from Hulu to iTunes to Radiohead famously dropping its label and self-distributing their "In Rainbows" CD online for free.
Google IPO (2004)
Google's IPO, one of the largest in history, put the six year old search engine on the path to becoming the most dominant and influential company of the decade. From gmail and YouTube to Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Android, the Internet giant and constant innovator is the engine that powers countless aspects of our everyday lives.
Online video revolution (2006)
In 2006, a perfect storm of faster bandwidth, cheaper camcorders, and the groundbreaking use of Adobe's Flash 9 video player by YouTube combined to launch the online video revolution. The trifecta led to a boom in homemade and professional content - the Diet Coke and Mentos guys, lonelygirl15, SNL's Lazy Sunday, and Senator George Allen's "macacagate" - that has reshaped everything from pop culture to politics.
Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter takes off (2006)
In September 2006, a social networking site for college students changed its user qualifications to include anyone 13 and older with a valid e-mail address. Facebook struck an immediate chord -- and almost overnight, social media went mainstream. Less than a month later, the creators of Twitter acquired the company and its assets from its investors, paving the way for the service to take off in 2007. Both companies took social media mainstream, radically changing the way we connect, collaborate, and communicate with everyone from friends to colleagues to customers.
The iPhone debuts (2007)
The iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. By the end of the weekend, half a million had been sold, and smartphones had gone from a luxury item to a necessity. The iPhone inspired the development of operating systems like Google Android, as well as an app for just about every aspect of modern life. Over the next decade, it's estimated that a billion new users will come to the Internet for the first time through mobile devices.
U.S. Presidential Campaign (2008)
The Internet altered presidential politicking in 2008 much as television had forty years earlier during the Kennedy/Nixon race. From videos like "Obama Girl" and the Reverend Wright clip shaping the debate, to social media mobilizing voters, to record-breaking online fundraising from small donors, every facet of the way campaigns are run was permanently transformed.
Iranian election protests (2009)
When Iran's 2009 presidential election produced fishy results, the opposition took to the tweets -- and the "Twitter Revolution" was born. In fact, it was so vital to organizing demonstrations that the U.S. State Department asked the company to delay planned maintenance.. The protests also highlighted Twitter's key asset as a protest tool: Since most users don't access it through a central website, it's nearly impossible to censor.
U.K. Map of BNP members from The Guardian 
PRL USA Holdings, owner of the brand Ralph Lauren, issued a DMCA notice on 2 October 2009 to the blog PsD: Photoshop Disasters, for laughing at a Blue Label advertisement of a super skinny model (with distorted dimensions) which is still being displayed in Google cache as I write.
Not long after his inauguration US President Barack Obama flew a chef from St Louis to Washington so that he could have pizza with the boys."The Secret Service and the D.C. police brought in three dozen vehicles and shut down H Street, Vermont Avenue, two lanes of I Street and an entrance to the McPherson Square Metro station. They swept the area, in front of the Department of Veterans Affairs, with bomb-sniffing dogs and installed magnetometers in the middle of the street, put up barricades to keep pedestrians out, and took positions with binoculars atop trucks. Though the produce stand was only a block or so from the White House, the first lady hopped into her armored limousine and pulled into the market amid the wail of sirens.
Then, and only then, could Obama purchase her leafy greens. "Now it's time to buy some food," she told several hundred people who came to watch. "Let's shop!"
Cowbells were rung. Somebody put a lei of marigolds around Obama's neck. The first lady picked up a straw basket and headed for the "Farm at Sunnyside" tent, where she loaded up with organic Asian pears, cherry tomatoes, multicolored potatoes, free-range eggs and, yes, two bunches of Tuscan kale. She left the produce with an aide, who paid the cashier as Obama made her way back to the limousine.........
Gunpowder Bison, organic dandelion greens for $12 per pound from Blueberry Hill Vegetables, the Piedmont Reserve cheese from Everson Dairy at $29 a pound. Rounding out the potential shopping cart: $4 for a piece of "walnut dacquoise" from the Praline Bakery, $9 for a jumbo crab cake at Chris's Marketplace, $8 for a loaf of cranberry-walnut bread and $32 for a bolt of yarn." Photographs from Google Images
From the Maplecroft.NET Limited media release Climate change risk list highlights vulnerable nations and safe havens on 3 September 2009:
