Rafael Benitez makes donation to Hillsborough families

Former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has made a £96,000 donation to the Hillsborough Family Support Group.
The group was founded by families who lost loved ones in the Hillsborough Disaster in April 1989 which resulted in the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.
Benitez, whose Anfield reign ended last week, supported the organisation during his six years in charge of the Reds.
The 50-year-old Spaniard was confirmed on Thursday as the new coach of European champions Inter Milan.
"When he handed the cheque over to me he was very emotional, as I was and the committee was, especially when we saw the amount," said Margaret Aspinall, chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group.
"He just said that he wanted to help with the cause and hoped we get what we rightly deserve.
"We have lots of things that we spend money on; a memorial every year, upkeep of the office and expenses but Rafa just said as long as it helps the group then that's all that matters."

@'BBC'

A significant amount too!

Breakfast

U4I-Melbourne/12June2010

A year ago today...

La Iglesia Maradoniana – Argentina’s real religion?

I entered the church late: mass already underway, the choir already crooning an unknown vesper and the priest heading to the pulpit.
This, however, wasn’t your typical Christian service as, rather than a traditional church, the proceedings were taking place in Pizza Banana, Italian restaurant cum nightclub; rather than eating the body and blood of Christ, a choice of Margherita or Pepperoni pizzas with a complementary beer was available; rather than a classic choir singing about the bible, there were 300 football fans shouting about former glories of Argentina’s national team and, rather than a robed and ordained clergyman giving a sermon, there was a short, rotund man in a football shirt speaking from a DJ’s booth.
All in all, just another normal service at the church of Diego Maradona.

The Church
The Iglesia Maradoniana was conceived ten years ago by some friends in Rosario. They shared so great a love of the infamous player that today’s 120,000 worldwide members of the church believe that the former Boca and Argentina star is God himself.
In fact, amongst the surreal revelry of their services, it is often hard to discern whether the idea of the church is just a homage-in-jest to Argentina’s greatest footballer or a cult who actually believe that the mortal Maradona is the one true Messiah, as 28-year-old Bálo, one of the church’s ‘Ten Apostles’, suggested: “The church isn’t just a bit of fun, this is a serious celebration of our eternal love for God. I may have only been part of the church for two years but I was born ‘Maradonian’.”
According to the word of the church, ‘football is the religion and, like all religions, has a God. The God of football is Argentine and his name is Diego Armando Maradona.’ The church’s insignia is the portmanteau D10S, a combination of the word Dios (God in Spanish) and Maradona’s shirt number 10.
La Iglesia Maradoniana even goes as far as to have its own ten commandments, for example ‘Do not mention the name Diego in connection with any one club’, own miracles in the form of Maradona’s playing feats and even its own prayers (see box-out).
The church meets biannually: once for ‘Noche buena y Navidad Maradoniana’, or ‘Maradona Christmas Eve and Christmas’, over the eve of the 29th and running into the 30th October to commemorate Maradona’s birthday (and the birthday of the church) and once for ‘Las Pascuas Maradonianas’, ‘Maradona Easter’, on the 22nd June to mark the day that Argentina knocked rivals England out of the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals through two Maradona goals, one of which being the infamous ‘Mano de Dios’.
I was fortunate enough to attend the service of ‘Noche Buena y Navidad Maradoniana’, which this year coincided with the ten year anniversary of the church’s conception and promised a ‘big surprise at midnight’.

La Navidad Maradoniana
The service heading towards its climax, Christmas joy and merriment radiated from the rosy cheeks of all in attendance and a crisp festive air filled the room as the efficient Pizza Banana air conditioning systems clicked up a notch and the free booze set into complexions around the room.
The idea of the ‘Noche Buena y Navidad’ service is to mirror the excitement and celebration of the classic Christian Christmas Eve and Christmas day but replacing the birth of the Good Shepard Jesus Christ with that of Diego Maradona, man of vice.
Already in a state of some consternation at the sight of so many Maradona shirts, videos, books, flags, paintings and Christmas trees, I was flabbergasted to see the procession of the ‘Ten Apostles’. All veiled in white, ten apparitions filed out of a back room, parading themselves with an eerie gravity. They carried different relics representing their faith, ranging from a football boot or a faux world cup trophy to a rosary with 34 beads (the number of goals Maradona scored for his nation) and even a bleeding football adorned in a crown of thorns.
As I sat, digging into a big slice of Sloppy Giuseppe and watching a month-year-old baby being officially baptised as ‘Maradonian’, I was struck by another pang of incredulity. Can this be real? Co-founder Hernán Amez was able to shed more light: “I am not a Catholic. Religion is about feelings and we feel football. I’ve been doing this for ten years now and it’s not just a bit of fun, it’s a religion.”
The quiz was finished, the pizza eaten, the ‘Mano de Dios’ and Maradona tattoo competitions won and all Maradona wedding contracts signed. The atmosphere reached fever pitch as camera crews huddled, fanatical warbling of ‘Volveremos a ser campeones como en ochenta seis’ filled the air and the countdown began, all awaiting the ‘big surprise’.
Alas, Maradona himself wasn’t to turn up but he was reached on the phone, addressing the horde, saying: “God will be with us again and He will give us another victory like 1986.” Whether I find the mention of ‘God’ alarming through its piety or reassuring as it uses the third person, I’m not sure.
Champagne was served shortly after and more preaching did nothing to ebb the torrent of euphoric chanting reverberating off the walls of Pizza Banana’s church all night. Given my nationality and the growing fervour of the pro-‘Mano de Dios’ hymns, I decided to slip off.

Absurd?
Still haunted by the conundrum of such a ridiculous notion juxtaposed with such stern responses from those I asked, I can’t determine whether the Iglesia Maradoniana is a serious joke or an absurd reality, whether Bálo and Hernán Amez were good actors or deadly serious.
The revelry of the service was heightened by the day’s announcement that the inexperienced Maradona is to become Argentina’s new national coach. The absurdity of Maradona being the new coach or, let alone, being God is compounded by the controversy that tarnishes his past. To add to his on-pitch misbehaviour, Maradona has struggled with vices such as alcohol and cocaine addictions as well as obesity and has needed to be medically treated for many health issues.
However, Maradona being God doesn’t seem so ridiculous to all outsiders as a fellow expatriate at the service, Anthony Bale, 23 from Glasgow (interestingly the church has 1,500 Scottish members), told me: “What has Jesus done that Maradona hasn’t? They have both performed miracles, just that Maradona’s are actually on record. The ideologies aren’t so different.”
The next service will be on the 22nd June 2009, visit the website for more details: www.iglesiamaradoniana.com.ar

Rupert Howland-Jackson @ 'The Argentines'

World Cup Diary: Day 1

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Out for the count...
I am of course just kidding as now the Spacebubs and I are going on one of our adventures!
What will happen...
Who will we meet...
What fugups will occur...
And for those that have seen the pic of the Spacebub's hand gesture...
Let me assure you that he will never do that again...

What you mean it's Saturday..?

Via 'This isn't happiness'

Pope Pleads for Forgiveness Over Abuse Scandal

Addressing the sexual abuse crisis from the seat of the Roman Catholic Church before thousands of white-robed priests, Pope Benedict XVI on Friday begged forgiveness, saying the church would do “everything possible” to prevent priests from abusing children.

“We, too, insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again,” Benedict told thousands of priests and the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for celebrations marking the end of the Vatican’s Year of the Priest.

The pope did not outline specific actions that the church would take to combat abuse, as many had hoped — and as Benedict had pledged at an audience in April. Nor did his remarks go much beyond what he had already said in a letter to Irish Catholics in March and in a private meeting with victims of sexual abuse on Malta in April.

But it was the first time that Benedict had asked forgiveness for the crisis from St. Peter’s Square, the heart of the church itself, and on an occasion focused on priests.

The pope said the Devil was behind the scandal, saying it had emerged now, in the middle of the Vatican’s Year of the Priest, because “the enemy,” or the Devil, wants to see “God driven out of the world.”

“And so it happened that in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light — particularly the abuse of the little ones,” the pope added.

He said that in admitting and training men for the priesthood, “We will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey, so that the Lord will protect them and watch over them in troubled situations and amid life’s dangers.”

Some victims groups said that Benedict’s remarks did not go far enough.

In a statement, BishopAccountability.org, a lay Catholic group based in the United States, called the pope’s remarks “a great disappointment and a squandered opportunity.”

It called on the pope to “endorse and facilitate certain external measures that would increase transparency and advance justice,” including posting all abuse cases handled by the Vatican on the Vatican Web site and ordering “his bishops to cooperate fully with secular investigations, not oppose them.”

The Vatican has said it advised bishops to cooperate with the authorities in countries where required by law. But in recent years many bishops have said they had not understood how to proceed.

Yet the pope’s remarks on Friday seemed to signal a growing awareness of the extent of the crisis. They came weeks after the pope had said in Portugal that the greatest threat to the church came from “the sin inside the church” rather than from outside and added that “forgiveness is not a substitute for justice.”

In March, the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, dismissed as an “attack” media reports questioning the pope’s role in handling abuse as archbishop of Munich in 1980 and as prefect of the Vatican’s doctrinal office.

On Thursday, it said in a front-page editorial that “the infidelity, even profound, of some priests in some parts of the world has in fact cast a shadow over the credibility of the church in the eyes of many people.”

“The wound will take time to heal and nothing will be as if nothing had happened,” it added.

In St. Peter’s Square on Friday, the Rev. Innocent Jooji, a priest from Abuja, Nigeria, said he welcomed the pope’s remarks on the sexual abuse crisis and wished he would say more. “This is not only the problem of the West, it is a global problem,” Father Jooji said.

“He should go around to a few continents to talk about sex abuse, and the impact would be more,” he added, referring to Benedict. “It’s a problem to face. We need more conversation.” 

Rachel Donadio @'NY Times'

The 'Devil is behind the scandal'?

Then the devil is the Catholic church...

This is far too little, far too late!

Mere platitudes...

♪♫ Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - I'm Gonna Boogiarize You Baby

Mexico cartels join forces

The Mexican government says nearly 23,000 people have died in drug-related violence since a military crackdown on cartels began in 2006.

That announcement comes as officials face a new front in their war against the drug gangs.

Two of Mexico's most powerful cartels have joined forces to battle government security forces as well as a third cartel seeking its own slice of the cross-border drug trade.

Matthew Herbert on "Symphony X" for Recomposed

British electronic music artist Matthew Herbert explains his approach to the adaptation of Gustav Mahler's unfinished 10th Symphony for Deutsche Grammophon's acclaimed series Recomposed. Recomposed encourages protagonists of the electronic dance music scene to uncover contemporary perspectives on the classical repertoire.

♪♫ Dengue Fever - Seeing Hands

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HERE

Modern advertising?...

At first this video is kind of gross, because why would you want to date someone who smelled like a child (regardless of what deodorant that child was wearing)? But then at a certain point you realize that you would be lucky to date someone who was like this kid, because this kid is awesome. OF course, it would probably be more interesting if the person you were dating was like this kid in the sense that he too was creative and sharp, and exhibited a precocious imagination that belied a sophisticated sense of humor. But if all you can get is a man who ALSO wears Old Spice, the way that this child wears Old Spice, just check the “It’s Complicated” box on Facebook. (Via Epicponyz.)

BarackObama Stand with me in backing clean energy. Send a clear message that the American people are ready for a clean-energy future. http://j.mp/cKspy5