14 July 2008

$100,000 spent by the ACT on World Youth Day

| johnboy
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The ABC informs us that the ACT Government spent $100,000 entertaining young Catholics from around the world over the weekend.

Pilgrims who were billeted in the national capital were given free ACTION bus services, at a cost of $27,000. More than $40,000 was spent on a festival and mass at Exhibition Park on Saturday.

Money well spent?

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No doubt one of his minders will break out the papal cargo pants and blundstones.

And there has to be at least one instance during this trip where he’s photographed wearing a silly Akubra or something equally stereotypical.

Btw i heard that the red shoes are symbolic of the blood of the martyr… so to me, that says “MUAHahahahahah, i wade through the blood of your martyrs and leave it all over my shooooooooooes!!!!! Where’s your god now?!?!!!!!”

Maybe it’s just me who thinks like that.

Absent Diane4:38 pm 15 Jul 08

try them without milk. a lot less filling.

Absent Diane4:12 pm 15 Jul 08

i guess being the elder religion they have first dibs!

I think that’s the Jews, AD. 😉

Absent Diane4:02 pm 15 Jul 08

skin of the fore variety – or is that just the jews?

I

Absent Diane said :

yes they are truly stunning shoes – they just go so well with that white.

I’ve heard they’re made out of the skin of small children. 🙂

Absent Diane3:54 pm 15 Jul 08

yes they are truly stunning shoes – they just go so well with that white.

Absent Diane said :

Not sure why we tolerate people like that.

Because we like to pretend we live in a tolerant society would be my guess? It would be a bloody awful place to live if we weren’t tolerant people.

Absent Diane said :

well the pope has proved himself well and truly a fckwit in regards to his comments on breeding. Not sure why we tolerate people like that.

But he’s got such nice red shoes.

Absent Diane3:38 pm 15 Jul 08

well the pope has proved himself well and truly a fckwit in regards to his comments on breeding. Not sure why we tolerate people like that.

I’m sure it happens FredJ. My point was that Muslims don’t have a mortgage on committing awful acts….& that there’s equal justification to protest a new Catholic school as there is an Islamic one. I’ve known many fine Muslims & Catholics…although personally I think they’re all deluded.

justbands – you obviously haven’t heard of the Northern Afgan “tradition” of taking young boys and dressing them up as girls for fun…Anyway all organised religion attracts corrupt people/nutters who exploit it for their own purposes. Does that make the religion bad? Hmm, well actually I don’t believe in any of them, er, so I’ll stop defending them now…Personally I’d be happy to see protests against Catholic schools – corrupting our kiddies with their bizarre teachings!

What a silly thing to say Ralph. Last time I checked Muslims weren’t raping little boys.

I’ve never heard of a protest and an entire suburb or town up in arms over a planned Catholic school, have you???

Last time I checked, Catholics weren’t flying planes into buildings, or strapping explosives onto handicapped people. Get off the grass, sunshine.

Now for the predictable leftists yammerings about the IRA…

Bigfeet: my friend saw the “World Youth Day Parking” signs near Epic too, and her comment was “that’s a bit of a walk to sydney, isn’t it?”

“Now remember, kids, we’re parked in CANBERRA. Damn, should have got here earlier, we could have got a park near Goulburn at least.”

blueberry said :

Gah, there were about 50 American world youth day kids staying at the YHA in last night. I tried to approach the situation acceptingly but, they were so god damnd annoying.

We went to see Even at the Transit bar which is located under the YHA and has a nice outside area out the front of it. There are signs up every where asking people in the outside area to be quite and make sure they have a seat if they are drinking due to liquor licensing and due to complaints about noise from the YHA and a near by hotel. Everyone else who frequents the bar seems to get it and does a good job of having fun while being quite. I guess they really don’t want it to be shut down due to noise complaints like Toast.

But these guys were so obnoxious, they were really really loud all of them were drinking standing around on the path and not sitting down when they were asked by the bar staff and they were smoking spliffs out the front of the bar. Now I don’t really care if they want to do that sort of thing but heck they could have at least been discrete about it, if they were caught the bar would have been I heaps of trouble. They wouldn’t even take it else where when the bar guys asked nicely.

The real kicker was that they were doing all this while wearing there uniforms. Talk about representing your faith.

That’s the great thing about being Catholic: smoking, drinking and being obnoxious are all completely acceptable!

And as a bonus, the current leader is an ex-NAZI! 🙂

blueberry said :

Gah, there were about 50 American world youth day kids staying at the YHA in last night. I tried to approach the situation acceptingly but, they were so god damnd annoying.

We went to see Even at the Transit bar which is located under the YHA and has a nice outside area out the front of it. There are signs up every where asking people in the outside area to be quite and make sure they have a seat if they are drinking due to liquor licensing and due to complaints about noise from the YHA and a near by hotel. Everyone else who frequents the bar seems to get it and does a good job of having fun while being quite. I guess they really don’t want it to be shut down due to noise complaints like Toast.

But these guys were so obnoxious, they were really really loud all of them were drinking standing around on the path and not sitting down when they were asked by the bar staff and they were smoking spliffs out the front of the bar. Now I don’t really care if they want to do that sort of thing but heck they could have at least been discrete about it, if they were caught the bar would have been I heaps of trouble. They wouldn’t even take it else where when the bar guys asked nicely.

The real kicker was that they were doing all this while wearing there uniforms. Talk about representing your faith.

Hey I think I must have been in the wrong denomination! If that’s how much fun these guys have sign me up!!!

Yawn

Would the complaint have been made if it had been an indegenous pow wow?

Spending money on World Youth Day is fair enough if it injects money into the economy, but does it? As a Catholic, I just find the whole affair very embarrassing. Do they actually like all those kitsch songs and asinine slogans? Bring the Pope to Australia by all means, but must we financially support Catholics making fools of themselves?!

Bigfeet sprung walking away around Marist/SnEddies/Dara! Har. Burn the witch.

ant said :

Why didn’t they call it World Catholic Kiddies Day

No….too easy…..not touching it.

Ok…the “not touching it” comment is also too easy.

I’ll just walk away now.

Why didn’t they call it World Catholic Kiddies Day or soemthing, rather than pretending that it’s for world youth? I thought that was rather weird, camalflouging what it was really about. There’s heaps of Non-Youth involved, and it’s for catholics. Not buddhists, or youth who aren’t catholic. Or Jedi adherents.

AussieGal83 said :

God is Love. Happy World Youth Day everyone!

Bah…..Humbug.

God is Love. Happy World Youth Day everyone!

Remo have some excellent WYD t shirts, if anyone’s feeling like testing the Annoyance Laws. They run comps to design shirts for various things, WYD included. Some of the lower-rated ones in particular are brilliant.

I also had no idea there was anything in Canberra till I saw a sign on Saturday that said World Youth Day Parking.

I have never seen that sign before so I knew it was a sign. And it was up high, so I knew it was a sign from above.

Ha! I too crack me up.

(But I wish I had seen the CHOOSE LIFE shirtinstead)

I have chosen to remain largely ignorant of all the WYD shenanigans – i didn’t even realise there were events in Canberra. That is, until we drove past throngs of people walking north over Commonwealth Ave bridge on Sunday. “They look like they’re walking with a purpose,” commented someone in my car. I noticed one wore a shirt that read “CHOOSE LIFE”. “Oh my god!! It’s Wham! It’s a Wham! Walk!!!” i shouted.

Ha! I crack me up.

i drove past the EPIC ‘event’ on saturday on my way up to sydney. it looked well under-attended, the largest group was about 20 people with some dude wearing a white dress waving his arms around at them and they looked bored as. it was pretty pathetic really, i almost felt sorry for them.

OpenYourMind24:42 pm 14 Jul 08

WYD: I’m not sure Canberra has enough room for that much hypocrisy. At least our they make our politicians look a little better.

Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree…

astrojax said :

and they were smoking spliffs out the front of the bar.

so blueberry, were they the rastafarian christians?? pope ben-addicted to sensimilla XIV is irie and i&i t’ink all you wicked non-believers bumba-clot! rasta far-i jah love.

jesus h christ!

LOL!

blueberry said :

Gah, there were about 50 American world youth day kids staying at the YHA in last night. I tried to approach the situation acceptingly but, they were so god damnd annoying.

We went to see Even at the Transit bar which is located under the YHA and has a nice outside area out the front of it. There are signs up every where asking people in the outside area to be quite and make sure they have a seat if they are drinking due to liquor licensing and due to complaints about noise from the YHA and a near by hotel. Everyone else who frequents the bar seems to get it and does a good job of having fun while being quite. I guess they really don’t want it to be shut down due to noise complaints like Toast.

But these guys were so obnoxious, they were really really loud all of them were drinking standing around on the path and not sitting down when they were asked by the bar staff and they were smoking spliffs out the front of the bar. Now I don’t really care if they want to do that sort of thing but heck they could have at least been discrete about it, if they were caught the bar would have been I heaps of trouble. They wouldn’t even take it else where when the bar guys asked nicely.

The real kicker was that they were doing all this while wearing there uniforms. Talk about representing your faith.

I guess the only thing they were’nt doing was practicing safe sex? 😉

and they were smoking spliffs out the front of the bar.

so blueberry, were they the rastafarian christians?? pope ben-addicted to sensimilla XIV is irie and i&i t’ink all you wicked non-believers bumba-clot! rasta far-i jah love.

jesus h christ!

Oh, blueberry, cut them some slack. This is probably the first time in their lives they’ve had the chance to be molested by non-Americans, so their excitement is understandable!

$100k spent on supporting a superstitious, medieval, authoritarian, sexist, homophobic organisation intent on undermining science – money well spent? I’d argue not.

Not to mention they don’t need the handout. According to BRW, in 2004, the Catholic Church of Australia generated gross revenue of almost $15 billion, with assets worth more than $100 billion. And they enjoy tax-free status and hefty taxpayer support.

blueberry are you sure they weren’t the Young Liberals?

I never realised WYD was a catholic thing. its only just dawning on me.

LG said :

shanefos – on the other hand. if it had of been any other religion that Christianity, there would be a lot less negative media coverage and protests.

Hmmm, I’m sure… Just like all that positive media coverage and welcoming parties in Camden, huh?
I’ve never heard of a protest and an entire suburb or town up in arms over a planned Catholic school, have you???

Gah, there were about 50 American world youth day kids staying at the YHA in last night. I tried to approach the situation acceptingly but, they were so god damnd annoying.

We went to see Even at the Transit bar which is located under the YHA and has a nice outside area out the front of it. There are signs up every where asking people in the outside area to be quite and make sure they have a seat if they are drinking due to liquor licensing and due to complaints about noise from the YHA and a near by hotel. Everyone else who frequents the bar seems to get it and does a good job of having fun while being quite. I guess they really don’t want it to be shut down due to noise complaints like Toast.

But these guys were so obnoxious, they were really really loud all of them were drinking standing around on the path and not sitting down when they were asked by the bar staff and they were smoking spliffs out the front of the bar. Now I don’t really care if they want to do that sort of thing but heck they could have at least been discrete about it, if they were caught the bar would have been I heaps of trouble. They wouldn’t even take it else where when the bar guys asked nicely.

The real kicker was that they were doing all this while wearing there uniforms. Talk about representing your faith.

GregW said :

“Besides, I’m sure they poured a bunch of money back into the economy during their stay, “

“and it’s not like any roads had to be closed or fences erected”

Flemington road was closed with redirection to Barton highway as it is for all insignificantly small events at EPIC.

Aw c’mon man!

barking toad2:40 pm 14 Jul 08

Local clubs selling extra meals and soft drink

Fyshwick busy

Better than funding yartz magazines

shanefos – on the other hand. if it had of been any other religion that Christianity, there would be a lot less negative media coverage and protests.

Absent Diane2:09 pm 14 Jul 08

we don’t we need a world atheist day (wad?). a world use your brain and apply logic to your beliefs days would be far more apt.

Absent Diane2:06 pm 14 Jul 08

awesome just what we need more brainless fckwits in this c*ntry.

Imagine the uproar if it’d been World anything-other-than-a-Christian-religious-denomination Youth Day and the government spent public funds supporting it.
Daily Telegraph and Feral-Scum readers would spontanteously combust in fury!
But if it’s the Pope and his followers, no problem. Spend away! In fact, it’s welcome. And while you’re at it, why not enact a few new laws so we can stop anything that could annoy or inconvenience the “pilgrims”.
We’ll even cut to a pointless “breaking news” report in the middle of the footy (that, I’m afraid, is worse than any kind of blasphemy!) to tell us that His Holiness’ plane has arrived and Rudd and Pell and Co. are busy kissing hands….
I agree, I want a World Atheist’s Day so I can get a week of free bus rides!!!

I met some young Catholics at Woden Square today…a couple of hundred there. I spoke with a group from Belgium. Seemed like a good spirit happening.

Better than those smelly feral greenie supporters when they gather. What do they cost our community???

I guess $100K isn’t a lot. I’d be pretty narked if I was in NSW. The sums quoted there are mind-boggling. Can we have a World Atheist Day please? I’ll take donations, then people can stay at home to show their non-believe…

not sure what you mean Mael? I didn’t participate in WYD.

“Besides, I’m sure they poured a bunch of money back into the economy during their stay, “

$100k is not too bad I guess, but the organisers can afford their own PR exercise. They would have chosen to host WYD in Australia regardless as it suits their agenda. I don’t think the event should have been funded by any state or the federal government. NSW economic modeling suggests benefits of around $150 million, the cost to NSW/Feds totaled over $180 million. I don’t get it either.

“and it’s not like any roads had to be closed or fences erected”

Flemington road was closed with redirection to Barton highway as it is for all insignificantly small events at EPIC.

Actually a problem with the WYD model is that the “pilgrims” don’t get much chance to do business with the locals.

Lovely for the catholic community to catch up with their brothers and sisters though.

hehe wonder why you would have no complaints LG 😛

Precisely how many people came to Canberra ? $27k in all day bus fares is a hell of a lot of people, or a big whopper.

Snahons_scv6_berlina1:18 pm 14 Jul 08

I would suspect that by cost the govt mean loss revenue as opposed to the cost of providing the service.

no complaints here

Probably equally as justified as an olympic torch relay, and when you look at it up against that, inifinitely cheaper.

Besides, I’m sure they poured a bunch of money back into the economy during their stay, and it’s not like any roads had to be closed or fences erected. I know they’re Catholics but Jesus, give them a break!

It was good to see some full busses running on the weekend instead of empty ones on their routes wasting fuel.

Maybe if they wasted $100,000 on entertaining Scientologists we’d have something to complain about.

I would say that none of the funding from any Govt was money well spent.

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