The army taught me some great lessons—to be prepared for catastrophe—to endure being bored—and to know that however fine [a] fellow I thought myself in my usual routine there were other situations alongside and many more in which I was inferior to men that I might have looked down upon had not experience taught me to look up.
-Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., letter to Harold Laski (1926)
Easter delivered a shock in my life when I was 15 years old. Jozef Galovic passed away a boy I knew since I was 2 years old. From kindy to high school we were in the same class, we played soccer and hockey under the shadows of the High Tatra Mountains. There was a shocked community last weekend when the popular year 10 student Lindsay Sutton (age 15) died in a fire on Good/Bad Friday. Although my daughter did not know him, she knew friends who knew him well - some were skateboarding addicts - others just friends who grew up in the Shire. Last night many teenagers gathered at the Engadine Community Hall to pay final respect to the boy who loved life.
My dad and I saw him in Krakow in 1979 when he said Do Not Be Afraid, Lauren and I saw him at St Peter’s Square in 1984 when his sermon was in Polish - a sermon about relationships and marriage. Then we all, the four of us, saw him when he came to Sydney in 1995. He will be remembered as the unconditional global pope and my cousin Ondrej and my sister Gitka who suffered more than most under communism know why ... From his sickbed, the Pope is delivering an age-old message POPE JOHN Paul II received the blessing for the dying after his health suddenly worsened Church prepares faithful for Pope John Paul II's passing
Eye on Pope & Political Hills: END OF AN ERA?
Pope John Paul II is the spiritual leader of 1.1 billion Catholics around the world, but his 26- year papacy has also touched people of other faiths and Christian persuasions.
Thousands of pilgrims have been drawn to the piazza and stand facing the papal apartments where Pope John Paul II drifts in and out of consciousness.
Some look up towards the windows, whose shutters are open, and blink back tears behind their dark glasses.
Others look at the ground, reciting prayers under their breath. Their murmurs are barely audible as they whisper the words.
As they wait, motionless, they are watched by the stone saints who stand on the arc of columns.
• Pope has touched people of other faiths [Tradition, secrecy mark process following pope's death ; Google on Pope ]
• · Pope was a man of love, cared about the poor ; Who will be the next Pope?
• · · Despite government crises and corruption problems, the economy solidifies Scandal-proof ; But if the Public Education Council's grim prognosis is correct - and all the signs suggest it is - will the Education Premier, a proud product of the government system, be prepared to let history say the public system was run into the ground on his watch? There's no doubt it is a political conundrum. Carr knows that simply spending more money may not be the fix. If the drift away from public schools quickens, it will be untenable to be spending more on a service fewer are prepared to use. Uneducated Sons ; Public education is in crisis Schools scandal: no cash, no hope ; The Public Education Council wants cuts to private school building subsidies New principle found for private school cuts
• · · · Who stashed the drugs into Schapelle Corby's bag? That's about the only question John Ford isn't answering Last line of defence ; Why did [Melbourne philanthropist] Dr Orde Poynton [who died in 2001] leave some $13 million to the gallery to buy international prints? The answer is because we asked them and they wanted to do it. Money follows a good idea. You have got to have ideas." This is not a story about evicting Kennedy. It is about money following a good idea. Businessmen understand this, even if only from self-interest. Politicians often don't. Politicians treat ideas like they treat voters: with caution at best, with contempt at worst. The idea that "you have got to have ideas" Another Parliament on another hill
• · · · · It is almost 60 years since the Rockefeller family donated a prime piece of real estate on the East River in New York for the construction of the headquarters of the United Nations, formed one year earlier. How unlikely such a gift would be today. People of the world ought to be able to see inside UN headquarters ; Kofi Annan has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and it isn't getting any lighter Mark Coultan: War of the world ; Food-for-oil claims another UN scalp
• · · · · · The inevitable is not wicked. If you can improve on it all right, but it is not necessary to damn the stem because you are the flower. - Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., letter to Harold Laski (1921) Carr backs Costa as MPs fume ; I remember this photo - I was one of the slaves at the public relations Summit. Mr Craig Knowles will appear in Sutherland Local Court on April 21. Carr backs drink-drive Minister ; Google on aspirations of the future premier of New South Wales ; Only one in every 100 warrants for phone taps sought by agencies investigating crimes is refused by Australian judges Judges all ears when it comes to hearing requests for phone taps