I'm not just a pretty face you know!!

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A lovely old comedian called 'Sandy Powell.' He sometimes sat a dreadful Dummy on his knee too. He's long dead now but was one of the greats.

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On voting Tory, right now I can't see them doing any worse a job than Labour and I think many people would agree with you. Though as I have said before, I am not a supporter of any particular party, just what I feel to be good ideas.

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AND ANOTHER THING….. :-@ :-@ :-@
Oh, well, p'raps another time…
Thanks for listening.
I was thinking of taking a can of 5 star to SALFORD CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL.
"Ashes to ashes" they want? "Ashes to ashes"- they'd get, off me, so much do I want to protest at the toss-pots, but I don't much fancy Broadmoor.
My rant on here instead, has let them orfff lightly.
The fact that I am a coward of course just wouldn't have owt to do with it?
Haha.
Thanks for lissnin'..
To go back to the beginning and to agree with many uvvers on here; I do hope Widdershins gets the job; it'll be a hoot to watch.
But it's the grate-y voice that gets me.
K

Tatties for now.

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KEITH SIMPSON !!!! you get up there and write that sentence 1,839 times on the blackboard ….NOW !!!! And come to see me in the OFFICE when you're done!

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KEITH SIMPSON !!!! You get up there and you write that sentence on the blackboard 1,873 times…..NOW !!!

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She is pretty sure of her place in the afterlife, so I don't think it really matters to her if we remind her of the obvious fact she is one hell of an ugly old bag. The mother of Old Bags, even.

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Kids of 8/10/12/14….
That is 'from birth' in my eyes, or as near as meks no never-minds.
It is ..'In the genes' enough for me.
A born Catholic carts all this shite around all his life.
Ms Widders/Mr.Tone-ee B. and all the other 'converts' are just dee-loodin' themselves.
They didn't experience Catholicism at the most formative time of their lives.
I did.
So did Jean Paul.
These celebs didn't and as 'catholics' they are Johnny-come-very-bloody-latelies and an irrelevance because they can walk away from it if it gets too hairy.
Liberal peer, Lord Tom McNally was in my class and George Harman Q.C. also went to St. Joe's, Blackpool.

CONTRIBUTION BY STUART McKENNA 1952/1958

I attended St. Joseph's College, Blackpool from September 1952 until June 1958.
One of the most damaging effects of the Irish Christian Brother brand of teaching was the emphasis on the sixth and ninth commandments during religious instruction. They were obsessed with sins against these commandments, covering all sorts of sexual activity. ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ and ‘Thou shalt not covert thy neighbour's wife’ became very widely interpreted. At the College there was compulsory daily lessons involving the Brothers' understanding of the commandments. It amounted to a form of brainwashing, which left the pupils believing they were living in a permanent state of mortal sin. Being in mortal sin was to be condemned to hell for all eternity. The only hope for salvation was to seek forgiveness via the confessional. The religious ideas were linked together and became self-perpetuating, leading down a path to total obedience.
A young boy experiencing the incredible hormonal changes of puberty was quickly made aware that any thoughts, words or deeds associated with new bodily functions that were beginning to manifest themselves, were sources of mortal sin. Anything remotely linked to sex was taboo. All incidents of this nature had to be mentally logged, listed and reported in the confessional.
The confessional was the worst kind of torment. It was a nightmare trying to explain to a priest, in carefully chosen language, how perhaps looking at pictures in a catalogue, advertising ladies underwear had caused arousal. The number of times the shameful act had been repeated had to be revealed. Every sinful act had to be recounted. To hold back was a mortal sin. Some priests were infamous for keeping contrite youths in the box for a long time, probing for details of the offences. It was mortifying to eventually escape and face the group of penitents awaiting their turn and staring expectantly at the confessional door. There was always the fear that these people, gathered in pews just outside the box, had overheard what the priest had said. Simple penances could be easily performed immediately but doing ‘stations of the cross’ for more serious offences needed to be performed later, lest those in attendance tippled to the extent of sinfulness that had just been absolved. It was a mortal sin to forget to do the penance.
The net result of continuous self-examination was a lowering of self-esteem in the pupil and a mentally unhealthy self-consciousness. The permanent feelings of being guilty left enduring scars on the psyche. Phrases like 'irregular motions of the flesh', 'self-abuse' and 'spilling the seed' were etched permanently on young minds. It was all part of the attempt to control the very thoughts of each individual. Pupils were to be seen but not heard. They had to absorb and regurgitate the lessons handed down from the 'very mouth of God' by these Irishmen that had been called upon to do God's work. Being direct messengers of God, they had unquestionable authority. Every pupil also had to consider whether or not God was calling him. It was a mortal sin to ignore the call.
Eventually attending Sunday Mass became a source of acute embarrassment. Communion could only be taken by those in a state of grace. It meant that a young boy with rampant hormones had to go to confession on Saturday evening and withstand all sorts of temptations of thought, word or deed until the host was distributed on Sunday morning. Just going to Mass and not partaking of communion exposed the individual as being in a sinful state. When the priest ascended into the pulpit he seemed to be addressing everyone in person. Young boys blushed agonizingly as the priests eyes swept over them and they squirmed in their pews. It felt as if the whole congregation knew that they were in a state of sin. The Christian Brothers always taught that the ‘eyes were the windows of the soul’ and they could tell what was on your mind by looking at you.
The net result of Catholic indoctrination was that each individual was subdued. If by chance someone was able to withstand the mental onslaught and offered some sort of protest or opposition to the teachings, then the physical abuse would take care of that. Generally the Christian Brothers were narrow minded, vindictive and held grudges. They would invent excuses to wield the strap. Every boy had to know his place. The reading of books was controlled so as to shelter the growing mind from the increasingly corrupt secularism in society. There was a list of books that, if read, were sources of instant mortal sins. Reading was not encouraged except for selected manuscripts.

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Well, they DO have you from birth actually; own you outright, subtly, of course!

You are baptized into the church at weeks old.
You may not know what's going on since you are too busy filling your PAMPERS..but it starts pretty soon around then.
You hear the Rosary at just months old, daily.
Then you get taken to Mass…smell the incense…see the pretty lights ..the lovely clothes…the crib at Chrimbo….and how thrilled you are to be chosen to play Joseph in the Nativ……
THEY…HAAAVE….GOTTTTTT… YOU…FROM….BIRTH….End of..!

There's a Ph.D for anyone, I am sure, to prove at what age things start to mean summat, to 'sink in' as it were.
You are well on your way, at 4 in my case, with the 'lovely' nuns in your first class and the recitation of the 'Hail Mary' on the hour every hour, yes even at that age.
Now '4′ is as near as damn it to 'birth'…innit, me old flower?
I fink so…

You then go on to ask 'How dare they own you…spirit….[etc]..'

They DO, Mr. Monkeychops, boy they DOOO; they bleedin' well DOOOO..!!
They don't ask!
They just NIKE….."do it"…!
And the best of it is, you do not even KNOW you are being owned..!

You then ask, "Find me a pure Catholic that lives by every word of that book and I'll consider your "in the genes"
[etc]….."

Now this is the rub, the rub-a-dub-dub of Catholicism.
There isn't such a being.
The road is narrow…many are called but few are chosen….you have to make sure that you are one of the chosen.

Let's say you are a Catholic.
You get to 7 or so and then you are gently told about sin, prior to making your first confession.
You are told that you commit sin because it is in your nature; you are 'fallen'
Mr. and Mrs Adam started it and mankind has been sinning ever since.
Jesus, the Son of God, was made flesh and put to death in expiation of the sins of mankind and now everything is tiketty-boo; we all get to go to Heaven but you have to work at it; it's not just handed to you.
The kids are fed all this in simple terms but the education is, at least for boys, and I can only speak as a boy, I do not know what goes/went through little girls' heads at school…the education, as I was saying, is ever so slightly slanted towards sexuality, yes even at that age.
A sin is murder for example; another sin might be a bank robbery and all those other serious, jailable offences.
Not many will sin like that in the course of their lives BUT ALL little boys have a wotsit and sometimes that little wotsit has a mind all of its own and gets 'agitato molto' so you try to calm it down and it sort of feels good.
Next thing you know you are 12/13 and suddenly you make a mess and haven't the foggiest what it all is and neither have you any idea why the beautiful soprano voice – which hitherto had had you sooo in demand as a soloist and won you a place in the Viennese Boys' Choir has suddenly gone kaput and is now making noises like a tram on the lines when it turns a bend…skreeeeeetttccchchchchch.
Nobody is going to live by the book 100% but neither are many Catholic men going to murder anyone or rob a bank….however EVERY little boy is going to be a 'banker' or a word which sounds very much like it,
They have GOT you.
Masturbation is a serious, a mortal, sin in the same league as murder AND in the "you'll get sent to Hell for doing that" -stakes.
So a serious, media worthy crime is not necessary to commit, in order to get you sent to Hell.
It is sufficient to be in the privacy of your own bedroom; 'spend seed' and your 'done for', eternally, unless you drop everything, rush off, find a priest and confess to this heinous crime; six times on a Sunday; I know! I have done it! I was 12/13.
The priests were sick to the back teeth with me …regularly..!

Now that is where they have got you.
They know damned well that you are not going to be any Capone, Kray, or Biggs…but they DO know that you will be 'spending seed' out of the marital bond… 'spending it' for bloody BRITAIN…!
On a daily basis and hourly on a Sunday..!.
Thay have GOT you.; prepared you from seven and before, like a sapling, nurtured you to puberty and then pulled the rug right from under you.
The cynicism of that is incalculable.
It is a mortal sin and you will go to Hell for all Eternity for being a Midland 'Banker' and having a 'ham-shank'.
Now, is 'pay-dirt' time for the church once you reach puberty.
They know that you will be in and out of church a dozen times a week for confession and every time you come to the confessional you will be so 'grateful' that you will light a candle (x pennies/cents) and put another x pennies/cents in the collection box.
That, times how many thousands of ham-shankers a week up and down the land, no pun intended?
Some candy over the centuries; megabucks.
They create the 'crime' knowing full well that the precept CANNOT be adhered to, and that it is simply to have you impersonating a yo-yo back and forth to church seeking forgiveness for a crime that they implanted in your head, in the foist place, and which they, and only they, have the power to forgive; Christ Himself said so, they tell you.

Control…?
Shall I go on.

I have been reading a comment on the website of a former school mate of mine from back in the 1950's.
He says much the same thing.
I came across this website by chance; it is the Old Boys' Association of the Irish Christian Brothers school, St. Joseph's College in Blackpool, Lancashire.
I shall post it for you.
I am not sure that this is all relevant to Ms Widdecombe and the article and I shall prob. be mucho castigado for veering orff the subj AGAIN…but what the heck…

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Monkeychops.

Thanks for your comment.

I am in the middle of replying but it is rather long
(-winded..some might/do say!)…

So I shall post it later.

And I apologise in advance to the many who must be/will be bored witless (again) by my 'dislike' (!) of the RCC.
In support of my little diatribe I shall append a letter from an old school- friend of mine who I remember well from the 1950's

I found his comments, which are similar to mine, when I accidentally stumbled upon the Old Boys' web-page for that Irish Christian Brothers school we were both at in Lancashire (Blackpool).

BUT.
If you all ask me nicely…I shall refrain and not post it…

K

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Find me a pure Catholic that lives by every word of that book and I'll consider your "in the genes" theory. Until there's evidence or at least convincing testimonies, there's no way I can accept that as a valid theory. Which is essentially what religion is – theory!

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In short, more Catholic than the pope, these Johnny-come latelies..?

p.s. careful now…we'll get done for "Ramble-on-athon'ing 2009″ again, …toi et moi.

One last point.
It would be difficult to put across the degree of absolute hatred I now have for the catholic church.
I cannot conceive of any convert achieving that same level of 'sick-to-my-stummick' feeling whenever I hear the phrase 'Roman Catholic', or see the pontiff and all the charade/parade in their worldly flummery poncing about the world stage.
That is another example of it being 'almost' in the genes.
Converts can just get up an' go, it no longer 'suiting'
An 'in you genes'..(almost!) catholic can do no such thing.

K.

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It's difficult to imagine anyone expressing the truth about cradle catholics better than you have just done. Any cradle catholic would agree with you 100%, just as any cradle catholic would correctly read and agree with your post number 7 regarding the reference to human genes.

In fact, roman catholic priests say something quite similar, but giving it a positive spin…before passing the collection plate around.

Countless catholic converts can carry catholicism quite convincingly.

It's the stangest thing. It has been seen time and again, and there's no talking to these people: they know it all.

A good comparison for our friends familiar only with the trappings of catholicism – the sour odor of incense and all that – would be ex-gay homophobic fundamentalist fanatics who will attempt to dominate others no matter what, and using whatever means from flattery to the mask of virtue and rhetoric, to gather as much information as is possibly possible without anyone being none the wiser.

They invariably find their way to the front pew which nobody has used since Napoleon was a soldier, and regular catholics tend to avoid them.

Nothing can stop them from imposing themselves because they actually believe that they have re-invented the wheel and that they are going to show you how to use it.

They will stand in awe in front of a stained glass window and only stop when they have double-checked the number of pieces of colored glass needed to produce it. That's contemplation 101, for you.

They will stand up to anyone in the choir who has been repeating the same lyrics for 45 years and tell them how to sing.

They will approach any altar server who has been there regularly slaving away for 37 years and instruct him on how to light the candles on the altar properly.

They will make their way into the pastor's living room and shift all the furniture around, and go through the kitchen cupboards and run their their fingers on the shelves as their smiles turn upside down.

They will find an excuse to come around to the rectory when the collection is being counted on Monday morning to make sure the proper amount is added to their folder, and sneak a peek at who is giving what amount.

They will have the audacity to enter the pastor's study unannounced and question the man's reading material as they handle a dog-eared book on mystical theology, and say something like: 'A bit risqué for a man in your position.'

They will be at the church door in 30 degree below weather a good 15-20 minutes before the pastor routinely opens it just so to tell him how much they suffered in the bitter cold while waiting for him to get out of bed.

They will get a hold of the man after mass and question the very wording of the good book, and insist that their suggestions be sent along to the Vatican at once before the devil sets foot in the place, just like that bishop what's-his-name, that no-good smiling little runt of a man who could easily lose 40 pounds, and drive around in a less flamboyant vehicle.

In other words, Keith, yes, everything you say is true blue, and not too good to be true.

The point being that cradle catholics ought to stand up to these converts when they are attempting – and they will – to dominate and find insult in just having to look at people.

It's been said by the American Association of Psychiatry that religion is a mental illness, something to do with believing your own lies. Was that it? It's almost like being in your genes.

Imagine a child being brought up in an environment like that. What a pair of jeans.

Tea time, cheerio.

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And the same goes for you as went for Simon Murphy.
Read what I actually said, and not what you think I said.

Keith

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Simon, Awww! Come on, man! Gimme a break.
Of course catholicism isn't IN the bloomin' genes!
I said 'almost a genes thing'..!
Come on!
You know what I mean..!
And excuse me, religious belief may well be a choice but not when you are still in your cradle.
Ms. Widdecombe's is a choice.
What choice did/do I and millions of 'born Catholics' have?
Catholicism is 'in' you from day one; as I said "almost" a genes thing.
What I am getting at is, that no matter how hard you try, you cannot get away from the 'walk, in molasses' that being a Catholic is, IF you were born and bred a Catholic.
I may very well be explaining myself with absolutely dismal results but another lapsed Catholic will know exactly what I mean and will be able to explain it far better than I, no doubt.!
The other side of that story is that the likes of Ms. Widdecombe/Blair/Minogue, would, because they HAVE actually chosen Catholicism, be quite able to, and be effective in leaving, were they to 'choose' to walk away from it, much as they 'chose' to walk into it… without the trauma that such apostasy causes catholics of the 'born and bred' variety..
They came into it more or less as a rational choice and that same rational choice will, if they tire of Catholicism, counter any remorse that they might feel in abandoning what once seemed like a 'good idea at the time'
I can quite see Blair arguing with the Pope on homosexuality and being quietly led up a dark alley in the Vatican somewhere and summarily shot.
(Figuratively speaking of course! Don't go taking this literally, like you took the 'genes thing' literally…!)
In other words, he will be told that the "Holy Father has spoken".
End of..!
He can then very easily just get up and leave his new faith and his reasoning will carry him through it, the same reasoning that took him into it, will get him out of it and with comfort and without remorse; the reasoning will see to that.
Not so the once devout catholic who starts asking questions and ultimately decides to get up and leave it all.
Don't forget that they get you as a child, a baby.
That done, they have you for life….
It escapes me the name of the sage who said…" Give me the child and I'll give you the man..! "
He was bang on with that one!
If you are not a Catholic you will not understand and I am sorry for wasting your time but I know that many a Catholic, long lapsed like me, or practising still, will know exactly what I am saying.
Once a catholic always a catholic.
Once a homosexual, always a homosexual in spite of 'wossisname' and friends, Dr. Narcosi, was it?… of recent fame.
That is what I meant by 'almost'.. it is in the genes'.
(Don't forget..I did say 'almost..')
I cannot begin to think of the anguish that the likes of Martin Luther went through, or Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre or Archbishop Roddy Wright of Argyll and the Islands when they abandoned their faith, the faith of their birth; it is like abandoning your own mother, it really is.
I have heard straight men crying over their departed wives, "She was part of me! We were one! She was in my very bones"
That is what it is like to be a Catholic.
That is what I meant by it being ("almost") 'in the genes'.
So gimme a break.

Keith.

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