9/27/2009

Sights & Sounds of Italian Jewish Culture. By Uncle Monty.

Sights & Sounds of Italian Jewish Culture.
Story By Uncle Monty.
Synagogue Photos By Alex Albion.
.=.
Even their own fellow Jews got searched for weapons upon
entering Milan’s old Heichal David u-Mordechai Sinagoga
Centrale -at the opening of The European Day of Jewish
Culture that was also cast against the disconcerting back-
ground of Italian military soldiers patrolling the nearby
streets with their deadly submachine guns and the armed
Carabinieri. Such then was the visible tight security,
while plainclothes cops presumably scrunitized one and all
who, like me, wanted the rare opportunity of experiencing
first hand some of the sights and sounds of Italian Jewish
Culture inside Milan’s central synagogue.
.=.
Gathering of Jews and Gentiles inside Milan Synagogue.
.=.
I wasn’t disappointed, even with my inward personal
apprehension that perhaps someone might decide to pull
the deadly tigger of their machine gun or a deranged
person decide to come to commit an heinous crime in the
name of anti-semitism or out of extreme political idealogy.
One never quite knows when some one may just act out
against those who they detest or hate for some irrational
or pathological reason or another of their own extreme
religious or radical political thinking and self-making.
.=.
Panoramic View of Milan Sinagogue From Upper Balcony.
.=.
Fortunately for all, everything at the old Milano Synagogue
when off without the slightest hitch or any ugly incident or
any hint of anything untowards. So, I relished the personal
experience of mine with our Italian Jewish friends who I so
much liked. They couldn’t have been more welcoming once
one was actually inside the Rabbinical House of Worship. I
don’t think even my own Anglican Church is as welcoming
to new strangers as I found toward me inside the historic
Sinagoga Centrale di Heichal David u-Mordechai -at
where hundreds of Jews and Gentiles shared a day to-
gether and so pleasantly on equal terms with each other.
.=.
Inside Milan's Central Synagogue.

.=.
As a Gentile and as an avid Anglican, not only did I feel privileged to enter the synagogue, but I also felt entirely comfy and almost at home. I must say, however, that whenever I have visited Islamic Mosques, which I have inside Iran, Morocco, Europe, and America, I have always felt abit at ill-ease no matter how hard I try to feel otherwise. Not that in all fairness did anything happen inside the mosques in anyway to me personally as a visiting Christian. No sir, I was treated with utter courtesy and consideration I must say, except at Casablanca at where I was actually thrown out of a Muslim cemetery for being a visiting "Infidel" and non-Islamic!! They screamed at me like blue murder!! Oh, boy!! Otherwise, all has been, might I say, “rather kosher” with Islam even with some personal and religious unease of mine. As for the Jews and their synagogues, not once have I felt such ill things with them. Actually and ironically, I feel at times I am almost closer to them than with my own faith and fellow Gentiles for reasons I cannot explain nor do I want to!! Especially, when at one time in my then younger life I wasn't exactly pro-Jewish like I am today in my much older life ... My dear and long dead friend Frank Oppenheimer gentlely helped me to change my then negative views about Jews. Glad he did!!
.=.

^ Memorial Corner Inside Milan Synagogue.
.=.

Glimpses of Jewish religious life are best seen inside the synagogue it seems to me. Catching some of the sights and sounds of Italian Jewish culture was my aim in visiting, although for a Gentile like me I am not privy to the inner family life and time-proven social and faith rituals of our Jewish friends. But that is not dissimilar to other religious groups in which those who do not belong by birth or creed or membership as excluded or discouraged from getting too close by those who do belong. Jews cannot afford to unguard themselves from those Gentiles who by history and religion have persecuted them like so many of my fellow Christians have long before the rise and fall of the Third Reich. Tread very carefully then to be sure that words written and spoken do not offend our friends of the Jewish faith!

I would like to see, by the way, as a Gentile, a Bar Mitzvah and to witness a Jewish wedding that is called "Kiddushin" in Hebrew. Perhaps one day. Although I have visited Jewish cemeteries in America and Morocco, I have never attended a Jewish burial service. This reminds me of last week's sad death of Shelia Aaron's beloved Jewish son Brian. I told Shelia that I would say a little prayer for Brian and for her sad loss of him. She was so grateful for my condolences, too. I would have so wished to attend Brian's funeral had I known in time. Such would then have been my first experience of a Yiddish funeral.

.=. ^ Milan folks waiting to visit synagogue on
Giornata Europea Della Ebraica, 2oo9.
.=.

I entered the Milan synagogue on the Christian Sabbath with the Jewish Sabbath having taken place the day before on Saturday. Let me add for you a few interesting facts about Judaism:
“Judaism is an Abrahamic religion -- a faith which recognizes Abraham as a Patriarch. Others
include Christianity Islam, and the Baha'i Faith. Although Jews comprise only about 0.2% of the human race, Jewish influence on the world has been vast -- far more than their numbers would indicate. http://www.religioustolerance.org/main_day.htm

“The Jewish people were the first people to organize their life around the weekly cycle. They justified the seven day week on the basis of the verse from the Book of Genesis, where it is stated that G-d created the world in six days and on the seventh day He rested. While in captivity in Babylonia, the Jews began a strict observance of Shabbat, or the Sabbath, which is the period of rest on the seventh day. Since the exiled Jews in Babylonia were unable to pray in their Temple in Jerusalem, it having been destroyed by the Babylonians when they conquered the Kingdom of Judah in 587 B.C.E. or 586 B.C.E., and deporting most of the Jews to Babylonia, the Jews created in time what they lost in space: giving the seventh day of the week (Saturday) to G-d in the form of Shabbat, or the Sabbath. In fact, Shabbat is so holy to the Jewish people that in the Jewish calendar, the days are designated by their position in relation to Shabbat I.E. the sixth day before Shabbat, the fifth day before Shabbat, and so on. Exodus 20:8-11 reflects how the week is deeply embedded in Biblical tradition. The "day of rest", the seventh day, is in fact part of the 10 Commandments: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the L-rd thy G-d; in it thou shalt not do any work... For in six days the L-rd made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day: wherefore the L-rd blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it". (Exodus 20:8-11),.” Source: Elimelech David Ha-Levi Website.

Let me say in closing, my day at the Milan Synagogue was wonderful!!

.=.
Uncle Monty with 3 Rabbinical candidates at Sinagoga Milano. .=.

Then there is the Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage:

http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/rpSlideshows?articleId=USRTR2848T#a

.=.

US rabbis urged to focus on ethics for high holy days.

In an unusual move, a group of influential Orthodox Jewish leaders has written a letter urging American rabbis to speak during the 2009 High Holidays on the importance of ethical living, in response to some recent high-profile arrests of Jews, including two NewJersey rabbis in July. In the 3 September letter sent to about 2000 rabbis throughout the United States, the leaders of Yeshiva University, the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America cited "the recent scenes of religious Jews being led off in handcuffs, charged with corruption, money laundering, and even organ trafficking". Ecumenical News International (ENI) and Religion News Service(RNS). Sept. 22nd, 2oo9.
.=.
Enscribed By Hebrew Calligraphy.

Updated: Ecumenical News International. 28 September 2009.

Israel rabbis' group seeks forgiveness for behaviour to Palestinians. Jerusalem (ENI). The head of the Israel-based Rabbis for Human Rights group has urged Jews to reflect on the way in which they deal with those those outside their faith and to ask for the forgiveness of God about mistreating people in the name of Judaism. "The way we treat non-Jews reflects on our God and our religion," Rabbi Arik Ascherman, the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, told Ecumenical News International. "And to mistreat people in the name of Judaism defames and desecrate God's name." [ENI-09-0771]

.=.
Honestly, Uncle Monty.
+YOM KIPPUR, Sept. 27th-28th, 2oo9.
The Holiest High Holiday of The Jewish Faith.
.=.
Perhaps one or two congregants will fast on Yom Kippur.
By Rabbi William Wolff.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6849931.ece

.=.

The VICIOUS ARREST OF ROMAN POLANSKI. By Uncle Monty. Surely this U.S. warrant for Roman Polanski after more than 30 years is a vicious one that the Swiss police should reject without any further ado? And the cunning of it all by the California prosecutor is disgusting! It is time to let him go free, I think. But no, the Americans are always unforgiving to those that cross them like Polanski seems to have done no matter whether he is innocent or not. Over 1 million bench warrants alone are outstanding just in Houston-Dallas, TX. Nationwide, the US is believed to have over 5 million of such warrants for their own citizens and for folks from abroad. The French should be mad not just at the Swiss, but at the American criminal justice system that is so unjust that the US imprisons more than 2 million prisoners and some 400,000 foreigners from almost every nation in the world. Let Mr. Polanski now become free and not a fugitive for some prosecutor to live in glory of his capture in Switzerland and that is now so far away in time and space from California and his then alleged crime of more than 30 years ago ... Forgive and forget, is what I say. (My comments herein are also published in today's timesonline.co.uk, independent.co.uk and Reuter's blog. Sept. 28th, 2oo9.)

UPDATED 30/9/9: Harvey Weinstein: Polanski has served his time and must be freed. It's a shocking way to treat a man who went through the Holocaust and his wife's murder. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/harvey-weinstein-polanski-has-served-his-time-and-must-be-freed-1794699.html

Question in Polanski Arrest: Why Now? By Michael Cieply & David Jolly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/movies/29polanski.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

.=.

THE HUNT FOR ROMAN POLANSKI. By David Gritten.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/6240914/The-hunt-for-Roman-Polanski.html

Polanski arrested as he steps off plane at Swiss airport.
Disbelief after director held on warrant issued by American court 31 years ago.
By Geoffrey MacNab in Zurich.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/polanski-arrested-as-he-steps--off-plane-at-swiss-airport-1794249.html

{Click on any image to Enlarge}
.

9/20/2009

She's Criminalized Herself. By Uncle Monty.

She's Criminalized Herself.
By Uncle Monty.
...
She wanted hired help to take care of her £2
million home. So in walks and talks a Tongan wench
who should never have been in the country in the
first placed. So conceitedly, Patricia Janet Scotland
(shown above) hired her to do her lovely
housekeeping.
...
Yes, she’d checked, so she now says, to be sure the
Tongan she hired wasn’t an illegal immigrant in the
UK. But, guess what? That’s right, yet another illegal
immigrant was she the Tongan wench among hundreds
of thousands of others already illegally inside the UK
because of New Labour’s insane mass immigration
policy to let all and sundry in to come and stay
under the guise of first being legal and free!!
.
... Breaking News ...
Baroness Scotland's ex-cleaner
arrested over immigration offences.
Sept. 24th, 2oo9.
...
Criminally-charge Patricia Janet Scotland, a.k.a Baroness
Scotland, if she herself broke the law as UK Attorney-General.
It appears she may have also broken the very same law that
she so eagerly drafted and then imposed on all others, who by
fair or foul, got caught breaking the law by hiring illegal
immigrants like her own Tongan cleaner Laloahi Tapui.
It seems to me that Pat Scotland has now gotten her
own dirty knickers in a big, big twist.
...
:: Breaking News For Today ::
Baroness Shameless fined £5,000 for breaking
immigration law she helped draft ... but 'it's no
worse than forgetting congestion charge'.
By James Chapman.
...
I think we've seen so far only the tiny tip of the illegal
immigration iceberg of such illegals who have flooded the
UK under New Labour's dacade-old and dreadful mass
immigration policy. Every time I now see an immigrant
on the streets of England, I always wonder if he or she is
just another one of the hundreds of thousands of illegals
already sitting pretty inside our rotting multicultural
and multiracial society that has helped to produce
the likes of Dominica-born Pat Scotland and Tonga-
born Laloahi Tapui as then immigrants to the UK.
...
:: Newest News Update / Sept. 22nd, 2oo9 ::
Attorney General Baroness Scotland fined £5,000 for breaking law.
.
She's now been fined 5,000 quid, but jackass PM Brown still won't sack
her as his own UK Attorney-General! And what's a £5,000 fine, when
she's paid over £110,000 per annum? Plus, remember her $170,000
questionable perks on top of that! So her fined is peanuts to Pat
Scotland, of course!! Most others who have done the same like
her have been fined a minimum of $10,000 for breaking the
UK immigration laws, either by fair or foul, that she actually
first devised. So why not her, too, may I bluntly ask?
FIRE OR SACK HER NOW WITHOUT ANY FURTHER ADO.
Oh, I forgot she's NOT white ...
...
As the first black and Caribbean female to be made
Attorney General of the UK, Pat Scotland, 54, is now
an utter disgrace to the office she holds that again
New Labour gave her and despite her still arrogant grin
after she's criminalized herself. Hiring an illegal is against
the law that she herself helped to pass and so now she’s
criminalized herself due to that. Glad she has, frankly.
...
She needs to get her big black butt off her baroness
title and QC high chair and perhaps get sacked and
thrown out of high office and/or even be deported
back to where she first came from at the age of three
to Britain. Yes, Labour Party jackass PM Gordon
Brown fully supports the blathering black bitch
that she is. And, so what’s new? Nothing, except
the same old stinking immigration garbage
from Broken Britain’s New Labour.
...
Pat Scotland also now joins other so-called "Great
Black Britons" of the ilk of John David Beckett Taylor
of Warwick, Lee Jasper of ex-London Mayor Ken
Livingstone's infamy; and sacked, shady, and defrocked
ex-Anglican vicar Ray Lewis who was a lying rascal and
a no good deputy mayor for youth under the present
London Mayor Boris Johnson. Taylor, Jasper, Lewis
and Scotland all arrived as immigrants to the UK.
...
Not one of them now makes Britain proud! They're
a disgrace to the country and to themselves. And,
they have an arrogrance and sense of entitlement
because they're immigrant blacks to the UK that
beats the British biscuit! But, of course, New
Labour always bows and grovels to them.
I for one most certainly don't ...
...
As for Pat Scotland and her illegal Tongan cleaner,
it was reported first thing this morning that UK
Border Agency enforcement agents had forced
their way into the Tongan's apartment by, more
or less, kicking down the door with a ramming rod.
She, the ex-cleaner, had already fled and gone into
hiding or gone underground since her boss Pat
Scotland was exposed for illegally hiring her.
...
As for her black "ladyship," it is reported that
she's not been seen for days and that all the
curtains are drawn at her £2 million (or $3.7
million) London house. Gossip also says that
those UK Border agents may, just may, raid her
home too, to then gather whatever evidence
may point to Pat Scotland herself. I bet the
shredder is working overtime behind
those closed curtains!!
...
Further gossip is reported today that Patricia Janet
Scotland will soon be without a goverment job and
will in all likelihood be thrown out on her big black
ass or arse. Bingo!! She could also face time in the
London immigrant-filled Holloway female clink,
if she is found guilty of knowingly acting to hire
an illegal immigrant like her Tongan cleaner
Laloahi Tapui. But whatever happens now, the
UK AG has done one thing for certain -
She's Criminalized Herself!!
...
.... UPDATE ....
Attorney General 'faces sack' in mini reshuffle:
Yeeeeep! The AG's $170,000 parliamentary expense claims is
certainly a "small" question to ask!! What else has her "baroness-ship"
Patricia Janet Scotland already gotten away with under New Labour?
...
Here are some more online news reports
about what she's done and her illegal cleaner:
...
Baroness has been Tonga'd! Border Agency smash
their way into flat of Attorney General's cleaner.
By Daniel Boffey and Ian Gallagher.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1214755/Baroness-Scotlands-illegal-immigrant-housekeeper-home-raided.html#ixzz0RbUAVBNe
...
She broke the law, she must be sacked.
By Amanda Platell.
...
UK Attorney-General under investigation for hiring an illegal
migrant. By Francis Elliott. Times Deputy Political Editor.
...
Britain’s Caribbean-Born AG Under Fire For Hiring Undocument Migrant.
...
Minister hired illegal worker.
...
Attorney General "Unknowingly" Employed Illegal Immigrant.
...
Read Now All About The Mess of Mass
Immigration To UK Under New Labour.
...
Delyth Morgan
Yet More Labour Expenses Scandals.
By Uncle Monty.
...
Here's the latest ... Yet another New Labour crony -
this time Children's Minister Delyth Morgan of Drefelin -
has been caught receiving more than £140,000 in ex-
penses by saying a holiday cottage in Wales was her
main residence while she actually lived in London.
...
And, what she actually got in questionable expenses almost
paid in full the actual price of the Welsh cottage to which she
says she bought for £147.000!! Almost then a free house out
of the under-handed deal? Pretty nice, honey!! Despite her
Welsh name and parents, she is English-born at London
and not Wales. So Delyth Morgan, is yet another Labour
Baroness on the take ... She, Pat Scotland and John Taylor
of Warwick, among others like The Kinnocks, should have
their fancy titles yanked right from out under them ... in
my opinion. They're unworthy of such titles and honours
that have now been mistakingly bestowed upon them by
political and governmental means of using our own Queen.
...
City Shyster Ray Lewis.
...
Bad Tory John Taylor of Warwick.
...
Smart Ass Lee Jasper.
...
Are these the best ever words in the English language?
By Harry Wallop.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6207300/Are-these-the-best-ever-words-in-the-English-language.html.
.
DIPSTICK is my favourite word that is applied to anybody
who is utterly stupid or ignorant or simply a "blockhead"
who refuses to learn from past mistakes. A dipstick is
otherwise used to measure the level of car engine oil.
>> My exact comments above also appeared
online in The Telegraph, yesterday <<
...
I have embargoed my story for now entitled "Sights
& Sounds of Italian Jewish Culture" due to the
breaking news event surrounding the hired illegal
immigrant as cleaner by the British Attorney
General Pat Scotland, who is the senior law
officer in the UK.
.
Truly, Uncle Monty
+Archbishop Robert Leighton, 2oo9.
..
My Jewish article will be shortly online, however.
Upcoming soon are also three more stories:
1 - "Britain: Dipshit Little Nation."
By Rachel Sylvester.
2 - "Colonisation of Britain."
By Nicholas John Griffin.
3 - "Nunz & Naziez."
By Uncle Monty.
...
:: LATEST UPDATE ::
Some 48 hours after my blog story on Pat Scotland
was first posted, The Times of London lists her as
one of the top 100 law people in the UK today!!
...
"Baroness Scotland of Asthal, 53, is the first woman Attorney-General
and first ethnic minority. She has just asked the police to investigate
allegations by Binyam Mohamed, the former Guantanamo Bay
detainee, that British intelligence services colluded in his torture.
Scotland was appointed the Government’s chief law officer in June
2007 and successfully fought off moves to strip down her office and
dismantle its powers. She was born in Dominica and came to the UK
aged 2 with her parents and 11 siblings. She went to school in Wal-
thamstow, North East London, and London University. Her career at
the Bar was in family and public law. In 1991 she made legal history
as the first black woman QC and one of the youngest, aged 35. She
was made a Labour peer in 1997 and swiftly moved into ministerial
posts. Always well dressed, she charmed her way through the
corridors of power with skill and sensitivity. She is married to
barrister Richard Mawhinney and they have two sons."
Source: The Times Law 100.
...
So I promptly responded to the above
Times Law List and stated the following:
I was abit surprised not to see listed my old friend RICHARD
GRAHAM SIMKIN of the international law firm of Fulbright &
Jaworski. As a law partner in the firm, he is a top-notch solictor
who travels the world doing law business. The worldwide law
firm is located just across from the Royal Courts of Justice. But
I was even more surprised (and abit vexed) to see among your
list of Times Law 100, the now somewhat disgraced Baroness
Patricia Janet Scotland, the UK Attorney General among the
eminent list of judges, silks, and lawyers. My view is that those
listed should not only be the best in the legal profession, but
must also be the best morally and ethically in their
character and reputation. Truly, Uncle Monty.
Sept. 22nd, 2oo9. am.
>> Times answer: Thank you for your comment.
It will be read by a moderator before it is published.
.
(Disgraced) Baroness Scotland to fight illegal staff inquiry.
...
YET ANOTHER ILLEGAL SET TO MODEL FOR GREEDY TESCO.
Checkout girl chosen to be new face of Tesco is arrested for being an illegal immigrant. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1216429/Checkout-girl-chosen-new-face-Tesco-arrested-illegal-immigrant.html#ixzz0SLr23F8n
update: sept. 28th, 2oo9.

9/13/2009

Inside The 7th Homeless World Cup. HWC Story By Uncle Monty.

Inside The 7th HWC.
Story By Uncle Monty.
HWC Photos By Alex Albion.
...
- BREAKING NEWS -
UKRAINE CROWNED MILAN 2009
HOMELESS WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS
...
My eyesight is pretty good for my old age, I think.
So I think I can honestly swear that I didn’t see one
single publicity poster or a city billboard at Italy's downtown
Milano announcing or publicising to its 1.3 million citizens that
the world sport event of the 7th Homeless World Cup (HWC)
was actually in town. And I went all over town, too, but I
still didn’t eye a thing about the presence of global homeless
football from 48 nations right in town. No, not a thing. True,
I saw alot of other great posters still on the city walls and
billboards and buses and trams and metro telling every-
body of the National Boxing Championships from the
previous week which was now past and finished at
Milano. The boxers had, after all, now gone back home!
In their place, football players from around the world
had arrived to vigorously play their international
games with good sportsmanship and good comradie.
...
HWC Opening Parade at Milano, 2oo9.
...
So did I get it all wrong or what? I don't think so
unless I am blind. The only local posters and small
billboards that I saw was right at the interior and exterior
of the stadium walls of the Civica Arena at Sempione Park
at where the 7th Homeless World Cup was played at the
official venue from 6th-13th, September, 2oo9.
...
Without local publicity, such a venue is made dead
to the locals. Milano is a well-known Italian football
crazy city and such fans would have come in their
droves to watch street-rule football at the HWC had
they been made more aware of what was going on
right under their nose. I think HWC needs in future to
have a signed agreement with the host city to ensure
blanket publicity is secured and provided for at the local
and/or national levels at both before and during the
ongoing homeless games. Such seems certain not to
have happened at the Milano 2oo9 HWC from what
I personally saw and observed. Of course, I may
be wrong regarding such details between
Milano and the HWC.
...

3 of 6 Italian Army Generals Overseeing HWC.
...
My good eyesight didn't see any posters downtown, but
I certainly did eye the Italian military and her generals
festooning at the Milano HWC instead of the civilian police
being put in charge of stadium security. Why on earth would
you have such high ranking military officers - from the high
ranks of Brigadier-Generals to Major-Generals - being
involved in manning a sports venue of the kind the 7th
Homeless World Cup represents? Did the Milano civil and
military authorities expect a bunch of thugz or drunken and
savage football hooligans or what? Or did they expect a ragtag
of foreign rowdies ready to create violent havoc on the streets
of Milano or to riot on the open football stands or what? It
seemed to me that the Milano authorities had formed their
own pre-conceived and negative notions of homeless people.
Thus their prepared military response, if things for some
reason all went wrong with the foreign visiting homeless.
Nothing, of course, did go wrong. Why should it? The
players are groomed and honoured to be on their best
behaviour like they always are the HWC from the ones
I've seen at the far-flung cities of Melbourne to
Capetown to Copenhagen and to Milano. So there!!
...
Such was quite vexing to me to see such military generals
being deployed at homeless football matches instead of on
the battlefields of war for which I assume they were first
trained!! I suspect they nursed war games in their heads
as they pondered over the harmless players from the
four corners of the earth enjoying the knowledge that
"a ball can change the world." Hopefully, such a ball can
also help to change the views of the generals toward
those who are homeless. In the UK, we know that 1 in
4 homeless people are actually ex-military. That should
resonate even with the top military brass of whatever
country they come from. At least, hopefully ...
...
HWC Opening Ceremony.

...
England's Homeless Football Team.
...
Scotland's Homeless Football Team.
...
Homeless Football Team of Wales.
...
The Homeless Players Representing The USA.
...

I noticed that almost every white Western European teams had homeless blacks or other minorities as team players. While teams from Eastern and Northern Europe did not have a single minority homeless player. And, all the African teams had no white players! The Asian teams had only Asian players as seen with teammates from Japan and Hong Kong. China was not represented nor, of course, North Korea, at 7th HWC. But one day they may be! The two homeless teams that defected or requested asylum at Melbourne last year - Afghanistan, the 2008 HWC crowned champions, and Zimbabwe - I didn't see at this year's world cup either. This year I also saw what appeared to be an overall increase in the actual number of homeless black players on the various teams at HWC than from previous years. As for homeless women players, there needs to be more present and encouraged and trained for future world cups. I believe, too, that the world homeless cup can be expanded to include other sports, aside from great football, at some further point down the road. But for now, football is the key sport and that is just fine for the world's homeless players of today and tomorrow.

On the HWC Football Stands. ...
Abit of Italian Pageantry at HWC.
...
HWC's Own Elliot Stroud w/his good boss
HWC President Mel Young, before the first
Milano ball had been kicked off and scored!
Sport by its very nature is primarily for the young and physical. The Homeless World Cup is by its nature an endeavour to salvage the lives of the young and homeless. What such means is that the older homeless - those say over 35 years old - and those without any or little athletic ability due primarily to their age or individual disability, cannot hope to be included or participate in the HWC as a homeless team player for their country. Nor do they have a chance of benefiting from such a worthwhile and perhaps life changing experience that the HWC clearly engenders for many of the players on a personal and social level. My question is how can we apply to the older homeless some kind of program that will do for them what is now being done for the homeless young at the HWC? Certainly, any program that changes the lives of the young homeless is all for the good of the individual and for society at large. If the young stay homeless, they will grow to become the older homeless as they correspondingly grow physically old and emotionally more homeless. That's not good, period. I realise that the present older homeless, or those who are also rough sleepers, are tough customers to not only help but to change their lifestyle so that they can become a productive person both for themselves and again for society at large. How can you take something like the HWC and apply it then to those older folkz who are homeless and whose future at present is pretty dim? I don't know how you start such a thing or how it can be done. But I do know there must be something found that will help to reduce the numbers among the older homeless and rough sleepers! Such leading social entrepreneurs like Mel Young may be able to fathom out some sort of program that will specifically focus on helping those homeless who are no longer young or physical or athletic or even sports-minded. Mel also started The Big Issue Scotland, I believe, and he co-founded the Homeless World Cup. Selling steet papers can apply to almost any age group, but that doesn't do what the HWC does to radically change the condition and state of the homeless person to take personal steps to unbuckle himself from being homeless, being perhaps drug dependent, being perhaps a petty offender, being unemployed or jobless, being perhaps a drunken, and being a person without a fixed abode or a permanant roof over his or her head. Selling street papers doesn't bring care and love, but the HWC does in a very odd way. There is a sense of achievement, of belonging, of dignity and of worth, too, which doesn't easily come about by getting a couple of cold quid from some cold customer on the cold street buying a cold copy of The Big Issue from me the warm vendor. The HWC is then like a pot of gold for many players that brings about a deep desire and clear motivation on their part to change their old negatives into their new positives. If only that could be applied to all the homeless all over the world and for every age group, then a worldwide social revolution of the homeless is surely in the making! Let me stop myself now before I get myself carried away any further or sound more daft by the minute or coming over like a stupid old duffer!! I'm now crossing my fingers and my heart, nevertheless, in the hope that someone, somewhere, may fathom out some program or an answer for the global homeless based on something like HWC.
...
These Guyz Were Real Talented!!

...
The present Homeless World Cup, ironically, has already taken the first concrete steps to tackle the growing and pressing problem of global homelessness particularly among the young ... Well done!! Bravo!!! But how about the older and socially more difficult homeless men and women? Just a thought from me, who happenes to be an old critical fogy who was once homeless himself and who now goes around condemning inflated homeless charities and the like and especially those homeless spokespersons who needlessly live off the plight of the homeless with their false pride and sickening arrogance at the expense of the homeless and the marginalized. I make no apology for my harsh criticism and my open thoughts and my unequivocal opinions whether they're unpopular or not. One thing is very clear - I, without a shadow of doubt wholeheartedly support everything the HWC represents and is now doing around the world to combat global homelessness and to restore the dignity and worth and humanity of homeless people no matter what. "A ball can change the world," but the key is first to kick it and then to kick the evil enemy that is homelessness all around the world.
...
I am now unexhausted, after a good night of sound sleep.
Thus, I have now finished my latest story - Inside The 7th
Homeless World Cup - with all my imperfections and oddity.
...
I am also glad to now be back at home base after
the journey with Maria has taken us to Milano
and Moscow and back ...
...
Cheerz, Uncle Monty.
+Eve of Holy Cross Day, 2oo9.
...
...:: HWC UPDATE ::...
Dave Bidini investigates the homeless
world cup. Home(less) field victory.
By Dave Bidini, National Post.
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A: Hey. Canadian writer here, been to the last 2 HWCs.
Just wanted to drop you a note about yr great blog.
Sat 09/19/09 07:25 pm
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9/11/2009

Mamma Mia, Milano!! By Uncle Monty.

Mamma Mia, Milano!!
Story By Uncle Monty.
Milano Photos By Alex Albion.
Part 1 of 3.
+
Italy’s Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, Catholic Metropolitan-
Archbishop of Milan, was surrounded by high church officials
and armed security agents as he walked from his archbishopic
office to Duomo di Milano – Milan Cathedral - to officiate at the
Order of Deacons. Bishops upon bishops and monsignors upon
monsignors from the various dioceses of Lombardia folked in
almost angelic-style to what has been called one of the world’s
most striking cathedrals before the arrival of himself the
eminent cardinal. It was at this same Duomo that
Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned King of Italy.
+
Arrival of Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi
+
After the service, the young deacons were then tossed up
into the air by their family and well-wishers upon their success
to the Italian diaconate. Many of them will also be ordained later
as full-fledged Catholic priests. As the congregational crowds
thickly gathered, I found myself right in the middle of them
with several bishops wading thru the crowds to get back to
their own bishops' office after the end of the cathedral service.
Fortunately for me and my cameras, some bishops even walked
straight into my photo lens that enabled me to get several upclose
photoshots of them in their full scarlet episcopate vestments.
I also chatted with a number of them, who spoke good plain
English, thankfully. When I told one of the bishops that I was
an English Anglican, he looked at first distrainfully at me and
then warmly shaked my hand with a broad open smile with
then a slight pat on my back. The day a Catholic bishop
should ever become a converted Anglican, then such
will undoubtedly create some kind of resounding
church history and perhaps ecclesiastical furor.
In any event, I was so glad to be present, and by
pure chance to also encounter so many Italian
bishops, at the close of the Order of Deacons.
+
Straight Into My Camera
Did His Excellency Walk!!

+
Such couldn’t have been any more different than the earlier news conference held at the 600-year old Sala dell’Orologio - Milan Town Hall - just two days before to mark the international event of the 7th Homeless World Cup that saw important national sports figures and local politicans, and even Italian army generals in charge of security matters, all proclaiming their unfailing support for the world’s homeless football players. Most of the players from the 48 nations had already arrived at the host city to kick off the world games starting at the very next day. HWC co-founder Mel Young, 56, without any shade of artifice and with his Italian lady interpreter, thanked the City of Milan inside the ornate and packed news conference room for graciously supporting and hosting the World Cup.

I was also asked at least three times if I was the media representative at the World Cup for UK's The Big Issue. I said "No, No, No!!" Regrettably John Bird, I told them, is after all just another "dead bird" among those who live off the plight and condition of the homeless. Oftentimes the hapless street paper vendors of his get the worst end of the ecomonic stick not only from the state of the economy, but even more so from The Big Issue itself. Its bottom line is pure profit, not the true welfare of Bird's own street vendors. Such vendors are today confronted with an unkind and more dismissive Britain toward them due to them being seen as socially-crippled by their own homelessness. And, the ignorant masses of the present bitter British society toward the homeless and marginalized is growing daily. I see it every day from my own Big Issue pitch at Covent Garden with hundreds of thousands who never give even a glance let alone a dime to you. Some folkz I've seen now for almost 5 years and they've never even once said "hello" to me as a Big Issue vendor no matter even if it's Christmas or the dead of winter or a boiling hot summer day or any other time of the year ... We seem to have so many more cold cads now of one sort or another than we did of years past. Dead of heart and dead of mind and dead of spirit and dead toward others is what I see in so many bland faces that always walk on by day in and day out. No wonder they don't care or give a damn thesedays from what I see at first hand on the crowded and careless streets of Olde London Towne ... Will it eventually get better? Hell, NO!! It can only get bloody worse from what I see and hear on the streets from many of my so poorly treated fellow Big Issue vendors. Dead birds are dead to the vendors, too. But please don't tell Dr. John Bird, MBE. The harsh truth is always upsetting, isn't it? Ubetcha!!
+
Mel Young At Milan News Conference.+
At the close of the news conference, a number of the 500 homeless players quickly gathered to be photographed and seen with Mel himself. To many of them, he is seen as a living idol! Yes, he is indeed. For me personally, I admire more and more of Mel Young with each time I have spent with him just like I happily did yet again at Milano. While there, I also spent time with National Army General C. A. Marioli, Sports Minister Christian Rizzi, and the Mayor of Milan Letizia Moratti. We even got ourselves photographed together, minus the general, by some German, Italian, Czech Republic, and French mass circulation newspaper photographers. The Homeless World Cup, I might add, provides a perfect field day for any news photographer worth his or her own salt. As a retired news photographer myself, I took close to 400 digital photoimages just between the news conference, the Opening Parade, and the Opening Ceremony of the 7th Homeless World Cup. That's what I call "a good field day," both photographically and journalistically.
+

HWC Poster at the Arena Civica, Sempione Park. +
And if that wasn’t enough to make you sit up, then throw in an amazing experience at Milano’s 15,000-member Heichal David u-Mordechai Centrale Sinagoga, which was among the host of the 59-venue Giornata Europea della Cultura Ebraica -or The European Day of Jewish Culture. Security surrounding the event was tight with army soldiers with submachine guns patrolling the semi-closed streets adjacent to the 160-year old Rabbinical House of Worship. Inside the huge Old Synagogue, all was alive and well with hundreds of Jews and Gentiles of every kind exploring the various free lectures being held for one and all to enjoy with rabbis and professors discussing the Hebrew life and history of the Italian Jewry. Pity such lectures were only given in Italian, but the under-18 year olds and well-educated Jews spoke easily in English with me. They answered my queries with warmth and politeness. They welcomed me as a Gentile and I enjoyed sitting down with them to discuss our views on Zionism and Christianity and how we view each other. One 17 year-old - who I call "Moshe" - was impressive and articulate almost beyond words. As I listened to him, I realised he had many qualities of a future leader in whatever profession he may decide to choose for his lifetime endeavour. He spoke English far better than many of my fellow compatriots. I was also free to photograph inside the Milano synagogue and that I eagerly did so with delight and respect.

+^ Inside Milano's Sinagoga Centrale.
+ ^ Italian army submachine guns outside the Synagogue.
+
Thus, those three entirely unusual and differnet events that I have herein briefly described stood to suddenly converge in my open mind with words of joyous explanation that shouted out loud - “Mamma Mia, Milano!!” Indeed, Mamma Mia, Milano!!

+
Due to time constraints, I was unable and unhappy not to be able to also attend the planned Anglican Evensong with Contessa Maria at Chiesa Inglese Anglicana-Episcopale of the Diocesi di Europa at Milano’s Via Solferino. Of course, our human condition prevents us from being at two separate places at the same time! I was also unable to attend the news event of Formula 1's appearance of Lewis Hamiliton and his pep talk at the Milano Homeless World Cup that just helped to boost the good aim of the games much like the now acclaimed United Nations open "Message of Support" from Wilfried Lemke, who is the UN Under-Secretary General on Sport for Development and Peace. The UN support can only bring further good, too, for the future of HWC. Yes, yes, yes, "A Ball Can (And Indeed Does) Change The World." Bravo!!!!

I was glad, incidentally, to have a fine Milanese dinner with Maria and four or five of her other close Italian Grimaldi-related friends at Santamarta’s in the heart of Old Milan on Via Santa Marta after missing Evensong together. That made up abit for me missing such that made me so peeved at myself due to my own overloaded schedule while in Milano over the past 10 days. Whatever, my trip here has been a wonderful all around experience ... including some yacht sailing that I certainly didn't want to miss and I didn't! Geneva was the next stop, but instead I'll now spend a few days at Russia's Moscow like Maria and I have done before. She'll then head back to the States again and me back to my home base. Two more related stories are in store soon for my loyal blog readers. Oh, and whoever you are, who keeps sending folkz stupid spam that declares the stupid story that I am already dead, NEEDZ TO GET A LIFE!! It's no longer funny, FUNNY!!
+
Upcoming Next:
Part 2 – Inside The 7th Homeless World Cup.
Part 3: Sights and Sounds of Italian Jewish Culture.
+

^ Uncle Monty At Milano Homeless World Cup.

Greetings again from Italy's Milano, Uncle Monty.
+Eighth Anniversary of America's 9/11.

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