The Archdiocese of Sydney is contributing $15 million toward WYD events and denies it will be making a profit from the event. On optimistic days the pilgrim juggernaut is expected to hit 500,000 participants and bring millions of tourist dollars into the state.  

What follows are just a few of the July 4th lies and errors that we are supposed to blindly accept: 

·                     The military is glorious, its heroes heroic, and our support is patriotic

The sex industry is expected to be blessed with an increase in customers thanks to the most unlikely of sources - World Youth Day. 

The remorseless destruction of the Murray-Darling river system is arguably the most grotesque of this country's more obscene political and environmental crimes of the 20th century. It's right up there at the top.  

US President George W Bush will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the White House says. 

Spokeswoman Dana Perino said Mr Bush will also visit South Korea and Thailand as part of the trip. 

“Saddam Hussein has also demonstrated a willingness to threaten to use the oil weapon and to use his own export program to manipulate oil markets.

Therefore the U.S. should conduct an immediate policy review toward Iraq including military, energy, economic and political/diplomatic assessments.” 

from Crikey ….. Hitchens' tortured pursuit of the truth

Charles Richardson writes:

After Senator Barack Obama said Thursday that he might “refine” his Iraq policies after meeting with military commanders there later this summer, he hastily held a second news conference to emphasize that he remains committed to his central proposal for withdrawing all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office. 

As these anecdotes illustrate, Downer never learnt the lesson of his tenure as a failed leader of the opposition. His leadership of the Liberal Party was already in strife but it was his ill-judged joke about domestic violence - "the things that batter," Downer chortled - that brought his term to a rapid end.  

Police have told organisations planning to campaign during World Youth Day events they need to have placards, banners and T-shirts pre-approved or risk losing their protest "rights" - even those groups representing victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. 

from Crikey ….. 

Bidding farewell to our worst foreign minister 

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes: 

Oil climbs peak, economies plumb depressions and the future will not imitate the past

To maintain any modicum of modern life, countries and individuals will increasingly turn to electricity generated from renewable sources. There is no way to dramatically increase the world’s oil production, now or in some dreamy future. All the major fossil fuels will be in declining supply by 2025 or sooner if we ramp up use of coal or natural gas to replace crude oil. 

The country's crumbling infrastructure might require an urgent overhaul, rampant corruption might need to be stamped out, and runaway prices might demand taming, but Russia's most pressing task, some observers say, lies in a completely different area. 

Extraordinary new powers will allow police to arrest and fine people for "causing annoyance" to World Youth Day participants and permit partial strip searches at hundreds of Sydney sites, beginning today.