Part 1:
Having enjoyed BOAZ_Davids Journey I thought I would like to write my story.
Its a sad story but it might just be of benefit to those who aspire to be policemen and women.
Im not into "police persons".
It all started off one day back in 1973 in a quiet suburban firestation in Sydney, NSW.
Id been a fireman for some 4 years and was sitting around in the usual station boredom when I happened to pick up a book called "The New Centurions" by Joseph Wambaugh...a book about cops and robbers in suburban L.A.
What a vision that one book birthed.
By the time I got halfway through I knew I had to become a policeman. I couldnt get it out of my heart. You know what a vision is like?
Well...some 6 months or so later, with a bit of help from a pile of references and a successful application, I managed to walk into the NSW Police Acadamy in Redfern NSW.
What a show it was.
A police radio section and classes on the left, a stable for police horses at the far end, a gym along the right hand side and back around the open courtyard in the centre to administration offices at the front.
It was a hectic 12 months of law, police powers and proceedures, firearms training etc but I did well at the acadamy because my heart was on fire for God, Queen and country (well...the State of NSW at least).
At the end of my 12 months training I came somewhere around about 10th in the overall intake of about 126. I guess the fire brigade training had helped...all of that "study practice" made it easy when I had switched over jobs.
I was absolutely thrilled on the day of our Passing Out Parade...though maybe I wouldnt have smiled so much if I had known then what a troubled time I was going to go through.
It took me years get over...and I really wished things had been different.
continued...

Part 2:
How different the two worlds were...the one of the Acadamy and the one of the streets.
Police station life was to put it lightly, a frenzy.
The difference between the two worlds was as far apart as one could imagine.
You hit the floor at the police stations running...and running fast.
Stress blew out to huge levels.
My first police station was in an old historic building down near Circular Quay, Sydney...and I wasnt impressed.
I had wanted a suburban police station close to home that I could easily get to. I was living in the southern suburbs of Sydney and working in the city meant train trips or difficulty parking.
It was later on that I found out that the inner city police stations in Sydney were actually penalty police stations. Guys in the force who had hit hurdles, even country cops, could expect inner city Sydney transfers if they got a bad judgement on their careless behaviour. When you think about it its not a bad system. It took $40,000 to train a constable in those days. The force didnt want to lose the few who hit hurdles and the guys always wanted another chance. The original vision to be a cop is strong one and the guys and gals (only three gals I think in my Acadamy group of 126) usually behaved themselves in a proper manner.
Mostly so, gooses didnt join the job much, though I did come across the odd one who joined just to carry a gun. They were the cowboys and the system usually got rid of them as they progressed. Or they went to Highway Patrol:).
There was no real "buddy" system in those days and you got a "companion cop" for beat and traffic work... with who you did. It could as easily be a sergeant or another probationer. Probationers were needed in the inner city to do "beats" and to deal with the absolute madness of the traffic at certain intersections.
continued...

Please stop.

Part 3:
Though we had been most sternly warned at the Police Acadamy that any form of drinking on duty would cost us our jobs; and we really lived in great fear of such a situation and never thought in the remotest parts of our minds that there would ever be trouble in that area, it was a bit different in real life.
Part of getting to "know the ropes" as they were and indoctrinated into "the system that really was" was to be taken to a pub up in the Rocks part of Circular Quay and shown the way "we were" when no superior officers were around.
The Senior Constable in charge of the beat I was assigned to had decided he would like to stop for a while and enjoy what turned out to be a regular part of "constable police life" in that part of the city.
I couldnt believe it, but here he was taking me in the back door of this old pub and out into a back "police room" for a beer.
I didnt know what to do.
Immediately my most precious of personal visions was under grave threat. What if an officer walked in? I would be dead meat. My career lost forever.
How horrible could things get?
I sweated for weeks each time I got taken there...until I too, slowly, became a part of "the system". There was no way under the sun that I could have said anything.
It simply wasnt the police way.
We were taught vigorously at the Acadamy that "police are for police" and nothing could be said about police business. A secret world required tight lips...all of the time.
It was a fantasy world, that back police room.
Turn around when you enter the room and look up; and there on a small shelf was a London bobbys police helmet... sitting where it had sat for decades.
Cops had been coming here forever.
continued...

Cheer up Bugsy...it gets better later on.
Part 4:
Now "the system" had me hooked I was indeed hooked.
Predisposed to booze as I later found out I was (AA shows a great, truly insightful understanding of the spiritual problem that alcoholism is; and I recommend them most highly for anyone trapped with alcohol. The people are lovely and from all walks of life and the stories of survival are amazing. Dig this!...their programme works).
For the next two years...between arresting just about everyone for most offences in the book...I was still keen... I drank all over our police patch.
In wine bars, in restaurants, in pubs, at city clubs when there for inquires, with Sergeants and Senior Constables and Constables, out of police lockers after midnight when on night shift we would light up the bar-b-que and cook a snapper...playing football at 4am at Lady MacQuaries Chair when we should have been on patrols. I drove paddy wagons and arrested drunken drivers drunker than they were. Drove home after work and couldnt remember the drive home when I woke up.
I couldnt have gone to anyone about my addiction.
We were men and it was a manly job, who would we have gone to anyway? A police GP who would have said lay off the alcohol? Great solution to life-threatening addictions.
Yet...I dont blame anyone. Not any more.
Its the way it was in those days.
Alcohol swamps many levels of society especially where there is high stress.
We only get rid of it if we want too or get forced too.
Praise The Lord they have random breath and drug tests today in the police force. Its such a help in keeping the guys on a narrow path.
I truly, truly wish someone had thought of random breath tests in my day.
continued...

"continued..."
Posted by Gibo, Tuesday, 29 April 2008 8:45:51 PM

WHAT!!

What is happening here? This is a blog.

Is a trend now starting?

Gibo, might I suggest you create a blog here:

https://www.blogger.com/start

It won't happen TRTL. There's no incentive. Threads have to be approved. GY, or his team are saying it's OK!?

It's becoming bizarre.

Nice one, Graham Young, for approving this blog.

Gibo this is no attack on your writing or experiences, but why do blogs belong on an opinion forum?

Perhaps I should start writing a blog on here as well and title it

"The Past Nine Lives of my Mischievous cat."

I think from the similarity in prose, Gibo and BOAZ are the same person! Seriously. Read the writing style of both!

Dear Gibo,

I think that you are really lucky to have left the force.

Although, I suspect that you're still paying the price for it in so many ways, today.

For any person to be exposed to the ugliness of our society, at such an early age, could not have been easy.

It explains your turning to religion for answers.

Take care.

Part 5:
After the city came the suburbs and more alcohol, though not as prevalent as the inner city penalty stations. On and on I drank.
What I had gotten trapped in, was now beginning to effect my home life.
Every other day I was getting on the alcohol and the quality of my work was deteriorating. I was losing heart.
In the end I just quit the job. Too much stress and too much addiction.
A wonderful dream lost.
The drop out rate for constables in those days was about 70% in the first 7 years.
I became one of the 70%.
I was bitter for many years afterwards because I saw it as a departmental problem. They allowed the alcohol culture and even supported it...and it had claimed me.
It wasnt until about five years later; and in another part of the country, broken and in despair and contemplating suicide, that I finally got set free by The Lord when I read a prayer of repentence in a christian book, confessed my sin and invited Jesus Christ into my life as my Lord and Saviour.
What a wonderful day that was.
All of the bitterness just vanished.
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord jesus Christ will be saved"...Romans 10:13...is such a true scripture. HE's there when you need Him.
So what advice could I give to anyone wanting to join the police...
1. be sure you want to do it,
2. find out as much about the force you want to apply to as you can, including the status of random breath testing...random breath testing is there to protect you, as well as to keep an eye on your behaviour.
Advice to girls...
Think twice about joining police forces or the armed services.
The vast flood of pornography has created a culture of sexual harassment in both emergency services and in the military and there seems no end to the misery that young women can get caught up in, just by being there.

Gibo “It all started off one day back in 1973 in a quiet suburban firestation in Sydney, NSW. “

I recall, with fondness 1973, I was swishing around the world on a luxury liner (which is about to be retired), courtesy of the owners and given $50/day tipping allowance to boot and got married the same year.

And again, just last week I was enduring the bars of the Pacific Dawn, as we traversed the western pacific islands of Noumea, Ouvea, Vanuatu and not quite Pentecost.

In between these exotic sojourns, I have worked in the computer and music industries and for many years run my own business.

Without arrogance, I can get all that into part “1”, the other 4 parts ignored.

Whilst I reckon my life, since 1973, including 2 marriages, 2 daughters, multiple business paid and personal visits to interesting international destinations, a trans-world migration plus a few years in USA probably makes a more interesting read, I do not intend to turn it into a posting serial. Nor will I inflict upon you the 2 ½ hours of video I took on the last cruise.

Sorry folks, you will all have to wait for the book.

To be entitled “Col Rouge, my downfall in his roll”

And the sequal “JC, can you see the roof of my house from up there?”

Now maybe Gibo can direct me to where I find all that gratuitous porn. . .

I dont think this was a blog Celivia.
Its more of a help for youngsters wanting to go into the service....and it is an interesting story.
I enjoyed a lot of what I did in those short years despite my later fall.
I had many adventures as a policemen and helped many people. Especially street people.
We even kept public toilets open for a while longer so people could use them for what they were designed to be used for by moving on the gays after dark.
If I was in the job today I would be telling them about Jesus and sin and repentence and gently moving them on:)
Thanks Foxy. It was a hard trip but it did lead me to The Lord. For that I am grateful.

G'day there GIBO...

I must admit your writing style, turn of phrase and syntax, seems remarkably similar to our friend BOAZ, as someone herein previously pointed out ?

Anyway that aside, I found your personal revelation curious to say the least. As several others have identified. I'm not entirely sure as to the appropriateness of your story in this particular Forum.
But gee, what do I know !?

You said you went through 'cockroach castle' in '73. Old Jack (John) Slieger would have been OIC in those days ? He may have retired just before you went through. ?

And Phillip Street GIBO, that was 4 Division. A lot of the Brown Bombers (Parking Cops) were stationed there too, if my memory serves me correctly.

Question, if I may...why ? Why did you feel it necessary to bare you soul here ? Would it not be more pertinent to relate your 'story' in some christian/temperance specific site or blog ?

Well in any case, you DID choose to articulate your 'years as a young cop' in this Forum, so the best of british luck to you.

I am as mystified as many others as to why this thread along with Boaz's thread 'My Journey' were approved. Boaz could just as easily have self promoted on one of the many pre-existing Anzac threads. As for Gibo this rightly belongs on either a personal blog or christian/temperance site - as others have correctly noted.

This type of editorial control is an insult to those of us to truly wish to express genuine opinions on current issues.

I have reached a point now that I will simply ignore future discussion threads started by either Gibo or Boaz - there are too many of them by these two people. I am sure that other posters have interesting ideas for discussion and would like to see a wider cross-section than we have had in recent months.

Fractelle, I consider both David and Gibo serial pests and next time there is a discussion about posting rules will suggest that limits on the number of threads an individual can start within a period might be useful.

On the other hand their numerous pointless threads don't stop the rest of us from trying to start new discussions. The sites editorial policy seems to be very hands off. I don't know the rules for new threads to tell why some get approved and some not. It was a possibility in Gibo's first post that he was actually going somewhere with this.

As it turned out Gibo has given us some insights into his long term character, behaviours that I've seen on line appear to have been with him for some time so maybe it's that the penticostal movement attracts people like him rather than creates them.

We now know that Gibo's time as a cop was many years ago and relatively brief rather than extensive and recent as could have been read into some of his claims on one of the anti-porn discussions.

I'd not be keen to see the site used like this regularly but we do have the choice of avoiding this stuff.

Cheers
R0bert

Robert.. thanx for the kind words about 'serial pest'... my self esteem is suitably adjusted.

Then...you said something of actual value...

"On the other hand their numerous pointless threads don't stop the rest of us from trying to start new discussions."

Quite right. so...do it, rather than calling us serial pests and (along with a few others) sniping from the sidelines.

As the saying goes. "There are those who ask 'what happened'.. others make it happen" be a maker rather than a wonderer.

GIBO... I appreciated that little testimony. For all those who simply criticized Gibo, they could have made some constructive comments on police procedures, and suggested ways of correcting these problems of hidden drinking rooms. That was quite a revelation to me.

I can't speak for Gibo, but for me, the 3 posts I did, are not something I'll do very often. Also, the number of threads started by people.. seems only a problem with its 'me' or one like me, if say Steven L Meyer puts 3 in a couple of days.. no problem, no bleeting.

But that criticism is quite valid, and I for one don't wish to overwhelm the forum with 'me' stuff... so perhaps I'll take a low profile for a while ? :)

Rob..you speak a lot about 'choice'...but when people exercise it in a way that irritates you... aah..call out the storm troopers :)

GINXy.. soooo ur a "Socialist" but you don't want to discuss it?
at least now we know your ideological reference point...and.. I thought you were not 'religious'.....but clearly you follow what Jesus describes as 'the god of this world'....which might explain some of your rather feisty diatribes against The Faith...

O Sung Wu.
I never heard the place called "cockroach castle"...but the name fits.
I got a pleasure out of BOAZ_Davids little story so I thought I might write one of mine.
I did it to help anyone thinking about joining the police and to warn them of the trap... the alcohol culture... which Im sure still exists today, though hopefully somewhat diminished since the implemetations and subsequent decisions following the Royal Commission into NSW police corruption.
Im led to believe that people actually read OLO?
I also (simply) like to expose stuff thats hidden. "Have nothing to do with the works of darkness but expose them"...Ephesians 5:11.
If we bring hidden stuff out, God gets to Deal with it...which He does.
I always like to do a bit of preaching, even here on OLO.
It reminds people of whats been going on (Adam and Eve til today) and points to the Real Answer which is getting Jesus Christ into your life.
Its absolutley terrific to become born again.
You can confess the sins and invite Jesus in anytime.
Christians cant help themselves if they have had a miraculous conversion out of lifes dark side.

Thanks BOAZ_David for you encouragements.
That little drinking room was like a "time warp" back into another age.
Inside it was like a fantasy world where cops did their thing... but in truth... should never, ever have been there.
I often wondered if that room was still there in that old pub up in the Rocks, as a police room, and if the London bobby's helmet was still sitting on the little shelf above the inside of the door we had just walked into the room through.
I dont know why, but I feel sad writing this little comment...like some vital part of my youth had been lost:)
I guess I still need a bit of healing.
My vision to be a policeman was so powerful.

Well, it's certainly different.

But to me there's a whole lot missing. Much pasta, no sauce.

>>The drop out rate for constables in those days was about 70% in the first 7 years. I became one of the 70%<<

By my reckoning, that leaves more than 25 years unaccounted for, Gibo.

So, you were a fireman for four years, a trainee plod for a year, and on the beat for a maximum of seven. That only takes us into the early eighties.

>>five years later; and in another part of the country, broken and in despair and contemplating suicide<<

How did you get there? Were you a hobo ridin' the rails, perhaps? Or an itinerant encyclopaedia salesman - which would explain the contemplation of suicide.

I know there have been complaints that you have already written too much, but I'm of the opposite persuasion - I can't wait for the next installment.

Much of the reason for my enthusiasm may be that I have hitherto been under the impression that "Gibo" was in fact a psychologist of some immense sophistication, casting his line into the turbulent waters of OLO to obtain samples of reactions and behaviours that would form the basis of his book.

But to see him as - quite possibly - a real human being is quite an education.

Please, more.

To his credit, Gibo wears his heart on his sleeve.

The eminent 18th-century German poet and philosopher Friedrich Schiller wrote,

"Man is honoured by his heart, not his opinions."

RObert.
I agree with you about the number of threads we should post.
I dont know how many I can do in say a week...and Im full of stories.

If any of you wondered why Im a bit hardnosed at times it was the training and the living of the cop life.
Long career, short career it dont matter either way RObert.
Years and years later Im still a cop.
Im not in the job but Im still a cop.
Its the indoctrinations from the Acadamy.
They never leave.
I find myself watching everything. I memorise car rego numbers all the time and from time to time write them down in case anything happens that I can refer police to.
Imagine thousands of cops/ex-cops out there right now memorising all they see just in case.
Its in my heart. Im a walking eye witness.
I cant get rid of it. Its in that initial training.
This is why I put so much down to the eye witness testimony rather than some elses reports.
PS: RObert. Its not just the pentecostal christian churches that attract people like me. People go anywhere, to any christian church they can get help.
In the end wheres there to go but God? Theres nowhere. This is why AA looks to God as the Higher Power to get rid of the addiction.
I actually started off with the Salvos then moved up to lively christianity. Boy some of those pentie churches jump!

Seriously, please stop.

I am sick of hearing about your addictions and other mental illnesses.

Part 6:
The years that followed Pericles were much quieter.
The booze cost me a wife and a young son only weeks old.
Yet The Lord rectified this years later and my ex-wife and I are very good friends today.
God Had His hand on me during those bad times and when I was at the bottom Christ saved me through a prayer of repentence in a book on the endtimes (The Cosmic Conspiracy by Stan Deyo).
I was so happy when I got born again I cried for weeks... I was that joyous.
God sure was Gracious to reach out to a near dead man.
My son today is a born again christian so mostly all is well with family. My mother died a born again christian and so did one of my brothers. Im still working on the second.
After the police years I drifted. Into security then on to suburban deliveries. Then off to the the country to escape the alcohol...but you dont.
You cant get it out only the Greater Power that God is can do that. In the bush I fell into longterm unemployment and suffered its torment.
Having suffered longterm unemployement I sure have a heart for bush people today. Theres thousands of jobless out there waiting each fortnight for dole day to come around just to get away from their misery at the pub.
If only the big city folks could get reminded of this fact...that people are dying in the bush because of no jobs. Their hearts might reach out a little.
After I got saved I wrote. On the New World Order, 666, the coming world antichrist and his mark on either the right hand or forehead (Revelation 13:14-16)...visions and prophecies on an invader, christian revival, anything christian or Bible. I actually did a book. On the invader...its a bit heavy though. The knowledge is not for all.

GIBO...

I did a bit over 28 years in the job, and now retired. Sure there's a drinking culture, but no more or less than other disciplined organisation (the firies, armed services etc ).

From what you say, it sounds like you were either not entirely suited to the job, or conversly, the job was not suited to you ? Mate, I'm not having a go at you. You just don't seem to fit the usual demographic or profile of a copper, that's all.

I gather you were GD's ? What was the last patrol to which you were attached ? Seven years, you'd be 1st class or senior constable (by exam) I suppose ?

Gotta say old friend, most of the blokes I knew would give the drink a fair old nudge, but not to the extent that it appears to have affected you ?

You suggest that coppers serving, and ex. are constantly in a state of vigilance...emmmmmm ! My wife is still a working detective (18 and a bit years) and part of a fairly active 'task force'. Must admit, I've never noticed her exhibit 'hypervigilance' when we're out and about ?

I suppose there are squads that, by virtue of their tasks, are exposed to incidents that may (over time) affect them emotionally eg. 'prang gang', divers, search & rescue etc.

Anyway GIBO, best of luck to you. You're not in the job now, try and forget it and involve yourself in more pleasurably and constructive pursuits, rather then musing and dwelling on the past.

I will admit though, the job greatly assisted in the destruction of my first marriage.

GINXy.. soooo ur a "Socialist" but you don't want to discuss it?
at least now we know your ideological reference point...and.. I thought you were not 'religious'.....but clearly you follow what Jesus describes as 'the god of this world'....which might explain some of your rather feisty diatribes against The Faith...
Posted by BOAZ_David, Thursday, 1 May 2008 9:08:27 AM

YOU suffer enough verbal dysentery to cover ANYONE'S need to expand on their beliefs.

The God of this world?? I thought that was you..or Giborish.
You two don't believe in God;-you're trying to take her place.
________________________________

These two blogs have been allowed because they espouse the Christian faith.

That is why.
_________________________

This trend, and the increasing difficulty in getting a post NOT to time out (twice today), is discouraging.

"I dont think this was a blog Celivia. Its more of a help for youngsters wanting to go into the service....and it is an interesting story."

An interesting story, Gibo? You have got to be kidding!

Not only is it far from interesting, it is, as others have pointed out, totally out of place on an opinion forum such as this.

What is it with you born-agains? Why do so many of you feel compelled to inflict your life story onto the rest of us? And what deludes you into thinking it might be of interest?

I'm with Bugsy here. Please stop!

Graeme Gibson, this is your life...

Bronwyn: << I'm with Bugsy here. Please stop! >>

Agreed - but not until after we hear about close encounters with UFOs and demons. Or were they really manifestations of Gibo's drinking problem?

Those are the parts I'm waiting for too, CJ.

>>...but not until after we hear about close encounters with UFOs and demons<<

We keep hearing about them in tantalizing snippets in postings on various threads, usually unrelated to the topic at hand.

It would be good for all concerned, I think, to hear about them within the framework of Gibo's life story, so that we can all give them their proper context when they turn up elsewhere.

How about it, Gibo? These are, after all, the most significant events in your life, are they not? Way, way above pondering police helmets in a Sydney pub.

O Sung Wu. Perhaps youre right about some not being suitable for the job or the job suitable for them.
I enjoyed much of my service though. I enjoyed the two-way with the street people.
It installed a heart in me I previously didnt have.
I met and saw things I never would have seen if I hadnt joined.
Looking back I think Phillip Street was a unique station. It was one of the most beautiful city locations in Australia.
Down at Circular Quay Phillip Street seemed isolated from the rest of the city.
At the end of each day 1 million people went home and quite often it became quite quiet.
There was time then amongst the "choir boys" who had been sent there for the goof off.
I never saw another police room like the one up in the old pub in the Rocks, so I presume that it was a one-off established long ago in a time when the department wasnt functioning so well as it is today and the drink thing was stronger.
There probably would never have been another police room like it anywhere in the city.
Good to hear you mostly came through unscathed. Sorry about your first marriage.
I got to leave this thread now... lifes bitter crows and coming down for the seed too often.

Gibo: << I got to leave this thread now... lifes bitter crows and coming down for the seed too often. >>

No fair Gibo. I won't be able to sleep until I hear about the flying saucers and demons :(

Sheesh. No wonder why kids prefer Harry Potter.

"I got to leave this thread now... lifes bitter crows and coming down for the seed too often."

This sentence is so bad it's almost good. It's quite poetic in a way.

Well I guess that just leaves us bitter crows! We'll just have to pick amongst the crumbs of Gibo's words.

The demons and other unexplained mysteries will just have to wait. For a good long time I hope!

Don't knock it.

>>lifes bitter crows and coming down for the seed too often<<

That's straight out of the "acid poet" canon.

I thought it died out in the early seventies, but it's still around, apparently. Here's a sample.

"hybred sins dressed in green
needs an hour or two.
she tries to cope with reality
is not her plight, but that of the beasts.
when they all circle the eye, is when the time is,
the time for action and reaction
sound and repercussion
bring me here, for the land's green and the people are smeared
further blue sky, purple blue yellow
kill the time with a poison"

By elliott.

It's still a pity we didn't get to the really interesting bits, Gibo.

Thanks to participants on this thread too.
I enjoyed telling the story.
It helps sometimes to "get it out" and release the backed-up pressure of the years.
They do this very well at AA and it really does help the folk there. AA has a wonderful program and has helped me much:)
Dont be shy if you need help.
Jesus first then AA.

Gibo, are there any reliable statistics on the success rate of AA?

I'm asking because I recall having read that the failure rate of the AA's 12 step program is very high; so high that there was no difference between the number of AA participants recovering from their addiction and non-participating addicts.

Havent seen any stats Celivia.
I find that if they adopt the 12 steps and open up to the "Higher Power" they can get through the rough periods and accumulate the time needed to get a fresh start.
The secret is in the prayer part and not missing fellowship meetings. Outside of an on-fire for Jesus christian church, Ive found them to be wonderful needy people. Sort of holy, but a bit back from that clarity.
AA I believe started off many decades ago full on for Jesus but took a hit from the devil and cut the Jesus connection out and went for the "Higher Power" presentation. They lost much power in those subsequent days, but God is Still there.
I feel Him in their meetings, still working on folks lives.
I think they are trying to get back to roots at the present time. I hope they go back far enough to pick the Jesus thing up again because its Jesus that sets us free when we go to Him in prayer.

Gibo: << Jesus first then AA. >>

But when did the flying saucers and dueling with demons happen? Between Jesus and AA?

Ah this topic is back. I hold it high as the epitome of Graham's editorial standards.

The UFO's came via Stan Deyos "The Cosmic Conspiracy" (still on the net...why not buy a copy).
Its actually a very interesting book with a plausible explanation re: UFO's and man-made flying disc technology.
The demons came with the knowledge that they are there; and dont like christians who step out publically for Jesus.
In recent years the attacks have almost disappeared.
Strong christians dont give up no matter what the hairy ones send against them:)
I like AA "hope meeetings" having been recommended them by a deliverance type of christian ministry.
I might actually adopt the AA type of counselling, as a way of occupational help to assist others get set free from alcohol.

Just goes to show Usual Suspect that GY has a good heart and a keen nose for an interesting life story.
That he can smoothly move between the two worlds of... 1. the toffee nosed intellectual on this site who is so bound by fear, "theory distraction" and inadequacy that he is unable to come to The Lord to get saved from his ignorance and life misery...
and 2. the real people with genuine feelings who have needs and who are open to God.
His editorial standards were simply fine.

I'd agree with Gibo's last line, but I reckon he says it for all the wrong reasons.

Problem is, Usual Suspect, I don't know of any real method of sorting the rubbish from the genuine material, that wouldn't be an elitist approach. Ultimately, censorship is censorship, even if it does seem warranted, so I appreciate the light hand they take here.

Though I'll admit, when I see the quality of reasoning behind certain comments, I see where you're coming from...

Gibo,

I would really like you to open your heart to the Spaghedeity. Just look at this site and your mind will be opened and you may be touched by His noodly appendage.

http://www.venganza.org/

Very persuasive, Suspect.

It's true, Gibo. If you think Deyo's flying saucer conspiracies are persuasive, check out the graph on ocean temperature versus the decrease in pirates.

It's clear evidence, people. A prophecy of the worst kind.
Unless we get more pirates back in the ocean, we're on a collision course with doom.

(...................grabs wooden leg, eye patch, parrot, rubber dingy, and races to door.......)