The whole world is abuzz with Swine Flu.
There is talk of a worldwide pandemic, hundreds of fatalities,
schools and universities closing and public events being
cancelled.
So what the heck is this swine flu?
Firstly, pigs are prone to the flu virus.
They have been getting the flu for eons, and although
they are also vulnerable to human flu, they have long
had their very own variety, hence swine flu.
People who work with swine, especially people with intense
exposures, are at risk of catching swine influenza if
the swine carry a strain able to infect humans. However,
these strains rarely are able to pass from human to human.
The reason why medical science has not
been able to find a cure for the flu virus is because
this is a very tricky virus hell bent on survival.
The flu virus constantly changes form to elude the protective
antibodies that the human body develops in response to
previous exposure to influenza, and to flu vaccines.
Every two years the virus undergoes minor changes, and
then, every ten years or so, when the bulk of the human
race has developed some level of resistance to these minor
changes, it undergoes a major change.
The 2009 Swine Flu is believed to have mutated in pigs
from three different flu viruses, namely human, swine
and avian flu.
The only deaths directly attributed to
the virus were in Mexico, and the World Health Organisation
says that there have only been seven deaths directly linked
to the virus. They claim that the media reports of hundreds
of deaths are false.
Most people affected by the virus experience only mild
symptoms and recover completely.
The reason why this virus is being regarded
as extremely dangerous is that in 1918-1919 as similar
mutation called Spanish Flu caused a devastating pandemic
that killed over 50-million people worldwide.
Then, in 1957, the Asian flu pandemic
infected some 45 million Americans and killed 70,000.
Eleven years later, lasting from 1968 to 1969, the the
Hong Kong Flu pandemic afflicted 50 million Americans
and caused 33,000 deaths.
This is also the first time that a mutant
of Swine Flu has been able to spread easily and widely
from human to human.
_________________________________
FUN AND GAMES IN STORE
FOR WESTERN CAPE - Wednesday 29 April 2009
The DA, with Helen Zille at its helm is
set to rule in the Western Cape and if nothing else, it
seems like we can look forward to some amusing political
fun and games over the next five years.
Although the ANC claims otherwise, they
did rush through legislation before the elections that
virtually gives the national government the power to thwart
any opposition local government.
The ANC claims that the amendments to
the Constitution 17 bill was a bid by government to speed
up plans to create six regional electricity distributors
and remove delivery deadlocks.
Zille on the other hand implies that the
bill’s wording allows it a broader scope, enabling
national government to limit the executive authority of
municipalities in respect of local government matters.
‘This will enable a centralised
ANC to severely limit the mandate of elected local government,
especially where the ANC does not govern and where local
authorities legitimately refuse to implement ANC policies,’
she said.
"This includes electricity and gas reticulation,
water and sanitation, fire-fighting, refuse removal, waste
disposal, markets, municipal roads and cleansing."
Helen Zille does not come across as someone
who will allow herself to be bullied, and the fact that
the ANC lied by denying any knowledge of amendments to
the bill when it was questioned before the elections,
spells political fun and games in store for the Western
Cape.
Jessie Duarte’s decidedly schoolgirl
statement after the elections, when all she could come
up with was 'If we could venture one criticism of the
DA we think they're very good at instilling a gevaar [danger,
or fear-mongering] notion but not actually building a
nation. You can't build a nation on threats. Reconciling
people is not their biggest strength,' adds an interesting
dimension.
________________________
WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS
THE ROAD - Tuesday 28 April 2009
This is not rocket science.
As far as I know, it’s a trick question that I heard
for the first time when I was about five years old. The
answer of course is ‘To get to the other side.’
Small things amuse small minds.
But, if you Google the question you get
all kinds of philosophical, technical, scientific and
even religious debates around the question.
Come on people.
Don’t confuse the question with ‘What came
first, the chicken or the egg?’
Now that is grounds for all sorts of debate.
Anyway, here are some quirky speculative
answers from well-known figures. Louis Farrakhan:
The road, you will see, represents the black man. The
chicken crossed the "black man" in order to
trample him and keep him down.
Martin Luther
King, Jr.:
I envision a world where all chickens will be free to
cross roads without having their motives called into question.
Thomas de
Torquemada:
Give me ten minutes with the chicken and I'll find out.
The Bible:
And God came down from the heavens, and He said unto the
chicken, "Thou shalt cross the road." And the
Chicken crossed the road, and there was much rejoicing.
Darwin:
It was the logical next step after coming down from the
trees.
O.J. Simpson:
It didn't. I was playing golf with the chicken at the
time.
Colonel
Sanders:
I missed one?
_______________________________
LIFE
UNDER A CORRUPT LEADER
The country was ‘reborn’ during
1992 – 1994, and the republic is now fifteen years
old, having undergone a major political reconstruction.
Newspapers and magazines are sued for any negative reports
on the country’s leader, and cartoonists are fired
for depicting him in a bad light.
The country is battling political corruption, but its
leader managed to pass legislation that grants a ‘sitting’
president, (himself) immunity from prosecution for charges
of corruption, bribery and fraud.
WELCOME TO ITALY!
Italy’s head of state, Silvio Berlusconi
is a real estate and insurance tycoon, bank and media
proprietor and sports team owner. (AC Milan).
According to Forbes Magazine, he is the third richest
person in Italy with personal assets worth $9.4-billion.
He is also the second longest-serving
Italian head of state, having held the position on three
separate occasions since 1994., and the longest-serving
current leader of a G8 country.
In 1994, a mere three-months after launching
his Forza Italia party, he was elected Prime Minister.
In order to win the election in 1994, he shrewdly formed
two separate electoral alliances with parties that were
not alligned to each other.
He then launched a massive campaign of
electoral advertisements on his own three TV networks,
promising to create one million more jobs, and subsequently
won the elections.
Silvio Berlusconi with
second wife Veronica
Silvio Berlusconi has an
extensive record of criminal trial and allegations, including
mafia collusion, false accounting, tax fraud, corruption
and bribery of police officers and judges, and exploiting
prostitutes.
Berlusconi has been tried in Italian courts
in 12 cases.
In all but one, he was either acquitted by a court of
first instance or on appeal, or when proceedings came
to a halt because the statute of limitations had expired
as a result of his defence team’s delay tactics,
or because of changes in the law, in some cases promoted
by his very government.
And here you thought I was talking JZ.
__________________________________________
MILITANT ACTION AGAINST
FLAME-GRILLED CHICKENS - Thursday 23 April 2009
When I first saw the ad, I thought it
was Julius Malema.
Then, when he correctly worked out the change for a meal
costing R33.95 when paying with R40 and R100 respectively,
I realized that it was not really Malema, but indeed a
caricature (is that the correct word?) that resembled
The Ju.
There is no way in hell that The Real Ju would be able
to calculate R6.05 and R66.05 off the cuff, just like
that. No way.
He should have let things
be. It was good for his image. It would have stopped in
the tracks any future remarks about his grades at school.
In fact, I think that The Ju probably
would have left it at that.
According to initial media reports he did say that he
was not offended in the least.
But, being a comrade in training, the
ANCYL president has to take his cue from the head honcho,
and the head honcho knows better than to let the opportunity
to make a fast buck pass him by.
The head honcho is suing everybody left right and center,
including Zapiro.
Oh yes, the head honcho knows that portraying political
leaders as cartoons spells money.
But The Ju, not surprisingly, did not
get the whole picture and as usual opened his mouth before
he grasped the money/mouth concept. Put your mouth where
the money is Juju. Bad Juju.
And, as usual, the youth league threatened
‘militant action’ against all flame-grilled
chickens if the ad was not withdrawn immediately.
Because they don’t really have any experience with
such ‘militant action,’ their spokesperson
could only respond with ‘You will see it when it
happens’ when asked what they meant by militant
action.
Anyway, I am sure that Jacob will instruct
Gwede to commission a committee to form a special task
force to investigate the possibilities of explaining to
Bad Juju that he is supposed to sue Nando’s for
money.
______________________________
DO I VOTE WITH MY HEAD
OR MY HEART - Wednesday 22 April 2009
It’s Tuesday evening, 21 April,
the eve of the fourth general elections in South Africa
and I am pondering the outcome and the fate of South Africa
into the future.
My heart is hopeful that the ANC will
not again win a two-thirds majority, and that we will
at least have a strong opposition party in government.
My head is saying ‘Don’t be
silly.’
My head says that the majority of voters
in South Africa have an emotive bond with the ANC that
has developed over many years.
This emotive bond has its roots in the honourable party
that fought selflessly to gain freedom for the oppressed
people of South Africa.
It is rooted in people like Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo,
Govan Mbeki, and their comrades that sacrificed their
freedom, and their lives, in the struggle against apartheid.
The seed of this bond was planted way
back when John Dube formed the South African Native National
Congress (SANNC) on 8 January 1912. Eleven years later
it became the ANC.
I am afraid that 15 years of non-delivery
and 8 years of publicized corruption is not enough to
even dent this bond.
My head tells me that this is democracy,
and it is right that the people choose their own leaders.
My heart tells me that there is a flaw in the concept
of democracy.
My heart tells tells me that democrary grants a license
to corrupt individuals and parties to exploit the masses
in order to further their own selfish needs.
My head and my heart both agree that I
am not able to fix this thing by tomorrow.
Then, in the distance, my soul hears Barack
Obama chanting ‘Yes we can.’
I am hopeful.
_______________________________
A CURE FOR BLINDNESS
AND PARALYSIS - Tuesday 21 April 2009
By chance I found myself watching the
1996 movie Extreme Measures on telly over the weekend.
Gene Hackman plays Dr Myrick, who performs spinal experiments
on homeless people, in his quest to develop a technology
that will reproduce cells and in this way cure paralysis.
I have no idea whether the movie was based on fact.
Maybe its simply co-incidence that I discovered
today that a similar clinical trial on patients with spinal
injuries is due to start in America later this year.
whereby the damaged cells will be replaced
with new ones created from embryonic stem cells, is due
to start in America later this year.
British scientists and surgeons from the
Institute of Ophthalmology at University College of London
and Moorsfield Eye Hospital also claim to have made a
major breakthrough by developing a stem cell therapy to
cure blindness.
This treatment, which involves replacing
a layer of degenerated cells with new ones will apparently
become generally available within six or seven years'
time, and the entire procedure takes only half an hour.
It has already been successfully tested
on rats and pigs.
Under the new treatment, embryonic stem
cells are transformed into replicas of the missing cells.
They are then placed on an artificial membrane that is
inserted in the back of the retina.
Embryonic stem cells have the ability
to develop into all types of body tissue.
In the movie Dr Myrick uses homeless people,
against their will, as guinea pigs for his experiments,
and they all die.
But the current technology is also controversial,
however, because it involves the destruction of human
embryos.
__________________________________
THE HUNGER FOR VIOLENCE
TRAGEDY AND SCANDAL - Monday 20 April 2009
It is common knowledge that good news
does not sell. People only seem to be interested in violence,
tragedy and scandal.
But where does it come from, this seemingly insatiable
hunger for bad news?
I think that since a very young age, I
have been trained to relate to and be drawn to violence,
tragedy and scandal.
Even before I went to school, I had memorized and could
recite nursery rhymes.
I loved nursery rhymes.
These are the things that I loved.
VIOLENCE
Goosey goosey gander where shall I wander,
Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,
I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.
Three blind mice, three blind mice,
See how they run, see how they run,
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
TRAGEDY
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses, And all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again
SCANDAL
Peter Peter pumpkin eater,
Had a wife and couldn't keep her!
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well!
There was an old woman who lived in a
shoe,
She had so many children she didn't know what to do!
So she gave them some broth without any bread,
And she whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed.
________________________________
BE A TOURIST IN YOUR
OWN COUNTRY - Friday 16 April 2009
Not many South Africans have ever experienced
the true culture of the townships, but there is a place
in Gugulethu that has been making inroads into the tourist
trade for some time, has a certificate for being one of
the top 100 restaurants in South Africa, and is featured
on the April cover of Jamie Oliver’s magazine.
Mzoli’s Place is in essence a butchery.
The concept of having your meat braaied and eaten at the
butcher is not original or unique to Mzoli’s. This
custom has been practiced in many parts of Africa for
decades.
But, Mzoli Ngcawuzele has certainly made it a hip and
trendy experience.
So, you choose your meat
and it is braaied to perfection on one of the 8 open fires
in the ‘smoking room’, where you also choose
your sides (usually Putu pap, chakalaka and bean salad).
While the meat is being braaied, you take a walk to one
of the neighboring liquor outlets (if you did not bring
your own) and buy your bread and whatever else from one
of the spaza shops. You can also order drinks from the
cocktail bar across the street, but the culture here is
to buy in bulk. Quarts and cases are the order of the
day!
There are many reasons why you should
check out Mzoli’s Place. The food for example is
excellent, the prices are stress-relieving, and the service,
especially from Mzoli himself, is quite good, and you
are made to feel equally welcome no matter who you are
or how you are dressed.
Don’t expect five star amenities
though. You are after-all sitting on plastic chairs in
a yard in Gugulethu, and the food is served on a plastic
tray - if you insist on cutlery, take your own.
But the vibe is priceless and soul-enriching.
On most weekends there is live music and
dancing, so be prepared for a long afternoon.
Jamie Oliver says ‘The whole experience was totally
sexy. The heat, the music, the people. And the food was
heaven.’
If you want to sample a cosmopolitan
South Africa with an African flavor,
do yourself a favor and check out Mzoli’s place.
It’s like taking a trip overseas.
If you take the Modderdam Rd exit off
the N2 out of Cape Town, turn left when you get to Klipfontein
Road, over the bridge and across the railway line, pass
a petrol station on your left, but carry on down Klipfontein.
Turn left at about the second road after
the intersection, and you will see Mzoli's immediately
on your left.
__________________________
CHINESE COLONIALISM IN
SOUTH AFRICA - Thursday 16 April 2009
When a writer referred to 'Chinese
colonialism' after the Dalai
Lama visa fiasco, the inference did not really strike
a chord with me.
Even after the Chinese government publicly admitted to
asking our government to deny the visa, it still did not
register.
But today the phrase 'Chinese colonialism'
jumped out of my monitor.
The NPA has admitted that the statement
explaining its decision to drop all charges against Jacob
Zuma was copied almost word for word from a judgement
handed down in Hong Kong six years ago.
In his article on Politics Web on 14 April,
editor James Myburgh reveals that the British Commonwealth
judgements that acting prosecutions boss Mokotedi Mpshe
refers to in his statement was cited in a ruling that
Justice Conrad Seagroatt handed down in Hong Kong on 13
December 2002.
"Even more strikingly the phrases
quoted are almost all the same as well — give or
take some self-serving summarising, truncation and rewriting
by the NPA," Myburgh pointed out, comparing more
than a dozen sections from Mpshe's statement and the judgment.
Responding to the article, National Prosecuting
Authority spokesman Tlali Tlali told The Star: "We
are recognising that what we said was based on that judgment
and we are in no way attempting to pass that ruling off
as our own.
We regret the oversight, but it in no way detracts from
the decision that advocate Mpshe reached."
At the time of the Dalai visa issue I
said The Chinese told the ANC ‘you grant visa
we pull investment.’
It now seems that they also said ‘you don’t
grant visa we show you how save Zuma.’
_______________________________
HATS OFF TO LILI RADLOFF
- Wednesday 15 April 2009
Jacob Zuma said ‘Afrikaners are
the only whites that are truly South African,’ or
something like that.
Chris Roper, on News24 then said ‘Jacob
Zuma is trying to tribalise the whites of South Africa,’
or something like that.
Today, I read an article by Lili Radloff
commenting on both statements.
In the article headed ‘I am an African’ Lili
gives her personal view of being a South African living
in the South Africa of today.
I find part of her statement quite profound.
It makes me doubt whether I truly have the capacity to
love unconditionally.
It even makes me doubt whether I can truly call myself
an ‘authentic’ human being.
In her article Lili states:
‘…I love this country. And
its people. And all the different cultures. I love the
mshimi wami-singing polygamists. I love the joumasepoes
bergies. I love the Noot vir Noot enthusiasts, the Kaizer
Chiefs supporters with their vuvuzelas, the haunting notes
of the Muslim prayers wafting on the early morning air.
I love the hospitality of Gugulethu and Soweto, the hideous
Tuscan villas of Midrand and how we all laugh at Europeans
behind their backs. I love the little Jewish ladies strolling
on the promenade and the white wine swilling (mostly English-speaking)
trendoids in Joburg and Cape Town.’
Now personally, I can live with the hospitality
of Gugs and Soweto and I don’t mind the Jewish ladies
on the promenade. I find the Noot vir Noot enthusiasts
pretty harmless and the Kaiser Chiefs supporters with
their vuvuzelas are only mildly irritating because I don’t
really go to soccer matches.
Likewise, the haunting notes of Muslim prayers and the
hideous Tuscan villas in Midrand hardly makes my blood
boil, the wine-swilling trendroids are a source of comedic
entertainment, and I am sure I will be forgiven for not
knowing that I was supposed to laugh at Eurpeans behind
their backs.
But, when it comes to mshini-wamming polygamists
and joumasepoesing bergies I fail miserably.
I admit.
I am incapable of such unconditional love.
_____________________________________
NO ADS ON TV IS AN INCONVENIENCE
- Tuesday 14 April 2009
For an extended period I did not have
access to Dstv.
In December last year I decided to reconnect the service.
One of M-net’s main advertising
bylines is, or was ‘We don’t stop the Magic.
This of course refers to the fact that there are no commercial
breaks during movies.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I find this
inconvenient.
I have become used to the ad breaks on
the public channels.
Not that I actually watch the ads, I normally
mute the TV the minute an ad starts, but it gives me the
opportunity to quickly prepare a snack, pour a drink or
even just go to the toilet.
When watching a movie on an M-net channel I am stuck in
front of the screen for the duration.
Globally,
revenue from conventional, above the line advertising
is dropping at a drastic rate of 17.7 percent annually,
and already major newspapers are either shutting down
or declaring bankruptcy.
Newspapers blame the internet for what they term ‘breaking
the business model that has sustained the industry for
decades,’ and the Newspaper Association of America
is on the warpath. The enemy? Websites that use their
stories without paying for them.
People now have free access to news on
the net, causing a drop in circulation/sales, in turn
causing a drop in advertising.
But, it is not only newspaper advertising
that is dropping. Magazines, television and radio stations
are headed down the same road, and even online advertising
dropped by 1.8 percent last year.
Problem is that the advertising gurus
are largely still thinking in the box.
The times they are a-changing.
People are tired of having adverts pushed at them when
they did not request it, and when they are in the midst
of something else.
And worst of all, consumers no longer trust advertisements.
Can you blame us?
The trend now is moving towards personal
recommendation.
Consumers are more likely to buy a product on the recommendation
of someone that they know and trust.
Someone who has tested the product, and is prepared to
give an honest evaluation of it.
Therein lies the next fortune to be made in advertising.
Still, I would prefer the convenience
of at least one ad break during movies. The fact that
ROI for the advertiser does not justify the spend should
not be my problem.
_______________________________
BUNNIES AND EASTER EGGS
-Friday 10 April 2009
In Northern Europe, prior to the introduction
of Christianity, the ancient pagans already had their
own springtime festivals.
Because it is spring in Europe at this time, the world
begins to bloom once more, and spring is seen as a time
of replenishing and renewal, birth and rebirth, fertility.
We know the story about ‘multiplying
like rabbits’ right?
Well The Goddess of Fertility was Eostre, and her consort
was nothing less than a hare called Lepus!
Some stories say that Eostre gave Lepus the ability to
lay eggs!
According to some traditions, Eostre eventually cast the
hare into the heavens, creating the constellation we know
today as Lepus the Hare.
So that is where the name Easter, The
Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs originate.
The Whole Earth Holiday Book
connects the rabbit and colored eggs with the story of
a poor woman who could afford no sweets for her children
on Easter. She colored some eggs and hid them in a nest
for her children to find.
During the hunt, the children spotted a large hare in
the bushes.
They told their friends the bunny had left the eggs, and
so the Easter bunny story began.
Although rabbits have long been a symbol
of spring, chocolate bunnies are a relatively new phenomenon.
Easter bunnies made of pastry and sugar first became popular
in southern Germany at the beginning of the 1800s.
The Easter Bunny shows up in many European
Easter traditions.
However, it is not the only animal believed to bring colored
eggs. Swiss children believe a cuckoo brings the eggs;
Czech children wait for a lark. German children have a
lot of options—hoping that a rooster, a stork, a
bunny, or a fox will bring their treats.
__________________________________
WHY IS IT CALLED ‘GOOD
FRIDAY’ - Thursday 9 April 2009
The Friday before Easter Sunday commemorates
the crucifixion of Christ, and his death at Golgotha.
In Latin speaking countries it is called
Holy Friday.
In Germany it is called Mourning Friday, and in Norway
it is called Long Friday.
It is also known as Black Friday, God’s Friday and
Great Friday in different parts of the world.
Why then do we call it Good Friday
All of these names, besides maybe Great
Friday, are instructive and understandable. So how did
it come to be called "Good Friday" in English-speaking
lands?
The origin of the name is murky, but there
is no shortage of theories.
One of these claims that in ancient times
the word good was akin to holy.
Another says that because of the similarities in the spelling
of the words god and good, writers often mispellt it,
and God’s Friday became Good Friday, much like God
be with ye became Good-bye.
Believers today claim that it was recognized that the
evils of that day led to the greatest good, the salvation
of mankind. Thus, despite the bad, the day was truly good.
Enjoy your
long weekend, and tomorrow I will tell you all about bunnies,
eggs and the origin of the word Easter.
___________________________________
GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT
- Wednesday 8 April 2009
Some facts are fascinationg, while others
are completely useless.
And then there are those that you wish you never knew.
Here are 10 interesting facts in each category
USELESS FACTS
· Sharks will only attack you if you're wet.
· You can't kill yourself by holding your breath
· The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps
over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the English
language.
· Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts
· Charlie Brown's father was a barber.
· Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head."
· Armadillos are able to contract leprosy.
· Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously
· The original name for butterfly was flutterby
· If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion,
it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.
FASCINATING FACTS
· The Scottish game ‘Gentlemen Only Ladies
Forbidden’ was later abbreviated to GOLF.
· Eskimos use refrigerators to keep their food
from freezing
· TIP actually stands for: To Insure Promptness.
So one should tip before you eat if you want to receive
prompt service.
· The Kangaroo got it's name when, in 1770, Captain
James Cook asked one of his men to ask an Aboriginal what
they called the strange animal. The man replied "Kangaroo"
meaning, I can't understand what you are saying.
· Octopuses eat themselves if they get very upset.
· In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed
to speak.
· The only domestic animal not mentioned in the
Bible is the cat.
· Hummingbirds are the only animals that can fly
backwards.
· Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie
Chaplin look-alike contest.
· A car traveling at 220 kph would take more than
29 million years to reach the nearest star.
TOO MUCH INFORMATION
· The worlds youngest parents were 8 and 9 and
lived in China in 1910.
· Most lipsticks contain fish scales
· During an hours swimming at a public pool you
will ingest 1/12 litre of urine.
· The average person eats 8 spiders in their lifetime
while sleeping at night.
· If you have a tapeworm in your stomach it will
come up when you are asleep to lick the salt off your
lips.
· The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
· Bat guano (poop) is an ingredient in most upscale
cosmetics. It's called "guanine".
· Romans used powdered mouse brains as toothpaste.
· Your mouth is one of the liveliest parts of your
whole body. More than 100,000,000 micro-creatures live
there at any one time.
· An average person's yearly food intake will contain
12 pubic hairs.
_____________________________________
PLEASURE CRUISE TO HEAVEN
- Tuesday 7 April 2009
YOUR BEST FRIEND: PART TWO
Understanding love and loving yourself
is the key to a successful and happy life.
Look into the mirror and picture yourself as a two-year-old.
Love that child by doing everything in your power to nurture
and improve that child’s life.
Do this for the rest of your life.
Life is what we make of it.
It is nothing else, nothing more and nothing less.
You don’t deserve anything.
Nobody owes you anything.
The universe does not owe you anything and you
have no right to expect anything simply because
you are alive.
What you do have is the power to achieve
anything if you are prepared to work for it.
There are no restrictions.
If what you are striving for is simply
material gain, then I suppose there are no ground rules
either.
But, if you are striving for ultimate happiness, and material
gain is a part of achieving your goal, there is one simple
ground rule.
In a word, this is called respect.
Respect for yourself, and respect for others as your equal.
If your material gain comes at the expense of others,
then chances are that you will never achieve real happiness.
The rule is very simple really, and it is rooted in loving
yourself.
If you truly love yourself, then you will not do anything
to harm yourself.
If you harm others, you are in essence harming your self.
Would you exploit yourself?
Would you enslave yourself?
Would you discriminate against yourself?
Would you abuse yourself?
Would you steal from yourself?
Would you rob yourself?
We all want to be loved.
By loving yourself and then encompassing others in the
love that you feel for yourself, you are truly loved.
___________________________
TWO DIMENSIONS OF LIFE
IN SOUTH AFRICA - Monday 6 April 2009
I’m confused.
On the one hand, we are bombarded with negative reports
about the economic crunch and political uncertainty facing
South Africa.
On the other hand, the world’s top cricketers are
all coming here for the IPL from next week, and Mariah
Carey, Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Clint Eastwood, Marisa
Tomei and many other international celebrities casually
- De Niro didn’t even bother to shave - attended
the opening of a hotel in Cape Town this week.
Usually, a tournament like
the Indian Premier League being played in South Africa
would have been lauded as excellent for our economy.
The global television rights of this tournament alone
was sold to India's Sony Entertainment Television network
and Singapore-based World Sport Group for the record deal
of $1.026 billion over ten yeras. $108-million of this
investment is to be used to market the touranament globally.
Tickets for the four opening games at Newlands sold out
in two hours.
Likewise, the opening of Sol Kerzner’s
One & Only Hotel in the waterfront would be seen as
a positive.
How often do we see the stars come out en masse to play
in South Africa.
On top of that, 1.6-million tickets have
reportedly been sold for next year’s Soccer World
Cup, and we are also in line to host the Cricket World
Cup.
Why then, am I still battling to survive
the economic slump, while worrying about my future in
a Zuma-led country, and dreading fuel shortages over the
Easter Weekend.
Are there two dimensions to life in South
Africa, or have I simply allowed myself to become a victim
of the onslaught on my psyche?
Is it time to wake up and dust myself off?
I distinctly smell coffee.
___________________________
CORRECTIVE RAPE FOR LESBIANS
- Friday 3 April 2009
NGO ActionAid has reported that there
is an increase in what is referred to as ‘corrective
rape’ in the townships of South Africa.
Even though South Africa was the first
country in Africa to allow same-sex marriages way back
in 2006, homosexuality is still widely regarded as being
‘un-African.’
The perpetrators of ‘corrective
rape’ believe that if a lesbian is raped, she will
‘go straight, buy skirts and start to cook, because
she would have learnt to become a woman.’
These bastards actually believe that they
are performing a service that helps lesbians.
In Cape Town alone, there are at least
10 new cases of lesbians being targeted each week.
Thirty-one lesbians have been reported
murdered in homophobic attacks since 1998, but support
groups say the actual number is probably much higher because
crimes on the basis of sexual orientation are not recognized
in the South African criminal justice system, ActionAid
said.
The NGO stated that police are particularly reluctant
to investigate crimes against lesbians.
Of these 31 cases, only two cases were
brought to South African courts and there has been only
one conviction.
______________________________
POLICE OFFICER
RAPES 14-YEAR-OLD - Thursday 2 April 2009
The recent incident where a
policeman raped a 14-year-old after she and her grandmother
reported a burglary at their home sickens me to the core.
The attitude and actions of the other policemen at the station
when the grandmother tried to lay a charge of rape is even
worse.
The cherry on top is the statement by the police spokesperson
when asked for comment after the fact.
On Sunday, the grandmother
and her daughter went to the Marrianhill police station
to report the burglary. The police took her statement and
introduced her to the investigating officer, who said he
would be in touch should there be any further developments.
On Monday the investigating
officer called her saying that he needed more information.
The woman told him that she would be sleeping over at her
employer’s house as she was working late.
That night he went to their house and told the 14-year-old
that he needed her fingerprints and she needed to accompany
him to the police station.
At the police station he locked her in his office, turned
off the lights, stripped her naked and raped her.
He then took her home in the police van, but on the way
stopped at a secluded spot and raped her again.
When neighbours took the child
to the same police station to report the rape, the other
policemen refused to open a docket, saying that they could
not lay a charge against one of their own.
The officer was introduced
to the woman and her grandchild at the police station as
‘the investigating officer.’
He fetched the girl at home in a police van, took her to
the police station, and raped her in his office at the police
station.
He then drove her home in the police van, and raped her
again in the police van.
His colleagues at the police station refused to lay a charge
against ‘one of their own.’
Yet, when approached for comment,
police spokesperson Superintendent Vincent Mdunge confirmed
the incident, but said they needed to determine whether
the perpetrator was a police officer, reservist or a criminal
wearing a police uniform.
_______________________________________
CAN WE SURPRISE
ON 22 APRIL - Wednesday 1 April 2009
Maybe, just maybe, the ANC
is in for a surprise on 22 April.
It is the general consensus that the party will win the
election, but I am beginning to suspect and hope that they
will at least lose their two-thirds majority.
I refuse to believe that the
masses can be so blind to their track record.
It is a pity that we do not
have a formidable and united opposition.
If we had one, they would surely have stood a very good
chance of toppling the mighty ANC.
The ruling party is overly and arrogantly confident of the
loyalty of the masses, but on the ground there are signs
of an ever so slight rumbling.
43% of the South African population
lives on less than R20 a day, and these are the ones beginning
to rumble about the ANC’s track record.
The Eastern Cape, birthplace
of Nelson Mandela, has traditionally been an ANC stronghold.
The populous coastal province has helped steer the ruling
ANC to landslide victories since the first all-race election
in 1994 that brought Mandela to office after the end of
apartheid.
Most of the poor in the Eastern
Cape live in the country, and the gigantic billboards of
Zuma’s face promising ‘A Better Life for All’,
amid rickety mudhuts and littered roads, non-existent sanitation,
no electricity, and drinking wells shared with donkeys and
cattle, seem to be adding insult to injury.
Nosisa Nkomfe, a 70-year-old
grandmother from Mthatha sums it up when she states very
simply, "The ANC does not appreciate our loyalty...
look around here, nothing at all has changed.”
Oh yes, there is an ever so
slight, but definite rumbling amongst those who win elections.
