DRIES VAN DER WALT
Upon the sands, a pirate’s ship
lies smashed against a rock.
The crew, with sadness in their eyes,
are reeling still with shock.
The helmsman’s hand will no more guide
through ev’ry storm his ship.
His voice is still, his place unfilled,
he’s made the final trip
Oh silv’ry ship, oh pirate’s mount,
your greatest task you’ve failed:
to guard your captain, brave and true,
with whom we all have sailed
But high above this sorry scene
a sight fills me with cheer –
with guiding hand that points the way
I see the Buccaneer.
“… ride the twisties wherever you are my friend and have a Red Heart for me…”
I have been asked to write a eulogy for Buccaneer. I have never written a eulogy and never thought that I would ever have to write something like this for a friend… So I won’t, because I cannot say “goodbye” to Bucc. I will rather say “until later my friend, until we meet again”.
This is just a few words of how I remember Buccaneer…
Those fortunate enough to have met Bucc will know what an amazing kind soul he was. The big guy was a gentle giant with a passive nature and knew how to calm my anger when I saw red. He was logical and straightforward in his approach to things, always willing to give advice, did it with a smile and never asked for anything in return. There were no taboo subjects for him… I could discuss anything with him.
Most of the people around me now that I call friends are due to his influence. He managed to bring so many good people together through the “reincarnation” of Think Bike in South Africa and for that I am grateful. He made the Think Bike campaign come alive virtually overnight through his perseverance and dedication… and he did make a difference. We will never know how many lives the campaign may have saved through the exposure and awareness that it has created for motorcyclists…
But he united us with a common goal that we will endeavour to continue. The seed has been sown by Bucc… I hope he can watch it grow wherever he is right now…
His wit and humour I miss immensely, as it always put a smile on my face. Watching him roll up his cigarette and having a sip of his rum-and-Coke after a day of riding in the mountains is how I will always remember him.
The past week has been tough emotionally for me and every time I take strain, I swear I can hear him say: “Cat, stop being a pussy!” like he used say to me…
Bucc, you have left us, but your spirit continues to live amongst us and we will never forget you!
Watch over those of us who have been left behind… One day we will ride together again.
Later dude,
DaCat
PAUL FELIX
Buccaneer
Brian Cannoo
1962/01/06 — 2008/02/18
In honour of this great man we will be doing a mass ride in his memory
Sunday 2 March 2008
Meeting at 7:00
BJ’s Restaurant, N1-northbound, Midrand
Departing at 8:00
End venue: Zwartkops Raceway
This run will start at BJ’s Midrand, head north on N1 and then turn left towards Roodepoort / Krugersdorp on the N14. From there we will take the R55 to Zwartkops Raceway.
All chapters and biking families are asked to meet at BJ’s.
Cruising speed will be set at 80km/h. Please respect this pace – for the sake of the
run and the intention of the mass ride.
All bikers are invited to join this memorial run – to show our numbers and also to
raise awareness on the roads.
The last salute will be lead by Blackie Swart and will work as follows:
• Once the mass ride has reached the end venue (Zwartkops
Raceway), the bike engines will be kept running.
• Blackie Swart will raise his arm so everyone can see it. While his arm is in the air, the mass ride will give a last and final salute by revving their bikes. When Blackie drops his arm, all engines will be killed immediately, followed by a minute of silence for our fallen friend.
• After the minute of silence, we will proceed into the venue
Special requests
On the road
We have reached an agreement with Metro – who will be fully supportive of the
mass ride – on the following
• ONLY street legal bikes will be allowed. All bikes should have legal
number plates
• NO quads, off-road bikes or pocket bikes will be allowed
• JMPD will supply cars and possibly bikes to escort us to the end of their
jurisdiction
• JMPD have also agreed that there will be no cost to Think Bike for their
services
• The marshals that use TB plates must carry their legal plates with them,
no exceptions will be made and no excuses will be accepted
• Cars taking part in the run must be at the back of the pack and not between the bikes. Again, no exceptions
At the end venue
• No bikes will be permitted on the track
• No burnouts or doughnuts will be permitted
• There will be a cash bar as well as food court. No tabs!
• If anyone is able to assist and be designated sobers with trailers, please
bring trailers along to assist people who are not capable of riding home.
For the family
• Think Bike kindly requests that, in stead of sending flowers to the Cannoo family, to please rather consider donating money to ease their financial burden until the estate pays out.
• Scattering of ashes will be a private gathering for family and close
friends at a different date and venue. Please respect the family and friends.
Please join us for this ride and celebration of a great man and all that he has
accomplished and the legacy he has left behind.
LONG LIVE THE BUCCANEER!
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
The right to self defense
A gun by any other name...
Gill Gifford
February 26 2008 at 03:10PM
A notice for public comment in this month's Government Gazette proposes that virtually any article regarded as a potential weapon be outlawed.
The notice prohibits people from carrying a "dangerous weapon" in public or a place to which the public has access, as well as the carrying of a replica of a firearm at a gathering or demonstration or political rally or meeting or polling station during an election.
"Objects which are in the opinion of the (Safety and Security) Minister (Charles Nqakula) dangerous weapons" are defined in the document and include BB and airsoft guns, bows and arrows, spear guns, blow pipes and darts, sling shots, swords, etc.
Read the full story in the print edition of The Star on Wednesday (February 27, 2008).
Gill Gifford
February 26 2008 at 03:10PM
A notice for public comment in this month's Government Gazette proposes that virtually any article regarded as a potential weapon be outlawed.
The notice prohibits people from carrying a "dangerous weapon" in public or a place to which the public has access, as well as the carrying of a replica of a firearm at a gathering or demonstration or political rally or meeting or polling station during an election.
"Objects which are in the opinion of the (Safety and Security) Minister (Charles Nqakula) dangerous weapons" are defined in the document and include BB and airsoft guns, bows and arrows, spear guns, blow pipes and darts, sling shots, swords, etc.
Read the full story in the print edition of The Star on Wednesday (February 27, 2008).
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Monday, 25 February 2008
Brian Cannoo Memorial Run (The Buccaneer)
Date : 2 March
Departure Time : 8:00 am
Start Venue : BJ's Restaurant, Northbound, Midrand.
End Venue : Zwartkops Race Track.
We have permission, but only from BJ's to Zwartkops.
All bikers are invited to join this memorial run, to show our numbers
and also to raise awareness on the roads.
There will be food and drink available at Zwartkops.
A traditional LAST SALUTE will be held at the track.
ONLY street legal bikes, this includes bikes to have legal plates.
NO QUADS or off road bikes or pocket bikes.
JMPD will supply cars and possibly bikes and will escort us to the end of their jurisdiction.
They have also agreed that there will be no cost to Think Bike for their services.
The marshals that use TB plates must carry their legal plates with them
no excuses.
Cars must be at the back of the pack, not interspersed with the bikes.
No excuses.
We thank JMPD for their involvment and common cause.
_______________________________________________________________
Think Bike may thank metro, but i don't.
Departure Time : 8:00 am
Start Venue : BJ's Restaurant, Northbound, Midrand.
End Venue : Zwartkops Race Track.
We have permission, but only from BJ's to Zwartkops.
All bikers are invited to join this memorial run, to show our numbers
and also to raise awareness on the roads.
There will be food and drink available at Zwartkops.
A traditional LAST SALUTE will be held at the track.
ONLY street legal bikes, this includes bikes to have legal plates.
NO QUADS or off road bikes or pocket bikes.
JMPD will supply cars and possibly bikes and will escort us to the end of their jurisdiction.
They have also agreed that there will be no cost to Think Bike for their services.
The marshals that use TB plates must carry their legal plates with them
no excuses.
Cars must be at the back of the pack, not interspersed with the bikes.
No excuses.
We thank JMPD for their involvment and common cause.
_______________________________________________________________
Think Bike may thank metro, but i don't.
TV Licenses
IOL story
"The team can overlay the TV licence database over the suburb/area map and establish exactly which households have TV licences and which don't. They will then also know which households to visit - it's indicated on the map with specific codes.
They are coming for us. I have neither TV nor license ... but i will get a knock on my door soon, almost guarenteed. The little man will want to search my house, look in every cupboard, under every table, behind every curtain.
Something that i must make clear. The TV license has become a really big issue here, something like an extra tax. Old people with nothing more than a TV for company are harrased and bullied into paying this R250 per year fee. This despite the SABC being the state broadcaster, with state funds, and massive advertising revenue.
Probably the biggest reason i got tired of tv was the constant bullshit of advertising. Buy this, want that, get this free. Fuck them. I will not allow them to control my thinking. It was when the kids started singing adverts to me, i think i decided.
TV to us has become you-tube downloads, a miriad of short video clips, from bikes to comedy and other interesting things. Half an hour to an hour, maybe once a week. That plus the occasional kids video, and i love my nature videos too (for the kids).
My gran wants to give us her tv, since she no longer uses it. She believes it will help the kids. I respectfully disagree, and refuse to accept this gift. I feel bad, because i have nothing but love and respect fotr my granny, then i read this and think, a lifetime membership for rubbish implants in my children's brain?
They must come.
"The team can overlay the TV licence database over the suburb/area map and establish exactly which households have TV licences and which don't. They will then also know which households to visit - it's indicated on the map with specific codes.
They are coming for us. I have neither TV nor license ... but i will get a knock on my door soon, almost guarenteed. The little man will want to search my house, look in every cupboard, under every table, behind every curtain.
Something that i must make clear. The TV license has become a really big issue here, something like an extra tax. Old people with nothing more than a TV for company are harrased and bullied into paying this R250 per year fee. This despite the SABC being the state broadcaster, with state funds, and massive advertising revenue.
Probably the biggest reason i got tired of tv was the constant bullshit of advertising. Buy this, want that, get this free. Fuck them. I will not allow them to control my thinking. It was when the kids started singing adverts to me, i think i decided.
TV to us has become you-tube downloads, a miriad of short video clips, from bikes to comedy and other interesting things. Half an hour to an hour, maybe once a week. That plus the occasional kids video, and i love my nature videos too (for the kids).
My gran wants to give us her tv, since she no longer uses it. She believes it will help the kids. I respectfully disagree, and refuse to accept this gift. I feel bad, because i have nothing but love and respect fotr my granny, then i read this and think, a lifetime membership for rubbish implants in my children's brain?
They must come.
It'got FUCKALL to do with colour
Is black SA turning old friends into foes?
February 22 2008 at 03:29PM
By Pius Adesarmi
The letters came within two days of each other. The first was an invitation from Professor Georges Harault, director of the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS). Three years after my last visit to South Africa to assess the perception of Francophone African literatures in universities, IFAS was again inviting me as visiting scholar.
The second was from Chris Dunton, the chairperson of the English Department of the National University of Lesotho at Roma. Like Harault, Dunton was inviting me to Lesotho as visiting scholar.
I arranged a few other engagements and braced up for a very engaging psychic reconnection with the African continent.
'Ah, the good old days of apartheid!'
I needed the return to Africa badly. I had been away from the continent for an uncomfortable stretch, carrying out my scholarly labour in the minefield of North American academe, writing Africa "from a rift", as Achille Mbembe would put it. I also needed a reprieve from the oppression of the North American media image of Africa.
The African living here is in constant danger of accepting whatever image of Africa he or she is presented by the media as gospel truth.
In North America, I have been consistently assailed, assaulted, and oppressed with images of Africa traceable to the colonial library: Africa-as-Aids, Africa-as-hunger, Africa-as-civil war, Africa-as-corruption, Africa-as-the-antithesis-of-democracy, Africa-as-everything-we-are-glad-not-to-be.
You get tired of the ritual of explaining to charmingly ignorant interlocutors that there is a fundamental distinction between the Africa they see on CNN and the real Africa.
I also wanted a break from Occidentalism. Fernando Coronil, the scholar who coined this term, uses the concept to account for those discursive, usually innocuous processes through which the West turns difference into hierarchy and reproduces existing asymmetrical power relations. Occidentalism covers all the mundane quotidian events through which the West constantly reminds the immigrant of his otherness, strangeness, and difference.
'Truth is our right, Jah is our might, we must free South Africa'
Departure date finally came around. "Be careful. Urban violence is rife in South Africa," the Nigerian friends who drove me to the airport warned. I shrugged and dismissed their anxiety. There may be violence in South Africa; I certainly was not going to be scared of returning to Africa. I wasn't going to be afraid of black people in Africa.
I arrived in Johannesburg on a cold July morning. A delighted Harault was on hand at the airport to welcome me. We drove straight to the offices of IFAS located in downtown Johannesburg.
Later I announced to Harault that I was going to take a stroll. I was eager to get a feel of the same streets I had seen three years earlier.
Harault's countenance changed. "Be careful. Don't go out there with your wallet. You could get mugged." I assured Harault I would be all right but took the precaution of leaving my valuables in his office.
I started my walk on the busy Bree Street. For someone who had walked the same street three years earlier, I could not help but observe the heavy black presence. Like the Hillbrow area, blacks have taken over downtown Johannesburg.
The official principle of separate development through which racial segregation was enforced under apart-heid seems to have been replaced by what one may call an unofficial principle of voluntary separation.
While separate development instituted an order in which blacks had to move out whenever whites moved in, as was the case in Sophiatown, voluntary separation now induces whites to move out quietly whenever and wherever blacks move in.
In office complexes and shopping malls, one does not fail to notice the ubiquitous "To Let" signs, evidence of white retreat to "safe" areas of the city like Rosebank or back "home" to Britain, Holland, Canada and Australia.
I was about to cross a busy intersection when a street sign told me I was on Fox Street. Fox street! I had heard a lot of terrifying things about that street since my last trip to South Africa. It is said to be one of the most violent streets in Johannesburg. One could get mugged or killed for as little as R100. I looked around me anxiously.
I was surrounded by a sea of inscrutable black faces. I touched my forehead and found out, much to my irritation, that I was perspiring profusely. It was winter in South Africa! And to my utter embarrassment, I discovered that I relaxed and felt safer each time white faces appeared in the crowd. Here was I, a black man, looking anxiously for white faces to feel safe from black violence in an African city!
I reluctantly came to the realisation that I was far more affected by the oppression of the image of "black violence" in South Africa than I had been willing to admit.
The image of the post-apartheid black condition in South Africa always have two constantly-repeated, over-sensationalised buzzwords: mugging, robbery.
That image had quietly slipped into my subconscious and was responsible for my feeling so uneasy amidst my own kind in a busy street in Johannesburg. I hurried back to IFAS.
On hearing that I had arrived in Johannesburg, Professor Harry Garuba came from his base at the University of Cape Town to spend a weekend with me. After a joyful reunion we hit town.
Harry wanted to see downtown Johannesburg. He also needed to go to the Consulate-General of Nigeria in Rosebank.
As we meandered our way through the ever busy Bree Street, Harry could not help observing how filthy downtown Johannesburg had become.
I had made the same disturbing observation myself the day I arrived, but had been reluctant to accept the disturbing fact that decay of public infrastructure seems to be the story in areas of the city inhabited by blacks.
Predominantly black areas have become an eyesore. The beautiful lawns and flowerbeds I noticed in some areas three years earlier now tell sad stories of degradation.
Some of them have become open-air urinals. Harry and I were worried. We tried to place ourselves in the shoes of white South Africans discussing the now filthy streets of Hillbrow and downtown Johannesburg: "Ah, the good old days of apartheid!"
When Harry concluded his business at the Nigerian consulate, we took a bus and headed back to Hrault's residence.
I still don't know what it was about us that gave us away as foreigners but the other passengers, all blacks, lapsed into an uneasy silence as soon as we entered. I looked at the faces around us and thought I saw hostility.
The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Harry confirmed my worst fears when we left the bus. I had just experienced, firsthand, South African xenophobia and I was to experience it again and again throughout my three-month sojourn in that country.
Harry explained to me with the coolness of someone used to it that the black South African passengers on the bus had identified us as makwerekwere, hence the naked hostility.
Makwerekwere is the derogatory term used by black South Africans to describe non-South African blacks. It reminds one of how the ancient Greeks referred to foreigners whose language they did not understand as the Barbaroi.
To the black South African, makwerekwere refers to black immigrants from the rest of Africa, especially Nigerians. I was confounded by the fact that black South Africa had begun to manufacture its own k*****s so soon after apartheid.
As I later discovered after a series of encounters, black South Africans have found an easy explanation for the myriad problems of poverty, housing, transportation, unemployment, crime, violence, decay of public and social infrastructure.
"Ah, the makwerekwere! These Nigerians are all criminals! When they are not busy trafficking drugs, they are taking over our jobs, our houses and, worse, our women.
"All foreigners must leave this country!" What Salman Rushdie refers to as a "demonising process" of the Other is at work here and the consequences are predictably disastrous.
There is so much anger and frustration among the Nigerians I met in South Africa. Most of them have become paranoid, living permanently in fear.
In a discussion with some Nigerian medical doctors in Pretoria, I observed that their anger is directed more at black South African leaders.
"Imagine these South Africans treating us like this. They think apartheid came to an end because they fought in Sharpeville and Soweto. It means Mandela never told them the truth. Mbeki never told them the truth."
The doctors were referring to Nigeria's heavy moral, political, and financial investment in the anti-apartheid struggle.
Nigeria's financial and political commitment to that cause was total and unflinching. In the 1970s and 1980s, the South African freedom struggle was completely woven into Nigeria's national imagery, so much so that a Nigerian leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, suggested we mobilised "African juju" and other maraboutic forces of African sorcery to attack PW Botha and free our black brothers in South Africa. And he wasn't joking.
Every Nigerian musician, from reggae singers to fuji musicians in the Yoruba tradition, waxed radical anti-apartheid lyrics to energise the 1970s to 1980s. "Who owns the land, who owns the land?
"We want to know who owns Papa's land," crooned Sonny Okosuns. Majek Fashek, the reggae man replied: "Now, now, now, Margaret Thatcher, free Mandela!" Victor Eshiet of The Mandators screamed: "Truth is our right, Jah is our might, we must free South Africa."
Everywhere you turned in the Nigeria of those heady decades, freedom for black South Africans was the dominant national agenda.
Black South Africans, including President Thabo Mbeki, found warmth, hospitality, and friendship during their years of exile in Nigeria. Many black South Africans attended Nigerian universities on Nigerian scholarships.
When it became clear that South African whites, like their European and American kinsmen, were determined to make peaceful change impossible and make violent change inevitable, Nigerians donated money to the armed struggle.
Personally, I recall donating money during special anti-apartheid fundraisers as a high school student in Nigeria.
view of this, the Nigerians I met in South Africa had only two words to describe the attitude of black South Africans to them: collective amnesia.
Prejudice has been the force majeure of so much of human history. Our pantheon of small-minded hate is formidable: Christian prejudice manufactured the unbeliever; Islamic prejudice manufactured the infidel; heterosexual prejudice manufactured the faggot; patriarchal prejudice manufactured the hysteric; European prejudice Truth is our right, Jah is our might, we must free South Africa manufactured the native; American prejudice manufactured the n****r; German prejudice manufactured the Jew; Israeli prejudice manufactured the Araboushim; Afrikaner prejudice manufactured the k****r.
Not to be outdone, black South Africa has manufactured the ma-kwerekwere as her unique post-apartheid contribution to this gory pantheon.
The joy of your instant-mix coffee or your instant-mix powdered milk is the considerable labour and hassle it saves you.
Just pour water, add sugar to taste, and your drink is ready. The makwere-kwere is black South Africa's instant-mix k****r, very easily produced with minimum labour.
Pius Adesanmi is Associate Professor of English and director, Project on New African Literatures (www.projectponal.com) at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
This article was originally published on page 15 of Cape Argus on February 22, 2008
February 22 2008 at 03:29PM
By Pius Adesarmi
The letters came within two days of each other. The first was an invitation from Professor Georges Harault, director of the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS). Three years after my last visit to South Africa to assess the perception of Francophone African literatures in universities, IFAS was again inviting me as visiting scholar.
The second was from Chris Dunton, the chairperson of the English Department of the National University of Lesotho at Roma. Like Harault, Dunton was inviting me to Lesotho as visiting scholar.
I arranged a few other engagements and braced up for a very engaging psychic reconnection with the African continent.
'Ah, the good old days of apartheid!'
I needed the return to Africa badly. I had been away from the continent for an uncomfortable stretch, carrying out my scholarly labour in the minefield of North American academe, writing Africa "from a rift", as Achille Mbembe would put it. I also needed a reprieve from the oppression of the North American media image of Africa.
The African living here is in constant danger of accepting whatever image of Africa he or she is presented by the media as gospel truth.
In North America, I have been consistently assailed, assaulted, and oppressed with images of Africa traceable to the colonial library: Africa-as-Aids, Africa-as-hunger, Africa-as-civil war, Africa-as-corruption, Africa-as-the-antithesis-of-democracy, Africa-as-everything-we-are-glad-not-to-be.
You get tired of the ritual of explaining to charmingly ignorant interlocutors that there is a fundamental distinction between the Africa they see on CNN and the real Africa.
I also wanted a break from Occidentalism. Fernando Coronil, the scholar who coined this term, uses the concept to account for those discursive, usually innocuous processes through which the West turns difference into hierarchy and reproduces existing asymmetrical power relations. Occidentalism covers all the mundane quotidian events through which the West constantly reminds the immigrant of his otherness, strangeness, and difference.
'Truth is our right, Jah is our might, we must free South Africa'
Departure date finally came around. "Be careful. Urban violence is rife in South Africa," the Nigerian friends who drove me to the airport warned. I shrugged and dismissed their anxiety. There may be violence in South Africa; I certainly was not going to be scared of returning to Africa. I wasn't going to be afraid of black people in Africa.
I arrived in Johannesburg on a cold July morning. A delighted Harault was on hand at the airport to welcome me. We drove straight to the offices of IFAS located in downtown Johannesburg.
Later I announced to Harault that I was going to take a stroll. I was eager to get a feel of the same streets I had seen three years earlier.
Harault's countenance changed. "Be careful. Don't go out there with your wallet. You could get mugged." I assured Harault I would be all right but took the precaution of leaving my valuables in his office.
I started my walk on the busy Bree Street. For someone who had walked the same street three years earlier, I could not help but observe the heavy black presence. Like the Hillbrow area, blacks have taken over downtown Johannesburg.
The official principle of separate development through which racial segregation was enforced under apart-heid seems to have been replaced by what one may call an unofficial principle of voluntary separation.
While separate development instituted an order in which blacks had to move out whenever whites moved in, as was the case in Sophiatown, voluntary separation now induces whites to move out quietly whenever and wherever blacks move in.
In office complexes and shopping malls, one does not fail to notice the ubiquitous "To Let" signs, evidence of white retreat to "safe" areas of the city like Rosebank or back "home" to Britain, Holland, Canada and Australia.
I was about to cross a busy intersection when a street sign told me I was on Fox Street. Fox street! I had heard a lot of terrifying things about that street since my last trip to South Africa. It is said to be one of the most violent streets in Johannesburg. One could get mugged or killed for as little as R100. I looked around me anxiously.
I was surrounded by a sea of inscrutable black faces. I touched my forehead and found out, much to my irritation, that I was perspiring profusely. It was winter in South Africa! And to my utter embarrassment, I discovered that I relaxed and felt safer each time white faces appeared in the crowd. Here was I, a black man, looking anxiously for white faces to feel safe from black violence in an African city!
I reluctantly came to the realisation that I was far more affected by the oppression of the image of "black violence" in South Africa than I had been willing to admit.
The image of the post-apartheid black condition in South Africa always have two constantly-repeated, over-sensationalised buzzwords: mugging, robbery.
That image had quietly slipped into my subconscious and was responsible for my feeling so uneasy amidst my own kind in a busy street in Johannesburg. I hurried back to IFAS.
On hearing that I had arrived in Johannesburg, Professor Harry Garuba came from his base at the University of Cape Town to spend a weekend with me. After a joyful reunion we hit town.
Harry wanted to see downtown Johannesburg. He also needed to go to the Consulate-General of Nigeria in Rosebank.
As we meandered our way through the ever busy Bree Street, Harry could not help observing how filthy downtown Johannesburg had become.
I had made the same disturbing observation myself the day I arrived, but had been reluctant to accept the disturbing fact that decay of public infrastructure seems to be the story in areas of the city inhabited by blacks.
Predominantly black areas have become an eyesore. The beautiful lawns and flowerbeds I noticed in some areas three years earlier now tell sad stories of degradation.
Some of them have become open-air urinals. Harry and I were worried. We tried to place ourselves in the shoes of white South Africans discussing the now filthy streets of Hillbrow and downtown Johannesburg: "Ah, the good old days of apartheid!"
When Harry concluded his business at the Nigerian consulate, we took a bus and headed back to Hrault's residence.
I still don't know what it was about us that gave us away as foreigners but the other passengers, all blacks, lapsed into an uneasy silence as soon as we entered. I looked at the faces around us and thought I saw hostility.
The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Harry confirmed my worst fears when we left the bus. I had just experienced, firsthand, South African xenophobia and I was to experience it again and again throughout my three-month sojourn in that country.
Harry explained to me with the coolness of someone used to it that the black South African passengers on the bus had identified us as makwerekwere, hence the naked hostility.
Makwerekwere is the derogatory term used by black South Africans to describe non-South African blacks. It reminds one of how the ancient Greeks referred to foreigners whose language they did not understand as the Barbaroi.
To the black South African, makwerekwere refers to black immigrants from the rest of Africa, especially Nigerians. I was confounded by the fact that black South Africa had begun to manufacture its own k*****s so soon after apartheid.
As I later discovered after a series of encounters, black South Africans have found an easy explanation for the myriad problems of poverty, housing, transportation, unemployment, crime, violence, decay of public and social infrastructure.
"Ah, the makwerekwere! These Nigerians are all criminals! When they are not busy trafficking drugs, they are taking over our jobs, our houses and, worse, our women.
"All foreigners must leave this country!" What Salman Rushdie refers to as a "demonising process" of the Other is at work here and the consequences are predictably disastrous.
There is so much anger and frustration among the Nigerians I met in South Africa. Most of them have become paranoid, living permanently in fear.
In a discussion with some Nigerian medical doctors in Pretoria, I observed that their anger is directed more at black South African leaders.
"Imagine these South Africans treating us like this. They think apartheid came to an end because they fought in Sharpeville and Soweto. It means Mandela never told them the truth. Mbeki never told them the truth."
The doctors were referring to Nigeria's heavy moral, political, and financial investment in the anti-apartheid struggle.
Nigeria's financial and political commitment to that cause was total and unflinching. In the 1970s and 1980s, the South African freedom struggle was completely woven into Nigeria's national imagery, so much so that a Nigerian leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, suggested we mobilised "African juju" and other maraboutic forces of African sorcery to attack PW Botha and free our black brothers in South Africa. And he wasn't joking.
Every Nigerian musician, from reggae singers to fuji musicians in the Yoruba tradition, waxed radical anti-apartheid lyrics to energise the 1970s to 1980s. "Who owns the land, who owns the land?
"We want to know who owns Papa's land," crooned Sonny Okosuns. Majek Fashek, the reggae man replied: "Now, now, now, Margaret Thatcher, free Mandela!" Victor Eshiet of The Mandators screamed: "Truth is our right, Jah is our might, we must free South Africa."
Everywhere you turned in the Nigeria of those heady decades, freedom for black South Africans was the dominant national agenda.
Black South Africans, including President Thabo Mbeki, found warmth, hospitality, and friendship during their years of exile in Nigeria. Many black South Africans attended Nigerian universities on Nigerian scholarships.
When it became clear that South African whites, like their European and American kinsmen, were determined to make peaceful change impossible and make violent change inevitable, Nigerians donated money to the armed struggle.
Personally, I recall donating money during special anti-apartheid fundraisers as a high school student in Nigeria.
view of this, the Nigerians I met in South Africa had only two words to describe the attitude of black South Africans to them: collective amnesia.
Prejudice has been the force majeure of so much of human history. Our pantheon of small-minded hate is formidable: Christian prejudice manufactured the unbeliever; Islamic prejudice manufactured the infidel; heterosexual prejudice manufactured the faggot; patriarchal prejudice manufactured the hysteric; European prejudice Truth is our right, Jah is our might, we must free South Africa manufactured the native; American prejudice manufactured the n****r; German prejudice manufactured the Jew; Israeli prejudice manufactured the Araboushim; Afrikaner prejudice manufactured the k****r.
Not to be outdone, black South Africa has manufactured the ma-kwerekwere as her unique post-apartheid contribution to this gory pantheon.
The joy of your instant-mix coffee or your instant-mix powdered milk is the considerable labour and hassle it saves you.
Just pour water, add sugar to taste, and your drink is ready. The makwere-kwere is black South Africa's instant-mix k****r, very easily produced with minimum labour.
Pius Adesanmi is Associate Professor of English and director, Project on New African Literatures (www.projectponal.com) at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
This article was originally published on page 15 of Cape Argus on February 22, 2008
Friday, 22 February 2008
Sea Fever
I MUST go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
The Poet Laureate Sir John Masefield
___________________________________________________________________
This poem should best be read aloud. If you go to the link, the next poem is cargoes. I memorized it at school, and have never regretted it. Something so poignant about what we value.
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
The Poet Laureate Sir John Masefield
___________________________________________________________________
This poem should best be read aloud. If you go to the link, the next poem is cargoes. I memorized it at school, and have never regretted it. Something so poignant about what we value.
Thursday, 21 February 2008
Democracy
Democracy can best be described as 2 wolves and a sheep dicussing what is for dinner - unknown
Democracy is supposed to be the best way of balancing opposing forces. It's also a popularity contest. Someow these 2 ideals are by their very nature incompatible.
We should choose our leaders, and they should act in our interests, and we should all live happily ever after. But no, it doesn't work like that. In america, the money controls both sides, so it's hobsons choice, ie none at all. The money always wins. In south africa, we have the anc, and everyone else. Every 4 years they fabricate another win, and continue to do as they please.
I don't joke about fabricating either, the number of anc votes has been consistent over the last 3 elections, despite massive increases in support for everyone else. The only plausable explanation lies in our open border policy, and the millions of northern africans invading us annually.
As to accountability, there is none. As the text of TIME FOR TRUTH states, several ministers should have been fired, years ago, and yet they hang on to their posts in a similar fashion to royal families. Minister of health, lied about past criminal convictions. Get this: she stole from patients while working as a nurse. Then lied about it to south africa. Mbeki knew, he lied too. She has created policy that kills millions of poor people, while advocating garlic and potatoes. She is a known drinker, and people have lost their jobs over her demands for alcohol IN A HOSPITAL BED. Then she gets a liver transplant. Now an old fat woman who is a drinker would never be allowed a transplant under normal conditions, but we are assured that procedure was followed. Yes, which procedure i wonder? I think it's rather bitter irony that this is the minister of health. Something very Orwellian about this.
Almost as much as the national police commissioner who was also the head of interpol, first admitting to being friends with a known crime boss ... AND SEEING NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! Then the man who got a warrant of arrest against him gets fired, wthin the week, only to have his successor confirm the case! Also (shit i'm NOT making this up) that the president and several cabinet ministers knew full well of the accusations against this chief policeman. Mbeki had stated that nobody had informed him of any wrongdoing, and if they had, he would have taken notice.
A BLATANT LIE.
Ok i'm getting sidetracked here. The anc is the party with most voters. They say ho becomes president. And they are able to approve or deny any parlimentary issues.
They do not listen to anyone else, nor even pretend to.
It takes supreme court orders to get these people to answer parlimentary questions, yet they (again blatantly lie) that the questions had been answered.
I can not even stomach zuma. But it must be said, there is one issue on which we agree. BRING ME MY FUCKING MACHINE GUN. And i don't care what the zulu for that is.
Western civilisation has the advantage of having taken rulers out into the streets, and shot. And despite all else, modern rulers know this, it keeps them getting TOO out of hand. Africa desperately needs that, starting in zim, and working outwards.
Democracy needs that, but they are hardly about to teach it to kids, something they'd be far better knowing than any pledge acknowledging past injustices. What south africa has politically is something europe left behind several centuries ago, and that is tribalism. And the biggest tribe wins,to the detriment of all others.
We (any educated people) try teach them (those that do not know) balance, but sadly africa is too brutal. And the common man is poor, downtrodden and uneducated. This suits the zumas of this world. They know that such people are easy to manipulate, and i know a lot of people who do not understand the concept of secret ballot. What they do understand is their neighbour, who burned to death for having attended an opposition rally. This happens here, and as hards it for you foreigners to conceive of, it is as hard for us to conceive otherwise.
God bless africa. We need it.
Democracy is supposed to be the best way of balancing opposing forces. It's also a popularity contest. Someow these 2 ideals are by their very nature incompatible.
We should choose our leaders, and they should act in our interests, and we should all live happily ever after. But no, it doesn't work like that. In america, the money controls both sides, so it's hobsons choice, ie none at all. The money always wins. In south africa, we have the anc, and everyone else. Every 4 years they fabricate another win, and continue to do as they please.
I don't joke about fabricating either, the number of anc votes has been consistent over the last 3 elections, despite massive increases in support for everyone else. The only plausable explanation lies in our open border policy, and the millions of northern africans invading us annually.
As to accountability, there is none. As the text of TIME FOR TRUTH states, several ministers should have been fired, years ago, and yet they hang on to their posts in a similar fashion to royal families. Minister of health, lied about past criminal convictions. Get this: she stole from patients while working as a nurse. Then lied about it to south africa. Mbeki knew, he lied too. She has created policy that kills millions of poor people, while advocating garlic and potatoes. She is a known drinker, and people have lost their jobs over her demands for alcohol IN A HOSPITAL BED. Then she gets a liver transplant. Now an old fat woman who is a drinker would never be allowed a transplant under normal conditions, but we are assured that procedure was followed. Yes, which procedure i wonder? I think it's rather bitter irony that this is the minister of health. Something very Orwellian about this.
Almost as much as the national police commissioner who was also the head of interpol, first admitting to being friends with a known crime boss ... AND SEEING NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! Then the man who got a warrant of arrest against him gets fired, wthin the week, only to have his successor confirm the case! Also (shit i'm NOT making this up) that the president and several cabinet ministers knew full well of the accusations against this chief policeman. Mbeki had stated that nobody had informed him of any wrongdoing, and if they had, he would have taken notice.
A BLATANT LIE.
Ok i'm getting sidetracked here. The anc is the party with most voters. They say ho becomes president. And they are able to approve or deny any parlimentary issues.
They do not listen to anyone else, nor even pretend to.
It takes supreme court orders to get these people to answer parlimentary questions, yet they (again blatantly lie) that the questions had been answered.
I can not even stomach zuma. But it must be said, there is one issue on which we agree. BRING ME MY FUCKING MACHINE GUN. And i don't care what the zulu for that is.
Western civilisation has the advantage of having taken rulers out into the streets, and shot. And despite all else, modern rulers know this, it keeps them getting TOO out of hand. Africa desperately needs that, starting in zim, and working outwards.
Democracy needs that, but they are hardly about to teach it to kids, something they'd be far better knowing than any pledge acknowledging past injustices. What south africa has politically is something europe left behind several centuries ago, and that is tribalism. And the biggest tribe wins,to the detriment of all others.
We (any educated people) try teach them (those that do not know) balance, but sadly africa is too brutal. And the common man is poor, downtrodden and uneducated. This suits the zumas of this world. They know that such people are easy to manipulate, and i know a lot of people who do not understand the concept of secret ballot. What they do understand is their neighbour, who burned to death for having attended an opposition rally. This happens here, and as hards it for you foreigners to conceive of, it is as hard for us to conceive otherwise.
God bless africa. We need it.
Arbitrary observation.
My blog is going really well, thanks to all who visit. I hope there is something that makes you smile, or think, or cry, when approprate.
I have received more comments on my TIME FOR THE TRUTH post than any other. An urban legend almost already, and in the internet age it's probably been around the world about a zillion times, like superman, undoing history.
The strange thing that i've noticed is this, you post 100 topics, and one will find "favour" with the public. Seldom one you thought would, and often one you feel unimportant.
It happened on Arrive Alive recently (go see, it's on the blogroll) where they discussed the death of some soapie star (i neither watch, nor want a tv). Now arrive alive posts almost daily about road deaths in and around the country, each providing the bare bones of what happened, with information supplied from the medical personnel who where on the scene, and photo's, usually gruesome.
In the carnage that is our road system, where children and adults are killed without prejudice, usually the innocent ones too, and no-one bats a freakin eye, all of a sudden words like "fair" and "justice" and "pay for it" are used.
Jonckie answered VERY well, basically stating that no, we don't know what happened yet, and no, it's not possible, never mind ethical to point fingers.
Either way, people are so bloody small minded sometimes, that the life of an actress means more than a busload of children.
"To summarize the summary of the summary: People are a problem" - Douglas Adams
I have received more comments on my TIME FOR THE TRUTH post than any other. An urban legend almost already, and in the internet age it's probably been around the world about a zillion times, like superman, undoing history.
The strange thing that i've noticed is this, you post 100 topics, and one will find "favour" with the public. Seldom one you thought would, and often one you feel unimportant.
It happened on Arrive Alive recently (go see, it's on the blogroll) where they discussed the death of some soapie star (i neither watch, nor want a tv). Now arrive alive posts almost daily about road deaths in and around the country, each providing the bare bones of what happened, with information supplied from the medical personnel who where on the scene, and photo's, usually gruesome.
In the carnage that is our road system, where children and adults are killed without prejudice, usually the innocent ones too, and no-one bats a freakin eye, all of a sudden words like "fair" and "justice" and "pay for it" are used.
Jonckie answered VERY well, basically stating that no, we don't know what happened yet, and no, it's not possible, never mind ethical to point fingers.
Either way, people are so bloody small minded sometimes, that the life of an actress means more than a busload of children.
"To summarize the summary of the summary: People are a problem" - Douglas Adams
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Kids have PTSD
SA kids 'living in fear'
18/02/2008 12:36 - (SA)
Christel Raubenheimer, Beeld
Pretoria - South Africa is already paying the price of children who live in fear because of crime, or who have already experienced the trauma of crime.
"Our country will still be paying that price for a long time to come. We're not fooling our children. They know what the score is," children's educational psychologist Professor Kobus Maree said on Wednesday.
In one of the latest crime incidents a Grade 7 pupil at Trinity House Preparatory School in Randpark Ridge, 12-year-old Emily Williams died when she was hit by a stray bullet during a gunfight between house robbers and security guards.
A clinical psychologist at the Children's Trauma Clinic in Pretoria, Marita Rademeyer, said research had shown that between 20% and 40% of South African children were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Far-reaching consequences
"Trauma changes a child's brain functions and it has far-reaching consequences."
It can, for example, lead to children struggling to concentrate at school, sleeping badly or being aggressive and fearful.
Maree said most South African children were genuinely traumatised. "They're exposed to events that are way beyond their control. That's the worst. It doesn't surprise me that children develop physical or mental illnesses."
In his view school subjects such as life skills could be a lot more useful in helping children to cope with trauma.
He said schools could use a lot more of this time to discuss trauma.
"If you can verbalise something, it already brings relief. There is no substitute for therapy."
"Don't lie to children. Be brutally honest with them. Tell them about everything that you do to keep them safe, such as closing doors, but that you can't always do it."
"Take precautionary steps and act intelligently. Do whatever is in your power to keep crime away from your doors," Maree advised parents.
He said children were "undeniably fearful", and their childhood years, that were supposed to be carefree, were everything but that.
"It comes to the fore in later years."
Rademeyer said every area of a child's development was influenced by trauma.
"Our land is in deep trouble. As parents we become emotionally blunted, but any trauma is hell on the children. We must encourage them - but not press them - to act out and talk about these events," she said.
The latest available police statistics on child victims of crime, for the period 2005 to 2006, showed that 1 075 children were murder victims.
Of the attempted murders reported, 1 378 were children. In this period nearly 24 000 children were raped.
According to the SA Police Service annual report for that year an unknown number of these crimes were committed during other crime events, such as house robberies, gang fights, taxi violence and the like, and the victims were not necessarily the targets.
_______________________________________________________________
I had hoped to be positive, but something like this catches your attention, and stops you dead. Numbers lie. How to measure fear? While we have not (thank god) been victims of violent crime directly, my kids know all about it, from friends, from papers, for crying out loud they're not stupid, they know.
Krokodil suggested i leave the country and I tend to agree. But god help you if you call me a coward. Or a racist. I am neither.
My children are my flesh, my blood, my air. They deserve more than random brutality. Family of a friend of mine was hijacked recently. The cowardly cnuts put a gun against a babies head. Make no mistake, they would have pulled the trigger.
People in times of WAR suffer PTSD, kids .... who can justify this?
18/02/2008 12:36 - (SA)
Christel Raubenheimer, Beeld
Pretoria - South Africa is already paying the price of children who live in fear because of crime, or who have already experienced the trauma of crime.
"Our country will still be paying that price for a long time to come. We're not fooling our children. They know what the score is," children's educational psychologist Professor Kobus Maree said on Wednesday.
In one of the latest crime incidents a Grade 7 pupil at Trinity House Preparatory School in Randpark Ridge, 12-year-old Emily Williams died when she was hit by a stray bullet during a gunfight between house robbers and security guards.
A clinical psychologist at the Children's Trauma Clinic in Pretoria, Marita Rademeyer, said research had shown that between 20% and 40% of South African children were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Far-reaching consequences
"Trauma changes a child's brain functions and it has far-reaching consequences."
It can, for example, lead to children struggling to concentrate at school, sleeping badly or being aggressive and fearful.
Maree said most South African children were genuinely traumatised. "They're exposed to events that are way beyond their control. That's the worst. It doesn't surprise me that children develop physical or mental illnesses."
In his view school subjects such as life skills could be a lot more useful in helping children to cope with trauma.
He said schools could use a lot more of this time to discuss trauma.
"If you can verbalise something, it already brings relief. There is no substitute for therapy."
"Don't lie to children. Be brutally honest with them. Tell them about everything that you do to keep them safe, such as closing doors, but that you can't always do it."
"Take precautionary steps and act intelligently. Do whatever is in your power to keep crime away from your doors," Maree advised parents.
He said children were "undeniably fearful", and their childhood years, that were supposed to be carefree, were everything but that.
"It comes to the fore in later years."
Rademeyer said every area of a child's development was influenced by trauma.
"Our land is in deep trouble. As parents we become emotionally blunted, but any trauma is hell on the children. We must encourage them - but not press them - to act out and talk about these events," she said.
The latest available police statistics on child victims of crime, for the period 2005 to 2006, showed that 1 075 children were murder victims.
Of the attempted murders reported, 1 378 were children. In this period nearly 24 000 children were raped.
According to the SA Police Service annual report for that year an unknown number of these crimes were committed during other crime events, such as house robberies, gang fights, taxi violence and the like, and the victims were not necessarily the targets.
_______________________________________________________________
I had hoped to be positive, but something like this catches your attention, and stops you dead. Numbers lie. How to measure fear? While we have not (thank god) been victims of violent crime directly, my kids know all about it, from friends, from papers, for crying out loud they're not stupid, they know.
Krokodil suggested i leave the country and I tend to agree. But god help you if you call me a coward. Or a racist. I am neither.
My children are my flesh, my blood, my air. They deserve more than random brutality. Family of a friend of mine was hijacked recently. The cowardly cnuts put a gun against a babies head. Make no mistake, they would have pulled the trigger.
People in times of WAR suffer PTSD, kids .... who can justify this?
Newspaper headline fubars
58 Actual Newspaper Headlines (collected by journalists)
1. Something Went Wrong In Jet Crash, Expert Says
2. Police Begin Campaign To Run Down Jaywalkers
3. Saftey Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
4. Drunk Gets Nine Months In Violin Case
5. Survivor Of Siamese Twins Joins Parents
6. Farmer Bill Dies In House
7. Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
8. Is There A Ring Of Debris Around Uranus?
9. Stud Tires Out
10. Prostitutes Appeal To Pope
11. Panda Mating Fails: Veterinarian Takes Over
12. Soviet Virgin Lands Short Of Goal Again
13. British Left Waffles On Falkland Islands
14. Lung Cancer In Women Mushrooms
15. Eye Drops Off Shelf
16. Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
17. Reagan Wins On Budget, But More Lies Ahead
18. Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim
19. Shot Off Woman’s Leg Helps Nicklaus to 66
20. Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Ax
21. Plane Too Close To Ground, Crash Probe Told
22. Miners Refuse to Work After Death
23. Juvenile Court To Try Shooting Defendant
24. Stolen Painting Found By Tree
25. Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Dies
26. Two Sisters Reunited After 18 Years In Checkout Counter
27. Killer Sentenced To Die For Second Time In 10 Years
28. Never Withhold Herpes Infection From Loved One
29. Drunken Drivers Paid $1000 in ‘84
30. War Dims Hope For Peace
31. If Strike Isn’t Settled Quickly, It May Last a While
32. Cold Wave Linked To Temperatures
33. Enfields Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
34. Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge
35. Deer Kill 17,000
36. Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
37. Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge
38. New Study Of Obesity Looks For Larger Test Group
39. Astronaut Takes Blame For Gas In Spacecraft
40. Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
41. Chef Throws His Heart Into Helping Needy
42. Arson Suspect Is Held In Massachusetts Fire
43. British Union Finds Dwarves In Short Supply
44. Ban On Soliciting Dead in Trotwood
45. Lansing Residents Can Drop Off Trees
46. Local High School Dropouts Cut In Half
47. New Vaccine May Contain Rabies
48. Man Minus Ear Waives Hearing
49. Deaf College Opens Doors To Hearing
50. Air Head Fired
51. Steals Clock, Faces Time
52. Prosecutor Releases Probe into Undersheriff
53. Old School Pillars are Replaced By Alumni
54. Bank Drive-In Window Blocked By Board
55. Hospitals are Sued By 7 Foot Doctors
56. Some Pieces Of Rock Hudson Sold At Auction
57. Sex Education Delayed, Teachers Request Training
58. Include Your Children When Baking Cookies
____________________________________________________________
Each and every one of these is a gem, i particulary like the last *evil chuckle*
1. Something Went Wrong In Jet Crash, Expert Says
2. Police Begin Campaign To Run Down Jaywalkers
3. Saftey Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
4. Drunk Gets Nine Months In Violin Case
5. Survivor Of Siamese Twins Joins Parents
6. Farmer Bill Dies In House
7. Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
8. Is There A Ring Of Debris Around Uranus?
9. Stud Tires Out
10. Prostitutes Appeal To Pope
11. Panda Mating Fails: Veterinarian Takes Over
12. Soviet Virgin Lands Short Of Goal Again
13. British Left Waffles On Falkland Islands
14. Lung Cancer In Women Mushrooms
15. Eye Drops Off Shelf
16. Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
17. Reagan Wins On Budget, But More Lies Ahead
18. Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim
19. Shot Off Woman’s Leg Helps Nicklaus to 66
20. Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Ax
21. Plane Too Close To Ground, Crash Probe Told
22. Miners Refuse to Work After Death
23. Juvenile Court To Try Shooting Defendant
24. Stolen Painting Found By Tree
25. Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Dies
26. Two Sisters Reunited After 18 Years In Checkout Counter
27. Killer Sentenced To Die For Second Time In 10 Years
28. Never Withhold Herpes Infection From Loved One
29. Drunken Drivers Paid $1000 in ‘84
30. War Dims Hope For Peace
31. If Strike Isn’t Settled Quickly, It May Last a While
32. Cold Wave Linked To Temperatures
33. Enfields Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
34. Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge
35. Deer Kill 17,000
36. Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
37. Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge
38. New Study Of Obesity Looks For Larger Test Group
39. Astronaut Takes Blame For Gas In Spacecraft
40. Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
41. Chef Throws His Heart Into Helping Needy
42. Arson Suspect Is Held In Massachusetts Fire
43. British Union Finds Dwarves In Short Supply
44. Ban On Soliciting Dead in Trotwood
45. Lansing Residents Can Drop Off Trees
46. Local High School Dropouts Cut In Half
47. New Vaccine May Contain Rabies
48. Man Minus Ear Waives Hearing
49. Deaf College Opens Doors To Hearing
50. Air Head Fired
51. Steals Clock, Faces Time
52. Prosecutor Releases Probe into Undersheriff
53. Old School Pillars are Replaced By Alumni
54. Bank Drive-In Window Blocked By Board
55. Hospitals are Sued By 7 Foot Doctors
56. Some Pieces Of Rock Hudson Sold At Auction
57. Sex Education Delayed, Teachers Request Training
58. Include Your Children When Baking Cookies
____________________________________________________________
Each and every one of these is a gem, i particulary like the last *evil chuckle*
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Wishbone Ash
Wishbone Ash - Throw Down The Sword Lyrics
Throw down the sword,
The fight is done and over,
Neither lost, neither won.
To cast away the fury of the battle
And turn my weary eyes for home.
There were times when I stood at death's own door
Only hoping for an answer.
Throw down the sword,
And leave the glory -
A story time can never change.
To walk the road, the load I have to carry
-
A journey's end, a wounded soul.
There were times when I stood at death's own door
Only searching for an answer.
_____________________________________________________
Not the most inspired video i'll admit, but this band has a certain sound to it that is unique. I have the album "The king Will Come" at home, and few artists leave me feeling as peaceful as this group. Harmonious, melodious, and technically brilliant, one piece took me several listens to work out that it was in fact 2 guitars playing, not just one, in almost perfect union.
Not many have heard of them, but highly recommended if you are into electro rock. Known as pioneers of their sound, this is what i listen to when i need to be calmed.
Monday, 18 February 2008
Buccaneer ... RIP
The world is much poorer. Brian Cannoo, AKA Buccaneer succumbed to injuries received in a motorbike accident over the weekend. No words can atone for the loss of this great man. His legacy will be Think Bike, an organisation dedicated to safety awareness for bikes, and cars alike.
He was known for his big heart, generosity, and strenth. He was passionate about helping people be safer on the roads, educating and helping young riders.
I knew him for only a short time, but am richer for it.
Ride the skyways brother, Godspeed.
Friday, 15 February 2008
Only the strong
Ask yourself where you're
heading for.
Deviate - no need
to conform.
All it takes is some
confidence.
Seize the day, it might not
come again.
Only the strong will survive
Stand tall and never say die
Come out from where you hide
No need to swallow your pride
Only the strong will survive
get up and reach for the sky
Don't wait for no-one and
Don't let your heart be denied
Face the truth and
control your fate.
Set the pace
never hesitate.
All that scares you and
makes you doubt
Break the silence, just
spit it out.
From Yngwe Malmsteen
heading for.
Deviate - no need
to conform.
All it takes is some
confidence.
Seize the day, it might not
come again.
Only the strong will survive
Stand tall and never say die
Come out from where you hide
No need to swallow your pride
Only the strong will survive
get up and reach for the sky
Don't wait for no-one and
Don't let your heart be denied
Face the truth and
control your fate.
Set the pace
never hesitate.
All that scares you and
makes you doubt
Break the silence, just
spit it out.
From Yngwe Malmsteen
Thursday, 14 February 2008
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
School pledge
"We the youth of South Africa, recognising the injustices of our past, honour those who suffered and sacrificed for justice and freedom.
"We will respect and protect the dignity of each person, and stand up for justice.
"We sincerely declare that we shall uphold the rights and values of our Constitution and promise to act in accordance with the duties and responsibilities that flow from these rights."
___________________________________________________________________
Oh crap, nowi have to explain to my kids why i will not allow them to say this.
Is it obvious or do i have to explain to you too?
"We will respect and protect the dignity of each person, and stand up for justice.
"We sincerely declare that we shall uphold the rights and values of our Constitution and promise to act in accordance with the duties and responsibilities that flow from these rights."
___________________________________________________________________
Oh crap, nowi have to explain to my kids why i will not allow them to say this.
Is it obvious or do i have to explain to you too?
Luna
Luna is the Latin name of the Earth's Moon (Latin: lūna) as well as the Roman moon goddess Luna. In Greek mythology, Selene "moon" was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the titans Hyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon".
Like most moon deities, Selene plays a fairly large role in her pantheon. However, Selene was eventually largely supplanted by Artemis, and Luna by Diana.
In post-Renaissance art, Selene is generally depicted as a beautiful woman with a pale face, riding a silver chariot pulled by a yoke of oxen or a pair of horses. Often, she has been shown riding a horse or bull, wearing robes and a half-moon on her head and carrying a torch. Essentially, Selene is the moon goddess but is literally defined as 'the moon'
The Roman moon goddess, Luna, had a temple on the Aventine Hill. It was built in the sixth century BC, but was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome during Nero's reign. There was also a temple dedicated to Luna Noctiluca ("Luna that shines by night") on the Palatine Hill. There were festivals in honor of Luna on March 31, August 24 and August 29.
The Moon (Latin: Luna) is Earth's only natural satellite, and is the fifth largest one in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,403 km, which is about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The Moon has a diameter of 3,474 km[8] —slightly more than a quarter that of the Earth, and about two-thirds of the average east–west distance across the United States. This means that the volume of the Moon is about 2 percent that of Earth. The gravitational pull at its surface is about 17 percent of the Earth's. The Moon makes a complete orbit around the Earth every 27.3 days, and the periodic variations in the geometry of the Earth–Moon–Sun system are responsible for the lunar phases that repeat every 29.5 days.
Lunatic
Lunacy
Loony
Luna
Luna is the Latin name of the Earth's Moon (Latin: lūna) as well as the Roman moon goddess Luna. It may also refer to:
Ghost biker
http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Look/ghost_riderGhost Rider
Worldwide
Words By Patrick James
You might have seen them on your way to work—old bikes spray-painted white, adorned with plaques, and permanently bolted to street signs. These Ghost Bikes are sobering epitaphs for bikers who’ve been hit or killed by automobiles. The first Ghost Bike appeared in St. Louis in 2003, and now the monuments have been erected by cyclist groups in nearly 30 cities around the world, serving as a stark reminder that drivers must share the road with more fragile means of conveyance. "I wish I never had to do another one," explains Ryan Nuckel, who helps create the bikes in New York. "But as long as there’s a need, they'll continue."
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
This is not my writing, however it is certainly brilliant.Monday, 11 February 2008
TIME FOR THE TRUTH
For the past 13 years we have heard how all our problems are the fault of the long since departed apartheid regime.
The ANC spin doctors resort to all sorts of excuses when things go wrong, as they have been doing for the past 10 years.
Now is the time for the truth.
In 1994 the ANC took over a country that was in a healthy state of repair, with an Education system rated one of the top ten in the world.
A Health system that produced pioneers in many fields of medical research and enjoyed the respect of the medical fraternity the world over.
A transportation system that was the envy of the rest of Africa, and a network of roads equal to the best in Europe.
A police force that controlled crime.
A water supply rated one of the cleanest in the world.
What have we now?
An education system rated at the bottom end of a field of 50, with a required pass rate of 33% (the lowest requirement of any system in the world, and still our pupils are unable to achieve this miserable standard).
We have a health system where those in control believe beetroot and garlic will cure AIDS, where babies die in hospitals through lack of knowledge, medication, equipment and efficient care.
Where untrained staff forget to check regularly on patients in serious condition.
We have a Minerals and Energy Minister who suggests that businesses close for certain periods to conserve electricity whilst South Arica suffers power failures, but until very recently continued to supply electrical power to our northern and eastern neighbours.
We have cholera outbreaks because of contaminated water supplies in rural areas.
We have a crime rate which is just about the highest in the world.
We have a government composed of officials under investigation for corruption, theft, fraud, consorting with criminals, drunken driving, speeding and many other forms of law breaking.
Time to tell the truth – the ANC government is incapable of running our country. And their policies border on insanity.
The ANC policy of Affirmative Action has stripped the country of 75% of its skilled population and is responsible for the deprivation of the constitutional and social rights of the white population.
The practice of putting black people in a position way above their ceiling of competence is now showing the inevitable signs of efficiency erosion at all levels. Along with the inevitable rise in prices and lowering of standards of service and living.
The Black Economic Empowerment policy has empowered a certain group of people (all ANC members) at the expense of the entire population. And has cost, and continues to cost, our country billions of rand.
The ANC government officials, both local and national have embarked on a policy of rewarding themselves with excessive salaries, and ridiculous bonuses, for utter inefficiency.
Eskom is another case in point, with an alleged R143 million paid in bonuses, whilst the country suffers an energy crisis due to ignorance and lack of planning. This crisis now threatens the economy of our country.
I am sure many of those who operate a Telkom service have had the pleasure of holding on for 49 minutes when contacting Telkom's help line. (My personal best was 59 minutes on January 26, 2008. I must admit that I was helped after that period, which was a refreshing change).
We have a crime rate that is the envy of the Russian Mafia, who will no doubt soon be relocating to Johannesburg and Cape Town. (The Sicilian Brotherhood are already here it seems, enjoying the friendship of some of our Commissioners and Ministers).
We have roads which, in the rural areas, are slowly crumbling away, if they have not already disintegrated.
We have roads in our towns and cities which have more potholes than a slice of Swiss cheese. We have traffic lights which do not work for at least 2 - 3 days each month.
As a reward for this farcical and criminal inefficiency, the government hands out awards and bonuses to all concerned.
Let's be honest. Several Ministers should have been fired by the President 4 years ago. Those involved in Health, Safety and Security, Education, Home Affairs, Land Affairs, Labour and Minerals and Energy should long since have walked the plank.
The latest madness is to disband the one department that stands between absolute corrupt government and the man in the street, the Scorpions.
In fact our democracy, such as it is, is under severe threat.
We have a former Minister of Defence who bought fighter planes which the airforce did not want, and who, it is alleged by a former ANC Minister, received R39-R50 million for his troubles.
We have two submarines (cost R1.6 billion a piece, it is alleged) which are languishing in Cape Town Harbour as no one can drive them.
We also have a fancy army, which costs millions monthly, with no one to fight. Which is why we have millions unemployed and without shelter.
And 4 million refugees, which we cannot afford to cater for.
But if one criticises the present ANC government, (which should be one’s democratic right), one is labeled 'racist'. But the biggest racists are those who accuse others of racism, and everyone knows where they are.
Let's be honest, tell the truth and declare quite openly, the ANC are incapable of running this country.
The Pied Piper.
The ANC spin doctors resort to all sorts of excuses when things go wrong, as they have been doing for the past 10 years.
Now is the time for the truth.
In 1994 the ANC took over a country that was in a healthy state of repair, with an Education system rated one of the top ten in the world.
A Health system that produced pioneers in many fields of medical research and enjoyed the respect of the medical fraternity the world over.
A transportation system that was the envy of the rest of Africa, and a network of roads equal to the best in Europe.
A police force that controlled crime.
A water supply rated one of the cleanest in the world.
What have we now?
An education system rated at the bottom end of a field of 50, with a required pass rate of 33% (the lowest requirement of any system in the world, and still our pupils are unable to achieve this miserable standard).
We have a health system where those in control believe beetroot and garlic will cure AIDS, where babies die in hospitals through lack of knowledge, medication, equipment and efficient care.
Where untrained staff forget to check regularly on patients in serious condition.
We have a Minerals and Energy Minister who suggests that businesses close for certain periods to conserve electricity whilst South Arica suffers power failures, but until very recently continued to supply electrical power to our northern and eastern neighbours.
We have cholera outbreaks because of contaminated water supplies in rural areas.
We have a crime rate which is just about the highest in the world.
We have a government composed of officials under investigation for corruption, theft, fraud, consorting with criminals, drunken driving, speeding and many other forms of law breaking.
Time to tell the truth – the ANC government is incapable of running our country. And their policies border on insanity.
The ANC policy of Affirmative Action has stripped the country of 75% of its skilled population and is responsible for the deprivation of the constitutional and social rights of the white population.
The practice of putting black people in a position way above their ceiling of competence is now showing the inevitable signs of efficiency erosion at all levels. Along with the inevitable rise in prices and lowering of standards of service and living.
The Black Economic Empowerment policy has empowered a certain group of people (all ANC members) at the expense of the entire population. And has cost, and continues to cost, our country billions of rand.
The ANC government officials, both local and national have embarked on a policy of rewarding themselves with excessive salaries, and ridiculous bonuses, for utter inefficiency.
Eskom is another case in point, with an alleged R143 million paid in bonuses, whilst the country suffers an energy crisis due to ignorance and lack of planning. This crisis now threatens the economy of our country.
I am sure many of those who operate a Telkom service have had the pleasure of holding on for 49 minutes when contacting Telkom's help line. (My personal best was 59 minutes on January 26, 2008. I must admit that I was helped after that period, which was a refreshing change).
We have a crime rate that is the envy of the Russian Mafia, who will no doubt soon be relocating to Johannesburg and Cape Town. (The Sicilian Brotherhood are already here it seems, enjoying the friendship of some of our Commissioners and Ministers).
We have roads which, in the rural areas, are slowly crumbling away, if they have not already disintegrated.
We have roads in our towns and cities which have more potholes than a slice of Swiss cheese. We have traffic lights which do not work for at least 2 - 3 days each month.
As a reward for this farcical and criminal inefficiency, the government hands out awards and bonuses to all concerned.
Let's be honest. Several Ministers should have been fired by the President 4 years ago. Those involved in Health, Safety and Security, Education, Home Affairs, Land Affairs, Labour and Minerals and Energy should long since have walked the plank.
The latest madness is to disband the one department that stands between absolute corrupt government and the man in the street, the Scorpions.
In fact our democracy, such as it is, is under severe threat.
We have a former Minister of Defence who bought fighter planes which the airforce did not want, and who, it is alleged by a former ANC Minister, received R39-R50 million for his troubles.
We have two submarines (cost R1.6 billion a piece, it is alleged) which are languishing in Cape Town Harbour as no one can drive them.
We also have a fancy army, which costs millions monthly, with no one to fight. Which is why we have millions unemployed and without shelter.
And 4 million refugees, which we cannot afford to cater for.
But if one criticises the present ANC government, (which should be one’s democratic right), one is labeled 'racist'. But the biggest racists are those who accuse others of racism, and everyone knows where they are.
Let's be honest, tell the truth and declare quite openly, the ANC are incapable of running this country.
The Pied Piper.
Eskom to get giant candle
Eskom to get giant candle
10/02/2008 17:28 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Freedom Front Plus leader Dr Pieter Mulder will present Eskom management with a huge candle and the FF Plus's database of 1 800 skilled unemployed or under-employed South Africans on Monday.
The ceremony will take place at the main entrance to Eskom headquarters at Megawatt Park, north of Johannesburg, said the FF+.
"The purpose of the ceremony is to convey to Eskom the frustration of members of the public who have been plagued by Eskom's load-shedding practices (often having to settle for candlelight).
"It also is to offer Eskom the services of hundreds of skilled South Africans who would have loved to be employed by them, but for the limitations of affirmative action practices," said the FF+.
___________________________________________________________________________
Ok this IS funny!!!
Since when do electricity suppliers get given CANDLES!!!??? hehehehehe
10/02/2008 17:28 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Freedom Front Plus leader Dr Pieter Mulder will present Eskom management with a huge candle and the FF Plus's database of 1 800 skilled unemployed or under-employed South Africans on Monday.
The ceremony will take place at the main entrance to Eskom headquarters at Megawatt Park, north of Johannesburg, said the FF+.
"The purpose of the ceremony is to convey to Eskom the frustration of members of the public who have been plagued by Eskom's load-shedding practices (often having to settle for candlelight).
"It also is to offer Eskom the services of hundreds of skilled South Africans who would have loved to be employed by them, but for the limitations of affirmative action practices," said the FF+.
___________________________________________________________________________
Ok this IS funny!!!
Since when do electricity suppliers get given CANDLES!!!??? hehehehehe
Lies, damned lies, politics
Mbeki doesn't like Pik's bright idea
Peter Fabricius
February 10 2008 at 01:14PM
Pik Botha, the former foreign minister, has been rebuffed by President Thabo Mbeki in his efforts to persuade the government to set up a high-powered body to manage and monitor infrastructure development and service delivery.
Botha said this week that he hoped that Jacob Zuma, the new ANC president, would be more receptive to his ideas. Botha said he was extremely concerned that the country was heading for a huge infrastructure collapse, not only in electricity but also in water and other services.
Botha said he had met Frank Chikane, Mbeki's director-general, in January 2006 to raise his concerns. He said he had given Chikane a proposal for improving public-service delivery by setting up a central body with the power to monitor it at all levels of government.
"I gave him examples of how black patients were treated dismally at state hospitals. I told him that houses were being allocated to foreign blacks to the detriment of South African blacks."
But he had heard nothing more from Chikane.
Botha was involved in a sharp exchange of correspondence with Mbeki last year, sparked by Botha's criticism of affirmative action and black employment equity, which he believes are causes of the breakdown of government services.
In July, Botha was quoted in the Sunday newspaper Rapport as saying that the ANC had lied to the old National Party about affirmative action during the negotiations for democracy between 1990 and 1994.
Botha was reported to have told a conference of the trade union Solidarity that the National Party would not have agreed to a political settlement with the ANC if it had known that the ANC was going to implement affirmative action in the way it had.
Botha's reported remarks drew a sharp response from Mbeki, who wrote an eight-page letter to him on July 17. Mbeki strongly denied that the ANC had lied about affirmative action during the negotiations.
"We have never hidden our resolve that the new South Africa should 'recognise the injustice of the past', as our constitution says," Mbeki wrote.
"Neither have we been equivocal about our commitment to the view stated in our constitution in the following words: 'to promote the achievement of equality, legislative and other measures designed to protect or advance persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination, may be taken..."
Mbeki said that, by agreeing to this clause of the constitution, the old NP had committed itself to eradicating "the deeply entrenched inequalities that centuries of colonialism and apartheid had bequeathed to all of us."
He said the ANC had been under pressure from its constituents to move faster to redress the legacy of inequality.
"We did not do this because we had to address both black and white concerns and interests" but "very few of our white compatriots seem to understand what the ANC has done for many decades and continues to do to this day.
"To present the matter in its most naked form: for decades, to date, because of its commitment to non-racialism, and its love for our country and all its people, the ANC has stood as a buffer between a deeply aggrieved black majority and a white minority that seems mercilessly insensitive to the grievous harm that was done to millions, in its name."
But, Mbeki said, the ANC was now being attacked by Botha and other whites because its "measured pace towards the creation of a non-racial society has not been measured enough!"
In a reply to Mbeki on July 19, Botha denied he had said that the ANC lied to the NP about affirmative action. But he confirmed that he had told the Solidarity meeting on July 13 that, if the ANC had demanded that the Employment Equity Act, and in particular the way it was implemented, be incorporated in the new constitution, the constitution would not have been agreed to.
Botha told Mbeki in the letter: "You know that we could not have agreed and have not agreed to a process based solely on racial demographic representivity.
"Surely you will agree that young white children who were at school in 1990 and who had no connection with apartheid should not be punished for the sins of their fathers and grandfathers?
"I am not advocating the discontinuance of affirmative action, though I feel strongly about announcing a time limit.
"I believe that a thorough analysis should be made as to whether the majority of black people have benefited markedly from the particular way in which affirmative action is applied. Are the disadvantaged not becoming more disadvantaged?
"Why can't we debate adaptations to the current model without being suspected of racist motives?"
Botha complained that many people from elsewhere in Africa who became South African citizens after 1994 were benefiting from black economic empowerment and affirmative action.
Botha attributed much of the blame for the current breakdown in services to affirmative action because "whites who have the skills to manage efficiently electricity production and distribution, sewage systems, roads planning and construction, water supplies and other disciplines are removed and replaced by inexperienced blacks."
The breakdown in service delivery was hurting blacks even more than whites, Botha said. - Foreign Service
This article was originally published on page 4 of Sunday Independent on February 10, 2008
Peter Fabricius
February 10 2008 at 01:14PM
Pik Botha, the former foreign minister, has been rebuffed by President Thabo Mbeki in his efforts to persuade the government to set up a high-powered body to manage and monitor infrastructure development and service delivery.
Botha said this week that he hoped that Jacob Zuma, the new ANC president, would be more receptive to his ideas. Botha said he was extremely concerned that the country was heading for a huge infrastructure collapse, not only in electricity but also in water and other services.
Botha said he had met Frank Chikane, Mbeki's director-general, in January 2006 to raise his concerns. He said he had given Chikane a proposal for improving public-service delivery by setting up a central body with the power to monitor it at all levels of government.
"I gave him examples of how black patients were treated dismally at state hospitals. I told him that houses were being allocated to foreign blacks to the detriment of South African blacks."
But he had heard nothing more from Chikane.
Botha was involved in a sharp exchange of correspondence with Mbeki last year, sparked by Botha's criticism of affirmative action and black employment equity, which he believes are causes of the breakdown of government services.
In July, Botha was quoted in the Sunday newspaper Rapport as saying that the ANC had lied to the old National Party about affirmative action during the negotiations for democracy between 1990 and 1994.
Botha was reported to have told a conference of the trade union Solidarity that the National Party would not have agreed to a political settlement with the ANC if it had known that the ANC was going to implement affirmative action in the way it had.
Botha's reported remarks drew a sharp response from Mbeki, who wrote an eight-page letter to him on July 17. Mbeki strongly denied that the ANC had lied about affirmative action during the negotiations.
"We have never hidden our resolve that the new South Africa should 'recognise the injustice of the past', as our constitution says," Mbeki wrote.
"Neither have we been equivocal about our commitment to the view stated in our constitution in the following words: 'to promote the achievement of equality, legislative and other measures designed to protect or advance persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination, may be taken..."
Mbeki said that, by agreeing to this clause of the constitution, the old NP had committed itself to eradicating "the deeply entrenched inequalities that centuries of colonialism and apartheid had bequeathed to all of us."
He said the ANC had been under pressure from its constituents to move faster to redress the legacy of inequality.
"We did not do this because we had to address both black and white concerns and interests" but "very few of our white compatriots seem to understand what the ANC has done for many decades and continues to do to this day.
"To present the matter in its most naked form: for decades, to date, because of its commitment to non-racialism, and its love for our country and all its people, the ANC has stood as a buffer between a deeply aggrieved black majority and a white minority that seems mercilessly insensitive to the grievous harm that was done to millions, in its name."
But, Mbeki said, the ANC was now being attacked by Botha and other whites because its "measured pace towards the creation of a non-racial society has not been measured enough!"
In a reply to Mbeki on July 19, Botha denied he had said that the ANC lied to the NP about affirmative action. But he confirmed that he had told the Solidarity meeting on July 13 that, if the ANC had demanded that the Employment Equity Act, and in particular the way it was implemented, be incorporated in the new constitution, the constitution would not have been agreed to.
Botha told Mbeki in the letter: "You know that we could not have agreed and have not agreed to a process based solely on racial demographic representivity.
"Surely you will agree that young white children who were at school in 1990 and who had no connection with apartheid should not be punished for the sins of their fathers and grandfathers?
"I am not advocating the discontinuance of affirmative action, though I feel strongly about announcing a time limit.
"I believe that a thorough analysis should be made as to whether the majority of black people have benefited markedly from the particular way in which affirmative action is applied. Are the disadvantaged not becoming more disadvantaged?
"Why can't we debate adaptations to the current model without being suspected of racist motives?"
Botha complained that many people from elsewhere in Africa who became South African citizens after 1994 were benefiting from black economic empowerment and affirmative action.
Botha attributed much of the blame for the current breakdown in services to affirmative action because "whites who have the skills to manage efficiently electricity production and distribution, sewage systems, roads planning and construction, water supplies and other disciplines are removed and replaced by inexperienced blacks."
The breakdown in service delivery was hurting blacks even more than whites, Botha said. - Foreign Service
This article was originally published on page 4 of Sunday Independent on February 10, 2008
Friday, 8 February 2008
Metallica - And justice for all
...And Justice for All
(Hetfield,ulrich,hammett)
Halls of Justice Painted Green
Money Talking
Power Wolves Beset Your Door
Hear Them Stalking
Soon You'll Please Their Appetite
They Devour
Hammer of Justice Crushes You
Overpower
The Ultimate in Vanity
Exploiting Their Supremacy
I Can't Believe the Things You Say
I Can't Believe
I Can't Believe the Price You Pay
Nothing Can Save You
Justice Is Lost
Justice Is Raped
Justice Is Gone
Pulling Your Strings
Justice Is Done
Seeking No Truth
Winning Is All
Find it So Grim
So True
So Real
Apathy Their Stepping Stone
So Unfeeling
Hidden Deep Animosity
So Deceiving
Through Your Eyes Their Light Burns
Hoping to Find
Inquisition Sinking You
With Prying Minds
The Ultimate in Vanity
Exploiting Their Supremacy
I Can't Believe the Things You Say
I Can't Believe
I Can't Believe the Price You Pay
Nothing Can Save You
Justice Is Lost
Justice Is Raped
Justice Is Gone
Pulling Your Strings
Justice Is Done
Seeking No Truth
Winning Is All
Find it So Grim
So True
So Real
Lady Justice Has Been Raped
Truth Assassin
Rolls of Red Tape Seal Your Lips
Now You're Done in
Their Money Tips Her Scales Again
Make Your Deal
Just What Is Truth?i Cannot Tell
Cannot Feel
The Ultimate in Vanity
Exploiting Their Supremacy
I Can't Believe the Things You Say
I Can't Believe
I Can't Believe the Price We Pay
Nothing Can Save You
Justice Is Lost
Justice Is Raped
Justice Is Gone
Pulling Your Strings
Justice Is Done
Seeking No Truth
Winning Is All
Find it So Grim
So True
So Real
Seeking No Truth
Winning Is All
Find it So Grim
So True
So Real
Metallica Lyrics
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno (1548, Nola – February 17, 1600, Rome) was an Italian philosopher, priest, cosmologist, and occultist. Bruno is known for his mnemonic system based upon organized knowledge and as an early proponent of the idea of an infinite and homogeneous universe. Burnt at the stake as a heretic by the Roman Inquisition, Bruno is seen by some as the first "martyr [1] for science."
Quotations
"Firstly, I say that the theories on the movement of the earth and on the immobility of the firmament or sky are by me produced on a reasoned and sure basis, which doesn’t undermine the authority of the Holy Scriptures […]. With regard to the sun, I say that it doesn’t rise or set, nor do we see it rise or set, because, if the earth rotates on his axis, what do we mean by rising and setting ..." -Giordano Bruno, from the Vatican summary of Bruno's trial ([5]).
"I fought, and that's a lot. I thought I could win ... but nature and luck curbed my endeavour. But it's already something that I took up the struggle, because I see that victory is in the hands of Fate. In me was what was possible and what no future century will be able to deny to me: what a winner could give from his own; that I did not fear death, that I did not submit, my face firm, to anyone of my breed; that I preferred courageous death to pavid life." -Giordano Bruno, De Monade
"I cleave the heavens, and soar to the infinite. What others see from afar, I leave far behind me." -Giordano Bruno
"'I have held and hold souls to be immortal speaking as a Catholic, they do not pass from body to body, but go to Paradise, Purgatory or Hell. But I have reasoned deeply, and, speaking as a philosopher, since the soul is not found without body and yet is not body, it may be in one body or in another, and pass from body to body. This, if it be not (proved) true seems at least, likely." -Giordano Bruno, Venice Trial
Courtesy of Wikipedia
Monday, 4 February 2008
Eksdom Horoscopes
Your Stars Foretell : By S. Com (The Future Made Clear - dark, but clear-eish)
Aries (Mar 21 - Apr 21) : Things will be pretty dark for you today, unless you remember to buy new torch batteries.
Taurus (Apr 21 - May 21) : You'll probably eat cold, raw food again today. Try to remember to get that gas cylinder filled! Be cheerful, though, and remember that your ancestors lived like this and survived - 25,000 years ago.
Gemini (May 21 - Jun 22) : There will be a programme on TV tonight that you'll love. Bummer that you can't watch it 'cause it's on during your allotted "block" in the Eskom disco derby...
Cancer (Jun 22 - Jul 23) : Thought you were smart buying that generator? But we know you're going to run out of fuel tonight and the nearest working petrol station is 20km away. As you get there, we'll cut their power... Sorry.
Leo (Jul 23 - Aug 24) : Another morning without that essential cup of coffee awaits you... If you make it to 10am we'll reward you with enough power to make some, but by then you'll probably have killed 3 people and severely injured a 4th. (Don't worry, though. This is the New SA - you'll probably get away with it.)
Virgo (Aug 24- Sep 23) : Not for very much longer... What else is there to do after dark?
Libra (Sep 23 - Oct 23) : Your star-sign stands for fairness and justice. That's why we're going to hit your area with three 2hr outages a day, while the area where your local MP stays will enjoy uninterrupted power throughout.
Scorpio (Oct 23 - Nov 23) : Your area's assigned outage "block" is from 10:00 to 12:30. Expect the power to go off any time before or after that. And don't think it will only be out for two-and-a-half hours, either.
Sagittarius (Nov 23- Dec 22) : Today you'll buy some food that is apparently within its sell-by date. What you won't realize is that the sell-by date is for food that has been stored in a constantly operating fridge.... Although you'll get severe food poisoning, we think you may survive if you can find an emergency ward that has back-up generators. Good luck!
Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 21) : Don't bother to go to work today. During the hours when you actually will have electricity, your network provider will not, so you won't be able to do anything anyway. Stay home and well.... there's not much to do there either, is there?
Aquarius (Jan 21 - Feb 20) : Today you'll get so fed up with our incompetence that you'll decide to emigrate. We regret to inform you that this is no longer possible... The airports have all shut down, because - well think about it! They need electricity to run the place!! You ain't going - nowhere...
Pisces (Feb 20 - Mar 21) : Today all your hopes and dreams will come true. You'll have power during "Days of Our Lives".
If today is your birthday : Use lots and lots of candles on that cake - even if they don't reflect your age. How else are you going to see to open the presents?
_________________________________________________________________________
Ok, i did copy this, care of http://boerejeug.blogspot.com/ who got it from www.Africancrisis.co.za. Jawellnofine. For international visitors, the national power utility is called Eskom, eksdom literally translated is i'm stupid. It's too good to ignore!!!
Friday, 1 February 2008
Real hero ... RIP
Jimmy James, P.O.W. Plotter of Escapes, Is Dead at 92 By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
Published: January 31, 2008
Jimmy James, a British flier in World War II obsessed with escape plots during his five years in German captivity, most prominently the breakout portrayed in the movie “The Great Escape,” died Jan. 18 in Shrewsbury, England. Mr. James, who lived in Ludlow, England, was 92.
His death was confirmed to the BBC and The Birmingham Post by Howard Tuck, a military historian who said he had been working on a book with Mr. James.
On the night of June 5, 1940, Flight Lieutenant James, the co-pilot of a Wellington bomber, was on the way to a mission over Germany when his plane was shot down by antiaircraft fire over the occupied Netherlands. He bailed out about 25 miles south of Rotterdam but was captured and taken to the prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft I on the Baltic coast of Germany.
Mr. James made at least seven unsuccessful attempts to tunnel out of that camp. Then he was transferred to Stalag Luft III, about 90 miles southeast of Berlin. By the time he was liberated by American troops in Austria in May 1945, a few days before Germany surrendered, he had tried to escape at least 11 times from P.O.W. camps and a concentration camp and had succeeded twice, only to be recaptured.
“I was just a guy who wanted to get home; I was no hero,” The Birmingham Post quoted Mr. James as saying. But his unrelenting will to be free brought him Britain’s Military Cross for gallantry in 1946.
Mr. James was “one of the last great links with a period of history that continues to exert a fierce grip on the popular imagination,” The Independent newspaper said upon his death.
The most storied escape occurred on the night of March 24, 1944, when 76 Allied prisoners, mostly airmen from Britain and the Commonwealth nations, tunneled out of Stalag Luft III. Mr. James and another prisoner had overseen the hiding of soil displaced by the tunnel digging, supervising its placement underneath seats in the camp’s theater, where the captives had put on shows. Mr. James was the 39th man to escape through the tunnel.
Mr. James could sometimes look back with a wry eye. He once told the BBC about a flier who was annoyed over having been shot down when he had London theater tickets for the next night.
“He’d bought a ticket for ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ in London that was on in the West End,” Mr. James said. “And he was bemoaning this fact when he came into the camp. He said, ‘I bought a ticket for this show,’ and I said: ‘Oh, that’s all right old boy, we’re putting it on next week. You can see it here.’ ”
The breakout, as depicted in the 1963 movie starring Steve McQueen, is remembered for what Mr. James once called “rather Hollywood fantasy” — the McQueen character’s short-lived escape on a motorcycle.
But the real escape became a grim affair. Only 3 of the 76 escapees made it to freedom. Fifty of the 73 men who were recaptured were shot on Hitler’s orders.
Mr. James was recaptured at a German railroad station while fleeing toward the Czech border and was eventually transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In September 1944, he joined several other prisoners of war in escaping from the camp through a 100-foot tunnel they had dug 10 feet below the surface, using a table knife. He fled north, hoping to board a ship for Sweden, but was recaptured once more and later imprisoned at two other concentration camps before being liberated.
Bertram Arthur James, known as Jimmy since his days in military service, was born in India, the son of a tea merchant. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1939 and remained in the military until the 1950s. He later entered the British diplomatic corps, holding posts on the Continent and in Africa.
He is survived by his wife, Madge.
Mr. James told of his experiences in a 1983 memoir, “Moonless Night.” In 2004, he attended a ceremony at the site of Stalag Luft III, now a part of Poland.
“The huts have been razed to the ground but you can see where we dug, the route of the tunnel, and you can still feel the atmosphere of the camp,” he told the BBC then.
“Having lost 50 comrades, ghosts of the past are inevitably going to rise up. I feel a great loss. I never thought that 60 years ago, when I crawled out of the snow, there would be a ceremony in Poland to commemorate the event.”
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