A laugh with Malema

As it is a Wednesday, that for many is really like a Friday, we will have some light entertainment, thanks to our esteemed ANCYL president, Mr Comrade Juluis Malema.
Now, we all know that Mr Malema has a free flowing mouth, which seems to get him into, well, nearly into, trouble. Just like many senior politicians or those in the good books of the ANC leadership, it is difficult to pin the tail on the honoury comrade Malema.
Mr M, is the ruler, I mean president of the Zuma praise singing ANC Youth League. Now Comrade Malema is the ripe youthful age of 28.

As a term of reference, I looked at the definition of 'Youth' on Encarta. Their definition tickled me. The two important points here were " 1) Time where somebody is young- period of human life between childhood and maturity and 2) Young man- a boy or young man in his teen or early twenties. "
Now let's look at the position. Comrade Malema is not in his early twenties, as one would assume 24 would be the cut off here. But indeed, he fits well into the first definition- somebody yet to reach maturity. It all makes sense now.

Last weekend, he had a house warming party for his new residence, in Sandown,Sandton. (Slays me how somebody who drives a luxury car, wears expensive clothes and lives in Sandton, can tell the poor he knows how they feel).
Anyway, being the considerate person he is, I am sure he planned to end the party before 4 the next morning. However, some selfish neighbours began complaining at around at around 3:30 am. The police arrived and broke up the little soiree at 4. Here versions do differ of course I must add.

During this time, it is alleged that Mr M and his army of bodyguards assualted a police reservist. Although this is serious, Mr M has managed to get a laugh out of the situation for us.

Firstly he claims that he is a police reservist as well- but he has not, nor does he need a police appointment card to be one. His only claim to being a reservist is, like Superman, he has a responsibility to fight crime. Very noble. He is the type of reservist who never gets into a police uniform, or a police car. This particular crime fighter does not patrol the dangerous streets each night to catch criminals, nor put his life on the line for the community. What he does to fight crime escapes me.

The best is yet to come though. As if he were inspired by the great, clear thinking, African leader Robert Mugabe, Mr Malema has promptly blamed the assualt claims on Helen Zille and her spies. (Just like the woes of Zimbabwe are all Britain and Tony Blair's fault).
Well Done Julius. The DA may  not support him, but what on earth would they gain, inventing lies to make him look bad, when looking at his colourful political career, Comrade Julius has a raw talent at dragging himself into trouble, without the help of anybody else.

I am sure that we are in for many more laughs from our esteemed Youth Leader, who aspires to the the President of South Africa one day- I look forward to that. The one leader who can make George W look like a supercomputer.

Outside looking in

Planet earth. A smallish planet, roughly 147-152 million Kilometres from it's life supporting star, affectionately called the -The Sun. The planet has a thick atmosphere, protecting it from harmful light rays as well as bombardment from rocks, called meteors and other foriegn things. A perfect planet for life.

It has been for millions of years. Life has come and gone, changed dramatically over the millennia, from the most simple single celled beings to the most advanced being that has come forth from the planet-the human being, or otherwise known as Homo Sapiens.

Now, in isolation, humans are a unique, resilient, quick learning species which has a strong will to survive and has progressed from adapting to the environment to adapting the environment to suite them. Their large brains, unequaled on the planet, have allowed them to move from tools made of sticks and stones, to massive self moving and self working mechanical tools. They have built massive building and residences.
These amazing beings have even managed to place one of their own on the earth's natural satelite, The Moon. From stick and stones, their weaponary moved to swords and bows and arrows and then further to guns, tanks, planes, missiles. Taken a step further, they now have unmanned fighting machines. And of course they have harnessed the technology that has has allowed them to make weapons that could make them extinct.

The problem though, is as advanced as they may seem, there are many problems. Firstly, the technology that has been created to assist them, produces by -products that are not only harmful to the humans, but to the entire planet on which they live. You see, humans do not live in isolation, but have millions of other organisms and species that share their planet. As the more intelligent species, they have established a dominance that is unrivalled.

There is no argument that this species places themselves and their own needs, well above that of any other organism on earth. Because of this, the state of their planet is in dire straits. The industries that they have developed, the combustable engines that power their vehicles, the processes of their manufacturing, the fossil fuel burning power stations, all produce large amounts of gases. These include harmful gases like Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Oxide, Sulfur Dioxide, Benzene to name but a few. Then there is also ash and soot to go with this. Research by their medical scientists have proved that this pollution has directly contributed to a severe increase in respiratory diseases. However, the human desire to produce money over-rides any health risks that they may face.

There are further worrying factors as well. You see, their polpulation is also exploding. It already stands at some 6,7 billion and is growing at some 1-2% per annum. To support this growing population, it stands to reason that more and more land will be required both for living and for producing the resources they need to survive. This inevitably means the reduction of land that has been untouched, like wetlands and forests.
Both have a major role to play on the planet, and for the benifit of homo-sapiens. In short- wetlands help reduce the volumes of water in flooding conditions as well as the flood-height, by taking in this water. It is estimated that one acre of wetland, can hold 5,6 million litres of water. They also reduce the need for expensive flood control structures. Further to this, wetlands act as wonderful natural filters for all types of waste.
Forests are the lungs of the planet. They breathe in carbon dioxide and exhale much needed oxygen. (The gas required for all mammals on earth, including humans, to survive). Forests also regulate the flow of water in flooding as well as protect the soil from dreaded erosion. In addition, they absorb about 30% of the man made carbon dioxide, further helping in cleaning up our air quality.

Deforestation is claiming some 20 000 hectres (about 49 400 acres) of forest per day- that is an area twice the size of Paris. More than 50% of the world's wetlands have been drained- used for development or just gone to waste. The number of animal and plant species going extinct is frightening.
The industrial nations have begun to try to rehabilitate wetlands and increase the forest areas, but the developing nations are still in a negative spiral. What is a worry, is that trees do not sprout up, but grow slowly,  sometimes resulting in them being chopped down at a very young age.

Water is a resource that covers the largest area of this little rock in the solar system. Having said that, it is estimated at less than half a percent of the water is available for human consumption. The frozen ice sheets at the poles and Greenland, make up most of the fresh water, but it is unavailable for use at the moment.
Of the remaining fresh water, some 90% is found in ground water, which the humans use for their water requirments, drinking irrigation etc. Once again, the human need for resources, exceeds the rate in which it replenishes, and the water table is dropping fast. Adding to this, the humans have a habit of burying their waste, be it chemicals, toxins or radio -active material. These pollutants then enter the water table, tainting it. This results in widespread poisoning of humans, animals and plantlife.

This planet, cannot create water. It is not a renewable resouce. The life on earth rely on a delicate process called the Hydrologic cycle, which involves the atmosphere and the earth, to keep the water clean.

Due the the demand for food by this ever growing human population food resources are already strained. The oceans cannot sustain the fish requirements and overfishing is going to result in earth's oceans being dead of fish life. This will lead to dire consequences for life on land.
Food demand also results in the need for larger land requirements used to grow or manufacture food stuff. Poor farming methods in Africa and the greed of leaders, have allowed fertile land to turn to desert, resulting in drought and famines. Africa cannot sustain life in isololation in this context. Yet it is the continent with the largest population growth. This is why, it relies on the rest of the world for most of it's food requirements. But, as the world's population increases, the developed nations may be strained themselves to supply their own people's needs. They may not be able to spare any for other nations in times to come.

As stated before, this suprior species has hit a population of almost  7 billions people, and at this rate, 10 billion is not far off. Many studies estimate that 10 billion is a threshold figure. A figure at which the planet will be at it's limit in terms of resources and space. One would think that a species with so much apparent brain power, a species that has accomplsihed so much in it's relatively short existence, a species that places it's survival above all else, would react strongly to the obvious warning signs. To an extent it seems they have- to an extent. They have made laws, set standards, made moves in the right direction- but in reality, this is more word play than really effective. The damage not only has to be stopped, but largely undone. This will come at a cost though. The humans still spend more money on defence than they do on conservation.
Economy is still placed above the future of the planet, and thus, the human race. These beings fail to realise, without a planet, they cannot be. The very thing that sets them aside from other species on the planet, their intelligence, will in the long run, lead to their ruin.

Looking down on earth with a sad sigh, one must be thankful that their technology does not allow humans to invade other planets yet.

Things that go bump in the water

Funny how a name defines how seriously we take a matter. We look towards the Loch Ness Monster and the like. There are many other so called 'monsters' that reportedly inhabit lakes across the world. Some well known examples are The Patagonian lake monster in Argentina, Champ in lake Champlain in New York, The lake Storsjon Monster in Sweden and Ogopogo in lake Okanagan in Canada. In all of these examples, sightings began well before the celebrity monster- The Loch Ness monster or Nessie.

Now, many people dismiss the possibility of monsters living on the planet as fantasy. The argument for is not helped by the use of the word, 'monster' in the first place. We have been conditioned to use the word in a negative, frightening way and people distance themselves from things with this association and this is why, many scientists are more prone to disprove the existence of the monsters, than look at it scientifically. This is aggrevated my the human being's need for fame or tomfoolery by creating hoax sightings, photographs and film. Many times, human beings would rather dismiss the entire phenomenon, just because a part of it is fake. Lastly, there is the list of nutters who love attaching themselves to anything unexplained. These are also the types, that taint the chance of anybody looking at the topic without negative preconcieved views.

However, if we look at this in a logical manner, it makes sense that there may, in fact be creatures living in lakes and the oceans, that have yet to be discovered.

Lets us lose the word 'monster' and refer to them rather as unknown lake creatures. There is little doubt that we have yet to discover many plants, fish and animals living on the planet. Recently in Vietnam's 'Green Corridor', one snake species (White Tipped Keelback), 2 new butterfly species and 8 Orchid species were discovered. (Since 1996, 8 new types of Butterfly have been discovered), during 2006, a Giant Elephant Schrew was found in Tanzania during 2009, a Frogfish in Eastern Indonesia in 2008, in New Guinea, about 40 new plant and animal finds, to name a few recent discoveries. There are many, many more.

Another remarkable find, was the Berlepsh's Six Wired Bird of Paradise, thought to have been extinct.

Over and above this, we have some strange creatures living in our oceans, like the Blobfish, Fangtooth, Firefly Squid, Oarfish and Chimaeras to name just a few. Again, I am sure there are many yet to be discoverd. There is large belief in the giant squid, but this has yet to be established.

Sharks, birds and crocodiles, are a few examples of fauna, that have survived, pretty much unchanged for millions of years, apart from a few little tweaks here and there, to make them better adapted to hunting or surviving in their environment. The Coelacanth, a large fish that was thought to be extinct at the end of the Cetaceous period, is swimming in the oceans of South Africa's nothern coast, off Madagascar and in the oceans off Mozambique and Tanzania.

All of the above is pretty amazing. So, how much of a stretch of the imagination would it be, to accept that other unknown creatures may live in lochs and lakes worldwide. An aquatic animal called the Styxosaurus (pictured on top of the article), which lived millions of years ago, strongly resembles descriptions and photos of most of the unknown lake creatures.

It is plausable that a few of these creatures survived, reproduced over the centuries, adapted to their environments, and are living up till now. They may have made some evolutionary changes along the road, but the point is, there could still be animals from that lineage, living today. We, as humans are quick to dismiss things we don't understand or want to believe. If we allowed our minds to be open to new ideas, to different possiblities, then we may be able to see the world in a different light. We may be open to new discoveries.

Having said that, the sad truth is, if we ever did find these unknown lake creatures, we will, in true human fashion, catch them and cut them up. All for science!

The other life

Since humans have been walking around this planet, we been facinated by the world beyond our atmosphere. Space and the stars allow us to dream and ponder and speculate. Advances in technology, has allowed us to peer deeper and deeper into space. We are able to see and study objects and non objects with greater knowledge and understanding than ever before. We have even established the existence of anti-matter.

Yet, the speculation of life 'out there' remains a big mystery. I am not going to go into a study of UFO's or government cover ups- we will leave that for another day. Nor will I delve into archeological finds that may, or may not, indicate space ships visiting earth. This, like the UFO and conspiracy theories, would take up an entire essay by themseleves and will be tackled in the future.

European astronomers have found a planet, Corot-7b, that they say is solid, like Earth. Apparently the first solid planet out of the more than 300 already discoved beyond the solar system. The rest comprise of gas it seems.

Small problem is this new planet is so close to the star around which it rotates, that it's annual orbit is a mere 20 hours. This means the temperature is around 1 980 degree celcius. It has a radius one and a half times that of Earth, with a mass five times that of our planet.

Now they are speculating the prospect of life on this remote planet, as they presume that life needs a solid surface to exist.

I see this as a very closed minded point of view. The universe is gigantic, to use a very weak word to describe it's size. It is also diverse. Scientists are looking for signs of organic life and thus, are searching worlds with parameters that would meet our understanding of an environment that would sustain life. I think they should look for life everywhere. We have a specific definition of life- but this definition may not meet the reality of extraterrestrail biological entities.

Just as we have, or even virus's and bacteria have, adapted to conditions around us, so could any other life forms. Biologosts and exo- biologists have established that simple bacteria can thrive in extreme conditions, for example, at the ridge of volcanos, in hot air vents under the sea, deep under ice sheets at the poles-Not all of these bactaria need oxygen to survive. There are bactaria living in our atmosphere, proving that life does not need a solid base on which to live.

Then surely it follows that life may exist on other planets, astroids, moons or even other bodies, including gaseous planets. This life will more than likely NOT meet our small definition of life. Perhaps there is intelligent life, looking down on earth, thinking life won't exist on that planet because there is too much oxygen.

Scientists should accept the fact that they do not know everything, that extraterrestrial life will probably be unlike what we expect. If we are looking for the classic aliens which regularly invade earth, we may be looking under the wrong rock. The first life forms we find will probably be simple bactaria like organisms, nothing wow or spectacular- but it will be life other than terrestrial life, and that not only will be massive, but will allow us to speculate the strong possibility of many more finds to come.

I am a strong believer in life elsewhere ,and I am sure, in time, it will be found.

Unions and the ripple effect

Unions in South Africa are a strong force. Probably the strongest political force in the country. In the apartheid days they were a good tool against the government. Now they are a good tool to ruin our economy.

Unions should be formed to represent the people and to ensure that their members get a fair deal. A union should then have leaders who are able to negotiate as well as look at the opposition stance, when doing so. For example, when striking for better wages, they need people who can take an honest and intelligent look at the employer's financial position, before demanding a percentage that will cripple the employer. Leaders who put their members first and think long term.

Unions are political though, and we see the leaders basking in the media coverage and loving the miles they get for 'standing up' for the poor workers, when many are standing up for their careers. Bear in mind that many strikes are not recognised by the employer (or even banned by courts), and thus, the workers strike on a 'no work, no pay' basis.Having said this, they listen to the union leaders, who are not affected by this, as their salaries are paid by the union, who in turn obtain their fees from the very workers who are not getting paid while they participate in the strike the union bosses initiated. (My head spins at this thought)

We live in a supposed democratic country, where we all have the will to choose. During a strike though, this free will is confiscated by the striking workers. Poor workers, who would love nothing better than to continue working (as some peope are clever enough to realise that one needs to work to feed one's family), are bullied and threatened into striking against their will. Democracy,  think not.

As with the latest WITS strike. Students who want to continue with their classes are unable to do so, due the the complete self centred acts of the half witted strikers. This is pure selfish behaviour.

Not only do striking workers intimidate their collegues, but they have the good sense to be uncivilised and run amock like rabid madmen, looting, trashing, hurting and just generally being an unruly, destructive force, leaving nothing but ruin in their path. (Then of course, it is the Employer's fault, as well as the terrible police who tried to restore order and protect the innocent-but never the striker!)

Further to this, we have such a strike culture, that virtually every industry has been on strike this year. It is like a national past time. If it were a sport, we would be the un-challenged world champions.

The unions are the first to make their voices heard about any matters they don't agree with, from political to the painting of the fence in front of a politicians house. Sometimes they do make sense- for example, when they challenged the lavish and wasteful government luxury vehicle purchases. But other times, they speak nonsense- like demanding certain political appointments.

I think each union needs to take a step back. They need to divorce union matters from politics. They need to see how the economy suffers from strikes, especially those that drag on forever, over a quarter of a percent (and amounts to R5 extra)on a salary. Look at why you are in the union- are you there for the people, or to further your political career or to get rich. These are serious questions that need to be answered, because unions will one day be the ruin of South Africa.

Eskom's sin

Eskom is the source of energy in South Africa. It is responsible for keeping electricity flowing throughout the country.
However, over the past few years it has discovered by accident (this despite warning and reports decades ago) that their infrastructure, does not meet the growing needs of South Africa. In fact, it was far short, thus resulting in electricty saving scheduled power cuts across the country. Those were wonderful- they even had a timetable where you could check the times you would be without power- talk about kind of them. Still, we sometimes had the unscheduled 'outage' which was just peachy for us. Furtheremore, this was in winter, when we needed power the most. Then the directors recieved major bonuses for a job well done.

This year so far we have been lucky. There have been a few cuts, but they are due to wonderful things like fires at substations etc. So we are told anyway. People at ground level will tell you how poor the maintenance is.
We still though, have our nightly warning at the bottom of the TV, telling us whether we need to turn off everything, except of course the telly.

In addition to this, last year Eskom made a loss of R 9,5 Billion. Now, any normal concern that produced a loss of that magnitude, would not only fire the entire board, but have them exececuted at dawn. Not in Eskom's case though- in this scenario, the CEO gets a hefty 26,7% increase. This, despite the fact that they say they are cash strapped and have to hike the price of electricity even further that the ridiculous price increases we already have already seen. The increase in Mr Maroga's salary is defended by Minister Hogan and the Chairman of Eskom- because 'his salary was significantly below the designated range for the CEOship'. What bull. It is pure and simple greed. Salaries should be performance based. Then I guess they would earn nothing.
In their defence, they did not take their annual bonuses. How big of them. Give with one hand, and then use both to take.

This is a time when the people in power (no pun here) need to set the example. This type of pay increase is disgusting to say the least at a time where Eskom is demanding more money as they cannot cope with what we are already giving them. At a time where the country is in recesion. At a time when unemployment and poverty is growing.

Couple this with the government's lavish spending on luxury cars (and parties) and one has to wonder where their responsibility really lies- with the people they are so well paid to serve, or with the need to line their own pockets and the need to keep up a rich lifestyle.

It is time for those who use our tax money, to start serving the us and stop serving themselves at our expense.

The doctor

Winter in the South part of the planet is behind us as it has moved North for the summer. Many of us have suffered this winter with the dreaded flu. As much as I respect the little virus, as it is really a tough little bugger who embraces change to survive, it does not make us feel to peachy while it resides inside of us.

One time or another, because the flu does not simply vanish, we land up sitting in the doctor's rooms, with other coughing and spluttering people, as the virus reunites with old friends and family. Or for that matter, there are hundreds of other reasons we could be sitting, waiting for the good old doc.

Now my bitch is not about the tiny little invader, but about the profession we turn to, to kill it.

Firstly, we phone and make an appointment. We promptly arrive ten minutes before the time, as we hate to be late. The time that our appointment is set for approaches, passes, and still we wait.....and wait....and wait.
Twenty minutes, sometimes even longer, we are called and enter the sacred room. No apology of course. I mean they are doing us a favour by granting us some of their valuable time, a privilege we pay good money for.

Then they ask us what is wrong- if we knew we would not be there in the first place. After a rough examination, that usually involved blood pressure being tested, your breathing listened to, and once in a while your ears and throat are checked. If your are in for ten minutes it is long.

Then you drag your sorry arse to the pharmacy to spend another fortune on medicine and go home. Three to five days later your medicine has run out- and your condition has not really changed.

So, you find yourself going back to the doctor to repeat the entire process. Just what you feel like. Now for this visit, most doctors make you pay as well. Usually in other professions, when a job is not done, there is some type of free follow up to rectify the problem. If your take you car in, and they don't fix it properly, they fix it the second time free of charge. If you call a builder and he messes up, he will come and fix his mess for free. In medicine, in essence, you pay extra for their mess up.

There is no refund on the purchase of the medicine that did not help you, or discount on the new medicine you have to buy this time.

In my humble view, doctors should treat patients like customers and run their practises like a business. There are many and we do not have to go to a specific one, we are able to choose. If you have an appointment for a certain time, they should ensure they see you that time, as in any other field. I bet they throw tantrums when they are made to wait.
Granted they have studied for long and achieved something to become doctors, but they have to get off their clouds and realise that they are nothing special. Advocates, for example study for just as long- yet they honour appointments. Doctors, like all of us, are human and they should treat each and every patient, as if they were a paying client and value your money. Yes, the more patients you squeeze into your 11am appointment, the more money you get.But a business, especially a medical one, should be built on more than just the need to accumulate money.

Doctors should become doctors first and foremost to help other humans.

On to a lighter note, and my first movie review-'Zack and Miri make a porno'.

First off this is a Kevin Smith film (Clerks, Dogma) and has a lot of Kevin Smith humour.

It stars Elizabeth Banks as Miri and Seth Rogan as Zack. The story line is pretty simple. Two life long friends live together to share expenses. Zack, who's turn it is to pay the rent and expenses for the month, blows the money. In turn their water and electricity is cut off. After attending their School reunion, they formulate a plan to get some money- make a porn movie. Their original idea is based on Star Wars and has brilliant names, like Darth Vibrator.
The film takes us along the joy of them picking the cast, who double as the crew due to financial contraints. It goes through the filming process, and not to give to much away, turns into a love story.

The humour is sometimes crude, the language is rough at times- but I laughed myself silly. Somehow Kevin Smith has the ability to make crude humour, funny and almost sophisticated. Despite the name, there is not as much sex or nudity as one might expect or hope for. It is an adults only film though.

Ironic twist is Traci Lords (for those who don't know, before she went into mainstream acting, she was an underage hard core porn star) is cast as one of the porn movie actors. You will also see some familiar faces in Jason Mews (the other half of Jay and Silent Bob) and Jeff Anderson, who both star in other Kevin Smith productions.

I loved the film and it was full of laughs and leaves you with a good feeling. There are also some classic lines throughout. If swearing offends you, stay away. But if not, I recommend you see this movie.
Four and a half ticks for me.

Education

We will start our week on a serious topic- but one that is handled like a joke in South Africa-namely, Education.

For years matters concerning education have been getting worse. Now, let's look at this in a logical manner. I am Minister of Education. I have a system that sucks and pupils, oops, I mean learners, that can hardly spell, read or write. And these are High School kids. Now how do I handle it? Well first I consult experts, in South Africa and outside South Africa. I look at the quality of teachers, teacher's training, school conditions. I see how I can improve the QUALITY OF EDUCATION so the teaching improves! The standard of education then improves and thus, the way the learners are educated. This will result in better results in terms of pass rates and education levels.

How does our government handle this problem, hurdle, whatever you want to call it- they, in their great wisdom, reduce the pass rate. How clever. Now for a matric pass you need to achieve (rather loosely used here of course) 40% in three subjects and an amazing 30% in the other three. (we presume people gunning for these high marks will only be taking 6 subjects, as this is the minimum they can take). So, they do not have to know 60% of their matter in 3 subjects and a hefty 70% in the other 3. Just blows your mind does it not?

Not only this, but to be granted a disctinction, you have to get 80% in 3 subjects and 60% in the other 3. A spokesman from Education said this will (wait for it) 'motivate learners'. (A subsequent statement issued denied they are going through with this distiction part of their devious little plan)

What a brilliant plan. This way you, in theory, should get more passes. In reality though, the learners will have such a low standard to achieve, they may not even try and not even make this terrible low standard. So, stimulating them to be lazier and study less cannot be the way to go.

The next problem comes along when they go to university. Granted in the rest of the world's eyes, our post school education is not amongst the best. Yet the learners passing from matric who go to university, cannot cope as the level of 'higher'education is too high.

If this were not so serious, it would be brilliant as a joke. I have spoken to teachers, in both primary and high schools, who admit that the pupils, or learners or whatever they call them now, cannot spell, read or write too well. This is serious!

It is time for the people in charge to realise that their department and education in South Africa is in shambles, and it is time for them to fix it instead of downgrading it. These are our future leaders....and this is frightening.

Celebrity

Here is another one of my little 'issues'-Celebrity.
These are people who earn obsene amounts of money to keep us amused and work a quarter of the time the general man in the street does. Or in the case of the so called 'socialites', they don't work at all. Well they do star in the occasional home made, leaked home movie, but that's not work I guess. (some parts of One Night in Paris were classic let''s face it)

We live in a world that celebrates celebrity and hang on to their every word or movement. And of course they do have issues and they do think, because they are rich and famous, this suddenly makes their views the right ones, and they are not afraid to express them. It also makes their views much more important than those of us who work 5- 7 days a week to keep the family fed.
Many of them host fund raising events, and brag about collecting $2 million...when they could have put in $5 million from their own pockets, as could all their rich celeb friends at those events. These charity events should raise tens of millions if they were as generous as they make people believe. But the truth is that if they brag about being generous, then they are perceived as being generous and then they are social heros. Perception and truth are not always the same. How many make anonymous donations? Or when they do, somehow it leaks to the press and then they have no clue how that happened...riiight!

These are the same people who use the media when it pleases them to get publicity, then shun the same media when they have created a market for themselves and got people hungry. To me it is a sell off. If you choose to have a career where you will be rich and famous, then you have to realise that you sell off your privacy. They cannot expect to try to control the media at  will or show a finger to the fans, the very people without whom they are nothing, when it pleases them. They are public figures and should act like it. As many celebs local and abroad have discovered, just because you are a darling of the press one moment and bask in the sun that is publicity, if you screw up, the same sun will burn your arse. This is when they squirm and cry and cannot believe how they are being picked on. They need to grow up. Of course the press are going to splash the news everywhere. Accept it and move on!

When celebs fall ill, it is also the end of the world and millions rally behind them, sending wishes, gifts, flowers, livers, lungs and kidneys....if we fall ill, only those close to us really give a stuff.
Celebs then appear on Oprah's show and write books for all the gullable to buy. How brave. Forget the fact they have millions for the best therapy and treatment and don't really have to work until they want to. The man in the street, either gets treatment until his medical aid bombs (which these days seems within days) or lands up rotting in some governement hospital, where he is lucky if any medical staff notice he is there. If he recovers, he goes back to the same dead end job he had before falling ill.

Then it comes to meeting important people like politicians (important is a relative word I guess) or other well know people. If the person in the street wanted to meet Mr Mandela- we would be turned away, unless we had some terminal disease or something, then there is a slight chance. We are tax paying citizens, making a contribution to South Africa, yet not good enough it seems to meet these people.
In flies a celebrity, who is SA for his own business concerns, be it a concert or promoting a film, and gets to meet whoever he wants. Now that just seems so fair.

There are many who do make a positive contribution, like Bill Gates, Bono, Moby to name a few. But I think most of them just enjoy the good life and what they can get out of it without remembering who put them there or feel the need to help those less fortunate in a meaningful way. Got to love them.

Now, I am off to watch a movie.

9/11 Anniversary

Good morning. It is Friday and this for many is a reason to cheer. It is a big day for many being 9/11, a day that has changed the world at large, directly or indirectly. It also gave governments and spy agencies a good excuse to invade our privacy and spy on whoever they want to, in the name of national security of course.

Many will remember watching the news reports that allowed us to see the planes smashing into the twin towers, over and over and over again. We were glued to our television sets, even though the same news was broadcast over and over and over. Who will forget the massive dust cloud when the towers collapsed.

Then came the televised wars. I mean wow, war brought to our living rooms, better than any reality TV. Reporters running round with troops, making us feel as though we were right there with them. Glamourising war it seemed. At that time the public was so shocked and disgusted by the terror attacks that the invasion of Mars would have seemed a brilliant option, if of course George W had told them that he martians were behind the attacks.

Then came the troop casualties and the doubts and with it, ground support for the war to come to an end grew and grew. However, at this time, there was so much of the war machine operating in Afghanistan and a bit later, in Iraq, that it was too late to simply withdraw. (Yet despite all the conspiracy theories, the protesting against the war, the loss of ground level support for him, old George W, still managed a second term...?}

Eight years on, the troops are still there, still dying daily. Obama is now set to pull out of Iraq, despite the daily bomb attacks and political unrest caused my the 'justified' invasion. However, more war equipment and troops will be sent to Afghanistan to fight the evil Taliban and terrorists. More and more fathers and mothers. More and more sons and daughters.

I just wonder if this is really helping? Killing militants is great for news and I am sure makes some sleep better, thinking that each is another terrorist gone. Still, I am sure there are, in most big cities, terrorist cells sitting, planning some kind of attack against the so called free world. It suites them to allow the world to think Afganistan is the breeding place of terrorists.

It is time for a new approach perhaps. Just the rest of the Western world, the US public is tired of war, they don't seem to support the Afgan war anymore, as they don't support their troops dying in Iraq. Who can justify the death of so many children, or even adults not fighting, whole families...is that not in itself equal to the same thing they are fighting against?

Do I have the answer- wish I did. It is something that should be discussed, debated to find new ways to combat terror, to maybe open discussion with other religions or people who oppose us and our views. Maybe find some common ground.Until we do, we will continue killing each other, as we always have done.

The Green Debate

The world at large has accepted that humans are to blame for the global warming situation we find ourselves in. Of course, not everybody buys into this, as there are still many sectors that dispute this, and have their own findings and stats to prove their point. I am not going to debate either, as this would involve a lengthy discussion with loads of figures and stats that bore everybody to death.

CO2 is the gas blamed for everything, when in fact there are much worse greenhouse gases- methane for example, and of course, carbon monoxide. Methane is generated largely by decaying plant and animal matter. Corbon Monoxide is all 'us'.
Here are some facts I think we cannot dispute- human activity pumps millions of tons of toxic gases into the atmosphere, think industry, fossil fuel power stations, vehicle emissions to name the obvious. At the same time, we are cutting down thousands upon thousands of acres of forests and destroying wetlands, all for 'progress'. It is known that tree and plantlife absorb toxins from the atmosphere, performing a clean up function. They also largely exhale much needed oxygen.

Just with the above knowledge, surely any moves to reduce toxic gases and conserve forests would be good for the planet, and in turn us? Nobody can convince me that toxic gases are good for us or any creatures on the planet. The reduction thereof, could ONLY be a good move. So no matter what side of the green fence one sits, who could argue that cleaning things up could lead to anything negative?
Humans have to accept responsibility for the planet-we are supposed to be the most advanced beings, and as such, we hold the responsibility to fix it. It is time for us all to accept this, and do something about it.

Welcome

Hi to everybody who is yet to read my blog. This will be a multi topic blog, covering things I love and feel passionate about. This includes conservation, photography, movies, music and of course some political commentry. I will try to do weekly movie review, usually DVD. I will not be giving the movie critic's, creative, in depth review that we are drowned with, but just a down to earth view of the movie as I saw it.

I would like this blog to be interactive and to create a community of like minded people. I don't want abusive people or people insulting other's views. If you don't agree, say why and give reasons, but NO attacks on people please.

As time goes, and I learn more about the sute myself, it will grow and become more fun, so I am open to new ideas and suggestions and lots of input from other people.

I look forward to hearing from you....