BiblioPolit

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Is this the level of South African politics?

Sorry for the one harsh word somewhere close to the end. This is funny and portrays our perception of South African politics really well!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Julius Malema to be South African president after Zuma?

I know, I know! The thought of Julius Malema becoming the next South African president after Zuma is quite revolting, but it is a reality that we may have to face.

Zuma, over the weekend, praised Malema as a good leader worthy of "inheriting the ANC." Julius Malema is probably the most divisive politician since "one settler, one bullet!" The man has an uncanny knack of alienating anyone willing to think for himself. He has this way with the masses to turn them into rabid wolves ready to devour at his command.

The problem with Malema is that he thinks that everything can be solved via a takeover by the ANC government. Note, I did not say "government but "ANC government."

The question is, would you be willing to live in a country with Malema as its president? I am not so sure I am.

OBE in South Africa to be dumped

Outcomes Based Education in South Africa is set for a huge change in South Africa. A South African Education report revealed many difficulties with the revised curriculum of OBE in South Africa.

Now we all know that when things are written in newspapers we should take the information they present with a bag of salt. Well, it seems that this time the minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, really is fed up with the OBE curriculum as it currently stands in South Africa. I spoke to someone from the department over the weekend, and this person confirmed that the minister is going to get rid of this revised curriculum and it would probably take at least 18 months.

Well, this is good news since the demands on teachers are way too high and the curriculum drives children to the edge. My wife is a teacher in grade 1 (she is also head of department), and she works most nights till around midnight, and many times till 1-2 am.

Let's hope the new curriculum will have more sense to it, and that teachers are guided by it much more.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

ESKOM disses South African electricity users

ESKOM, as I have written before, is a grossly mismanaged public enterprise, that also has an energy monopoly in South Africa. As a para-statal, and the only energy provider, it could have been mistakenly thought that ESKOM would have the integrity and moral courage to think of the South African electricity user before turning itself into a dung heap of morons that have no inkling of an idea what they are about to do to South Africans and the economy.

Just a few months ago, an electricity price hike of 31% came into effect. Suddenly, now, ESKOM wants to go into overdrive when it comes to price hikes. Can you believe that those nincompoops running that institute of insanity want a price hike of 45% per year for the next three years? What are they trying to achieve? Running South Africa and its citizens financially into the ground? That is exactly what they will achieve! ESKOM is fast becoming a economic black hole.

Let's look at this in actual monetary terms. If a person paid only R100 per month for electricity before the last 31% tariff hike, he will end up paying R399.37 after the three 45% tariff hikes proposed by ESKOM over the next three years. That is almost 300% higher per month! Have a look:

Obama… Nobel peace Prize? Ha! Ha! Ha!

When I heard on Friday, 9 Oct 2009 that Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize from the Norwegians, I did a quick tweet about it.

Like Mark Steyn wrote in his commentary at the ocregister, nominations had to be in by February 1, only 12 days after Obama was inaugurated as U.S. president. What in the world had Obama accomplished in those 12 days?

My question is this: Based on this award given to Obama, what is a Nobel prize actually worth?

The Norwegians, like the other Scandinavian countries have gone from fierce Vikings, to believers in Christ. Yet, for some time now they have rejected God and have become complete liberals. It is this liberal, or more correctly, leftist stance, that delivered the Nobel Peace Prize into Obama's sweaty palms.

And so, Obama marches on in infamy! What else?

HT: Dan Phillips (for Mark Steyn article)

UPDATE (Interesting links on this issue):
Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize by Daniel Pipes
Their Nobel Savior by Jacob Laksin
Obama Wins Nobel Prize, Exported Tax-Funded Abortions at Time of Nomination by Steven Ertelt
The Affirmative Action Nobel by Pat Buchanan
Noblesse Oblige by Hassan Nurullah

Friday, October 09, 2009

Use Kosmix for a while and then take the poll!

I read an article on ZDNet by Jennifer Leggio called Google: It's not me, it's you. She has been using another search engine called Kosmix. In the article she explains why she likes Kosmix more than Google.

Now, who hasn't heard of Google yet? Maybe some cave dwellers, I suppose. Who has heard of Kosmix before? This was the first I ever heard of Kosmix.

I would personally like to know what you think about Kosmix, that is why I set up a poll on my blog. Please use it for a while and then answer the poll.

Happy searching!

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Pitching in baseball

My wife and I, together with our kids lived in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. the whole of 1999-2000. It was during that time that I met Kent Justice, who was a radio sports announcer some years before in California, and at the time was a morning news anchor at NBC-4 in Columbus. The reason that I met him was that he was our next-door neighbour.

Our families quickly became close, as we had quite a bit in common. Our daughter and their daughter were the same ages and the same was true for our sons. Further, we were all Christians.

One day Kent invited us all to a local minor league baseball game between the Columbus Clippers and another team. Right through the game he explained what was happening on the field, strategies and how the scoring worked. Well, needless to say, I walked away there with a new vision of baseball. It is here that I received my love of baseball. Of course, it is unusual for a South African to love anything other than rugby, cricket and soccer. In fact, I like baseball more than these sports.

Kent was my buddy when we lived in the U.S. and I thank God for him and his family.

Of course, when we came back to South Africa in December 2000, I entered into my baseball winter, and was unable to watch any baseball until this year when I finally decided to hook up to DSTV. It is on ESPN that I now get to watch baseball. Usually the games are on when we are sleeping (01:00). Then a replay will be on in the afternoons here in SA when I am at work. So, I would usually get to see the last hour of a shortened version of the game.

Then came last night when the Rockies vs. Phillies game was on from 20:30 SA time (14:30 in Philly). I got to watch a game as it was being played. I sat there with my laptop and tweeted my thoughts as the game went on. I really enjoyed it. However, what disappointed me is that right after that game, the Yankees/Twins game came on. I just couldn't keep on watching, as it would have kept me awake till 03:00!

Anyhow, I have waffled enough for now. I found two neat online pages on baseball pitching.

Baseball Pitches Illustrated is simply a guide to identify pitches when they are pitched.
How To Grip And Throw Different Baseball Pitches gives descriptions of several grips and throws in baseball pitching.

Next time you watch a game, see if you can identify those pitches!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Remembering that dreadful day!

Monday, September 07, 2009

Whose choice is it anyway?

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Is RICA (sim card law) a good thing?

As South Africans, we don't always keep up with new laws and new amendments to the constitution. For those who do not know, the Constitution of South Africa has been amended 16 times already. Have you read any of our Acts or Bills?

The next question would be: Have you heard of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act 70 of 2002 (RICA)? Well, the fundamentals of this law is that each SIM card, whether that card is for prepaid, contract or data use, must be registered against your name and identification. To find out more about this act without having to actually read the act, you can read Cell Phone SIM Cards and RICA.

The purpose of RICA, which came into effect on 1 July 2009, is "to regulate the interception of certain communications, the monitoring of certain signals and radio frequency spectrums and the provision of certain communication-related information." The two troubling words here are "interception" and "monitoring."

The apparent reason for this act is to assist in fighting crime. Criminals use cell phones to commit crime, and so the government wants to be able to listen into cell phone connections in order to find out where such crimes will be committed. So, the theory behind this act is that criminals will no longer be able to use cell phones to assist in their dastardly crimes. The question is how the government will be able to know whose conversations to listen to. Will they have a suspicion about a person, and then listen into his conversations? How does this help if by the time of the suspicion, the incriminating conversation is already finished, and the planning of the crime already concluded? That is too late! What if the suspicion is wrong, and a person's privacy has been violated?

The effectiveness of this law can only be guaranteed if all calls are monitored and certain keywords are used to intercept specific conversations. However, that will be a blanket violation of all citizens' privacy rights. In fact, I wonder how the government will ensure that our constitutional rights aren't violated in this regard. Section 14 of the constitution, dealing with privacy, says the following:

14. Privacy
Everyone has the right to privacy, which includes the right not to have
a. their person or home searched;

b. their property searched;

c. their possessions seized; or
d. the privacy of their communications infringed.

Any law, including RICA, is subservient to the constitution, therefore, if RICA violates point 'd' then this law will have to be amended or even scrapped.

Having said all this, how effective will this law be? The Abortion Nepotism and Corruption party, ANC, has a very sorry track record when it comes to fighting crime. In fact, it does not seem like they are serious about fighting crime at all. The fact that the police is ridiculously under-funded, and in many places they do not even have enough vehicles for fighting crime points to the government's flippant attitude towards the crime problem in this country. Also, the fact that it has become so much more difficult to continue owning personal firearms, never mind purchasing new firearms, perhaps points to a more sinister reason for disarming law abiding citizens! Citizens without the capability of actually defending themselves against gun-wileding criminals are simply open targets for criminals. The reality of the situation is that criminals will not bother registering their weapons, since they are criminals, and as a result no law will stop them from having weapons.

We already have enough laws against crime. These laws are not applied! A law that is not enforced is no law at all! Laws have meaning when they enforced. If our crime laws were actually enforced, silly laws like RICA would not be needed! In fact, based on what we already know about South African law enforcement, my guess is that RICA will amopunt to nothing. Most probably, RICA will get challenged in the Constitutional Court sooner or later.

Lastly, I do not trust this government at all They have proven to be unreliable in how they treat its own citizens. They ignored the voice of the people with regards to abortion, pornography and same-sex marriage, and legalized them all. The people overwhelmingly stood against these heinous evils by a great majority, yet the governnment legalized them anyhow. The ANC cannot be trusted, and with regards RICA, and the technology at hand, our constitutional privacy will soon come to an end!

NO PRIVACY
Intercepting your calls daily!
coming to a cell phone near you on 1 January 2011!

Monday, August 31, 2009

Nomination process for Commissioners to the South African Human Rights Commission is open

Human Rights must always be balanced by simple common sense, of which there is little in the world these days, and built upon the privileges of life that God established in the Bible. Rights should also be counter-balanced by responsibilities.

Please nominate Christians to this commission!

The following arrived in my Inbox from the Parliamentary Monitoring Group:

Nominations: Commissioners to the South African Human Rights Commission

Advertisements were placed in the media in May 2009 calling for nominations for five full-time Commissioners to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). The closing date for those nominations was 8 May 2009.

The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development, which has been tasked by the National Assembly with making recommendations on the names of persons to fill the vacancies in the Commission, has decided to reopen the nomination process. This is because the National Assembly may decide to nominate more than 5 Commissioners and may also decide to nominate part-time as well as full-time Commissioners.

Nominations are, therefore, invited from individuals, organisations, institutions and civil society for suitable persons to be appointed as full-time or part-time Commissioners to the SAHRC.

The nominees must:

Be South African citizens who are fit and proper to serve on the SAHRC
Comply with any other requirements prescribed by national legislation, in particular the Human Rights Commission Act, 1994
Possess suitable qualifications, expertise and experience in the area of human rights,

In accordance with the provisions of the Human Rights Commission Act and Constitution, the National Assembly may recommend persons for appointment for a fixed term, as the President may determine at the time of such appointment, but not exceeding seven years.

The persons recommended for appointment as Commissioners must:

Promote respect for, and a culture of, human rights, including rights to information and equity
Promote the protection, development and attainment of human rights
Monitor and assess the observance of human rights
Act impartially and independently, without fear, favour or prejudice, in the conduct of their duties
Actively promote public awareness of and education on human rights and assist members of the public in accessing their rights
Be involved in the investigation of alleged human rights abuses or violations and recommend measures for redress
Contribute to the research and reporting functions of the SAHRC.

Nominations must contain the full name, postal/e-mail address and contact details of the person or organisation making the nomination, a signed acceptance of the nomination by the nominee and a Curriculum Vitae (CV) providing the nominees:

Full name, ID number and gender
Contact details, including physical address, telephone/cell number and e-mail address
Relevant previous experience (including relevant dates and organisations concerned)
Academic qualifications.

Nominations can be emailed to Committee Secretary Mr Vhonani Ramaano at vramaano@parliament.gov.za by no later than Friday, 4 September 2009 at 17:00.

NB:Nominees who complied with all the requirements set out in the advertisement of May 2009 need not reapply, as their nominations have already been accepted for consideration.

Enquiries: Mr V Ramaano tel. (021) 403-3820, cell: 083 7098427

Issued by Mr Ngoako Ramatlhodi MP: Chairperson: Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development

Thank you,

Mlulami Dodo
Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Website: http://www.pmg.org.za
Access to all Parliamentary Committee information
Email mlulami@pmg.org.za
Tel 021 465 8885

Nomination process for Public Protector in South Africa is open

Nominations for Public protector in South Africa has been opened again. If you know someone who would do well in this position, please nominate that person! It would be excellent to get a godly Christian in this position!

Nominations must be in by Friday, 4 September 2009 at 16:00.

I just received the following from the Parliamentary Monitoring Group:

Nominations: Public Protector

The Office of the Public Protector is an institution supporting constitutional democracy, established in terms of sections 181 to 183 of Chapter 9 of the Constitution. Although it may not investigate court decisions, the Office of the Public Protector must investigate matters related to maladministration in relation to the affairs of Government, improper conduct by persons in the Public Service, improper use of public money, improper or unlawful enrichment of a person performing a public function, as well as acts or omissions by a person performing a public function that result in improper prejudice to another person.

The Public Protector must accordingly seek to strengthen and support constitutional democracy through conducting investigations into alleged improper conduct by organs of State, facilitate resolution of disputes, reports and recommend remedial action and raise public awareness about its role and responsibilities. The Public Protector must be accessible to all persons and communities and must be efficient and effective in the execution of its duties. The Office of the Public Protector must be broadly representative of the population of South Africa in both race and gender.

In accordance with the provisions of section 193 of the Constitution, the National Assembly hereby invites nominations from individuals, organisations, institutions and civil society for a suitable person to be appointed as Public Protector.

The nominee must:

Be a South African citizen
Be fit and proper to hold the office of the Public Protector
Comply with any other requirements prescribed by national legislation, in. particular the Public Protector Act, 1994.

In accordance with the provisions of the Public Protector Act and Constitution, the National Assembly may recommend a person for appointment by the President for a non-renewable term of seven years. The person recommended for appointment as Public Protector must

Be suitably qualified and experienced with a reputation for honesty and integrity
Be subject only to the Constitution and the law
Be impartial and must exercise his her powers and perform his / her functions without fear, favour or prejudice thus preserving the Office's independence
Maintain high standards of trustworthiness
Account for decisions and actions
Display courtesy to all, treating people with dignity and respect
Be sensitive towards and understand stakeholders' needs and feelings
Strive to execute responsibilities fairly and consistently with due regard for the facts of each matter

Nominations must contain the full name, address/ e-mail address and contact details of the person or organisation making the nomination, a signed acceptance of the nomination by the nominee and a Curriculum Vitae (CV) providing the nominee's:

Full name, ID number and gender
Contact details, including physical address, telephone/cell number and e-mail address
Relevant previous experience (including relevant dates and organisations concerned)
Academic qualifications.

NB: Persons who submitted nominations by 8 May 2009, in response to the earlier advert, need not resubmit.

Nominations must reach Committee Secretary Mr Thembinkosi Ngoma at tngoma@parliament.gov.za    by no later than Friday, 4 September 2009 at 16:00.

Enquiries: tel: Mr Thembinkosi Ngoma (021) 403-3733, cell: 072 145   9368

Issued by: Adv TM Masutha, MP:   Chairperson of the ad Hoc Committee to Nominate Person for Appointment as Public Protector.

Thank you,

Mlulami Dodo
Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Website: http://www.pmg.org.za <../../../../../../>
Access to all Parliamentary Committee information
Email mlulami@pmg.org.za
Tel 021 465 8885

Friday, August 28, 2009

Weeding as done by the Topgear presenters: KABOOM!

Top Ground Gear Force: Clarkson Vs. Weeds! - The funniest bloopers are right here

Thursday, August 27, 2009

I do not want these thugs to defend my country!

Ill-disciplined! No national or military honour! That is my opinion of these soldiers that should have the character to do battle for our country against evil foes!

But, no! These thugs would rather take to the streets with all kinds of hand weapons, destroying private and public property as they march on. Soldiers, who have sworn to fight for this nation and to die for it if necessary have no business taking to the streets marching on the capital, acting in the exact opposite manner in which they have sworn to act. This is dereliction of duty! Our own police department had to shoot at these thugs with rubber bullets to restore order. What does that say about the men in our military?

My question would be why these thugs joined the military in the first place! Was it to get a salary, or to become defenders of our country? If it was for the former, then they have made the wrong choice! These are the kind of people that will desert their country in battle and difficult times, because they do not have the strength of character, nor do they serve this country with honour!

When I was in the army we only received about R60 per month, and when we fought in the Angolan Border War we were paid about R150 per month. Here we fought for the honour of our country! Our men died there, yet we pressed on to battle evil.

These so-called soldiers behaving like thugs have no battles! They do not face death every day! They do not march in the bush for weeks, many times without food, still facing the enemy! The only enemies they face today are their bank balance, their dishonourable conduct, their criminal behaviour! In the proverbial story of mice and men, they do not even qualify as mice! They are cowards who do not deserve to serve in the military. They are a disgrace to this nation and should be punished accordingly.

Oh, that our country would be defended by men of honour and not just men with the mentality of boys looking for a salary. It is time that the real men in our military deal with these thugs!

With people in our military like this, it will indeed be a dark day when real war comes back to our doorstep!

Let's pray that day never happens!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Do you use Google Alerts?

Have you heard of Google Alerts? It could save you lots of time searching for relevant topics.

I have been using Google Alerts for some time now. There are certain topics that I like to keep track of, and without having to constantly search for it on Google, I let Google Alerts inform me when a new article/blog post has appeared on the web that uses the term or phrase that I want to be kept informed about.

As an example, let's say you would like to be kept informed about a certain political party (I keep and eye on two political parties: the African Christian Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Alliance). Whenever something about that party is said on the internet, and Google has found those articles and indexed them in its search system, it will email you with a link to the article, and the first few sentences in that article. I use the phrase "African Christian Democratic Party" and "ACDP" to maintain my alerts about the African Christian Democratic Party.

Of course, if you are an entertainment junkie and still think that movie actors and singers are stars and heroes (shame on you!), you can ask Google Alerts to inform you when something new has been written about those fallen stars.

You can set your alerts up in different ways to keep track of the same thing as I showed in my example about political parties above. For instance, if you would like to be kept informed about that ultra-leftist, liberal communist, Barack Obama, you can set up alerts on the following: "Barack," "Obama," "Barack Obama," "The One" (dripping with sarcasm here), "Barry Soetoro," "ObamaCare" and many more. In this way you will be able to keep tabs on the man who has never had a real job apart from his political mis-carr~~iage~~eer. He also taught some un-constitutional law on the side.

So, make life easy on yourself, and start using Google Alerts!