SpeakZA: Bloggers for a Free Press

Last week, shocking revelations concerning the activities of the ANC Youth League spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu came to the fore. According to a letter published in various news outlets, a complaint was laid by 19 political journalists with the Secretary General of the ANC, against Shivambu. This complaint letter detailed attempts by Shivambu to leak a dossier to certain journalists, purporting to expose the money laundering practices of Dumisani Lubisi, a journalist at the City Press. The letter also detailed the intimidation that followed when these journalists refused to publish these revelations.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the reprisals against journalists by Shivambu. His actions constitute a blatant attack on media freedom and a grave infringement on Constitutional rights. It is a disturbing step towards dictatorial rule in South Africa.

We call on the ANC and the ANC Youth League to distance themselves from the actions of Shivambu. The media have, time and again, been a vital democratic safeguard by exposing the actions of individuals who have abused their positions of power for personal and political gain.

The press have played a vital role in the liberation struggle, operating under difficult and often dangerous conditions to document some of the most crucial moments in the struggle against apartheid. It is therefore distressing to note that certain people within the ruling party are willing to maliciously target journalists by invading their privacy and threatening their colleagues in a bid to silence them in their legitimate work.

We also note the breathtaking hubris displayed by Shivambu and the ANC Youth League President Julius Malema in their response to the letter of complaint. Shivambu and Malema clearly have no respect for the media and the rights afforded to the media by the Constitution of South Africa. Such a response serves only to reinforce the position that the motive for leaking the so-called dossier was not a legitimate concern, but a insolent effort to intimidate and bully a journalist who had exposed embarrassing information about the Youth League President.

We urge the ANC as a whole to reaffirm its commitment to media freedom and other Constitutional rights we enjoy as a country.

Blog Roll

http://thoughtleader.co.za/siphohlongwane
http://rwrant.co.za
http://vocfm.co.za/blogs/munadia/
http://vocfm.co.za/blogs/shafiqmorton/
http://blogs.news24.com/needpoint
http://capetowngirl.co.za
http://thoughtleader.co.za/sentletsediakanyo
http://thoughtleader.co.za/davidjsmith
http://letterdash.com/one-eye-only
http://boyuninterrupted.blogspot.com
http://amandasevasti.com
http://blog.empyrean.co.za/
http://letterdash.com/brencro
http://6000.co.za
http://chrisroper.co.za
http://pieftw.com
http://hamishpillay.wordpress.com
http://memoirs4kimya.blogspot.com
http://thoughtleader.co.za/azadessa
http://watkykjy.co.za
http://fredhatman.co.za
http://thelifeanddeathchronicles.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/common-dialogue/
http://www.clivesimpkins.blogs.com/
http://mashadutoit.wordpress.com
http://nicharalambous.com
http://sarocks.co.za
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/stompies/
http://helenmoffett.book.co.za/blog/
http://01universe.blogspot.com
http://groundwork.worpress.com
http://iwrotethisforyou.me
http://fionasnyckers.book.co.za
http://attentiontodetail.wordpress.com
http://blogs.women24.com/editor
http://www.missmillib.blogspot.com
http://snowgoose.co.za
http://dreamfoundry.co.za
http://www.vanoodle.blogspot.com
http://www.exmi.co.za
http://cat-dubai.blogspot.com
http://alistairfairweather.com
http://www.zanedickens.com
http://www.nickhuntdavis.com
http://guysa.blogspot.com
http://book.co.za
http://baldy.co.za
http://skinnylaminx.com
http://blogs.african-writing.com/zukiswa
http://www.mielie.wordpress.com
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/gatherer/
http://thoughtleader.co.za/sarahbritten
http://stii.co.za
http://blogs.news24.com/FSB_AP
http://twistedkoeksuster.blogspot.com
http://whensmokegetsinyoureyes.blogspot.com/
http://trinklebean.wordpress.com
http://commentry.wordpress.com/
http://matthewbuckland.com
http://blogs.news24.com/colour-me-fran
http://gormendizer.co.za
http://helenmoffett.book.co.za/blog/
http://www.harassedmom.co.za
http://ravingfans.co.za
http://khadijapatel.co.za
http://simon.co.za/speakza
http://gnatj.com
http://moralfibre.co.za
http://www.exmi.co.za
http://www.edgeofwhere.blogspot.com/
http://www.rahsrantsravesandquirks.blogspot.com/

On Unemployment

Everyone who's anyone jumped on the straaagull bandwagon 20 years ago when Mandela was released, the ones with integrity did not.

It takes a freelancer like me loads of creativity and marketing and the absolute best service to continue to eke out a living through the myriad of side things which I do in my multi-talented, lightning fast way. However, I must say that it is not due to my lack of trying that I find myself without permanent employ. I really love this country enough to want to pay tax. But there is only so many "Dear X we regret to inform you that you do not meet the minimum requirements as outlined in our labour equity policies..." that one can read without wanting to pull out your suitcases, pack up and find some other country willing to take your skills and talent.(Hint Hint: Writer/Editor/Translator/Language Tutor/Photographer for sale!!!)

Anyway, here's the question. I wonder if I would get a job if I listed struggle veteran's kid on application forms and my cv? Would companies feel obliged to pay me big bucks? Would that give me the right to be completely inefficient and feel like the company owes me (ala a certain CEO who thinks he's worth an estimated R85 million for doing nothing more than bungling), even though I scarcely lived through a decade of state sanctioned Apartheid? I don't feel entitled to anything, but I do think that if I played that card I might get a lot further career wise.

Forgive me for having the mother of all consciences, but I think that it would be unfair if I did play the straagull card. After all, it wasn't me putting my life on the line for a country that so obviously doesn't appreciate it. I really don't know how people can feel like they are justified in taking and applying for jobs they're hopelessly ill equipped to deal with.

The more I think about these levels of entitlement, especially in the upper echelons it brings to mind some of the more sinister topics covered in Political Science 101: Shadow State Activity.(Over simplification of theoretical concepts to follow:) I doubt we have a shadow economy, because unlike a lot of African states we're not really buying basic necessities on the black market. But just take a moment to think about the politicking and the manoeuvring and the machinations that go on with creating the networks run by the Motsepes and the like. That's big, big money that the people on the ground never see, but the government officials; their cronies, para-statals and front companies sitting on boards all over the show; seem to see plenty of.

As for me, I'll soldier on and continue feeling guilty about being a non-tax paying citizen.(Please feel free to want to change that if you need a full time editor/writer. See previous ingratiation for a few more of my talents ;)) Shakespeare was right, there always will be something a rotten in the state of...

Back to the grindstone,
rah*

On Blogging Anniversaries

I've been a blogger for four years. Who'd've thunk it considering how lax I am about it? I've decided it's time to maybe unveil myself a bit.

Here goes:


[Image source]

I suppose I should lay off the partying and stuff eh?! Identity theft is becoming more and more common these days. I'd probably win awards for most alternative costume at Grab-a-Granny nights.

I heart teh_interwebz,
rah*

P.S. Moral of the story: never believe anything The Organharvester says. LOL!

Ignorance Kills**

I met a wonderful man this past weekend.

Well not, met met. I came across his blog at LiveJournal. And connected to him through his words.

Bill writes in the most extraordinary way, his deviantArt gallery is scintillatingly beautiful to read.

Bill is also dying.

(as are we all).

Bill has brain cancer and Aids.


Oh boy, aren't you happyhappy you're a perfectly placed shiny, little button on Tannie's superbly tailored, crimpolene rokkie*** now?

Bill doesn't ask anyone for sympathy and words are his therapy. Bill also seems to be ecstatically happy with the love of his life, his boyfriend Brody. Yes, Bill's gay, get over it.

And that's where things get complicated. I've been raving on and on about this guy's writing, but why is it that people cannot see beyond the gayness? Why is it that they can only accept that his writing is worthy of merit when I say that between his double whammy of illnesses he managed to punt the Gaza cause, which is an issue close the hearts of most of the people I've spoken about Bill to? Is the fact that he can care about one of "ours" the only reason he is worth his weight as a human being and in turn worthy of our prayers? That's just extreme selfishness and self absorption. Another sickening trend I've noticed is that people can have a so what attitude about his illnesses, as though he deserves it BECAUSE he is gay.

I cannot accept this. How many heterosexual people could handle the idea of having both Aids and brain cancer? Who are you to judge him as a human being based on his sexual orientation? Not only gay people get Aids, anyone and everyone can. Surely judging is God's realm? So what if his illnesses are his "punishment"? If Bill is gay, how does that diminish from his suffering? How convinced are you that you won't be punished, with all your self righteous flaming heterosexuality, on the other side?

The point of this post is: God is not the monopoly of a select few. There is only one God, and He belongs to everyone. This same one God created Muslims, Jews, Christians,Hindus, Agnostics, Wiccans (lulz, inside joke here for Lily), black people, white people, in between reticulant-ish coloured people, and accountants. He created us all, with the same amount of dedication, care and love.Who are we to deny showing love, care and compassion to others of God's creation too?

Read his posts about Brody, who in my opinion seems like an equally remarkable human being, he looks after Bill and now that Bill is really sick, blogs for him too. How many people can claim to have been loved to that extent, straight or gay or asexual? Lust aside, is the love that they share, not the same human love and affection that every person on earth desires?

I don't see why people find the need to judge other people when they have not one smidgeon of understanding of what a person must be going through. I'm not sure I want such judgemental people in my life and my world. I wish the blinkers were removed before they ran their race.

Millions of people will stand on Arafat and ask for forgiveness in a few hours. I hope someone's prayer for us to retrace our roots and return to our divinely ordained path as a people with educated, open minds who think before we blab, people who know that to judge is not what our religion teaches us, is answered.

We are not alone in this world, we are representatives of our religion, behaving like bigots only reinforces stereotypes of barbarism. And we know were saved from that.


Edna Ferber, author of So Big (read the book!...or watch the movie, with Bette Davis (I'm a major movie geek, TCM is quality viewing)) once famously said, "A closed mind is a dying mind." Think about that. Use the minds you've been given.

Despite all my rage, I'm still just a rat in a cage.
rah*

**Alternative post title was Bill's to Pay.
*** rokkie= Afrikaans, diminutive form for dress, ie little dress.Tannie= Aunt

Smacks of Wisdom

"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are."
Kurt Cobain

While it's still newsworthy

I know this whack job of a person. For years she's been blaming the decline of society on the fact that Muslim youth "follow" "Shaytaans" like Michael Jackson who is the very symbol of all that is wrong with the world.

I usually want to point out, when she's on one of these tangents, that he's not been that popular music wise for a good few years, but qL holds her peace and lets the woman rant. (Needless to say, that for the said person Bollywood is considered as relatively less decadent and immoral than mainstream Western pop because clearly the logic that that's based on is very sound reasoning somehow...)

On his death she says: "Shame, mashaAllah, must've been a good man, he got to go on Jummeraat..."

qL just goes -_- *facepalm*

Talk about hypocrisy eh?

I had a whole lot of quips I was coming up with while there were still unconfirmed reports of the death of MJ. Things like (to the tune of Billie Jean) Michael Jackson is NOT A-LIVE, (to the tune of Black or White) It don't matter if you're dead or alive....yeah it was nearly 1 am, I was freezing after the confeds cup semis with Bafana vs Brazil and stuck in traffic...lameness was to be expected.

I see blaaaaahnians,
rah*

Brace Yourselves

It seems as though I've weaned myself off the glorious medicinal haze induced by Mybulin cocktails, but who said drugs weren't a fruitful means to inspiration.

To clarify, picture the setting. An errant wisdom tooth, a slightly misaligned jaw bone, a nerve being compressed, random flashes of deafness and blindness. And then you find yourself in the orthodontist's chair discussing orthognathic surgery. A week later you find yourself in braces to stabilise your teeth and to keep them in place while your jaw is being shifted around and you experiencing the most excruciating pain you've ever known.

You look like Betty Suarez and feel like Angel Face after his round with Tyler. All this while your jaws are also uncomfortably suspended by dental cement.The cement keeps your teeth apart but hey, who needs to chew for 8 weeks when there's a million ways to eat and reinvent custard, jelly and mashed potatoes?

Anyway, like Dylan Thomas, I do have coherent moments between my drugged out fogs. One of which was staring me in the face all along.

Mr Zuma's legal woes are not over yet. The concept of stepping down because your integrity and ethical quality is tainted obviously does not apply in South Africa. And think of the legal costs of these battles of his. Fighting to get yourself into court, then fighting to get yourself out of court and then the whole appeal process as well.

Election posters proudly display our new ethically tainted (but that's okay because apparently, "we don't want sophistication" as South Africans) president in waiting Bra Jakes. The man is quite charismatic when you see him perform on stage, I'll give him that much credit, but he looks kinda slimy in the election posters. There's something about him that reminds me of Mr Toad of Toad Hall. For a lack of a better picture of the election posters here's a bit of a taste:



Now this got me thinking, imagine in addition to his legal fees, what would his dental fees be like? I suspect (based on the pictures on the posters) that he's got a bit of an open bite/cross bite and would probably be regarded in orthodontics as a Class II/III Malocclusion. I would assume the total cost of his orthodontic work would total another R30 000+. Blaaaaah.

JZ's over 60 so orthodontic support might not be the best option for him because of decreased bone density and teeth strength. The only other option would be porcelain or ceramic crowns and veneers (like those on 10 Years Younger and Extreme Makeover) to fix the gaps cost easily upward of R1600 per tooth! Most cosmetic dentists would prefer doing each tooth so as to create a more natural look and a more even smile. And at 32 teeth per human we're looking at (with the usual cost of labourlabourlabour)a minimum of R51200!


I'm no accountant but I have a feeling, our president's going to be a financial burden on us. Oh but wait, Sheikh's out, he can now go to the dentist, orthodontist,prostodontist, send his wives and kids for hair cuts and have his cars washed too.

On the plus side however, Julius Maleblaaaaah's got perfect teeth. All hail Caesar?!

Right now I'm sure JZ's reading this and thinking:

yours queen_Lestat, _|_ yours...


Glad I could provide such enlightening information and be of use to you all,
rah*

I knowIknow I know I said

I'd give you a running commentary on the history and formation of the PAC the last time I was here. But you can wiki that for yourself. I have a somewhat more pressing matter than an almost defunct political party to discuss.

Recent weeks have seen me being forced to participate in my most hated activity. Shopping.

I had this discussion with the delightful Prixie the other day too. Am I the only one who does NOT want to relive 80s fashion? Am I the only one who has enough taste and good sense not to want to wear a hot pink, bridal satin bubble skirt? And skinny jeans ('nuff said? And those crinkle tops that looks like something is has shrivelled up on you? And plastic shoes? Let me not even get started on the cap and puff sleeve phenomena. Just because Anne of Green Gables spent half her childhood crying for them, does not mean we all want to wear it.

Somewhere in the 90s I read that the 80s will be remembered as a decade devoid of taste and style. Why revive it? Most of the people who have embraced the 80s look are those too young to have remembered the atrocities of it, and they think the mini party dress ala Kylie Minogue in the "Ishouldbesoluckyluckylucky" video is "kewt" and "kewl".

I really dunno about all of you out there, but I cannot find anything remotely near wearable in any store. I don't like the shimmery and shiny stuff and I don't do the big bold prints either. Another problem I find in SA is that all the stores seem to stock the same kinda stuff. So in essence, everyone dresses the same. You can look at a person walking into a room and think "Edgars", "Woolies", "Truworths" because the stock is so rotated and even the prints are available in most chain stores, maybe just with a different style design.

This recent battle to find stuff worth buying, has made me consider something I haven't done in a while (and the thought scares me), do I pull out my machine and start stitching up my own creations? Or am I missing the point of the revival thingy somewhere along the line?


On the plus side though, after the horror of the 80s- came the 90s :)

Have a happy 2008 folks
rah*

Dickens had it down;

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

(And this is where I make my apologies, because 1) I'm too lazy to go find my copy of A Tale of Two Cities and 2)I've got too many things running to Google, therefore please accept my apologies if the quote's a bit ad libbed)

I was thinking this quote sums up our current political clime quite succinctly. Our teenage years are proving to be quite challenging, but I still have hope that sense will prevail after this weekend. Lekota is no fool, and he probably has big business behind him all the way. In fact he might've been a candidate for the presidential race in Polokwane last year, but that Stellenbosch winery incident might not've worked in his favour. It is because of him that government put in place that declare all business interests clause into place, however that rule obviously does not extend to the Zuma and Malema camp, because they just use politics to get ahead of the law.

What many people don't seem to realise is that the last time there was this much internal strife and politics within the ANC, the PAC was birthed. The PAC was a credible political organisation for many years before the ANC became the "brand" of liberation rhetoric.Granted though, the PAC did have a more militant angle, however it was with utter shockhorrorawe that I was reminded of their history, when Pheko went up to congratulate our new president on his nomination and asked for the release of former APLA cadres still rotting away in SA jails. Next post, I think I'll treat whoever reads this to a summative history of the formation of the PAC and few interesting political tidbits like the Sobukwe Clause.

I find this utterly appalling, regardless of their political divisions and ideologies, MK and APLA were quite the same bunch of revolutionaries and fought for exactly the same things. Why are they still in jail? The TRC denied APLA amnesty on the grounds that the PAC would not release their real names and was submitting code names. The TRC was also running at a very delicate time in the restructuring of our judicial bases and so the PAC had a reason to withold names because how would they know how much their actions and intelligence might have been compromised. And now the ANC conveniently declares that the PAC forgot to fill in the presidential pardon forms. What I find strange is how any party would do that and not get their members out? Pheko made it quite clear that he hopes Motlanthe would take action on the matter and get them out.

But shame, the PAC's internal squabbles have all but annihilated them, and then the final straw was when we had one of our ridiculous floor crossing debacles and Patricia de Lille walked away with their seat, and formed her own party. Essentially giving a party who no one had ever voted for, a party with no real policy ideology (besides being opposed to the ANC), and a party wholly spun around the personality of that firebrand De Lille. In fact the PAC degenerated to such a state that when given their 2 or 3 minutes of tv canvassing time, they announced that we should "not vote for them this election, they'll be ready for the next one". That is political meh-ness of note. However, we should not forget that parties who had a strong following in the liberation years still exist the PAC is still alive, as is AZAPO, UDM and SOPA. Many of these parties still have their old guard intellectual members, whereas the ANC has moved from the intellectuals to the MK lot and the sort who find Malema non-offensive.

Should Lekota form his own party, and hypothetically take away 20% of the current ANC fan base, they'd still be left with a 40% (of the current 60% majority they hold). The largest opposition party is that bag of whingers (the DA) and they have what? 12% of a stake? In countries like the US and the UK the power balance shifts between 2 parties at about roughly 48-52% of a swing vote with the minor parties raking in a few points here and there. I do not think the policy practices of a two party state are healthy or very democratic, but in South Africa, we're new to this voting business and we should turn out at the polls en masse and have a right to vote for any party we choose. My problem is, with a 60% majority and the next biggest party holding 12% to form the opposition- what kind of democracy do we have?


Another lol, yet worrisome thing is that at the voting after the nominations were given, 40 out of 400 ballot sheets were spoilt. HOW?! There were two names on the list, how can you not tick or cross between the lines properly? And you're in parliament, in charge of all of us and you have no efficiency in even ticking or crossing according to instructions?


Interesting times we live in, and someday when they make the movie of the Fall of Thabo and the Rise of Zuma, I am almost certain this is going to be on the OST.



Coldplay- Viva la Vida. Think about this one.

Enjoy!
rah*

PS For the bandwidth challenged , see if you find this song as applicable to our situation as I do :)

Opportunism Is:

South African Cabinet Ministers.

Cabinet is appointed by a president. S/He appoints ministers to various portfolios, these are not guaranteed or elected by public posts.

Ministers with a spine, tendered their resignation not really in solidarity with Oom Thabo, but rather because their "contract" is effectively over with the exit of a president. Gripe of the post: Ministers of the like of Manto Tshabalala Msimang.

This woman, enjoys the dubious honour of widespread unpopularity.However, despite her garlic-lemon-olive oil brand of treatment of terminally ill patients, she enjoyed a free reign and total support from Oom Thabo. Some quarters even go so far as considering his support and loyalty to her part of his demise. However, at crunch time, when the President is "recalled", does she hand in her resignation? No.

Being a Minister is not a right, it's a privileged office which is supposed to allow you to put your skills at work for the betterment of the people. Evidently for Ministers such as Dr Beetroot, putting your own position of power, your pension is far more important than having a spine or showing some loyalty to the man who put his career in jeopardy for you to continue running amok. This critique doesn't only apply to her, but to all of those who kept their cushy jobs despite the fact that they might not be deployed back to cabinet under Motlanthe. Shakespeare needs to be paraphrased at times like this, something is very much rotten in the State of South Africa. It is precisely this kind of complacent behaviour which has filtered down from the top that has resulted in our all round poor service delivery for us plebs at the bottom of the gravy train.

In other news, I was utterly appalled to be faced with the shocking reminder of APLA cadres still incarcerated (more on that in another post). This was quite strange, because I was thinking about them over the weekend as I ran through my voting options.


Right, now I await the list of who will serve under Motlanthe, whom I hope will begin work as though he is a proper president and not merely a stop over. Congratulations Mr President. I hope your wisdom, diplomacy and work ethic supercedes your ambition.

So help us God,
rah*

Armchair Politics

My 8 year old of the next generation, somewhat displaced and extended holder of shared genetic-material found an errant abaya the other day and wore it; at first pretending she was a judge by sitting at the dining room table and pointing fingers at everyone and handing out sentences. Then she decided to be a part of some imaginary graduation ceremony and the abaya became her academic gown. Needless to say these non-fun situations soon passed and she found much more entertainment pretending to be Count Dracula (I did mention she was related to me, didn't I?) and then running up and down the passage singing the Darkwing Duck theme song with her "cape" flying behind her.She was warned about the dangers of being irresponsible and reckless. Yes, she did trip and fall and get hurt. And went back to being a Judge.

She is 8, she stopped and understood the meaning of reckless behaviour. Apparently it is quite a difficult concept to grasp. My gripe for the post: Julius Malema.

Not only is he well over 8 years old, but I find it very hard to believe how this uneducated moron can be considered "youth". Fikile whatshisface was about 45 and president of the Youth League, but hell, when did a few decades make any difference to semantics. I would venture to suggest that perhaps the immaturity of his statements qualifies him as Nduna of the masses. Statements along the lines of killing for Zuma (and then wondering how anyone else could possibly find his statement offensive?), let us not forget the latest one of how the media should stop focussing on the arms deal now, because in his esteemed opinion "it's old news and it's gone boring now".Need I point out that it was PRECISELY The Arms Deal which got us into our current predicament anyway? Does no one ever LISTEN to the utter rubbish that comes out of his mouth?

I find the hypocrisy way too blatant. This big mouthed, small brained, skivvy has proven to us that the ANC cannot rein him in (as Mr Harvester has pointed out). But that is besides the point, his antics at the ANCYL elections did more to publicise his ineptitude as a leader than his statements ever will.

This is the man who demands JZ is president, for the sake of the "poor". However, at tax payers expense him and his cronies have what seemed like a drunken brawl and threw around beverages such as R8/ 500ml bottled water? All in the name of the poor in SA, some of whom in the rural areas do not have taps or running water. But yes, that total waste of tax payers money was not enough. No sir. ANCYL top brass, probably including this fuckwit, needed to drop their trousers in protest over some policy or the other and give journalists present a shot of their nekkid butts. Which as some of you might recall, made front page of The Times the next day.

If that is the type of shamless behaviour he condones and considers appropriate on winning an election, then I think I speak for all of us when I say that this dude might just be the undoing of SA. It was the Marquis de Sade who said, "One is never so dangerous when one has no shame, than when one has grown too old to blush". And that is exactly the mentality of the ANCYL leadership headed by this "counter revolutionary" character. I agree with The Organharvester, regardless of what Thabo's done or how aloof or arrogant he is or was, this jackass has no right to humiliate him and should have a basic sense of respect for the man.


Trying times for SA indeed, but this has been perhaps the most fascinating political week since 1994. And I'll be damned if I let Malema (split that into it's Latin and Greek components and you get Mal or Male- wrong, evil, bad (Latin) such as that in Malleus Maleficarum, Ema or Eme is from the Greek meaning to vomit, I think the word emit probably takes its root from here...Shall we play spot the irony?) have his say without throwing in mine.

Aaaah bleh, I'm out of time now. When I return, more on the Ministers and their resignations and Motlanthe.

BRB (I mean it this time)
rah*

[rant] Blaaaaah Blaaaaah [/rant]

Apparently, the human spirit possesses a capacity to withhold much under extreme duress. How often do people wonder what their inner tensile strength is? Or do people sit about like the Talamasca and watch and wait and are always there waiting for impending doom? So that they can cash in their bonus points for vouchers on the pre-prayed system when they've accumulated enough?

There's got to be nothing more irritating than religious zealots who believe they have a God ordained moral right to pontificate purely because of they claim they're in the possession of the title deeds for the monopoly on Truth. But whilst they spend a lot of their time in physical prayer, their minds are busy praying to the Great God of Materialism. Not only do these people meet the basic minimum requirement in the prayer stats but they surpass it with adding all the optional extra ones. And they let you know it as well.

Strange thing is, these people cannot understand why they're classified as resolutely Blaaaaahnian by yours truly. But I, and most people with a conscience I suppose, find it extremely offensive when the aforementioned types pay their staff minimum wages, or less. Work them to the bone as well, declaring that they need to get their money's worth out. I find it offensive as well when staff complain about their pay that they get told to pray. Prayer's one thing, inflation and reality quite another. If you can buy your daughter a Mini Cooper S as a birthday present, then please don't preach the value and importance of living a simple life.

Hypocrisy rears it's ugly head all the time. I cannot reconcile the social hypocrisy of being the height of piety to the world, but callously oppressing any underlings and not having any qualms about. If piety means anything, be a decent human being without the religious fluff attached. Attempting to be decent will at least add a bit of practice to the preaching.

The Blogosphere 'conspiracists' are probably wondering what inspired this post.Well, lots of things have, but I think the most relevant to these parts is that while I've been AWOL, I have been receiving odd bits of "soul-saving" advice from the Association of Anonymous twits. And no, I will not renounce my Satinic (sic) ways. Bitches.

I'm back with a vengeance baby.Next post in two months :P
rah*

Oh, Sweet Irony I Do Love Thee So:

This is really old news. It's one of those I was meaning to... however, if, but, andthenthewindowbroke- type of posts. So I'm not sure if anyone else has played Spot The Irony with this news piece yet or not.

But really, come on now!

You can you have a rapist being convicted of rape anywhere else in the world, but only in South Africa will his name be- Innocent Khumalo.

Ladies and Gentlemen (not forgetting our retard in the back), I thank you all for your time and wish you a pleasant and safe journey home.

They do it to themselves I tell ye, walk right into a guest appearance on The Chronicles.
rah*

Stop The Presses!!!!

A very dear friend(who under normal circumstances cannot be taken too seriously) gives me the following piece of news:

Legend: AAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAA Radio Religious news just now AHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAA they just said AHAHHAHAHHAHAHAA Shaytaan is having a conference for his shayateen!!!!!!!

qL: LOLOLOLOLOL are you serious???

Legend: Yes.

qL: you sure it's not like "is in conference with"?


Legend: No that's what they said AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA


qL: What kind of idiots believe that crap? And how and why is that newsworthy? LOLOLOL


Legend: I dunno, but AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA

qL: LOLOL quickly gimme their number, I'm gonna phone in and say "Hello, I just heard about the conference and I just want to say that I have a stationary store, should they require any personalised paper pads, pens, etc I will be glad to contribute towards this endeavour at cost price!!"


Legend: I dare you!!!!

qL: What's their number?

Legend: I dunno :/

qL: -_-

So if anyone wants to attend this historic and momentous occasion, give me a shout. Maybe we can organise a lift club or something and go together?


Seating place is tight so please RSVP asap.
Degh Akni will be sold at a nominal cost.

I think the Daily Sun just became tantamount to Gospel compared to this.

Friggin' Blaaaaahnians.

rah*

Shaytaan = Satan
Shayateen= Satan's minions

Lighters for anyone?

April 8 1994. The body of rock icon and the face which defined a generation was found dead. RIP Kurt Cobain. *Lights a lighter for a moment*. I have a knack for remembering dates oui? He actually died on the 4th or 5th April, but I had no time to pay my respects then. However, that wasn't really what this post was supposed to be on.

I've had this extract going in and around the revolving glass doors of my mind for a while now, and wanted to share it with whoever reads the stuff I pin up here.

"When people are happy they have a reserve, she had told Elizabeth, upon which to draw, whereas she was like a wheel without a tyre (she was fond of such metaphors), jolted by every pebble -- so she would say, staying on after the lesson, standing by the fire-place with her bag of books, her ‘satchel’, she called it, on a Tuesday morning, after the lesson was over. And she talked too about the war. After all, there were people who did not think the English invariably right. There were books. There were meetings. There were other points of view. Would Elizabeth like to come with her to So-and-so? (a most extraordinary-looking old man). Then Miss Kilman took her to some church in Kensington and they had tea with a clergyman. She had lent her books. Law, medicine, politics, all professions are open to women of your generation, said Miss Kilman. But for herself, her career was absolutely ruined, and was it her fault? Good gracious, said Elizabeth, no.

And her mother would come calling to say that a hamper had come from Bourton and would Miss Kilman like some flowers? To Miss Kilman she was always very, very nice, but Miss Kilman squashed the flowers all in a bunch, and hadn’t any small talk, and what interested Miss Kilman bored her mother, and Miss Kilman and she were terrible together; and Miss Kilman swelled and looked very plain, but Miss Kilman was frightfully clever. Elizabeth had never thought about the poor. They lived with everything they wanted, -- her mother had breakfast in bed every day; Lucy carried it up; and she liked old women because they were Duchesses, and being descended from some Lord."

Virginia Woolf in Mrs Dalloway

Mrs Dalloway was published in 1925 and is written in the stream of consciousness style of Virginia Woolf and the High Modernists. The story basically follows a day in the life of a Mrs Dalloway who is preparing to be hostess to the Prime Minister and centres around her thoughts as she goes about her daily chores and getting the house in order for the arrival of the Prime Minister. Mrs Dalloway also formed the basis of the storyline for the book and the movie The Hours.

This passage often makes me wonder, just how far has society and social consciousness come since 1925? Women still have their own opinions, and each age thinks that the women of their age have more rights than those of the age before? Do people think about the poor any more now than they did before? Or does it not matter as long as we have what we want? Are people expedient? Does caring for your fellow members of society only extend as far as what you can get out of them?

I still do maintain that Kurt Cobain was the Virginia Woolf of our generation, both gifted artists, both tortured and both with a keen misanthropic streak. After all, if you're not a Vampire or and Elve, you never will see what a despicable race the human tribe is.

I'm going off To the Lighthouse
rah*

Best Left in the 90s

I know I harp on about music alot, it's one of my great passions in life. However, there's some music which just makes me want to hurl. For the moment, we'll excuse pop with the likes of girl/boy bands(consisting of 30 year old MEN, none of whom play any instruments-spot the irony if you will)and we'll excuse trance/house/blahblahblah( not really worth giving an opinion on this,because well I'm still deciding whether to classify it as music or whether it belongs in the category of noise.mp3). We will not even discuss Indian music or more specifically Bollywood rubbish (and no, I don't care how beautiful the lyrics are when you translate it into English, it (tune/melody/beat) sounds like crap/pop/regurgitated 70s disco beats to me).I won't venture to hip-hop either, which was once the sound of the streets and the poor and is now the sound of the rich who get off condescending at the poor. What I want to discuss is the most disgusting music ever- RnB.

While music history teaches one that it might've had very noble roots and gave hope to slaves and farm workers and was the American equivalent of Umshiniwam. Take a listen to the rubbish lyrics that they churn out which I would assume is supposed to be sexy...but it actually sounds like the musical version of 12 year old online cyberers who pretend they're 16 and spell without vowels. In other words, retards.Typical dialogue of the species goes something like this:

Kewt-boi "hi asl,i cn c u gt sxy nik,want 2 cybr" (rant: WHY CAN'T PEOPLE TYPE NORMALLY? IT TOOK ME LONGER TO TYPE THAT THAT THEN THE WHOLE PREVIOUS TWO LINES-/rant-another debate.

So anyway you get the picture. Poor lyrics, bad language, filthy images and general scummy values allow the fan-base masses to indulge their senses in a cheap-sex thrill.

While this might not exactly be RnB (or maybe it is, I'm outside of my genre here so I could be wrong) Ludakris at the 46664 Concert in Johannesburg last year belted out the following lyrics to a crowd of thousands "I won't stop til I get them in they birthday suits so give me the rhythm, and it will be off in they clothes" followed by "we want a lady in the street but a freak in the bed". Please take note that the concert was in aid of Aids awareness. And here you have someone who sings about easy women, easy sex etc. Spot the irony? This is just an off the top of my head example of how music of this sort, just promotes bad values and demeans women, it might not necessarily be the best example. Sure, RnB fans might make the case against some shock rockers like Marilyn Manson and co, but to Manson's credit, when you dig beneath the surface of his lyrics, you often find a surprising bit of social commentary or unveiling of the standard hypocrisies.

I find RnB too "turn-off"ish for lack of a clearer phrase. Which gets me thinking, whether I'm missing out on something, after all the legions and legions of fans must be picking up on something I'm not. My neighbours are classic examples of this(wonderful people though, in every regard besides their music taste). Almost Sunday morning whilst washing their cars; (yeah, they've got American flag bandanas hanging off the rear-view mirror, and the uncle does have a pair of black Ray-Bans with the ivory and gold bridge bit over the nose); I am subjected to the Blaaaaahnians playing a cd(at full volume it seems)consisting of Boyz II Men's End of the road, followed by I'll make love to you, followed by In the Still of the Night. And then the aunty will shout out "OOO I like this song, don't make it slow, put fast volume" and then queen_Lestat groans and pulls her pillows over her ears and curls up into foetal position and shrinks deeper into her bed. I mean wtf? A little consideration for the grunger in your vicinity would be nice people!

Now here's a classic example of the crap that is RnB, and (as you shall hear in a bit) the song which inspired the post. I REFUSE to watch this video(and I won't name it either,so you're all forced to watch a few seconds to know what I'm on about! i R ev0ln355 :P), so I don't know if it's the original or what, but here goes:



DISGUSTING!!!! YERGH!

Anyway here's the story. While it might've been the hit of 1992/3, there was Nirvana to listen to as well at the time. There was also Snow's Informer (which proved why only one White Boy should rap per decade) and the cult classic Whitney (pre-crack revelations) Houston with I Will Always Love You (and iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-hee-iiiiiiiiiii, jis, the dramatic overkill in that song teh_lol) and UB40 was pretty big then too, and Meatloaf (well, Bat Out of Hell was on the charts for 9 years.True story and random bit of music trivia for you there).

Flash back to 2008 and you're coming back from a night out and stop at a petrol station, where about 15 guys (men) are listening to the song (at a volume that would make a jet engine seem mute) in the video above and dancing with one another in the most horrifically obscene way.Literally bump 'n grind. Quite revolting really, makes seeing the side of the road pee-ers (the members of the uri-Nation) seem tame-like. Not the ideal way to end a Saturday night. No Sir, not at all.

After that episode, I'm sufficiently traumatised to say,
"It's raining, it's raining, tears from my eyes..."
rah*

I R teh_rememberz!!

So yeah about that last post...

Well I remembered the arb thought I had before I wanted to post that thought and then forgot it and then posted on my forgetting instead.

A combination of an old Organ Harvester post (Note: old post in Organ Harvesterish is about 2 weeks or so ago)and the whole Irvin 'K'hoza debacle brought back the memory of the original thought I had. And so here it is.

A few weeks back I was flipping through channels because (yeah, I'll admit it) I was looking for Gilmore Girls reruns. (And not a word shall be uttered about this after this ever again.)(I happen to think that show has/had the best dialogue on tv.)(Excessive bracket use for no apparent reason is copyright and trademark blah blah blah to The Chronicles.)(Thought I'd shove my stylistic disclaimer in there, three years down the line.)

So back to my point, this advert comes up for this new show (dunno if it's new or old, my tv habits don't go much beyond Gilmore Girls and The X Files reruns when I'm really in the mood to watch a show, or the over dramatization and exaggerated acting styles of the mid-life-crisis-drop-out-of-work-and-take-up-night-school-acting-and
-drama-classes- students-who-find-bit-parts-portraying-historical-figures-for-
The-History-Channel-documentaries-but-acting-in-a-style-which-makes-me
-wonder-if-they-really-think-they're-in-a-major-cinematic-epic-thingy.)

The show portrays this mainly Black suburb/town in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and this town is plagued by crime, violence, corrupt cops, gangsterism, drugs etc on top of the burden of homelessness and displaced citizens. And the few good cops are struggling to make arrests and have safety and order because none of the locals will co-operate or provide information on the criminals in their midst. Now for my point.

I watched the advert and then when the name came up of the show immediately went all zOMG! And then told the nearest sibling "Damn, you know, you know you're South African when your first thought after seeing an advert for a show about a community/theme like that is "RASCISTS! How can they call a town where black people live that and still name a show that and then ADVERTISE on SOUTH AFRICAN TV...""

Yep, people, you guessed it, the show's name is ...

K-Ville.


Shall we play some spot the irony?
rah*

I still <3 Billy of the 90s !

As if Zeitgeist wasn't bad enough.

As if this wasn't the single most offensive picture of all of 2007:


And then just when I thought you couldn't go any lower than shagging Courtney, he goes and does this:



WTF?!
Why did self respect die with the 90s?

Sadness :/
rah*

T(w)o Face(d)book

I can't take this anymore, I've just clicked ignore on 10 group invites so far (tonight only) and now I can't go on anymore. Going to get carpal tunnel syndrome if I continue clicking away. Here goes (of what's still left from that which I have not ignored already):

Requests
15 group invitations4 my heroes ability requests3 you're a hottie request2 how evil are you? invitation4 popularity request1 united red devils invitation2 name analyser invitations1 logical vs creative invitation1 good vs evil invitation1 slayers invitation4 hug requests4 bumper sticker requests5 mistletoe kiss requests3 growing gifts invitations4 your sexyness request1 what color are you? invitation3 cause invitations2 lovability request1 my questions friend request5 are you interested? invitations2 brain game requests3 picture personality invitations4 hotness requests1 sexy name calculator invitation1 birthday calendar invitation1 zodiac animal invitation1 what drug are you? invitation1 wishabi request1 you naughty? invitation1 join my entourage request1 reputation invitation1 acounter invitation1 mental blocks invitation1 risk invitation1 zombies invitation1 superlative invitation1 give beer to friend request1 trick or treat request1 werewolves invitation1 superpoke! friend request5 top friends friend request1 poker- help a friend invitationBack to Homepage


ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!!! Jislaaik...


Unless it's something really good ...
please ...
be ...
considerate ...
to ...
everyone.


kthnxbye
rah*

Patriotism is...

me.

zOMG!

I cannot sleep because I am worrying about the ANC Polokwane conference thing. No, really. Despite my usual insomnia, my eyes cannot close and neither can I stop thinking about the possibilities of the outcome.

zOMG!

I mean what if Zuma wins? Will showering join beetroot and garlic and olive oil and lemon juice in our National First Aid Kit? What if Thabo wins? Will he cling to power and become Mugabe II? Well garlic and lemon juice concoction will still be available on the chronic medication list anyway. *shrivels into foetal position*

zOMG!

Lawdeh, I'm blogging about this *clutches duvet*. Talk about g33k!n355.I don't want to get into the ins and outs and of why we shouldn't panic. Because that would be hypocrisy at it's best. Personally, I think they're both a bit Blaaaaah and I wish we had one of those head to head presidential candidate debates like they do in the States.

zOMG!

I don't know whether the tone of what I am writing here is revealing the SHEER AMOUNT OF PANIC I feel. I think I am mad. Really.

zOMG!

I have this feeling of panic...like I quit smoking, imbibed a litre of coffee-neat and then went to OD on 3ph3dr4**. teh_panic! Consternation is not a good noun...sounds too fuddy duddy to reflect TEH_PANIC!!!

zOMG!

AAAAAAAAAAAAarrrrrrrrggh!!!

zOMG!

I hope it all works out, I need sleep. I can only imagine how Zuma and Thabo feel...I wonder if they have sleepless nights worrying about the state of the country and it's people like I have.

Nkosi Sikele i Afrika...we need it.
*counting sheep*

rah*

**please translate on your own- 3= e and 4=A. Don't need any more spam through Google searches than I already have :)