Spirit Mediums and the believers…

This week presented some rather amusing events relating to the world of the believer.

For starters, I came across the results of the Religious Knowledge Survey of  the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life which predictably demonstrates that atheists generally have more religious knowledge than actual believers. The executive summary of their findings commences thus:

Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.

Some atheists have understandably commented that this survey result explains the reason why they are, well, atheists…

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Earlier this week I read that Ed Milliband, leader of the Labour Party in England, had revealed that he is an atheist, just like his sibling, David. Remembering that Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard had also revealed her non-religious status earlier this year, I got to wondering how many other politicians were atheist or agnostic. Considering that a largely religious world generally takes a dim view of non-religious political leaders, I was quite surprised at how many there actually are. The United Kingdom seems to lead the pack with some quite famous former Prime Ministers among others Clement Attlee (1945 – 1951), James Callaghan (1976 – 1979), Nick Clegg (current Deputy Prime Minister) and Neil Kinnock (former leader of the Opposition). Other famous politicians who were atheist are Mikhail Gorbachev, Jawaharlal Nehru and Joseph Stalin.

However, what caught my eye while going through this list, were two atheist fathers of two famous politician sons who are known believers, one who annoyingly just converted to Roman Catholicism. Seems that Tony Blair’s father was an atheist and so was Barack Obama’s father, Barack Obama Sr. What was that about the sins of the father being visited upon the son?

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Finally, it has come to light that the spirit medium who tricked Robert Mugabe’s cabinet into believing that she could coax Diesel fuel from solid rock, has been sentenced to prison for three years; presumably a medium security prison. This enterprising con-artist managed to convince Zimbabwe’s Minister’s of National Intelligence, Police and Defence to part with 1.7 million British pounds, a farm, armed guards and food.

Her sentencing is however a travesty of justice, as the gullible morons who believed her ridiculous claims are all still scott free, and presumably still in charge of delicate portfolios, National Intelligence among them.

That ole devil called love by Alison Moyet

I’ve always loved the name Genevieve; ever since watching gorgeous Canadian actress Genevieve Bujold on the big screen as a youngster, growing up in the 70’s. She was the most beautiful women I had ever set eyes on, and that exotic-sounding name somehow added to the allure.

Another beautiful women with the first-name of Genevieve (although she doesn’t use it that often, if ever) is Alison Moyet. Alison off course has me spellbound with that incredible voice she has. She rose to fame with electro-pop band Yazoo (also known as Yaz, in some parts of the world), best known for the hits Don’t Go, Only You and Situation.

However, Genevieve Alison Jane Moyet also had a fantastic solo career with such hits as All Cried Out, Is This Love and Love Resurrection. But, the song that stands out for me, and which is an all-time favorite of mine, is the marvellous Billie Holiday classic, That Ole Devil Called Love. I know that Holiday fans are going to bite my head off and call this a sacrilege, but I personally think that Alison makes this song her own with her rendition.

Video and lyrics follow. Enjoy!!!

That Ole Devil Called Love

It’s that ole devil called love again
Gets behind me and keeps giving me that shove again
Putting rain in my eyes, tears in my dreams
And rocks in my heart
It’s that sly old son of a gun again
He keeps telling me I’m the lucky one again
But I still have that rain
Still have those tears
And those rocks on my heart

S’pose I didn’t stay
Run away wouldn’t play
The devil what a potion he would brew
He’d follow me round
Bill me up
Tear me down
Till I’ll be so bewildered
I wouldn’t know what to do

Might as well give up that fight again
I know darn well he’ll convince me that he’s right again
When he sings that sorry song
I’ve just gotta tag along
With that ole devil called love

He’d follow me round
Bill me up
Tear me down
Till I’ll be so bewildered
I wouldn’t know what to do

Might as well give up that fight again
I know darn well he’ll convince me that he’s right again
When he sings that sorry song
I’ve just gotta tag along
With that ole devil called love

With that ole devil called love

The New Age of news reporting: news as the government says it should be

Yesterday a special first-edition copy of the soon to be published, new South African national newspaper, The New Age (TNA), was pressed into my hands by a colleague at work. I accepted it reluctantly and put it away with the intention of  perusing it later.

Off course, the reason I accepted the copy reluctantly, was because of the early impressions formed about the newspaper after learning that it was going to be printed with a sympathetic leaning towards the government, by the Gupta family (contributors to the 500K Klan, also known as the ANC). However, after reading about the TNA in Chris Roper’s column in the M&G last night, I decided to actually read the newspaper this morning. Even the advertisements; and boy are there a large number of them, mostly about government departments and initiatives. There is even a full-colour double page spread advertising the Champions League finals for that ghastly 20-20 form of the good game.

Chris Roper was right; there’s nothing new here. The biased slant towards the government (and ANC) is quite obvious. The only new thing about the TNA is that you, the taxpayer will mostly be paying for it, through government advertising. It’s obviously not targeted at the intellectually competent; the simple easy to read style and pro-government angle is aimed at a demographic that keeps the ANC in power. Chris’s assessment and conclusion just about sums up this waste of precious paper:

It’s no accident that the New Age‘s acronym is TNA — if the ads are anything to go by, this is going to be the Tits ‘n Ass of political journalism, a landscape where we’re invited to ogle two component parts that, together, don’t make up anything like the full body.

And one is left in no doubt, that should the dastardly Media Appeals Tribunal ever see the light of day, The New Age will be safe from any persecution, simply by design, or even political intervention if necessary.

The New Age of rose-coloured reporting. Feel it, it is here!!!

Pigheaded cops, line-jumping at the feeding trough and peas in a pod…

It’s been another amusing day in a beautiful sunny South Africa; although some might say bemusing.

First off the line to ignominy are our traffic police who never fail to produce an amusing moment for motorists, especially when we find them camped under a shady tree or behind a bush or other similar place of concealment. In these instances, one can’t help but wonder why it takes up to four officers to man a single speed detection camera; some of us may even speculate on that famous how-many joke that is inherent in this situation.

However, the reason for amusement today is because it seems that the traffic police are still hell-bent on pursuing the anti-hero known as PigSpotter, who gives away the positions of their shady camping sites, to fellow motorists on Twitter. This act of utter pigheadedness in the face of mounting opposition and utter derision by the general public, casts serious doubt about the overall mentality prevalent in the law enforcement agencies, that supposedly serve us. The disingenuous attempts by the police to paint PigSpotter as someone who encourages speeding and breaking the law, is highly contemptible. It’s more probable (and seems to be understood by the vast majority of his supporters), that PigSpotter’s defiance of those who supposedly protect and serve, is a just a cry for more honest and respectful policing.

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The ANC Youth League’s demand for more youth representation within the ANC’s top leadership has been given the cold shoulder by delegates at the National General Council (NGC) meeting currently taking place in Durban. It’s apparent that the Youth League’s use of the term “generational mix” might have confused the top brass. Had they used the more commonly understood phrase ” we are tired of waiting in line and demand to jump the queue so that we also get our turn at feeding at the trough,” I believe their demands may have received more consideration.

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Our President Jacob Zuma, in spite of the numerous revelations of overt cronyism within his administration, today announced that “politics and business go together.” He encouraged the business community to court ANC party leaders, saying:

Once business gets closer to a ruling party, you must know that things are going very well in the country…

I am sure that I’m not the only one with raised eyebrows. We’re not so sure about things going well for the country, but there is ample evidence that things are going extremely well for the President, his family and assorted cronies.

If those statements raised a few eyebrows, the following admission is certain to confirm the fears of all those who contend that South Africa is going the way of Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe:

I don’t think we have seen anything of this nature in any other conference of any size or description. Only in the ANC.

Actually, Mr. Pres. we’ve seen this in every tin-pot dictatorship around the world. The only difference with the ANC is that you brazenly advertise and boast about it.

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And the final giggle for today is aimed at the Azanian Youth Organisation (AZAYO). Haven’t heard of them? Don’t worry; neither has anyone who is not a member. 

Tomorrow is Heritage Day in South Africa, and has been celebrated for a while now, also as Braai Day (barbecue day). However these party-poopers from AZAYO don’t want White people in particular to celebrate by barbecuing. Seems they think that the White section of the population hijacked this important day to barbecue.

Really guys; this envy is most pathetic. If you ask Julius Malema’s ANC Youth League nicely, I’m sure they will be only too pleased to invite you around to one of the barbecues they will most certainly be hosting.

The most deceitful thing I read today…

Apart from the broken-record rhetoric about why South Africa needs the Media Appeals Tribunal (like another hole in the head), the most disingenuous thing I read today, was that the Nationalization of Mines is indeed on the ANC agenda, just like Julius Malema said it was.

I for one, knew all along that nationalization of mines was something the ANC had up their sleeves, even though various members strongly denied it. I always suspected that Malema was a just a useful tool, who was used to make it seem (to big business and wiser people) that nationalization was something proposed by the youth, and hence coming from ordinary people, as opposed to a government initiative. My suspicions have just become stronger.

Be that as it may, I could not care less if the mines are indeed nationalized. Implemented by an otherwise competent, trustworthy, genuinely democratic government, it has the potential to do good for ordinary people, at the expense of fat-cat, exploitative mine owners off course. What I do care about though, is that this particular proposal by the ANC, will be used to enrich mostly the usual suspects. The poor people who are supposed to benefit, will in all likelihood, hardly see a dime of this goodwill gesture.

If the ANC seriously expects us to believe that they have good intentions with this proposal, given their track record of self-enrichment, they are either diabolically arrogant about their own popularity and benevolence, or monumentally stupid. I’m betting most people don’t think they’re stupid…

The funniest thing I read today…

The funniest thing I read today, apart from the howlers that’s coming out of the ANC’s National General Council (NGC) meeting in Durban this week, is from a guy called Simon, who posted this bombshell on the Google group AvC:

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that  whoever believes in Him ….

…will believe anything.

And so, it may seem, will die-hard ANC cadres and assorted hangers-on, with whatever is being preached at the NGC too.

Oinck if you think the cops have gone ape shit over PigSpotter

Over the last few days, the South African traffic police have become highly visible, and in great numbers too. I’ve never seen them in such a frenzy before. Seems that the guy who uses the handle @PigSpotter to tweet about the police road blocks [he has since stopped tweeting about road blocks and exposes only speed traps] and speed trapping positions have really got to them.

Well, praise the great big sky fairy, hallelujah; somebody needed to get these tubs of lard out of their lazy, disrespectful, bribery-infested, revenue-collecting comfort zones, and back to the real world of traffic law enforcement. Yes, that’s right, it’s now common knowledge that the daily actions of the traffic cops has little to do traffic law enforcement, but a whole lot to do with generating revenue for the despicable bureaucrats who piss away our taxes; and off course it gives them a chance to throw their weight around too.

But, hold your excitement; the cops may be in this panicked state of activity because they have declared all-out war on PigSpotter for disrupting the utopian existence they were enjoying up to this point. I think they are shell-shocked; stunned that one individual, with a little help from the amazing world of modern technology, dared to take them on, and expose the rot that had set in. And now, they are going to inconvenience and harass the rest of us (just like they always do), in their contemptible efforts to arrest PigSpotter.

I’m not surprised the cops have decided to resort to using force to answer their critics. The petty intention to arrest and prosecute PigSpotter confirms that they have not learnt anything from this historic event that played out over the past week. They are still oblivious to the fact that the disrespect that the public show towards them, is a direct response to the disrespect and contempt that they have for the people they are supposed to serve. These pitiful blobs need to realize that we don’t appreciate the speed-ticketing extortion racket they are running, and we don’t like the abuse of authority hiding behind that ugly uniform and badge.

PigSpotter has shown us that power belongs to the people; we don’t have to tolerate the hypocrisy, exploitation and tyranny from men in uniform or sleazy politicians in pin-stripe suits. It’s also quite plain from all the media commentary, that the public are nearly 100% behind him. I don’t buy the protestations from the Justice Project SA (JPSA) that the police are victims (???) too, and I’m sure the majority don’t either.

I’m hoping that PigSpotter provides the impetus needed for the people to take back the power that was guaranteed to them in the Constitution, but so nauseatingly swindled away from us by the suits and their enforcers in uniform.

Pigspotting

You gotta love technology and the ingenious uses people find for it; and in so doing, provide a service to fellow humans.

Pigspotting has the makings of becoming a big hit with motorists in South Africa; and is being made possible by social networking application, Twitter. There’s this guy who has the moniker @PigSpotter who tweets about locations of police road blocks and speed traps that are set up by our good-for-nothing, mostly over-weight traffic officers.

His charming tweets about these speed-trapping locations, are by all accounts pretty accurate, and this has caused the short and curlies of certain high-ranking boars at police hog-quarters, to get into a real tangle. Subsequently they have hogged the headlines, squealing about all sorts of ridiculous transgressions that our beloved PigSpotter is supposed to have incurred.

Somehow it has not occurred to the top boars at Metro hog-quarters that policing is supposed to be visible, and that information being passed about their favorite grazing trapping pastures, is totally legal. And so they have issued some pretty dubious statements which reeks of pig-pen poop:

It’s wrong for him to inform people of the whereabouts of the officers on duty because drunk drivers will use other roads and cause accidents which could lead to innocent lives being lost

Presumably drunk drivers have enough control of their faculties to be able to follow Twitter feeds. And it seems that they should not be allowed to use “other roads” which must remain the sole hunting grounds of our kamikaze taxi drivers.

And:

He could also warn criminals to evade the police, making it easier for them to escape

Criminals evade the South African police all the time, and all intelligent people know that Twitter or PigSpotter is not the reason why. No, no, no, rotund pork-bellies and plain incompetence spring more readily to mind.

I have until now avoided Twitter like the plague, but PigSpotter may have just given me a reason to reconsider.

Antonio Federici – my kinda ice cream

In the news today is an award-winning British ice cream manufacturer that intends defying an Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ban on one of their clever magazine adverts, by “placing similar posters along the route of the Pope’s London visit.”

The banned advert depicted a pregnant nun eating Antonio Federici ice cream in a church, with the words “Immaculately Conceived” emblazoned on one side of the picture. Apparently it took just 10 prissy readers (presumably Catholic) to get ASA to pull the plug on the advert. Which leaves me wondering why a certain other religion always requires thousands of their followers to rampage through the streets in cities across the world, threatening murder and mayhem, every time they feel offended by similar harmless caricatures.

What I find curious about the banning is the reason given by the ASA: “for ‘making a mockery’ of the beliefs of Roman Catholics.’ This would imply that mere beliefs, no matter how ridiculous, are somehow sacrosanct, especially if they emanate from a religious quarter. Applying the same set of rules, spaghetti adverts should also be banned because they make a mockery of the beliefs of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Taking this reasoning to its ultimate conclusion, science is in great danger of being banned outright because scientific discoveries every day, make a mockery of many religious beliefs.

In fact many of us are all too aware of a large number of religious organizations that would dearly like to see just that: the status of science reduced to a level lower than common superstition and religious belief, or even banned outright.

As for the intentions of the manufacturers of Antonio Federici ice cream to accost the Pope with similar saucy adverts, on his much-maligned trip to Britain, I don’t think his Eminence will be too shocked, seeing as how he accommodates the sexual antics of the priests in his charge.

However, I am still really enamored of this ice cream brand because of the response the company gave to the ASA when the advert was banned. The said that they wished to

comment on and question, using satire and gentle humour, the relevance and hypocrisy of religion and the attitudes of the church to social issues.

Now those are the words of a mighty progressive company, in a typically stuffy country. In future, every time I indulge in some Gelato, those words will resonate through my mind. So, anybody knows where I can get some of this fantastic ice cream?

Right 2 Know

The campaign to prevent the South African government from trampling on our basic freedoms through the imposition of odious legislation, is gaining momentum.

Make your opposition to the Protection of Information Bill and the Media Appeals Tribunal, known. Join the Right 2 Know campaign here.

These are just some of the individual signatories:

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nadine Gordimer, Prof Kader Asmal, Zakes Mda, Prof. Max Price, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Zackie Achmat, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Mary Burton, Mazibuko K Jara, Prof Hoosen Coovadia, Max Du Preez, Andre Brink, Pippa Green, Breyten Breytenbach, Cathi Albertyn, Rhoda Khadalie and Andrew Feinstein

For more international and local Organizations who have added their voice to Right 2 Know, click here. Add your signature not because they have; add it because it’s the right thing to do.