Archive for January, 2006

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Brazil Joins South African Missile Program

Yesterday, in a move that seemingly has yet to reach SA’s media, Brazil agreed to join the development program for Denel’s A-Darter air-to-air missile. Under the agreement, the For?A?a Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force) will commit an initial $52 million, set to rise to between $100 million and $130 million as the missile completes its final [...]

Filed under: General

Religious Lunacy

I’ve refrained from commenting on this before, because I initially believed it was so trivial that it would soon blow over. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Not only has it continued, but it has gotten worse, reaching a rather pathetic level of lunacy.
I’m referring of course to the intense Muslim displeasure at a series of cartoons [...]

Filed under: General

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Yes, Iran Does Want Nukes

Most observers, including Muhammed El-Baradei, have long since come to the conclusion that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. However, there are still people who doubt this. As I discovered last week, one of them is John Sunde, former South African ambassador to Iran. Sunde was interviewed by Radio 702, and said that he is “personally [...]

Filed under: General

Friday, January 27, 2006

Hamas: What Are the Implications?

So, Hamas has won. Lest anyone is tempted to hope that this will result in a kinder, more conciliatory Hamas, think again:

“With such a decisive win, Hamas is unlikely to need a coalition partner, sidelining the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Fatah Party and promising to redefine the troubled Middle East peace process. Hamas, which rejected the [...]

Laurence | 00:47:07 | Permalink | Comments (9)
Filed under: General

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Suicide Bombers as Drug Addicts

A good post over at It’s Almost Supernatural.

Laurence | 13:32:19 | Permalink | Comment?
Filed under: General

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

How To Get a Criminal Record in 6 Easy Steps

1. Wake up to find your home has been infiltrated by gun-wielding assailants.
2. Watch as they shoot your brother.
3. Take a bullet in the stomach.
4. Grab your gun and kill one of the assailants.
5. Wake up in hospital.
6. Get charged with murder.
—UPDATE:
We are told, of course, that this is “standard procedure”, and that Len Parkin [...]

Laurence | 23:39:25 | Permalink | Comments (25)
Filed under: General

Commodity Boom

Is it time to speculate in the commodity boom? Specifically through either aggressive high risk investments in listed commodity equity shares or through the Satrix 40? To my mind it might seem worthwhile to allocate some of one’s personal capital and indeed I have.
The JSE Top 40 index has already moved by nearly 5% in [...]

Wayne | 23:37:16 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under: General

Money Issues

With the Zimbabwean inflation rate set to hit 700%+ by March the Zimbabwean central bank released anote.
But consider that the official exchange rate is currently at Z$16,700 to R1. That makes it, at best, a ‘R3’ note and in a years time maybe worth 40 cents.
Now when it comes to policy of issuing currency in [...]

Wayne | 09:57:58 | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Sense Prevails

It’s official: cellphones don’t cause cancer. Not that the hysterical hypochondriacs responsible for propagating this urban myth will listen or care, I suppose.
Now we just need to do something about the ridiculous “exploding petrol pumps” myth. Few things irritate me as much as “no cellphones” warning stickers that are found at virtually all South African [...]

Laurence | 21:14:28 | Permalink | Comments (14)
Filed under: General

Monday, January 23, 2006

Gravy Plane v2.0

Mosiuoa Lekota has defended Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka’s R75,000 trip to Sun City. Apart from being unable to justify the sheer chutzpah of taking one expensive flight while coming under criticism for another, Lekota’s explanation is fairly convincing. If she hadn’t taken her trip in the wake of Gravy Plane 1, chances are nobody would have even [...]

Laurence | 22:01:43 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under: General

Dogs vs. Cats

This story may well be the last word in the debate. A diabetic man was out walking his two dogs at night when he collapsed. Get this: one of the dogs lay on him to keep him warm, while the other one picked up his torch and waved it about at the side of the [...]

Laurence | 21:54:28 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under: General

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Don’t let Sudan Lead the AU

If the African Union allows Sudan to take theit will irreparably damage any credibility the organisation may trying to obtain.
It is simple. A government that carries out genocide on its own citizens, that uses the threat of Chinese veto in the UN Security Council to block an attempted resolution slamming such behaviour, and that [...]

Wayne | 18:56:40 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under: General

Blaming the US for House Prices

In a day and age when the only world superpower is blamed for everything from anorexia to war one can add a new item to the purported events per some people – high house prices in South Africa.
It’s true that recent loose monetary policy did encourage more people to borrow more heavily, and therefore to [...]

Wayne | 14:09:25 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under: General

Friday, January 20, 2006

Quote for the Day

Some loser on Daily Kos:

What this strike has achieved is the further alienation of Pakistan, and provided further proof of the Bush administration’s utter ineptitude. It’s a reminder that the disastrous Iraq debacle diverted resources from the critical effort to contain al-Qaeda and calls into question exactly what it is that our intelligence agencies are [...]

Laurence | 01:53:21 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under: General
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