Friday, June 24, 2005

Gems

I've long been a fan of Zapiro's political cartoons in the Mail And Guardian newspaper. Every now and then, though, there's one that is just so insightful and African, that it deserves a shouting gallery.

Here is one such.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

The China Syndrome

I'm sitting at a recording studio somewhere in the Far East thinking about China's latest attack on freedom. They're clamping down on ISPs, requiring anybody who has anything to do with the Internet to register with the state. Companies running blog sites (such as MSN's "Spaces") are now required to filter out words such as "freedom" and "democracy." Those not willing to play ball will have to host their offerings outside of China's borders; anyone inside China will no longer be able to access these sites.

The fifth estate is under attack.

This reminds me of the bad old days in South Africa when the government under PW Botha became so paranoid about the fourth estate (the press) that they established a commission of enquiry to investigate, and ultimately stamp out, press freedom.

Thank god they lost thaht battle.

More on this later.

Friday, June 10, 2005

June has gone pear shaped

It's been an odd month so far (and it's only the tenth). For my own part I feel like I'm fighting the world. Things move too slowly, or they don't work, or something else just simply goes awry.

Two of my colleagues have had to go to hospital for various ailments. My cats are misbehaving to such an extent that they risk being turned into broth. China is flooding. What the hell is going on.

Maybe pluto is in retrograde, or something. Or venus is in uranus. Whatever it is, sense a great disturbance in the force. Am I the only one?