Archive for December, 2013

The real question: South Africa under the ANC

Posted: December 11, 2013 by datechguy in culture, News/opinion
Tags: ,

People who say, “I vote for the man, not the party” are therefore fools, blown around by the wind and prone to believe whatever they see on TV, because when you vote for the man, you get the party

RS McCain: Pulling at the other end of the Rope

Now that the Mandela memorial service is over and his funeral service a day away it’s time to look at the state of South Africa since his initial election.

Electorally it’s no surprise to anyone that since 1994 Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress has dominated the electoral landscape.  Mandela own election was practically a foregone conclusion.  He won the election in 1994 with over 62% of the vote and his African national congress won 252 seats in the 400 seat parliament.

It’s fair to say that problems of transitioning out of white minority rule was the primary duty of Mandela and by any standard that was admirably done.  His decision to not seek re-election and give up power that he could have kept was key to ensure democratic rule.

But the nation didn’t just get Mandela in power, it got the ANC in power and while Mandela didn’t run in 1999 the ANC did

In 1999 ANC did even better than in 1994 electing Thabo Mbeki with 66.35% and winning 266 seats in parlament.  In 2005 the trend continued as Mbeki was reelected with 69.69% of the vote and the ANC parliamentary majorly went to 279 seats.

Mbeki resigned in Sept 2008 over a corruption case involving Jacob Zuma who would win the presidency in 2009 for the ANC with 65.9% of the vote and 264 seats figures better than Mandela’s initial election but the lowest level of support for the ANC since then.

So the ANC, the party of Mandela has ruled the Country for 20 years. with solid overwhelming majorities.  In fact the irony is ANC’s  worst electoral showing was the year Mandela ran.   The question is:  What kind of job have they done for South Africa?

Well one simple measure of how a country is doing is the unemployment rate.  Let’s look at the IMF figures:

In 1990 the year that Nelson Mandela was released South Africa’s unemployment rate was at 18.78% doubling the 1980 rate of 9.24%.  By the first year of free elections (1994) it was up to 22.89%.  There was a sudden drop in the rate in 1995 to 16.71% but by 1997 the rate was back over 20% (20.95%) and since h left office in 1999 through 2010 the rate has averaged 25.76%  from a high of 30.41% in (2002) and a low of 22.23% (2007).

The current rate in the 3rd quarter of 2013 according to government stats is 24.7%

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Another excellent measure of a county is life expectancy at the time of Mandela’s election let’s take a look at the trend since 1985

South Africa life expectancy 1985-2010

You would think that the end of incredible repression would increase, not decrease life expectancy.  A lot of this has to do with the AIDS rate:

More than five million people in South Africa are HIV-positive – about 10% of the total population.

Last year more than 260,000 people with Aids died – almost half the figure of all those who died in the country.

and the future is not bright:

At least 28% of South African schoolgirls are HIV positive compared with 4% of boys because “sugar daddies” are exploiting them, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said.

He said 94,000 schoolgirls also fell pregnant in 2011, and 77,000 had abortions at state facilities, The Sowetan newspaper reports.

So under ANC rule South Africa has a quarter of its work force idle.  More than a quarter of schoolgirls HIV positive and  Life expectancy down a full 1/6.

And we haven’t even talked the murder rate at 31.3 per 100,000 (by comparison even with the Cartel violence Mexico’s murder rate is 22 per 100,000)

As the LA times reports

South Africa has some of the world’s highest rates of violent crime, with casualty figures mounting like those in a small war. The country had slowly whittled down its murder rate since 1995, but this year’s marginal increase raised fears that the battle against crime may have stalled.

The Institute for Security Studies, a South African think tank, said the figures were presented in a “vague” manner, making analysis difficult. Only the percentage change was provided, without the raw figures.

In fairness the murder rate the year Mandela was elected it was 64.9 higher than Detroit.  Now they are doing better than Detroit.  Let’s look at where South Africa’s killings are taking place

Residents in low-income areas, the analysis shows, are far more likely to be murdered than their middle and high-income counterparts. Half of South Africa’s murders occur in only 13% or 143 out of 1 127 of police precincts.

A vast majority of the average of 43 murders that take place daily do not make the news. They happen in areas where crime and violence are part of the daily despair of residents who already feel marginalised and forgotten by media and politicians.

Remember the person writing this article is a person trying to downplay the violence in South Africa.

As for Rape:

Interpol says South Africa is the world’s rape capital and less than 1% of rape cases are reported to police. According to a reliable website that compiles rape statistics this has had a detrimental effect on successfully pursuing rape cases in the country.

How bad is it? This bad::

South Africa’s parliament issued a reprimand to police Monday after media outlets reported that police stations across the country were running out of rape kits

Mind you all of this is after two decades of rule by the African National Congress duly elected and regularly re-elected by the free people of South Africa.

Without question the removal of the evil Apartheid laws was a positive good and franchise being extended to all citizens is simple justice.  A People must have the right to govern themselves and a government that doesn’t reflect the consent of the governed is unjust.

What is not axiomatic is that a popularly elected government will govern well.

The people have freely chosen to elect The African National Congress for 20 years by landslide majorities.  That party has failed to stem unemployment,   has seen life expectancy drop by nearly a decade during their rule and been a haven for murder and rape.

Yesterday spectacle to the world showing how South Africans  has progressed under the management of the leftist African National congress.  It’s been a great time for the country “except maybe for the people who got killed or raped.”

I’m sure some will think this a rather hard critique, some might even throw an epithet at me for it (remember there are five a’s in raaaaacist).  To those critics of all races, creeds and political beliefs I ask this question:

Would any one of you choose to move to such a country, raise your children in such a country or encourage your sons and daughters to do so?

Update: While the media is busy discussing Angelo-American-Danish relations almost nobody in media seemed to notice or bother covering the booing of the President of South Africa

Hmm @bbcamerica says South Africans may use POSA’s speech to express anger over corruption etc yet they regularly vote ANC 60% #tcot #p2

— Peter Ingemi (@DaTechGuyblog) December 10, 2013

But apparently the South African president did

Ah, freedom MT @BBCAndrewH: Pres Zuma’s advisor tells me Mandela stadium booing was “humiliating” & those responsible will be “dealt with”

— Jeff Emanuel (@jeffemanuel) December 11, 2013

Perhaps the booing might have something to do with this:

Speaker at #mandela funeral talked of the link between SA & #cuba in development etc. That explains much (24.7% unemployment) #tcot #p2

— Peter Ingemi (@DaTechGuyblog) December 10, 2013

The question is: Will they make the ANC pay at the ballot box?

Where does Lunenburg go to get it’s Reputation back?

Posted: December 4, 2013 by datechguy in media
Tags: , , ,

It’s amazing the difference a few weeks has made in the City of Lunenburg:

Was it only a few weeks ago that we learned how racist the Town of Lunenburg in general and the football team in particular? That the football team in was responsible for painting:  “Knights don’t need niggers” on the house of a bi-racial family with a young and very talented football player on the team who was subject to a spate of bullying?

Didn’t we have editorials decry the racism of the town, didn’t the governor weigh in, weren’t commentators talking all about this.

Didn’t Good Morning America weigh in?

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and compare it to the Miami Dolphens scandal?

The Lunenburg story has echoes of the rookie hazing scandal that has enveloped the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.

Veteran Richie Incognito was suspended indefinitely on Nov. 4 after rookie Jonathan Martin turned in voice mails and text messages that allegedly showed Incognito using the N-word to describe Martin and threaten his family, according to ESPN.

The controversy came to light after Fox Sports reported that Martin and other rookies had been forced to pay thousands of dollars for dinner tabs and vacations for more veteran members of the team.

And didn’t the Lunenburg Football team forfeit the rest of the games and have their traditional Thanksgiving game cancelled?

Well that was only fair, after all you can’t let racism like that stand. As far as all right thinking people were concerned they had it coming….

…what a difference a few weeks and an actual investigation makes.

First the Football team is cleared:

Police in Lunenburg, Mass. say high school football players were not responsible for racist graffiti found on the side of a junior varsity player’s home.

So with the football team cleared, the question remains: Who is responsible for the racist graffiti sprayed on the home?

And the parents who had plenty to say before …

Chief Jim Marino said the Phillips parents are not talking to police anymore.

…are now singing a different tune:

Anthony Phillips returned to the end of his driveway to wait for his children to get off the school bus. Asked about rumors that he might have been involved in the incident, Phillips replied, “That just shows you how racist this town is.”

And Today the worm turned…big time:

The Boston Globe:

Police search Lunenburg home where graffiti found

Police focus turns toward victim’s mother in Lunenburg racist graffiti case

The Worcester Telegram and Gazette:

Search warrant issued at Lunenburg home where racist graffiti was reported

The Lowell Sun

Investigators focusing on mother of Lunenburg graffiti victim

And the Sentinel & Enterprise :

Investigators are focusing on the mother of a Lunenburg teen whose home was spray painted with racist graffiti last month, according to court documents.

Former Lunenburg High School football player Isaac Phillips’ mother Andrea Brazier, replied “OK” when an FBI agent suggested she was the one who spray painted graffiti on the house, according to an affidavit.

The Sentinel has been all over this story from day one.

Now that the case has gone the full circle from outrage confirming liberal prejudices to yet another race hoax it’s time for the question to be asked

Where does the town of Lunenburg go to get their reputation back, where does the football team go to get their Thanksgiving game back and who pays for all the police, local state and federal that were used in the attempt to sell this BS?

And will the sites in Atlanta, Metro US, The UK Daily Mail, Sports Illustrated, Fox Chicago and the Huffington Post be reporting on these new developments with the same gusto?

Update: Stacy McCain links (sorry I hit the sack early last night and had the PC off) and he knows something (Bill Sparkman) about hoaxes

Ruh-roh. If she lied to the FBI, she could be in big trouble. But since when is it the FBI’s job to investigate racist graffiti? And if real racist graffiti is a federal offense, what is fake racist graffiti? The alleged hate crime was a big deal last month:

Two quick thoughts:

1. It really boggles the mind that someone would be willing to tar a group of teenagers, their families, a school and really an entire Town for the sake of a personal agenda. That degree of selfishness is incredible in its narcissistic depth.

2. If it turns out that the mother is the culprit she has done more damage to her son and her marriage than any amount of teaching or racist words could have done. And it will follow her son for years. How does a parent not realize that?

Update 2:  Michael Graham reports Lunenburg school folks haven’t learned much:

Now, with egg splattered all over their faces, the Lunenburg administrators STILL INSIST they did the right thing!

“I never looked at the cancellations as punishment, although it was certainly viewed that way by many. In the end, the safety of students and attendees at the games was deemed as of paramount importance. At no time did I or any employee of the schools indict or implicate players,” said Lunenburg Superintendent of Schools Loxi Jo Calmes.

Lunenburg’s superintendent and high school principal defended the decision to cancel the rest of the football season amid allegations against the players of writing racist graffiti.

“I thought would I have brought my own kids to that game? And the answer is no way. Why? Because it wasn’t safe to play,” Principal Brian Spadafino said.

The Lunenburg high football game “wasn’t safe?” From what–marauding bands of spray-painters?  Hordes of KKK members?

I think the next batch of town elections in Lunenburg are going to be very interesting.

Update 3: Ace finds the story.

Update 4: Liberty Unyielding notes that all “hate graffiti” is created equal in media eyes:

As an important aside on an unrelated case, about 50 miles away from Lunenburg High, Masslive.com revealed yesterday that three teens were in custody “in connection with 13 incidents in October and November where homes, churches and cars were either vandalized or set on fire.”

The article reads in part,

“Symbols, slurs, sexually explicit images and, in the case of United Church of Ware, an expletive directed at God and the words “Catholic burning,” were spray-painted…” [added emphasis]

This author can find no other mention in any other source of the anti-Catholic slur. Is the FBI involved in that case? Will this anti-Catholic incident be investigated as a “hate crime?”

I guess some targets of hate are more equal than others.