Once again the Catholic Church is embroiled in another unnecessary confrontation. As a non practising catholic, I continually ask myself why I stopped believing - each time the catholic church provides me with a good reason why. I have heard many believers in the faith telling me that children and pregnancy is something to be cherished - I quite agree with this BUT only if the woman concerned wanted the child !!!.
Secondly, I do not in the main, believe in ABORTION, BUT where a woman is brutally raped, I believe that a decision whether the baby should be born or not should be left with the woman concerned. Others, and this includes the Catholic Church should not meddle. The trauma of rape is heinous enough, but to subject and imposed an element of guilt on the victim of such crime as rape is incomprehensible.
It would appear that this victim of the crime of rape is being punished for being raped, made to go through the trauma of unwanted pregnancy, trauma of birth of an unwanted child, trauma of the possibility of rejecting a child who, in all reasoning did not ask to be born or have a rapist father, trauma of the possibility hate and finally, trauma of the rapist seeking access to the child under the guise of father's right.
The Catholic Church should see sense and allow women some dignity in how they deal with personal issues such as pregnancy -planned or unplanned, violently conceived or otherwise - this should be a woman's decision and it is men's or partners' role to support them whatever that decision may be. Sometimes, we as men forget that changes of the body is not on us - we feel that a less thanfive minutes roll in the hay is enough to guarantee us the right over women - it does not - our role comes AFTER the baby is born and how we play this role depends on our relationship with our partners.
Finally, before reaching any decision, in the case of those women who have not been raped and in a relationship, PLEASE talk to your partner and convince them why you either want or did not want the baby - it does not have to be WAR. GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL.
Sunday, 19 August 2007
Greedy Jitters
In the past week we have had of the stock market propelling to another 1980's. The year when many lives were destroyed because the financial experts got things terribly wrong - but cleverly blaming politicians. When things go wrong, we always seem to blame politicians because, these individuals who do very little except talk, always seem to convinced us that they matter - in fact they matter very little. They just do not want to do hard labour. Hence every person and organisation take a swipe at them - and they do very little to defend themselves except offer one excuse after another. And when you have people like Margaret Thatcher or John Reed of the UK political scene fight back, people find these difficult to counternance because politicians are not supposed to answer back.
When things go BAD - they are supposedly BLACK. This is the same colour that imperial Britain and France used to describe a whole people in Africa, The Sun newspaper of the UK described the stock market difficulties last week as "BLACK THURSDAY". All these refer to the fall in shares, stocks and pension funds around the world - caused, it was claimed, by some US banks giving mortgages to people supposedly unfit to be given loans, people who under 'sensible' condition must be allowed to either live under the highway bridges or 'crash' on the high streets of central London and other UK cities for example - people otherwise described as HOMELESS. The truth is that many financial institutions are so GREEDY and so driven by the supposed profits that they make us take risks - us, (the ordinary people), under the guise that they are helping us to be rich - em - it is called investment - I think! They in turn make huge profits and are paid sometimes obscene salaries, they award unbelieveable bonuses to their so called executives - and all at the expense of these unfortunates - the same people they despise.
Somehow we are told that these falls in shares and stocks were the fault of some the US banks which gave out mortgages to unfit individuals - and then ended up selling these debts to some European and other world financial institutions - many of these banks are now keeping quiet about themselves and the exact amount they bought - thereby causing jitters in the market. Since these banks are willing to take risks, they should be able to stand up and be counted - hence able to weather the storm. I believe that they should continue to give these poor people the opportunity to pay their way out of the intolerable poverty they find themselves - if it means extending the loans.
But with only a little tremor in the market, the world banks are taking flight, forcing state institutions to step in to calm things down. It is about time that governments around the world put their foot down to either restrict through legislation - corporate obscene salaries and bonuses - if they lose their balls or whatever else they have at the slightest shake. What we have witnessed recently is some greedy persons who really cannot afford to take risks by themselves when they force others to do so. So much for financial expertise.
When things go BAD - they are supposedly BLACK. This is the same colour that imperial Britain and France used to describe a whole people in Africa, The Sun newspaper of the UK described the stock market difficulties last week as "BLACK THURSDAY". All these refer to the fall in shares, stocks and pension funds around the world - caused, it was claimed, by some US banks giving mortgages to people supposedly unfit to be given loans, people who under 'sensible' condition must be allowed to either live under the highway bridges or 'crash' on the high streets of central London and other UK cities for example - people otherwise described as HOMELESS. The truth is that many financial institutions are so GREEDY and so driven by the supposed profits that they make us take risks - us, (the ordinary people), under the guise that they are helping us to be rich - em - it is called investment - I think! They in turn make huge profits and are paid sometimes obscene salaries, they award unbelieveable bonuses to their so called executives - and all at the expense of these unfortunates - the same people they despise.
Somehow we are told that these falls in shares and stocks were the fault of some the US banks which gave out mortgages to unfit individuals - and then ended up selling these debts to some European and other world financial institutions - many of these banks are now keeping quiet about themselves and the exact amount they bought - thereby causing jitters in the market. Since these banks are willing to take risks, they should be able to stand up and be counted - hence able to weather the storm. I believe that they should continue to give these poor people the opportunity to pay their way out of the intolerable poverty they find themselves - if it means extending the loans.
But with only a little tremor in the market, the world banks are taking flight, forcing state institutions to step in to calm things down. It is about time that governments around the world put their foot down to either restrict through legislation - corporate obscene salaries and bonuses - if they lose their balls or whatever else they have at the slightest shake. What we have witnessed recently is some greedy persons who really cannot afford to take risks by themselves when they force others to do so. So much for financial expertise.
Thursday, 9 August 2007
Lost Japanese
Did anybody see a lost Japanese man in Totnes - My friend R has just informed me that she has lost her visitor from Japan on their local beach. So should anyone come across a lone male Japanese - dont call the coast guard, police, fire seervice or ambulance unless he's is drowning, or has drowned. But how do you lose a visitor? Only my friend R is capable of this.
Well, he has been found - in another part of the beach several hundred meters away - and was sittting down wondering what will become of him. I guess he must have thought of swimming back home - but that will be a great achievement - and definitely get him into the Guiness Book of Records, if he survived. We are happy to find him and found the whole experience - very funny!!! :-)
UPDATE
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
History of Africa
On the 3rd of August, I was asked by a boy aged 11 whether Nelson Mandela was the Prime Minister of Africa; whether South Africa is the capital of Nigeria; did not know that Africa is a continent NOT a country and did not know that Egypt is in Africa I was intrigued by these question because boys this age are usually more interested in gadgets and not HISTORY let alone African history. The boy in question was a family friend's son. I asked him what he has so far learned on Africa, presuming that this may have something to do with his school work. I was wrong - his curiosity had nothing to do with school - after all, they are on their summer holidays. He had been listening to the news - in fact he assures me that he quite often listen to the news with his parents. "We have not been taught anything about Africa". I was shocked.
In the year when Britain was supposedly celebrating the end of that heinous trade - slave trade, the British school remained indifferent to their country's unequal relationship with Africa. A country whose wealth was built on the lives and sweat of Africans still think it unfit to discuss in their schools this "GOD FORESAKEN" continent! Britain continued to wish that their atrocities and the removal of over 15 million people from the continent when the population of the world was still in its infancy cannot be permamnently deleted when the effects of these still rumble on.
A boy of 11 must be forgiven for his lack of knowledge particularly when he'd not been taught, but can the same be said of BBC and other British broadcasting institutions - for thinking Africa as a country. IS EUROPE GERMANY? The evidence is provided when those idiots who tried to bomb London tube station were found guilty. All the major TV stations reported them as Africans - not the countries that they came from. This is symptomatic of the condemnation of ALL the marginalised of this society - Africans are constantly drowned in an anonymous collectivity. The WHOLE is always blamed for the crime of the SINGLE. We see everyday yet when a police officer is found guilty of a crime, the bad apple sydrome is evoked. When the Austrian girl who was kidnapped and kept captive for years before she escaped and her captor killed himself, we had about an AUSTRIAN, not a European. So why can individual AFRICANS be held accountable for their crimes?
In the year when Britain was supposedly celebrating the end of that heinous trade - slave trade, the British school remained indifferent to their country's unequal relationship with Africa. A country whose wealth was built on the lives and sweat of Africans still think it unfit to discuss in their schools this "GOD FORESAKEN" continent! Britain continued to wish that their atrocities and the removal of over 15 million people from the continent when the population of the world was still in its infancy cannot be permamnently deleted when the effects of these still rumble on.
A boy of 11 must be forgiven for his lack of knowledge particularly when he'd not been taught, but can the same be said of BBC and other British broadcasting institutions - for thinking Africa as a country. IS EUROPE GERMANY? The evidence is provided when those idiots who tried to bomb London tube station were found guilty. All the major TV stations reported them as Africans - not the countries that they came from. This is symptomatic of the condemnation of ALL the marginalised of this society - Africans are constantly drowned in an anonymous collectivity. The WHOLE is always blamed for the crime of the SINGLE. We see everyday yet when a police officer is found guilty of a crime, the bad apple sydrome is evoked. When the Austrian girl who was kidnapped and kept captive for years before she escaped and her captor killed himself, we had about an AUSTRIAN, not a European. So why can individual AFRICANS be held accountable for their crimes?
Monday, 6 August 2007
How Not to Spend a weekend
This weekend - the most glorious in terms of weather - hot and sometime gentle breeze was supposed to be the perfect weekend for relaxation and fun, it turned out for me to be the most unanticipated nightmare. First, the trains from Buckinghamshire were not running - so to a replacement bus I hopped on- not too bad I thought - 45 minutes then it is the train to complete the journey. But before I could board the train, I realised that I had forgotten my mobile telephone - the bane of contemporary society!!! I had to do a twenty minute walk back to collect - seized the opportunity to see Alonso's silliness. Alonso is a Formula One driver with Mercedes McLarens. It is Saturday morning - and I have already missed the Formula One motor racing (annoying for me and for those who cannot stand the sport). The bus was boiling hot and the driver did not know the route so he had to crawl to be able to see the route signs - may be he had some eye problem because each time he gets to the round about, he squeezes his eyes as if to say I cannot see where I am going and I need glasses - so I thought why don't you &%*^$ get one!!! We managed to get to the train station in Croxley an hour later instead of the usual 35mins. The train which was heading towards Baker Street - well correct direction but upon arriving at Harrow -on - the- Hill, the train driver announced that HER train was going to Watford - well, I have just come from Watford (well, Croxley) why terminate at Harrow while the sign in front stated clearly that we were headed to Baker Street? I pondered, waited but no one to ask question and everyone was wondering what was happening when suddenly the train's door closed and in the end ----we arrived Baker Street. At Baker Street, I took another train to Kings Cross Station. Upon our arrival, one of the guards announced that there was no Victoria Line train - in fact he was to say, there was no tube from Victoria Station to Brixton. But following his announcement, I took another line and ended up adding more minutes to an already delayed trip. Well, I did get to my destination SAFELY in the end. But my Saturday problem had only just begun, upon getting home, I found out that I'd misplaced my house keys - and had to wait 3 hours for my friends to come home but after 3 hours and no sign of them, I had to call and ask for HELP. Having gotten in, I realised that my room is locked and had to sleep with my clothes - the first time in my life!!! It was the most uncomfortable and unbearable of things to do.
On Sunday, I had to wake up at 6am, take a train back to Buckinghamshire. The train trip was somehow not too bad - but it was compensated with a good book - THE COLONIZER AND THE COLONIZED by ALBERT MEMMI on French colonisation. Things seemed to be improving and I had opportunity to watch the start of motor racing to see Hamilton frustrate KIMI RAIKKONEN. Back to Ilford to deliver some mails only to ALMOST have my index finger severed by the door's post box. Arriving home at about 11.55pm, I realised that my wallet and phone had gone walkies, but as fate will have it, they were found by a very wonderful 16 year old who actually ran after me to hand me the item - and an offer of £10 thank you was refused. So all our teenagers are not monsters as is often portrayed in the press. My advice is if a weekend starts going wrong - abandon all things and go back BED.
On Sunday, I had to wake up at 6am, take a train back to Buckinghamshire. The train trip was somehow not too bad - but it was compensated with a good book - THE COLONIZER AND THE COLONIZED by ALBERT MEMMI on French colonisation. Things seemed to be improving and I had opportunity to watch the start of motor racing to see Hamilton frustrate KIMI RAIKKONEN. Back to Ilford to deliver some mails only to ALMOST have my index finger severed by the door's post box. Arriving home at about 11.55pm, I realised that my wallet and phone had gone walkies, but as fate will have it, they were found by a very wonderful 16 year old who actually ran after me to hand me the item - and an offer of £10 thank you was refused. So all our teenagers are not monsters as is often portrayed in the press. My advice is if a weekend starts going wrong - abandon all things and go back BED.
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