So are the Stars about to lose their shine? Well 90 min on Tuesday the 27th June 2006 will tell all. I believe they can show Brazil what African football has to offer, but will they? Time will tell. Many are going on about how well they have done to get this far, my sentiments exactly, but I add on to that, true winners rise in the face of adversity. What did Sean Connery say in the movie The Rock… “Losers try, winners go home and f#@k the prom queen”.

Ok so I was a bit harsh on John Pansil (the guy with the Israeli flag), yes he plays for Tel Aviv, but bra come on now?! Anyway moving swiftly along. A response to last weeks email…

Malaria- not an arb disease, the statistics are horrendous and if it was arb someone would have found a way to eliminate it. Go bill and melinda!diamonds, oil etc- well that is largely simple economics- demand and supply. Although one does need to give some credit to our friends at De Beers with their brilliant marketing - "diamonds are forever" ring a bell. Gold- again scarce resource but I agree Its value is largely linked to legacy. – Sarah

Well as I am sure you can see I started writing this on Monday, with the hope of getting it out by Tuesday, but alas…

I would like to write a long detailed but I cant cos its 18h00 on Friday evening, just finished closing out my work to do list, there is a soccer game on and I am off.

If I can leave you with a few thoughts, clichés they may be but true they defiantly are. This life we live is no dress rehersal (got it from somewhere recently) you only have one shot at it, regret not for any decision you made/make was the right one at that time, it was necessary to steer your life in the direction it was meant to head. Settle not because you deserve better, be the change you want to see/live. On that rather deep note I resign myself to a few days of traveling and contemplating life love and everything else, may you all stay well, till we next chat again. Nadia, hope you are recovering well, anyone else who has not been feeling all that well mentally and physically, hope the angels of good health are guiding your way.

What more can I say other than welcome to Sam, hope you enjoy our little community, should you have any comments to add, please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or drop me a line on suggestions or comments or anything in general.

Birthdays
26th June Kemi
27th Tebo, Sean and Gail
29th Simone L
30th Alun
1st July Tracey L and Keith
3rd Jennifer
8th Dinesh
11th Rudi and Santie
12th Yao
15th Naeem and Garth
22nd Michelle W
24th Vusi
25th Elmar and Poms
26th Gina
27th Mike and Courtney
28th Jele, Reider, folks anniversary
29th Sheya
30th Eddie M, Will Lee

“do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not, but remember, that what you have now was once among the things you only hoped for” – unknown

Maximum respect, Y

Sunday morning sun is shining… Glorious day on this side of the world I tell u, u would never guess that its winter. And to cap it off the Black Stars of Ghana did this continent proud at the world cup, not even close to getting ahead of myself, but it was a convincing display scoreline should have been much better, but in the words of Jake White, and lets not even discuss that pathetic rugby showing ‘a win is a win’ the difference is that at least my negroes tried to play a constructive game, my only issue and its burning me still is why that brother was branding the Isreali flag around like that, bra emancipate yourself from mental slavery!!!

This week isn’t going to be a formal email about anyone in particular, but just some thoughts I’d like to share with u all. I am sure many of you are thinking this, cos I have been thinking this for a while and a few weeks ago I was having a discussion with a mate at work and then last week I am just shooting the breeze with another bra and he had the exact thoughts I had which once again was a ripper and a sure sign.

Do you ever get the feeling that this world or life that we live is a fat joke, that there is an organisation running the show? No I haven’t lost the plot well at least I don’t think so, but then again which crazy people actually believe that they have? ;-).

Man has managed many years ago to put create a craft that is so heavy that it ploughed into a mighty building, it could bring it to the ground yet it has the ability to defy gravity and ‘float’ in the sky like a weightless bird. Man has managed to propel a large craft out of the earths atmosphere and place it on the moon. BUT there are still millions dying from an ‘arb’ disease like malaria?!!! The one phenomenon that blows my mind still is the fact that we have not been able to find a substitute to oil as yet! Well it has been reported though that in Brazil the have developed a substitute which involves converting wheat or some grain into fuel that can power a motor vehicle, currently apparently it is not a cost effective substitute…LIES!!! Someone has a bigger agenda out there that’s what I say.

Then there is this mineral called gold, a yellow metal that the world places so much value on. I mean what the f*&%!Yes its historical and since time in memoriam its been the known currency, wealth has been gauged on how much gold you possessed blah blah fish paste, I think its all a fat joke! Then there are diamonds really, who came out and said this odd looking stone should have so much value placed on it? Don’t tell me about them being scarce or precious or whatever, its just a fat joke how indoctrinated we are with bull and we just lap it up. Case in point Tanzenite, a couple of thousand rand for this blue stone that just came from no where and now we all place so much value on it,

You think that show Prison Break is a lie, you know the fact that there is a corporation running America? I doubt it, cos which sane person would inaugurate a person like George W into power ;-)

Think about it. But till then babe how many carrats do you want J Hope u all have a ripper week I am pretty excited for the next 2 weeks cos once I get through them I have a few weeks off, my first big leave since June 2004, so looking forward to kicking up my heels. Heading off the UK and plan to travel for a bit hopefully I will get a Schengen Visa. If any of you are travelling in July through Europe and are looking for company please holler, cos I am not looking forward to heading off on my own. I have no idea of where I want to go, definitely heading to France and maybe Greece, but very open to suggestions.

12th Carl, Mark, Sam
13th Fifi
17th Laila
18th Sarah Taaffe, Lebo Baloyi
20th Kgashane, Jacob
21st Hamish, Simone
23rd Peter K, Red Head Ed
24th Gretchen

Well that’s all folks (picture in your minds ear that loney tunes jingle)

Maximum respect

Y

Can a man not want to sell his car without the whole world asking whether or not he is skipping the country or broke? To answer peoples questions I am not emigrating overseas, I have been wanting to sell my Betty for a while now and now its time to stop paying it lip service. With the exchange rate swinging as it has in the last few days and I don’t see it getting any better, I thought I may liquidate some possessions which are redundant (cos I got me a more high class set of decks…which are hardly used, but a story for another time) as well as get some tenants in my CT house to hedge myself a bit. I hope that answers your questions.

A welcome to another member of the mailing list, Fred, welcome to our little community. If you have any topics of interest or comments kindly drop me a line or visit www.mondaymail.blogspot.com. Alternatively should you wish to remove yourself from the list please let me know.

Yes I have been gone a while, I have been very flat and very uninspired to be honest. No worries life is still peachy, just haven’t been amped to write I guess. This email is thanks to Tracey at work. Anyway…how are things with y’all. Hope that everyone has been feeling on top of the world you know the kind of feeling you get when you see an ex boyfriend or girlfriend and they are looking sooo wack!

As a result of what happened earlier today, the South African reserve bank raising the repo rate by 0.50% thanks largely to the continuously rising oil prices which will inevitably result in an increase in inflation which is currently projected to be beyond the reserve banks target range. So whats driving this rise in oil prices? Well last time I wrote that Iran had something to do with it. Well Iran isn’t the only thing, there is also this guy called Hugo Chavez (Venezuela’s president) labelled by Americans as the trouble maker. He in return has called President Bush as a pendejo “dum bass” and Miz Ricen a “complete illiterate”.

He came to power in 1999 and since then his agenda has been the social upliftment of his nations poor. 2 of his main projects since taking up poverty was anti-corruption and anti-poverty. Since taking office his government has made education available to a fair amount of his country’s poor. His anti-poverty campaign involves the eradication of illiteracy. This has been set in motion by the establishment of a large number of missions all over Venezuela. This has resulted in more than 1 million more adults becoming literate. His government has built medical schools and clinics which are free to the poor. As part of his anti-poverty campaign he has also had land reform and land redistribution policies invoked. Increased taxes on large foreign companies, provided food and housing subsidies. In his early reign his focus was on attracting foreign direct investment to spur the economy and create jobs. His current stance of increased taxes and nationalisation of foreign company assets may be undoing this somewhat, but we’ll get back to that one.

He has been in the news quite a bit lately. He has publicly stood up against the US government. He blames America for fuelling a coup that ousted him briefly between the 11/04/2002 and the 13/04/2002. He publically came out and stated that US backed Free Trade Area of the Americas was dead. He has also ordered all active duty US military personnel to leave his country. He has increased the corporate tax rate significantly. He has also unanimously decided to nationalise the assets of some large foreign companies, particularly those that are in the oil business. His thinking is well the oil is our natural resource and I think its only right that we get a larger piece of the pie (lets forget that you guys brought the infrastructure and the know-how here which is enabling us to extract this oil)

Another thing he has done is forged close alliances with a fair amount of his equally poor neighbours on the Latin American continent. He has increased his arms purchases from Brazil, taking business away from the US, he offers Cuba oil for expertise, he is said to have funded a $300 mil gas pipeline set to provide discounted natural gas to Columbia. He has also offered Argentina oil for meat.

Apparently after Hurricane Katrina, his government was the first to offer assistance to the US in the form of food, water, mobile hospitals, medical specialists, power generators 1mil barrels of petroleum as well as hugely discounted heating fuel to the affected poor. Guess what Americas response was…Thanks but no thanks!

From the tone this email is taking it almost sounds as if president Chavez is an angel, uh huh, far from it. If you step in his way he squashes u. He has instituted a law ala Bob Mugabe that prohibits public criticism of government figures, which could result in 40 months imprisonment or even more depending on the severity of the offence. He had a failed attempted coup in 1992 which landed him in jail for 2 years or so. He once dismissed 19000 workers who opposed his views on limiting oil production which would result in increased oil prices hence excess reserves for the government with which to complete his social development plans. In 1999 following weeks of unprecedented rainfall he ignored the signs and approx 30000 of his nations poor lost their lives either by being swept out to sea or buried in mudslides. His country has been catalogued by Amnesty International for human rights violations but none have been confirmed.

Anyway, enough about the man. I am pretty torn on this one. Once again a case of a plausible cause being achieved through questionable means. But I guess its something that we don’t do too much of on this continent and that’s saying guys I am tired of being sc rewed over, lets have a situation where we both win please. Many an African nation, rich in minerals and know how is in such a shocking state because what happened is they came, they raped, they left, we live still live in squalor. But then again you want foreign direct investment and this is best achieved in providing an economic or political climate that promotes stability and trust in your nation. This can never be achieved by telling your foreign held companies that as of now we are 50% shareholders in your business! The oil companies have decided to stay on because they are still making plenty tom inspite of it all. Enough of my views on this because I have plenty to say on this hope to get some of your views on www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or mail me back.

Otherwise let the games begin, go The Black Stars (Ghanaian national soccer team). Whew as much as I would like the boys to succeed, I am a realist, its one tight group, no 2, 5 and 13 in the world are our group mates, in the words of Eddie and the other J-Flat boys…”…its tight G”! Please prove me wrong.

On that note that’s me for the week. A couple of birthdays I missed whilst I was away…
22nd May – Lance
23rd May – Auntie Millie
24th May– Amrain
27th May – Monica
29th May – Nyame K, Lauren and Delia
31st May – AC and Nana Yaa
2nd June – Mame Ekua
6th June – Helen
9th June – Ivan and Rudi

If I missed yours my humblest apologies.

Maximum respect

Y

PS I have 2 more vehicles on sale
2002 Ford Fiesta Flite
Kitted out Honda Civic
2000 E-class Mercedes benz with low mileage

If you are interested in any of these holler…I think I could make a living from this advertising stuff hey