Private Thoughts

New Facebook usernames will be available from 5am on Saturday

Facebook will offer users the chance to create their own, personalised "web address".

From Saturday morning, anyone using Facebook will be able to sign up for a username using their name and surname.

The option will be available to members from 5am on 13 June but users will have to get up early as it'll be on a first-come, first-serve basis, So it all depends on what timezone you are in or what the servers time zone is set to.

State of the Nation Address by His Excellency JG Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa, Joint Sitting of Parliament, Cape Town

3 June 2009

Honourable Speaker; Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces; Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP; Deputy President of the Republic, Kgalema Motlanthe Former President of the Republic, Thabo Mbeki, Our icon, the First President of a democratic South Africa, Isithwalandwe Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Former Deputy Presidents, Distinguished Premiers and Speakers of our Provinces; Esteemed members of the Judiciary; Chairperson of SALGA, mayors and leaders in our system of local government; Chairperson of the National House of Traditional Leaders and our honoured traditional leaders; Heads of Chapter 9 Institutions; Governor of the Reserve Bank, Religious leaders, Directors-General and other leaders of the public service; President of the Pan African Parliament, Honourable Idriss Endele Moussa, Your Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners; Distinguished guests, comrades and friends; Fellow South Africans,
Dumelang, Abusheni, Molweni,

Got this in the mail the other day and wonder if it's accurate. I heard and read of incidents of crime, corruption etc by Parliamentary offcials, but this is crazy.

Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:

 29 have been accused of spousal abuse
 7 have been arrested for fraud
 19 have been accused of writing bad cheques
 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
 3 have done time for assault
 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year
 
373 in total or approximately 70%
 Can you guess which organization this is?

So Schabir Sheik gets released and the media gang kicks into top gear about "huge public outcries" from political parties.Some  Journalists goe into a type of feeding frenzy with the story and riding on the back of that, are the ANC's opposition party spokespersons.

Be objective, you need to sit back and do some research, realise that this was expected for more than 18 months. Shaik's family has been lobbying for his release for that long on medical grounds. It not going to serve any purpose to call for a Commission of Enquiry to investigate ( or are you having a go at Job creation ?), as the outcome would be certain and the general S A public cannot wait out the 2 years it would take for this commission to be finalised.

I elected to wait out Monday (yesterday) before commenting on this frontpage story that made the Sunday Times frontpage. This was so I could have a good knowledge of the reaction that came from various media and organisational bodies, after all it is high election time in South Africa.

The article in question carried the headline, "ANC risked Madiba's health by parading him at Zuma rally" and also a highlighted quote from a 'family friend' that went like this, "Shame, the old man does'nt deserve this kind of nonsense".

I have been an avid reader of the print media for many many years. To put it simply, not a day goes by for me without me reading at least 4 daily newspapers. The media is a very powerful machine and has a big influence on the way readers perceive events/incidents/current issues that are reported by them ( Media ), so much so that some of us may totally believe views that have been reported in the media with out questioning motives behind the articles.

 Is the media 100% unbiased ?  Are there elements in the media houses that make use of the media to further certain aims and change the readers perceptions on certain issues ?  Are the "spin doctors" of certain organisations so influential that they can so easily influence the way news is reported by journalists ?

Join me as I focus on issues related to the coverage of South Africas General Election, 2009.