Current Affairs – Page 5 – The Shaved Soapbox

An interesting view on tax – which I can almost agree with

Lindani Gumede writes on News24 that we should scrap the current PAYE (Pay as you earn) tax system for a Pay as you can tax system. Where people pay more or less tax based on their circumstances instead of the size of their salary. So if you have fewer basic services, like people living in rural areas vs people living in cities, you pay less. If you can prove that you're doing enough for your kids not to be a burden on the state later, you pay less tax now.

This is a brilliant idea, but will still only affect the people who are currently paying tax.

Continue reading An interesting view on tax – which I can almost agree with

The few who spoil it for the rest of us

Let me start with some background…

Last night at about half past 10 my doorbell rang. When I answered the
intercom, there was a guy outside asking me to come outside as he'd
just had an accident at the end of the cul-de-sac where I stay. He had
just come from the local pub, and did not have a clue where he was…

Now, normally I would jump to the opportunity to help a fellow human
being, but unfortunately in our country you never know when it is a
scam to get you outside as an easy target for more sinister things.

In my view I made the right decision to deny the request, giving the
person my phone number to pass on to his relatives for directions to
the location, in case the story was true.

This morning when leaving for work I drive down to the end of the
street to check out the story, and lo-and-behold, he was telling the
truth, the fence posts of the compex there were bent, and you could
clearly see where he went off the road.

Firstly, whoever you are, I have to apologise for not coming out to
help, but I think if the roles were reversed you would probably make
the same decision that I did.

Secondly, whoever you are, you should not be driving at high speed in
the rain and dark on roads you don't know, even when you're sober, but
especially not after you've visited the local pub, that is just
irresponsible, and you would not have been in the position you were in
if there was a inkling of responsiblity in you.

Back to the heading of this post.

Why is our country in this position, where people have to think twice
before answering a call for help. Where criminals have sunk so low as
to target people's natural will to help fellow human beings, to turn
them in to easy targets. It's despicable behaviour, and our government
is still doing very little to curb crime…

Foreign substances in our food

After enduring the whole uproar about the Melamine found in all kinds of food products from China, I had a look at Wikipedia about what Melamine really is.
Now that was a very scary article to read. Basically it is an
extremely poisonous substance, which will kill whatever ingests it in
big enough quantities. And it will be a very painful death on top of
that, with guaranteed kidney failure.

Then on Saturday I heard a statement from a Nestle spokesperson that
the Melamine found in their condensed milk on local shelves was well
within the "globally accepted maximum limit".

What BS!!!

I don't care what the "acceptable" limit is. I don't want any
poisonous substance in any of the food I or my family consume. I don't
think that any long term studies have been done about the damage these
substances can do to the body if consumed in "acceptable" quantities
over a few decades.

Now is it just my imagination that more things tend to go wrong with
people at an earlier age than what happened when our grand parents were
young….

With all the added hormones and steroids to make plants and animals
grow faster to get to our tables quicker and make the producer a bigger
profit, and with all the poisons contained in our foods at "acceptable"
levels, it is no wonder things are'nt as they used to be.

How do we get around this? Do I have to start planning to buy a farm
and create my own food? I hope not, but if it comes to that, I'm more
than happy to go for it if it means my family will be healthier for it.

Your thoughts?

Is the Springbok emblem really racist?

According to this article on News24, most definitely. But now I have to disagree!

In my honest opinion, and I hope you read this Mr Komphela, I have identified one of the biggest racists left in the country.

One Mr Butana Komphela!!!!

In yet another attack on rugby in SA, he wants us to drop the Springbok emblem in search of something else. Go forbid it be a rabid leopard with green spiky hair.

Mr Komphela, have you ever stopped and considered what the Springbok means to any rugby player? Whether they are white or black, or any color in between?

To pull that green and gold jersey over your head and have the Springbok on your chest, is the ultimate goal for any rugby player, regardless of the colour of the player. Now you want to go take that away? Get real. Clean up your own act first.

He further pukes up some drivel about uniting the country under one symbol. The springbok did more for uniting our people last year than any of the other symbols. We won the world cup, and once again you could see everyone celebrating this together, regardless of colour.

Mr Komphela, you made a bold statement there, but in my opinion, the problems in South African soccer are much bigger than your perceived problems in rugby.

Crisis after crisis happens, yet you say nothing, is this because the administrators are the same colour as you? It sure looks that way.

While we're on the subject of soccer. If we did go the route of having one symbol, and that symbol be the protea, as is the standard in most other sports. How many of your soccer "boys", that's the translation I understand of the current team name, are going to be happy to play in a team named after a flower? Should I hazard a guess?

What rugby did right in my eyes, and this is probably where you picked up your issues, because you perceived the transformation to be slow. Rugby slowed their transformation, to developed players of colour with enough skill to stand their ground in the international arena. If we tossed these guys onto the field with a fired-up All Black team before they were ready, we probably would have lost the player to rugby for good, because of some injury. Rugby is a hard game, and if your body is not conditioned to take the knocks, you'll never make it through the first match in one piece. That's reality.

Rugby also had to slow their transformation to keep the team at a level where they would not lose too many supporters. Supporters are the key to any sport, especially if that sport is a business. If you lose to many of them, you may as well close said business, and go back to the club system.

Now Mr Komphela, what have you done recently to aid in the upliftment of previously disadvantaged players? I've only ever heard about you spewing criticism about what's wrong, but I've never seen any news of you taking any action to help the players at the grassroots level get a step up. I'm talking about school players here, in case you missed that.

I do see the current players and administrators of the sport actually jumping in and helping, but you still sit and criticize.

Then you go on to say that the failure of the Shark players to wear "Say no to racism" on their jerseys is blatant racism from their sponsor's side. Get real sir. Have you ever stopped to think that there isn't significant racism problems in their province, and that they therefore have the choice not to make a big issue out of it, because people of all colour may be more upset by seeing that statement, than not seeing it.

I await your reply, but I definitely will not be holding my breath for it.

Playing the system

According to this article on News24, judge Dennis van Reenen of the Cape High Court came down on attorneys who appeared to be incompetent because of missing documents in court files, and a number of other reasons.

Now, judge van Reenen, have you thought to yourself that these attorneys may not be as incompetent as you believe? Don't you think that they may have found yet another way to play the ~~good old~~ South African injustice system.

If you're guaranteed to get a postponement every time you "forget" something important, then why not play it for all its worth? And some of these attorneys play it so long the judge gets tired of it and dismisses the case outright.

The only way to get these guys to stop "forgetting" and "misplacing" important documents is to start fining them for contempt every time they do it. This way you'll quickly start seeing court cases getting wrapped up at the speed of a teenage boy the first time…

I for one, would love to see swift justice being done in this country, for a change. And the faster you can get the small cases through the system, the more time there would be for the more ~~important~~ criminal ones.

Government’s accountability

So we've finally gotten rid of a lot of the useless gravy train passengers, yes I'm talking about our ex-cabinet.

Now I want to know from our new president how he's going to prevent his new cabinet from becoming passengers on said train.

Will he have the balls to hold them accountable for their actions? I sure hope so.

We need people in those positions who have sound financial management
skills, so they can drag each and every department out of the mud and
into an operable state, so that this country can move forward.

So, will there be accountability in our new government? Only time will tell.

What has happened to common sense?

'Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentional but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant, and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home, and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion, his daughter, Responsibility, his son, Reason.

He is survived by his four stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.