Sebelius for VP, not Hillary

Welcome aboard IO. In my years posting on political forums, strangely I've never seen an MLK avatar. Good choice.

If we ever get a profile picture, I'll use my old one:


WEB

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Iostream

Thanks. I'm glad to be here.

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Brother Oz

That's what I found when I went to Kenya. While the villages out in the countryside are very poor and have no modern technology, people in the cities have mobiles, cars, etc. They're very poor as well, but not as much as people from the west might think.

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Agrippina

Hi there, I'm from the South Coast.
Obviously the people who think Africa is a basket case, have never seen South Africa. It is equal to any first world country with magnificent scenery, the best weather ever, friendly people, fabulous food, great sportsmen and women and some very strange politicans. We are currently hosting the world cup of 20/20 cricket. It's a very much shortened version of the game, played very quickly as opposed to the long five-day game that is very boring. And the country is having a long party because the home team are stars.
Cape Town is next to Vancouver one of the most beautiful places on earth. Our money is cheap to visitors so you get fabulous value for your dollars.
We are not perfect we have a lot of social problems that need sorting out but so does the rest of the world. The nay-sayers want us to look bad so they stress the negative instead of the positive. If anyone wants to know about South Africa ask me. I was born the year the Nats came to power and introduced Apartheid, I grew up in the time when people were treated worse than animals simply because of their skin colour and now I love the way the story turned out with a happy ending!
And to cap everything, Nelson Mandela belongs to us.

Viv

I haven't yet had the pleasure of visiting, but am addicted to those tv shows where people move to a place in the sun...
Anyway, SA was represented as a place with a fantastic standard of living, beautiful housing, outdoor living etc, but those people were affluent white. How is the standard of living progressing for the other groups? Is it levelling out yet?

Agrippina

It will knock your socks off to see how wealthy the really rich in South Africa are. Look up real estate in South Africa to see the houses, Remax springs to mind. These are owned by everybody who can afford them, including people who came back once the ANC was unbanned.
There are rich and poor in both cases (white and all the other 'races'). Most nay-sayers about South Africa will tell you that the whites are rich and the blacks are poor, this is absolutely not true. You will notice that as soon as you step off a plane at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg. We have a very high standard of living here indeed and we have a lot of very, very poor people of all races. We have something called black empowerment and equal opportunity that has forced previously advantaged organisations to legally take in previously disadvantaged people, so what we have emerging is a middle-class who are into the whole western idea of ipods, tivo (called DSTV PVR here), three cars and children in exclusive schools.
It is levelling out but remember something that took 500 years to create cannot be eradicated in 15 years. It will take a generation of equality - i.e. 30 years - before we have a second generation of people who have graduated from previously 'whites only' high schools, then the playing fields will be levelled out.
Interacial relationships don't faze us, we have gay marriage, we have a fantastic constitution (google it to read it, it is incredible), Nelson Mandela, some of the most beautiful scenery, fabulous beaches, long hot summers - 9 months of that, friendly people, incredible food.
We are completely in touch with the rest of the world, I watched the Emmys live on tv on Sunday night here, we see all the latest American and UK tv shows, movies premiere here at the same time they do in the rest of the world. We have HDTV, ipods, iMusic and Play stations, wonderful malls, the biggest in Africa, Cape Town. The vibe of the Africans is one of its own, the music is called kwaito, the older people try to hang onto traditions but the west has taught their children materialism so as well-off as the previous rulers were, so are the young yuppies of the previous disadvantaged groups eager for the same pleasures.
Google it, save up your money and come and see for yourself.

africanhope

There is still a lot of descrepincies in the destrubuyion of wealth, but it is no longer soley a white black thing. On avarage, the whites are still (a lot) richer than the black South Africans, but we also have a super rich black high income class now. The problem is that we have seen massive economic growth the last 6 yeas,but this has not trickled down to the poor. So the rich get richer... same old story, and if not solved soon, it will cause huge problems. But yeah, a great and beautifull country

AH

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Agrippina

The short answer about SA's wealth distribution. Google "The Star", "The Sunday Times", "The Argus" look at the society pages, that will tell you about wealthy South Africans.

Ghost Rider

That's freak'n stupid. Damned if we don't help and now damned if we do.

NATe

I dont understand this thread. Finally the United Nations has an opportunity to step up and fullfill a responsibility it has and we shouldnt do it? Why? Yes the AU soldiers are their (dying and losing) every day. But what can a little over 7000 men do against maybe hundreds of thousands if the janjaween are being backed by the government? I understand thats an isolated incident but people need to realize this is not a matter of white mans burden or superiority or pride politics. This is helping millions of displaced persons and putting a stop to a genocide. If you dont agree that this "incident" is a genocide, go there for yourselves and talk to the raped and beaten women. Talk to the men who have no family left because they had cotton shoved in their mouths and burned to death. Tell them we cant help because they can help themselves.

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before I leave this high and noble office I intend to expose this plot."

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7 days before he was ASSASSINATED