Brash, Burly Baboons

A more upbeat haiku than the other day:

Brash, Burly Baboons
Stealing our food stealthily
red bottom asses

I was reminded of this haiku I wrote in South Africa last summer when I saw this headline on BBC - Cape Town to fine Baboon Feeders:

Photo-opportunity hunting tourists caught offering food to baboons will face fines, authorities in the South African city of Cape Town have warned.

This is a clear-cut case of personal responsibility. If tourists (or tourguides for that matter) want to risk their hides with a baboon for the sake of photo, so be it! Those animals are brutal and are not to be underestimated.

I heart old people

Last night, I gave a presentation on the importance of free markets in the development of South Africa. It was to fifty senior citizens at my grandparents' "active" living community. It was so much fun! My grandmother thinks I did well because so many people come in and talk down to them just because they are old and I just talked to them normally. First of all, it's a shame people would disrespect their elders like that. Secondly, these people are fascinating! I met a Jewish man who escaped the Nazis in Holland. A man who designed the machine that prints U.S. currency. Women who have travelled the globe and had the most insightful questions. It was such a pleasure to meet them all.

And it is always a pleasure to share my passion about free markets. This article by Jasson Urbach of the Free Market Foundation in South Africa pretty much sums up how I feel. He makes the case for private enterprise and long-term growth based on the foundations of personal and economic freedoms as the necessary elements for the future wealth and health of Zimbabwe.

Silver lining

South Africa may have the corrupt Commie Zuma as the emminent President, but they'll have this guy to look forward to to usher in 2010.

Scary political transition of the week

With Thabo Mbeki stepping down, South Africa is one step closer to being led by the Communist Jacob Zuma. Not that Mbeki is a saint, but at least a free economy was his number one priority. Props to Mbeki for trying to uphold the rule of law, I just wish there were more in that country who acted on that principle.

Check out this political poster hung up in the politics department at the University of Pretoria. Scary how even the Democrats that give me the heebie jeebies in America are further to the right than nearly all South Africans.