About That Business Plan

I used to draw up business plans as a hobby for friends and family, and this morning I received an email from someone I had once helped with formulating a proposal for finance from the bank for his new business.
It seems banks are no longer so eager to be handing out huge loans unless your business plan is as watertight as a frogs bum.
Most people who read the news at least once a week would know this. Maybe even if you read the news once a month. Heck even if you just read the news headlines on the odd occasion as you drive to work you would know this.
Not so this friend of mine.

Seven years ago he asked me to help him put together a business plan for a new concept in fast-food. His plan was to radicalize the burger industry by being the first person to introduce a 'square' burger.
We all know bread comes in square slices. He figured why not take a square slice of bread and introduce it to a square burger patty.
So we drew up this business plan which even included long-term franchising options.
Anyways, the three banks he approached for financing all turned him down, not because the idea wasn't viable, but because he wasn't willing to put any of his own money upfront to kick-start the business.

So here we are today with him wanting to try a new venture.
You've heard of hellopeter.com right? A rather popular customer-service site where you can complain or compliment business's throughout the country. Very popular.
Well our intrepid entrepreneur decided that he would like to start a website where kids can complain or compliment their parents. I'm still not sure how such a site would make much money, as kids by nature would sooner spend their allowance on video games and airtime than on advertising on a website.

I'll keep you posted on his venture but don't hold your breath.





see more Poorly Dressed

The Amazing Journey Of The Parroteer

As usual, the title has absolutely nothing to do with this post. Frankly I don't even know what a Parroteer is. Sometimes I just make stuff up as I go along. It's how my brain works, and until I figure out why it does that, I guess I'll just enjoy the ride.

It's been another roller-coaster week that started with me being at a client's offices inspecting his building and witnessing some idiot builder on the building next door have a member of his team fall off the roof. Luckily the guy only fell about two-storey's which is about 8 meters, and landed in the flowerbed. Had he landed 2 meters to the right he would have been in the company's fountain.
Safety first, that's rule number 1.
I guess it was a happy ending for everyone concerned. I think the plants got off worse than anyone else.
The highlight of my week would definitely be the very moment I made the last payment on my personal and company's overdraft. Getting debt free is no easy task,but the trick is to approach it one step at a time, taking on the smallest amounts and working your way up to the huge mountain we usually refer to as "The Credit Card".
When I started my company, I always knew it would cost me an arm and a leg to finance the business. So 3 years later I still have both arms and both legs. Job well done!

The lowlight (if there is such a word) would have been this morning while chatting to a client. His maintenance manager came over and not long thereafter my client left the two of us alone. Maybe I have this face that says "Please, confide in me" or maybe people just feel THAT comfortable around me that they tell me all their deep dark dirty secrets, but sometimes I wish they wouldn't.
This guy has known me for about a month.
He starts telling me about this girl he's been dating for about 2 months. Lately she's started staying over at his place. They're at the phase where they are still working around their personal space in his apartment. Up until this point the conversation seemed pretty normal. Well as normal as you would expect between two guys discussing relationships.

That's when he drops the bombshell. There's usually that one line between two guys that you should just never say. It changes depending on the conversation or the guys. Well this moron dropped it like a hot potato.
"Kaloo, this morning I walked into the bathroom and caught her using my nose-hair trimmer on her bumhair!"
What?!!
That's a mental image no bleach and brain-rinse is going to remove for a long time!
Now I'm not sure if he was more upset that she was using his nose-hair trimmer, that she hadn't told him, or that she had bumhair. Either way, that's not something you share with another dude! EVER!

Now this guy's looking at me to give him some sage advice, and I'm standing there having a tough enough time holding back my breakfast while simultaneously erasing that image of his girlfriends bumhair from my mind. Not an easy task.
So I looked him in the eye, and very calmly told him "Bradley, that woman is a keeper!"
Of course he asked me why I thought so, and I replied "Because anytime a woman feels that comfortable with you around, you should grab her with both arms and embrace the bumhair."

I've checked out some of these nose-hair trimmers, and quite frankly I can see why his girlfriend got attached to it.

I rest my case.

True story.
Now watch this space while I go find a quiet corner to hurl.

SAMA Awards Kaloo Style

So last night we had to endure 2 hours of the South African Music Awards otherwise known as the SAMA's, and quite honestly it was as pleasant as listening to a pregnant cat give birth to 6 kittens and a pineapple.
Why did I have to endure it? Why couldn't I simply change the channel?
Well frankly I'm one of those people who's proudly South African and still highly critical at the same time. Yes for those that didn't know, it is allowed to be critical of one's own country, it's people and cultures, and even religions (as can be seen in my previous post.) It's what a democracy is all about.

I'll be the first to admit that I was expecting a show comparable to the MTV Awards, especially since we had just pulled off the 2010 Soccer World Cup with such resounding success. I figured a music awards ceremony would be a walk in the park. I was sorely mistaken.
You can read the newspaper reviews about what exactly made the SAMA's a forgettable event.
I'm reserving space on my blog for more important things.... like 3 of my personal favourite truly South African songs/ remixes.

I spent the evening searching for songs which had a distinct local flavour, and this is what I found... although the last video would have been a natural choice anyways.

I'd like to hear what would make your "Top 3 Songs With An SA Vibe"


A taste of Durban.



Some Cape Town flavour. Probably my favourite Cape Town band.



I know exactly where I was when I first heard this song, and I know exactly what I did as soon as the beat kicked in. Still a party classic!

Fundamentalists vs Fun-Da-Mental-Lists

For those of you who haven't seen the video causing all the ruckus, here it is in all it's 3-minutes of glory. Who knew that a comedy-skit poking fun at Osama Bin laden would get all these religious zealots and fundamentalists so hot and bothered, they would border on declaring a fatwa against a comedian?

I admire Late Nite News and especially Riaad Moosa for pushing the boundaries on this one.
I had a Twitter debate with the Cape Town branch of one of the groups leading the charge against Riaad Moosa. There were a few issues I took up with them, and I concluded that there seemed to be a greater understanding of the need for open dialogue with the Cape Town branch than there was for the Jozi branch. I found the response's to Riaad's open letter to their accusations loaded with the kind of diatribe reserved for the arrogant and pompous.

Here are a few excerpts of their blog post, to which I have aired my opinion.

Muslimah : So it really does come as a surprise when Muslims are being rather lenient with ‘comedian’ Riaad Moosa whose latest antics have landed him in hot water with the Muslim ‘extremist’ public.Really Muslimah? You're surprised that the rest of the educated Muslim public is not as narrow-minded and obtuse as you are? You seriously cannot grasp why Muslims are being 'lenient' with Riaad Moosa? What would you prefer them do? Join your extremist ranks and declare a fatwa? Is the world as we know it not dangerous enough with fanatics and zealots already?
 

Muslimah : Secondly, the beard may be seen by many to be a representative quality of Al Qaeda. Whether this is true or not, the beard is a salient feature of Islam. Parodying a person wearing the beard is to parody the Sunnah.I've watched the video numerous times, and at no point did I hear Riaad Moosa mention 'Islam' , 'Sunnah' , or the 'Prophet'. I'm curious to know how you drew this link. Was it a backdoor incitement to rile the Muslim public, since these words justifiably incited anger in Muslims worldwide against the Danish cartoon issue? To draw parallels between the two, as you have done further in your blog, was an error in judgement and a rather dubious if not dangerous claim. The beard is a salient feature of Islam just as it is of Judaism and amongst the Afrikaners. Arabic is the salient language of Middle-Eastern terrorists. Does this mean anyone speaking Arabic is by default a terrorist?


Muslimah :Making people laugh is your own business and you may do it in whatever way you please except when making them laugh involves even a single aspect related to Islam.So in effect what you are saying is that Islam is a religion void of people with a sense of humour? My question to you then is, when did the Muslim public decree you as the bastion of all that is moral and just in this beautiful religion we call Islam? When was the edict passed that made Muslimah the gatekeepers to Islamic virtue? I don't ever recall having asked your group of extremists to safeguard a religion lived and enjoyed by millions against question and debate? Maybe if you took a long and serious look at your mandate and what it is you hope to achieve by your actions, you will realize that you are a lone force with minimal support fighting an extremist cause with no justification.


Muslimah : We await your response video with great anticipation. Due to the fact that you have taken it upon yourself to step into the domain of Islamic academic discussion by making a direct reference to the Sunnah and Shar’i principles in what can only be deemed a parody of worthless taste surpassed only by ignorance of the subject matter, we request the following:

1. Valid, authentic, authoritative, academic Shar’i proof that your actions on the Late Night News show are perfectly okay in light of the Shari’ah.

2. Clear, simple academic proof that a parody involving the shaving of the beard carried out by a Muslim is permissible in Islam.

3. Valid, academic proof that mockery of the burka falls within the confines of ‘fun’ in Islam.

A simple response to the above three questions would be highly appreciated. A request to readers: We have very little time for sad and emotional rants, ‘freedom of speech’ issues, ‘light-hearted’ banter and fun, open-minded entertainment etc. If you cannot provide us with valid, academic proof justifying the actions we have mentioned, do not even bother contacting us or commenting.Is it just me or does this response by Muslimah reek of arrogance and pompousness? Before they attacked Riaad Moosa for his video, I don't recall them having contacted Riaad first to discuss the issue. I don't recall them attempting some form of dialogue to fully understand his intentions. I don't recall them portraying the part of 'Bastions of Morals' by showing some humility and understanding in an effort to educate. All I saw and read was a bully towering above a single individual and screaming down at him "We are right, you're wrong, and that's that!" Interesting to note that Muslimah finds issues like 'Freedom of Speech' an emotional rant. I wonder where they were when the struggle heroes of this country were fighting for the very freedoms they now enjoy; freedoms which allow them a platform to hurl insults at an individual who in my opinion, has done more to engage the youth in dialogue to better understand issues which affect them.

I'd like to ask Muslimah how much they have done outside of their small demographic of extremists to promote dialogue and debate on matters of religion, politics and society in general. I'd hazard a guess and say that their response would probably be "Anything outside of religion does not concern us." Really? If the youth and your demographic in particular suddenly finds themselves in a state which does not allow freedom of religion and freedom of speech, would they still maintain that issues outside of religion are of no interest to them?

The same 'freedom of speech' they balk at today is the very 'freedom of speech' they are exercising themselves. Hypocrisy?


I could mention numerous other points which are at best laughable in their article, but I guess it's up to the reader ultimately to decide if the video Riaad Moosa posted was one deserving of such harsh criticism from a religious minority group.

In my opinion, part of the problem regarding religion today is that each religion believes themselves to be absolutely correct and anyone not subscribing to their beliefs is doomed to hell.

Religions all have one common goal: To promote peace, love and understanding amongst it's following. Do good and be good, so that good may come to you. It's when people start twisting and turning the religious code to fit their own agendas that all the good goes out the window.

In conclusion I would like to add that I am no religious scholar by any stretch of the imagination, but what I lack in religious academic study I more than make up for in common sense... and that's what extremist groups are afraid of, that people will start applying common sense to their beliefs.

"Shoot The Boer" : A Little History Lesson

For those reader's of my blog who are unaware, the ruling party in South Africa (the ANC) have recently instituted court proceedings to defend itself against accusations of inciting violence and hate-speech by singing a song titled "Shoot the boer, shoot the farmer."
The word 'boer' is an afrikaans word meaning 'farmer'.
With the recent rise in killings of farmers, this has caused concern among farmers throughout the country. The fact that our nations ruling party, the ANC, finds it justifiable and within it's rights to sing a song condoning the killing of farmers is shocking to say the least. Their argument that it is a historical song sung during the years of the struggle and liberation of South Africa from the clutches of Apartheid was meant to pacify those who didn't know the truth about our countries history.
Below is an excerpt from a response written by a News24 reader, paulf, who clearly outlines the origin and history of the now infamous song.


Who really is attempting to rewrite history?
Is the controversial song urging the killing of “Boers” truly part of the ANC’s liberation struggle heritage, or are such claims simply an ingenuous, or perhaps sinister, attempt by the ANC leadership to defend its Youth League leader Julius Malema by distorting the historical truth? Or is the ANC itself trying to rewrite history after it accused the courts of doing so when two successive court rulings found the song to incite racial hatred – findings in line with one already made by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) as long ago as 2003?
These are questions that come to the fore from an investigation into the origins of the controversial song, "Dubula iBhunu".
The truth seems to be that words to the same effect first were chanted in Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) circles in the early 1990s along with their infamous slogan of “one settler, one bullet”. Shortly thereafter, the late ANC youth leader Peter Mokaba borrowed the slogan and began chanting his “kill the Boer, kill the farmer” version in 1993 after the murder of ANC and Communist Party leader, Chris Hani.
In none of the sources on the origins of the song which could be identified, could any indication be found that the song has ever been part of the ANC repertoire of songs during the struggle days.
Although the controversial song sung by Malema is claimed now to be a historical liberation struggle song, it was not included in a 2-CD history and recording of 25 freedom songs released in 2002. Senior ANC and former Umkhonto we Sizwe leaders, including Ronnie Kasrils, Baleka Mbete and Pallo Jordan among others, had collaborated in the production of the collection.
At the time of its release, the CD set was described as a collection of field recordings of songs and chants used in the liberation struggle, complemented by a radio documentary providing an overview of the songs, their history and context in the struggle. These songs were sung in ANC camps, at meetings, mass rallies, demonstrations and other gatherings.
The set, it was said, was designed as an archival and historical document. Nowhere did it mention “kill the Boer, kill the farmer” or “shoot the Boer”.
All indications are that the slogan or chant and the song, or even songs that developed from it, originated with the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).
In August 1999, Thomas Ramaila told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he had been a PAC operative and had been influenced by what he called a PAC slogan, namely “kill the farmer, kill the Boer” to kill a farmer, Neville Rudman. Most of Ramaila’s testimony and his amnesty application were rejected, but his reference to the slogan was not.
The slogan/song in any version was used first in circles associated with the PAC in the early 1990s, although the PAC never officially took ownership of it and, after the first democratic elections of 1994, distanced itself from it. At almost the same time, the ANC’s Mokaba began using the slogan in 1993 when the armed struggle for all intents and purposes was a thing of the past.
In that same year, a large crowd of PAC supporters marched through Cape Town’s Kenilworth and Claremont suburbs, demanding the release of PAC members who had been arrested in connection with the massacre of 11 churchgoers at the St. James Church and chanted “kill the Boer, kill the farmer”, “one settler, one bullet” and “one church, one bomb”.
Also in 1993, at a rally in Tembisa near Johannesburg, both Mokaba and a PAC representative used these or similar words in speeches to the large crowd. Mokaba reportedly also urged the crowd to direct their “bullets” at then president FW de Klerk, declaring that he hated De Klerk. To which the PAC representative added, “war against the enemy... kill them”.
In March this year, a former participant in an August 1993 march (called “Operation Barcelona”) against increased exam fees in Cape Town, wrote in a comment to an article on the Internet, that he was among PASO (PAC student wing) students in the march who chanted “kill the Boer, kill the farmer” immediately before American student Amy Biehl was killed by members of that mob.
In 2002, then president Thabo Mbeki, as president of the ANC, and in 2003 then ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe - who is now ANC deputy president - firmly and unambiguously distanced the ANC from any such song or slogan, saying it had never been, and would never be, a part of the ANC. No claim was made then that it – in any form - ever had been an ANC liberation struggle song.
That is until now, when, in March this year, Malema began singing a generic version of Mokaba’s chant. Suddenly senior ANC leaders, among them secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, are claiming this to be an old ANC liberation struggle song that apparently never was sung to incite violence against white farmers or whites in general, but was aimed against the apartheid regime.
Mcebisi Ndletyana, senior researcher at the Human Science Research Council - in another defence of the song and attack on the judges who ruled against its use in an article in "The Sunday Independent" - claims the song embodies black hatred of “whiteness”, but not of people of European descent... with a very wooly explaination of what the difference is intended to be.
No documentary or other evidence could be found that the chant or related songs were indeed ANC liberation songs before 1993, when the liberation struggle was practically over and constitutional negotiations in full swing.
The Mokaba chant of “kill the farmer, kill the Boer” was next heard in June 2002 at an ANC Youth League meeting in Kimberley, and at Mokaba’s funeral in Limpopo. The funeral was attended by prominent ANC leaders, including Nelson Mandela and Mbeki, and the chanting was stopped immediately.
The Freedom Front lodged a complaint of hate speech with the HRC, which subsequently rejected it. However Mbeki, as president of the ANC and the country at the time, on 19 June of that year told Parliament: “Nobody in our country has a right to call for the killing of any South African, whatever the colour, race, ethnic origin, gender or health condition of the intended victim. Those farmers and boers are as much South African and African as I am...”
In June 2003, the HRC, chaired by Professor Karthy Govender, assisted by Professor Henk Botha and Mr Khashane Manamela, heard an appeal by the Freedom Front against the earlier HRC ruling. In their decision, delivered on 15 July, they overturned the earlier HRC ruling and found that the slogan "Kill the farmer, kill the boer" as chanted at the ANC youth rally in Kimberley and at the funeral of Mokaba constituted hate speech as defined in section 16(2)(c) of the Constitution.
What is even more interesting is that part of the record of submissions made to the HRC at the time contains a letter from Motlanthe, then ANC secretary-general, stating that the ‘’utterance has never been, cannot and will never be a slogan of the ANC, not used by the ANC at all.’’ The logical assumption then is that, according to Motlanthe, it was not part of the ANC’s liberation struggle heritage.

The Ground Zero Mosque

Ok I'll admit it's not every day that I watch Keith Olbermann's show, and it's an even more rare occasion when I recommend you watch it too.
This is certainly one that had me sitting up straight and paying attention.

I'm not sure what the state of New York decided to do about the "Ground Zero Mosque" issue, but I do recall seeing the map of it's location and for the life of me couldn't understand what all the fuss was about.

Maybe after watching this 12 minute clip, you can tell me what I'm missing. Or maybe not.

Manchester United Make History!

14 May 2011 will go down in footballs record books as the day Manchester United earned the title of "The Most Successful English Premier League Team In History." With a game to spare and only needing a draw this weekend, Sir Alex Ferguson's men proved once again why they are able to win trophy's every year since he took the reins at the club.

I've been an ardent supporter of Manchester United since I could first mouth those infamous four words, Glory Glory Man United! The same four words which has been striking fear into every one of our opponents each time the team takes to the field.

Fans from all across the globe will be celebrating this 19th league title late into the night. If I could be anywhere right now, I wish it was Manchester. That atmosphere must be so electric right now!
(As I write this, Manchester City has just won the FA Cup. That takes the celebrations in Manchester to almost stratospheric levels!)

Our victory is made even sweeter knowing that back in 1994, our greatest rivals at the time, Liverpool, put up a banner saying "Come Back When You've Won 18." 
Liverpool were miles ahead with trophies under their belt, but under the brilliant guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson, every Manchester United fan knew in his and her heart that our team had it within them to achieve greatness beyond just 19 titles.

It wasn't to be a very long wait as we racked up trophy and title after trophy and title. The genius of Sir Alex Ferguson guided the different generations of our team through trials and tribulations, until the 2009/2010 season when we finally equaled the 18 league titles held by Liverpool. We had heard their jeering, and had answered that call. We were back with 18 titles. We were sitting on that perch, right next to them, but our hunger, our passion and our fans demanded we claim that perch for ourselves!
And so we did, in emphatic fashion!
We now own the perch. It belongs to us, and us alone.
We came. We saw. We conquered.

I have no doubt that come the 2011/2012 season, Manchester United will continue to dominate English football.

Now lets go out there and win that Champions League trophy boys!

Glory Glory Man United!

Silence A Nation

Once every so often, I get an email or an sms or a bbm with a message so profound, so eye-opening and so powerful that it stops me doing whatever I'm doing at the time and has me just sit down going 'Wow! The world needs to see this.'

Here's the irony though. Some of the most powerful video's I've ever seen were actually about things I already knew about. I guess it's just when it's presented to you in a short concise way, the impact really hits home.

This is precisely one of those videos.
All I want is for you to watch these 7 minutes for what they are worth, with an open mind, and imagine yourself in that situation. Show some empathy and allow the message to get through.

What you do with it after that is entirely up to you.
I have a 4 year old daughter. The decision for me as to what to do was pretty easy.

This could be the most important and powerful link you've ever clicked.

Silence A Nation

The Osama Bin Laden Edition

On a separate issue, the number of conspiracy sites that have sprung up this past week is mind-boggling.
I regard myself as a skeptic, but when people start saying stuff like "Osama was killed by a US Army military drone years ago, but the CIA had his body embalmed until the right opportunity arose to use it, like the upcoming elections" it makes me wonder whether these sites are only for basket-cases!

As for the number of Facebook status's I've read asking "Who is Osama Bin Laden?" and "Is Obama really dead?", it goes to prove my theory about the intelligence of your average American.

Dear American Public
Southpark is not factual, and it certainly isn't a News Channel.

The Bridalplasty Edition

Ok so it's no big secret that I'm a sucker for Reality TV. I could watch a show about monkey's being taught how to perform brain surgery and I'd probably be glued until they announced a winner, 7 failed attempts later. Hang on, that's not entirely true. Big Brother is the only reality TV show that makes no sense to me at all. If I really wanted to watch a houseful of morons trying to act cool and be the most popular while lounging around like fat lazy lizards in a bucket of grease, I'd go to parliament.

These past two months I've been completely fixated by Masterchef Australia and Bridalplasty.
The first is a cooking show, and I'm not sure why I'm so engrossed by a bunch of folks trying to be the best chef in Australia while cooking dishes that I'd probably never enjoy, but I am.
The second is a show about trailer-trash hillbillies and their upmarket cousins who want to win the perfect wedding, and in order to do this they go through process's of plastic surgery to look better. Sounds ridiculously sick? Well it is. Maybe I derive pleasure from watching just how low the average American bimbo will stoop for a dollop of self-confidence. Honestly you have to think very little of yourself to begin with, if you are willing to be sliced and diced on national television just to win the wedding of your dreams.

This is the runner up. Honestly, who wants to wake up next to Hannibal Lechter every morning?
Some of the women that entered this show looked better before than they did after their plastic surgery. It's a sign of the degradation of society when people go on Reality TV shows to win surgical procedures. It's a sign of the times when companies are willing to sponsor such TV shows. I guess it's also a sign of the times when a guy like me is fascinated enough to watch these shows every week.

I read in the papers earlier this morning that eNews has started a Friday night news special featuring naked presenters, after the 10pm movie! I kid u not. It's called Naked News and it's based on an American concept (why am I not surprised) where the newsreaders start stripping as they read the news.
I suppose that's one way to get people back to watching the news, though I can't imagine it being the same as back in the 80's when my Grandad would tell us to be silent after supper because the news is about to start, and then settle in to his favorite sofa while sipping his tea. Just not the same I think.
On the plus side, it's about time we got a news channel that gave us the bare facts, without having to make a boob of themselves like FoxNews does daily, or any of that tit-for-tat nonsense some other channels are famous for.

Four Weddings & A Funeral

Ok so maybe just one wedding and not four,but boy was it a week filled with newsworthy stories!
I'm not usually one for following royalty and all that it stands for, but there was something about watching the wedding of William and Kate that makes you forget all the bad things happening in the world during those few short hours. It was like suddenly fairy tales did come true and there were no bad guys left in the world.
In short, it was special, and coming from a cynic like myself that's saying something.

A few days later and we soon realized that the fairytale is over and that bad guys do exist.
I woke up this morning to news that Osama Bin Laden had been found and killed in Pakistan by a team of Navy Seals. Ok, so forgetting that we've been told this before 3 years ago by the Americans, I decide to accept this news with an open mind. Within an hour there were already reports coming out from CNN, the BBC and SkyNews which concerned me and suddenly I questioned that open-mindedness I had earlier.

America had sent Navy Seals to Pakistan to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden without the permission of the Pakistani authorities first. Really? When did Pakistan become the 51st State of America? When did it lose it's sovereign status? When did it become OK for America to do as she pleases in another country?
Oh wait, this is America we're talking about. They are the champions of morality and democracy, unless of course it pertains to them showing some.
So anyways I figure maybe they did this due to the need for speed and possibly being concerned about a leak of information. The fact that the order was given last Friday morning means they had an entire weekend of planning before taking on the task. I suppose that's an issue they will bully Pakistan into understanding. Democracy 'Foie Gras' style.

In the second hour the news media was abuzz with reports of Osama Bin Laden's body being disposed of in the ocean. Really America? In the ocean? Their reasoning was that they didn't want his grave to be turned into a shrine.
Now where does one even begin chipping away at this logic?
I'll start with the massive PR mistake such an exercise became. You're trying to win over the hearts and minds of the Muslim world, and you proceed to do this by discarding Osama's body in a manner totally unacceptable in Islamic tradition. There are none other than those crazy fundamentalists and terrorists that honestly believe Osama was a good guy. Nobody in their right minds condones the planning and killing of innocent civilians. Agreed this is based entirely on the presumption that Osama as head of Al Qaeda was behind the evil he was accused of. However, to show disrespect in the manner of burial is to show disrespect and a lack of understanding of the very religion you're trying to win over.
Also, how daft must you be to not seize the opportunity to get every terrorist and his sidekick together in one place, every month for like forever? You designate a nice open field as a burial place, you place Osama's grave in the center of it, you CCTV the entire place with high-powered cameras, and every time a crazy terrorist comes to pay homage to Bin Ladens shrine, you arrest his crazy ass. It's like catching fly's with honey.

Next we have the comparison between Saddam Hussein's killing and that  Osama Bin Laden.
During the Iraqi war, western news media gave the world a lesson in what was socially acceptable and what was not. For example, the showing of dead bodies was socially unacceptable. Hence the condemnation of Iraqi's parading the bodies of American soldiers killed during the war. Within days, 'embedded journalists' were suddenly broadcasting footage of corpses along the roadside of Iraqi soldiers killed in the 'War On Terror'. Well when I say soldiers what I really mean is "Insurgents and militiamen" as America called them. Let's be honest, during times of war, especially those fought outside of America, the enemy is always "insurgents and militiamen", never enemy soldiers. Funny word that, insurgents. Insurgents in their own country? Would that mean the American soldiers were 'locals' ?
So there we were becoming accustomed to seeing dead 'insurgents' on the roadside, and 'social acceptability' flew out the window faster than George Bush could say "Mission Accomplished".
When Saddam was finally captured and killed, he too was paraded for all the world to see. Proof of America's prowess over tyrants. If you said anything about 'social acceptability' and questioned the pictures and footage, you were quickly labelled anti-American or unpatriotic.
Ironic then that when American Navy Seals find and kill Osama Bin Laden under instruction from the Commander In Chief, they suddenly think it prudent to dispose of the body as a matter of urgency, no pictures and no video footage. Last I checked, America called the death of Osama 3 years ago, and he pulled of the greatest bluff when he produced a video a few weeks later. This was the guy on the very top of your FBI Most Wanted List, for 10 years! This was a guy with a $25Million bounty on his head, dead or alive. This was the guy who was the very reason for your wars on terror... and the day you capture and kill him, you dispose of his body within hours and without anyone independently verifying it to be him? Really America?
You'll have to excuse me America, if I don't believe the bullshit that comes out of your propaganda machine this time around.

Roswell?
Moon landing?
Weapons of mass destruction?
War on terror?
Death of Osama Bin Laden Part 1?
Death of Osama Bin Laden Part 2?

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I prefer being able to decipher the bullshit from the truth.

Donald Trump demanded to see Barack Obama's birth certificate before he believed him to be American.
I demand to see certified proof of Osama's death before I believe anything you're peddling.
Until then, you will always have more suspicion cast on yourself as a nation than all the terrorists of the world put together.


PS: I expect there are those reading this post thinking I'm a fan of Osama, Saddam or other crazy terrorists out there. The fact is that I am a fan of truth. There's a reason why the rest of the world looks upon America with scorn and disgust.