Eid Mubarak (blessed Eid) will be the most used word around the world today, especially amongst the followers of Islam.  Today marks the end of a month of fasting (no eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset).  Muslims, worldwide will celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr (or festival of breaking fast and giving of charity).

The month long fast prohibits Muslims from food, liquids, smoking, sex and any other "activity" that they would normally enjoy between sunrise and sunset.  It prompts more prayer, more charity and cleanses the soul, reminding them of their closeness to God and encourages them to be the best Muslim they can be.  The month long fast is a compulsory pillar of Islam.  The end of the fast comes when the full moon is sighted.  Normally the information comes from Cape Town when the Imams and clerics go up Table Mountain (above the clouds) and confirm the sighting of the moon, they make their final prayers on the mountain and then advise the communities.

For Eid ul-Fitr, families cleanse themselves in the morning, eat a small meal, and then attend prayer at a mosque. By tradition, celebrants offer alms to the mosque for distribution to the poor before the start of Eid prayers; these alms are known as Zakat ul-Fitr. After prayer and a sermon, the festivities of Eid ul-Fitr begin, with celebrants typically visiting each other in their finest clothes to exchange gifts and commemorate friendship. Eid is also a traditional time for forgiveness and reconciliations.

Since Eid ul-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, feasting is an important part of this Muslim holiday. There are no universally traditional Eid foods, but the holiday typically includes rich foods which may not have been eaten during Ramadan, along with elaborate regional or family recipes. Invitations to parties and dinners are common during Eid ul-Fitr, and people often take the day off from work to spend time celebrating.

May all who are celebrating Eid have a wonderfully enjoyable day and for those who are not, should you have Muslim friends, the term you would greet them with is Eid Mubarak. 

Today, being the anniversary of 9/11 and having the commemorations rammed down our throats (on TV all day), US government is being urged to re-investigate the events that took place 8 years ago. 

Loose Change is a series of documentary films written and directed by Dylan Avery, and produced by Korey Rowe, Jason Bermas and Matthew Brown. The latest edition is narrated by Daniel Sunjata, and exclusively distributed by Microcinema International. The films argue that the September 11, 2001 attacks were planned and conducted by elements within the United States government, and base the claims on perceived anomalies in the historical record of the attacks. The first film, Loose Change, was originally released through the creators' own company, Louder Than Words, and received widespread attention after Loose Change 2nd Edition was featured on a Binghamton, New York local FOX affiliate, WICZ-TV (FOX 40).

The original film was edited and re-released as Loose Change: 2nd Edition, and then subsequently edited a third time for the 2nd Edition Recut, each time to tighten the focus on certain key areas and to correct some inaccurate claims and remove copyrighted material. Loose Change: Final Cut, deemed "the third and final release of this documentary series" was released on DVD and Web-streaming format on November 11, 2007. Despite the title, however, a new version of the film, Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup is scheduled to be released on September 22, 2009.

Journalists,researchers, as well as scientists and engineers have spoken out against the film's claims about the September 11 attacks.

Even if Loose Change is not 100% in every aspect, why are the US Government hesitant to re-open investigations.  3000 innocent people died which would amount to murder if there was foul play.  Wouldnt everybody want to know what actually happened.  Take the questions being posed, re-look at it and get the truth out.  Once invesitaged it can be put to bed.

Until then this time every year we will be reminded of what "terrorists" did. 

I have just received the Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH.  I am not really into phones but have to say it has amazing features.  Besides the slim, stunning look of it (12.7mm), it boasts so many other fancy features.  It has a 2.8" touchscreen (OLED)
with an 8 megapixel camera as well as a GPS receiver with Route 66 navigation.  It has an alphanumeric keypad for those who prefer to use this, but most features are touchscreen driven.  It has 80MB integrated memory with a 2GIG card supplied.  It came with the handsfree, earphones, extra battery, charger (which ones normally has to purchase).

I love the camera features : 8 megapixel auto focus camera with dual PowerLED flash, Face detection, Smile Shot, Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) and VGA video@30 fps - brilliant quality.  The screen also has an auto rotate screen which is fun.  Samsung takes over from the LG KF700 which was not that popular but apparently the Samsung has taken off since its launch.

OK i have finally become a farmer - true to the core.  On Facebook there is an application - in fact there are two - Farm Town and Farm Ville, both of which i am using.  I am not on Facebook that often but since finding these two ridiculous applications things have gone astray.

Both applications allow you to build a farm, earn points and money to build, buy, plough, buy seeds, sow them and then sell them for more money do to more things.  The amusing thing about Farm Town is that you have to go to the market to BEG for work (quite amusing - the more you beg the quicker you get selected) - this allows you to work on another persons farm and earn much more.  You can also tend to neighbours farms and earn.  On Farm Ville, if you dont get to your crops soon enough, they die and you lose that money you could have earned, so there is this race against time to get in, check your crops, plough, harvest and sit back again - although with two farms this isnt possible.

I have to say my social life is now dead.  I am out farming - ploughing and harvesting.  Go check it out and become addicted.  Maybe we will become neighbours

Some of you have read my blogs regarding the Christian healers.  I have to ask whether Christianity is becoming exploited by these hustlers.  What happened to the good old days when preaching did the trick.  Got people to do right with each other, kept those on the straight path and gave man hope.  Did you know the following :

a)  If you walk through anointed water, you can be cured of AIDS and cancer
b)  If you put an anointed cloth over an area where you used to have a limb, it
     will grow back
c)  If you buy anointed oil, you have then sowed your seed and only then will
     your prayers be answered
d)  If you sow your seed (pay money into an account), you can receive healing
     through the television - but only once you have sown your seed.  No seed, no
     heal

All of this is done in the name of Jesus Christ (pbuh).  Does one honestly believe that a prophet, as I believe he was, or God as Christians believe he is, will demand money first before healing and then heal "through" a so called pastor or preacher who can barely read his own Bible to the congregation.  If any healing was to be done, it would happen straight from God.  Without payment, without conditions.

I think this is what Christians fail to see and they are now allowing these money grabbers to dictate what they will get and for how much.  Can religion be so exploited?

I dont want to bog anybody down with my issues, but being unemployed means one has to get their ducks in a row and make sure things work.  Having said this though, we are surrounded by incompetent people, so many in fact, it makes me wonder how the country is actually running to the capacity it is.

First off i downgraded Discovery Medical Aid from the top scheme to the lowest scheme (hospital plan) as at 1 June.  From 1 June to date, i have been on the phone sorting out the fact that they did not put the new details on the system despite my having paid the first payment on 31 May (they even calculated the new amount and told me i had to pay otherwise i would not be covered) as well as emailing the application downgrade for processing on 27th - they then tried to withdraw nearly R7000 because my "subscriptions werent up to date" only to find out they had not loaded the new info, they then still had a further R380 deducted for vitality, which i had told them to do away with from 1 June and which they had told me i was now off of based on the application and the final straw was when they deposited a claim into the account that i had told them not to deposit into despite having filled the form changing this.  The amount was for about R12 000 and because of this oversight on their part, bank charges and other admin charges have come off which has left me with R9 000 (R3 000 short of what the claim should have been) - now i am busy demanding all of this money back due their incompetencies.

Next problem was Telkom.  We changed from having a 3 gig facility on ADSL to 5 gigs.  This was all done telephonically on 31 July only to be told today that i have to pay nearly R1000 because they had forgotten to change this.  Now i have 5 gigs plus the extra 3 gigs.  At least 2 hours was spent on the line this morning trying to resolve this.

Finally it was the Government Printers.  I have not only dropped off Banking details application forms in Pretoria, but i have faxed and emailed the same documents three times each because they have not found them.  This morning they call to say they cant pay out because they still dont have the documents.

Now i have to ask - how much incompetency can we stand. I am at the point where i follow every single thing up and receive confirmation notification of everything i do.  If this is not done i will be spending unnecessary hours, of my own time, resolving something that should have been sorted out by competent people.  And i am the one who is unemployed - Ironic isnt it.

I have never believed that 9/11 was an Arab/Muslim/Al Qaeeda initiated so called "terrorist attack".  There has been so much evidence to prove otherwise.  Yes - it obviously happened because we watched it on television.  And about 3000 innocent people died.  What did frustrate me was how quickly the media latched onto theories and possibilities of how it unfolded - they never gave it time in order to "find the truth". 

National Geographic was one of them, publishing one of the first articles on the so called "pancake theory" based on how and why the building fell straight down.  I was reading an interesting article and thought i would share it - who knows - maybe someobody will see the wit and sarcasm in the article (they say many true word said in jest dont they).  Maybe National Geographic WILL apologise for writing such nonsense as is happening more and more often. 

http://www.911blogger.com/node/20950

As of 4 August there was a confirmed number of 600 swine flu cases according to the Health Department, mainly contained in Gauteng and Western Cape.  This is a large number of people, considering that it spreads rapidly if an infected person is exposed to the public and providing they even know that they have it.  I also have not seen anything in terms of media, highlighting symptoms and warning the public of when to get somebody to a doctor without them becoming paranoid each time somebody gets the flu or a simple cold.  I was reading an interesting article that came out that i thought i would share :

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=125&art_id=vn20090806033128235C166424

I think we have to start taking this a lot more seriously - without stressing.  I believe the numbers as of today have risen to 800 but i cannot confirm this.

take precautions and we can prevent the worst from happening to our loved ones (friends and family)

PS    AbortRetryFail heard on SABC3 tonight (11/8) that the numbers had risen to 1300 nationally (thanks for that information).  Felt  i needed to mention that in the light of the blog so that can get the message loud and clear.  Take precautions

OK i promise i wont write any more blogs on these so called "faith healers" but last night just did it for me and it is worth mentioning.

Solid Rock Channel (channel 60) - the afrikaans preacher Johan Van Wyk was being televised with a young African guy, selling the concept of annointed cloth to those poor souls out there.  It was probably the size of a face cloth and this Pastor or Prophet stated on television that people who have no limbs have bought this and their limbs have grown back again  - he actually said that on television to the hundreds and thousands watching.  Well it kills me to think that there are people out there that at this point would still not think he is a fraud and a money grabber

Kobus Van Rensburg (channel 38) - not only did he prophesy that people had cancer, but with one push, he cleared them of that disease.  My dad died of cancer and he fought for his life.  He wanted to live more than anything and yet he still did not make it.  Yet Kobus, openly on television stated that these people are cured of a disease that we know very little about.  Shame on him.  But that is not what did it for me.  Brother Deon actually went outside with a couple whose car would not start, they stood and prayed and after pushing it to get it going the testimony was that brother Deon got the evil spirit from the car as his car is fine now.  I need brother Deon to sort out my husbands battery problem as well.  Hell how i need him now.

The 700 Club (channel 32) - well i have to say that these guys have a book/CD store that puts Amazon to shame.  And they punt the sale of these as a set (ie  a book on Gods advise on finance, if you have the finance book you need the family book, and with the family book you have to have the book that protects the family from sin and then finally it comes with a book on the lday of judgement which if you dont have you wont know what to do).  Of course it comes with the CD's as well. 

Omega (channel 62) - this is but one of the African churches where demons are cast out of people who, on watching and listening to them, you would swear that they have been let out of a mental assylum for a day.  That is not what does it for me.  What i find the most disgusting thing ever is that while this demon is coming out, these people (men and women) spit out onto the floor the so called "evil spirit" that is supposedly being forced out by the faith healer.  IMAGINE!!!! In a house of worship all this spit/mucous/saliva/vomit laying around while people are writhing around in it, supposedly receiving the power of God.  For the God believers, do you honestly thing that God would expect any person to receive something of him and yet do it in the most unhygenic way.  Not likely.

I wish i had the money to televise a DARE to all of these Christian healers.  If they can do the things they profess that they can do then they are men of God and if they are men of God then do one thing for me.  WALK ON WATER!!!!  Show the nations that you can do something as simple as this because the other things you profess to do are a heck of a lot more difficult.

I wrote a blog on the so called "faith healers" that heal the sick and down-trodden - or profess to anyway.   As i spend time watching different religious channels, last night i switched over to Emmmual TV - the TB Joshua channel, and i have to say I was sickened by what i saw and heard.

I wish that i could have captured the images of the people that came through to the Synagogue Church of all Nations.  It was apparently TB Joshua's birthday and he decided to do something different.  For the disabled that is.  Busloads of disabled people were escorted into this church (using SCOAN transportation and assistants) from miles around Nigeria.  People without limbs, people with useless limbs that use skateboards to get around, deaf, dumb, blind, dwarfism, polio.....physically disabled people beyond comprehension were coming to this church - people of all different religions might i also add.  At first I thought it was for a healing session. Then i realised that it was to offer them a meal, a bag of rice and a donation of
N50 000 (equivalent of about R2 500).  Who wouldnt attend something like this.  I would, even if i was atheist and continued to be that when leaving. 
I thought for a while and comfortably then felt that his goodness was something that should be noted and admired, and then i realised that these donations and gifts were not from the account of TB Joshua personally, but obviously from the goodness and kindness of the sponsors that had donated money and continue to donate to this church.  And yet all credit was to TB Joshua, thanks to TB Joshua, TB Joshua is a saint, TB Joshua this and that.  No thanks to the church, or the people who donated the money, thereby raising TB Joshua to some sort of "demi-God" status. 
What also got to me is that he had to get everybody to the church in order to give these gifts to them (which they continued to tell the viewer, over and over and over again).  Most importantly they had to be there to get the service about Jesus and his love and forgiveness.  If you saw the disabilities that some of these people had (a woman was buckled over to the point that her head was facing the floor, her hands and arms were hanging in front of her and she used her hands to lift each foot just to be able to take a step), you have to ask why he could not get the rice delivered to the disabled instead of making them come from miles around to have a meal, get rice, get the donation and then send them back on the discomforting trip back.  These people battled just to get out of the vehicles so to expect them to to travel for miles, in discomfort, in order to preach to them is what i would call a "sick" approach to so called "goodness".
What happened to a persons goodness and kindness to go to the door of those, especially the disabled, and give, without recognition, without a televised need and also from ones own pocket.   Even if sponsored, be man enough to say that the contributions are from those sponsors or others who want to help the needy.  But this is never done. 
The strange thing is that this so called "healer" was not expected to heal anybody on this particular day.  Strange that somebody with so much power could heal these severely broken bodies.  I have to say i was appalled and cried thinking about the hypocracy of what the church stands for, and yet every day millions continue to believe in his prophecies and his prophethood.  I always believe, what goes around comes around and his day will come.
In the meantime these poor disabled individuals who live in a country where starvation and poverty is prevalent, will continue to live under these conditions, unless expected to go to Church again.  I always thought the bible stated "give a man a fish and feed him for a day.  Teach him how to fish and feed him for life".  TB Joshua gave only for a day which means he never followed his own scriptures.  He also never taught them how to fish.  He could have taught them, given to them and healed them (he is a healer is he not).  Which makes you wonder, why did he do it?

http://thetbjoshuafanclub.wordpress.com/2009/06/06/pastors-day-with-the-downtrodden-tb-joshuas-birthday/

Religions - no matter which - should give without wanting recognition and give unconditionally - no preaching, no expectations, no conversions before giving the food and most importantly giving thanks to those who donated the monies that had made it possible for them to be able to do this.  Without that, they would be nothing.