OBITUARY

My beloved father, Seymour Levin, passed away last week. At peace with himself. At war with the world.

Say kaddish in memory of his soul.


Phyllis Levin

PLUS ÇA CHANGE

Although it has been a long time, South Africa media has the effect of reviving buried memories. For an expatriate like myself, it is most gratifying.

Back then, the Chinese were considered honorary whites. Now, they are considered honorary blacks. In reality, it isn't that much of a change, but, if I were Chinese, I would be honourably confused.

ANCIENT GREEK GODS

In a sense all cultures resemble Greek culture. Men create gods that they fashion after themselves, place them on an altar and then become their slaves.

There is nothing worse than to be a prisoner of your own mind.

MYSTERY SOLVED

Some months ago, in a post entitled Mystery, I asked what, I thought, was a very pertinent question:what is it that Muslim women do to their men that makes them explode so easily?

Having recently read an article in Psychology Today, I now realise how wrong I was to have formulated the question in those terms. I should have rather asked: what is it that Muslim women don't do to their men that makes them explode so easily?

Ah, well! It is often the very obvious that one has the propensity to miss.

ON THE QUESTION OF TAXATION

People often ask me what are my views on taxation. I am not against it. I am for low levels of taxation that are sufficient to support a lean government.

Unfortunately, myopic ideology leads some governments one step further. They widen the scope of taxation to include their idealistic vision of wealth redistribution.

To achieve that lofty purpose, they have to increase taxes, and in doing so, only manage to erode the middle class. The unintended result? The creation of more poverty.

Now, with the tax base reduced, there is no option but to to demand even higher contributions from the taxpayers that haven't yet become poor. So taxes continue going up.

After years of milking the cow, the animal becomes completely dry. After all, you can't have you cake and eat it.

It is at this point that those people who have managed to hold on to their mental sanity begin moving abroad what is left of their savings. The government's reaction? The criminal process.

Finally, tired of being enslaved by an idiotic system, the sane citizens depart for greener pastures. Not without leaving a short goodbye message to the president or the prime-minister: up yours, mate!

SPAIN

This morning I read in a Spanish daily that roughly half of the Spaniards who participated in a survey believe that not enough is being done to combat tax evasion in the country.

Those must be the 50% that live at the expense of the 50% that produce. Otherwise, they would be worried that not enough is being done to curtail government expenditure.

CIRCUS MAGICIANS

Any time a politician opens his mouth, you are never certain whether what is going to be conveyed is information or disinformation.

It was Hitler who said that “by the skilful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise”.

I fear that his deviant mind has left many disciples among modern day politicians. Unfortunately the circus goes on.