Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)

Experience Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p quality with stunning HD sound that supports enhanced audio formats including Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio. You can also play and upscale your DVDs to near high definition. Connect to the internet and instantly stream thousands of movies, videos, music and more from Netflix, YouTube, Slacker and other leading content providers with the Sony BDP-N460 Network Blu-ray Disc player.

Reviews from Customers

“Love it”
I wanted a Blu-ray player for two main reasons, 1) to watch Netflix on my TV, and 2) to watch Star Trek: The Original Series (Enhanced) on Blu-ray. I returned an LG BD 390 because a stupid icon kept popping up every time an “alternate angle”/enhanced scene appeared during an episode. This was many times during each episode. It’s only on the screen for a few seconds, but you can’t turn it off. Contacted LG and they said you can’t turn it off and they weren’t planning a firmware update to fix it – unacceptable. So now I have the Sony and I am thrilled. No more icon, and I like the option of turning off other icons like “play” and “pause”. I think the load time is fine – fast enough for me. I’m anxious to get the Netflix firmware update to try that out. I don’t need a wireless Blu-ray as I have wired my basement to get more reliable video streaming. I am very satisfied with this player.

Update as of 11/11/09 – Netflix enabled! Works beautifully so far. Watched a bit of “The Office”. Video quality very good. My TV says it was 1080p – cool. I’m guessing that most of the Netflix content will be standard def., though. I watched a few minutes of Enemy Mine and the quality was OK – about like Netflix is on my computer. I’m getting pretty spoiled by hi-def. video after watching Blu-ray movies. Anyway, Netflix is easy to do. Just add movies to your Watch Instantly queue (on your PC), and they’re there on TV. Brilliant.

“Sony BDP-N460: The PS3 Replacement”
This player is everything the PS3 should be, just without the games. The PS3 was a constant annoyance with the Bluetooth remote, poor game choice, and the lack of any service such as Netflix (the PS Network seemed to have a rather limited selection)… So I decided to liquidate the system and get back in the blu-ray player market.

When this unit loads up, you might think that it is a PS3–the menu is almost exactly the same. The relevant difference is the video options. This is where that laundry list of online video service providers is found. What a list! If all this player could do was play Netflix, it might not be such a compelling player–but it does a lot more than that. What convinced me to buy this unit was it’s ability to play Amazon On Demand. It seemed ironic to me that this was not originally an advertised feature on Amazon’s website. I had to do some research to verify this capability. In fact, it was a deal-maker for me.

If the PS3 did everything this player does, then I would say to pay a little more and enjoy the near-zero load times and wireless–but it doesn’t. Not even close. The PS3 is currently locked into Sony’s limited first-party services. This player hopefully signals the future for players, by adding every provider available.

Pros:

- Bravia sync (if you have a compatible Sony television)

- TONS of providers

- Load times are nominal

- Firmware updates were quick out of the box

- Excellent up-conversion of DVD titles

- Lights on player are not at all distracting (and can be adjusted)

Cons:

- Even though I am 1080p resolution, the xcross (system) menu looks low-res.

- Netflix is “coming fall 2009″, so there will be a wait on that for now

So far this player highly recommended!

UPDATE: As of 11/11/2009, Netflix is now available. Works flawlessly!

“Great BD Player”
I would highly recommend this BD player.

The Netflix firmware was released yesterday, so all features work as advertised.

The online content is great, the load time is quick, and the picture quality is wonderful.

See all detials of Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)

Sony BDP-S360 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

The Sony BDP-S360 Blu-ray Disc player provides a movie experience worthy of your HDTV. Plays Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p quality and upscales the quality of your DVDs. Supports BD-Live technology to download bonus interactive entertainment on select movies. Supports Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD audio codecs for up to 7.1 channels of high-definition sound. With QuickStart Mode your movies will start approximately six seconds from the moment you turn on the player.

Reviews from Customers

“Awesome Blu-ray Player”
I just bought this player as an upgrade to my older Samsung BD-P1000 and I must say I am extremely pleased with this player. It was very easy to set up and to operate. I have it connected to my Onkyo TX-SR705 with 7.1 speaker set-up which makes use of the lossless sound decoders. Hearing a movie in DTS- HD Master Audio has been a real experience especially on 7.1 soundtracks. My only complaint (which is minor) is that you have to manually operate the tray open and close from the player itself. This is another great Blu-ray player from Sony. I recommend you buy this player.

“Great player that works without hassle”
I’ll start with the bottom line about this player-it just works! If you’re looking for a nice, fully functional Blu Ray player that’s going to just WORK as you’d expect it to, on anything you throw at it, this is a nice, safe buy. You’ll have no problems upgrading from a normal DVD player to it.

Like a lot of people, my first Blu Ray player was my Playstation 3, which I bought last year. If you don’t already have a PS3, that’s worth considering instead of a stand alone player, because it doesn’t cost much more, handles Blu Rays (and DVDs) well, and of course plays Playstation 3 games.

I even toyed with getting a second one, but decided a stand alone player would be a bit cheaper, and I didn’t really need the second Playstation 3. (I’ve also since bought a Blu Ray drive for my computer, so I can watch Blu Rays on it too.)

Impressions of the s360:

-Audio and video are excellent. I can’t notice any difference from my PS3.

-The unit is physically SMALL. It’s actually smaller than my two stand alone DVD players (though is the same width as normal stereo components, so fits in fine)

-The unit is very quiet in operation-quieter than my two stand alone DVD players in fact. I don’t think I can hear it at all except when it’s first starting up, loading up a disc (and that only if the room is dead silent). Interestingly, the disc drive’s seek sounds sound IDENTICAL to the drive in my Playstation 3! I’d be shocked if it’s not basically the same drive.

-Remote is decent-I mean no remotes aside from Tivo’s are particularly good, but this works as well as any other (the oft-noted omission of an eject button is a bit surprising, but not really missed, since you have to get up anyway, and the eject button on the unit is pretty large). (And thankfully unlike the PS3 remote, it’s normal infrared, not Bluetooth.)

-Performance is very good. I think it takes SLIGHTLY longer than my PS3/PC to load the fancy interfaces some discs use (some discs replace the normal fast forward/rewind interfaces with their own themed interfaces, and loading that interface adds a few more seconds before the disc’s ready-so far I’ve only run across this on two discs, and it’s kind of pointless, but this player DOES seem to handle them just fine). Rewinding/fast forwarding on this isn’t quite as smooth as my Playstation 3, but it works as you’d expect a normal DVD player to.

-Power usage is very low-the unit says it draws a *MAX* of 22 watts in operation

-Boot time takes…well I haven’t timed it, but I’d guess maybe 15 seconds. To me that’s plenty fast, but that can actually be cut by setting the player to use more power when it’s “off” (essentially it presumably actually stays on, so it appears to boot faster). Players that claim they have faster boot times are probably just doing that same thing, without giving you the option of actually shutting the unit off.

-It has all the features and ports you’d expect from a unit like this, and has an excellent menu system, that’s ripped straight off of the Playstation 3 and Portable (of course once you’ve set it up with the settings you want, you’ll probably never really use the menu again, but it’s easier than any DVD player’s menus I’ve ever used).

-Unlike some players, it doesn’t have internal memory to store “BD Live” internet features, but it does have a USB port where you can connect a USB memory device to enable those features. I have a spare one lying around, but haven’t bothered hooking it up because I never use those features. I mean Blu Ray has some great additions over DVD, like the pop up menus that can adjust settings without going back to the main menu-but the internet features are pretty gimicky to me, and I’ve never used them. Still, this player does support all of that if you care.

(Also unlike many of this year’s players, it lacks support for online services like Netflix’s streaming service, etc. I don’t use those (I just use Netflix’s disc service), and if I did use them I already have other devices that connect to them, but if you check reviews, the s360 is a better BLU RAY PLAYER than those other devices-and I’m buying this to be a good Blu Ray player.

I’m probably forgetting something I’d like to mention, but honestly I could have quit after the first paragraph. If you’re like me and just want something that WORKS without hassle, this is a great choice.

“Exceeding all expectations for this first-time blu user”
After thoroughly enjoying my HDTV and the high-quality of video and sound associated with HD from my cable/satellite and DVD upconverter I was eager to upgrade to see my favorite films on blu ray. I waited for several things before purchasing my first blu unit…for a couple of features I wanted to be available at my price point, for the blu ray/HD DVD battle to be settled and for the versions of firmware to be more universal. Once that was done all of my needs pointed to this unit and I have been happy since.

Up front I will say there are several things that drew me to this unit. One was the Sony brand (I am a loyal Sony user but I am also not a blind follower). Second was the fact that I also needed a new sound system to handle the quality of the blu ray sound and this Sony blu ray player was a companion to the Sony sound system I wanted to get (the HTSS360). The two look great together with identical black color, faceplate size and design. For both the blu ray player and the sound system for under $500 it was an easy sell.

The one other very important feature this unit had for me was the on-board processing of the True Dolby HD and HD DTS soundtracks. Having the blu ray player itself process these means you do not need to have the HD sound processed by your sound system-you can have these sent through the PCM channel and they are a definite upgrade from the regular 5.1 soundtracks. To explain, it’s like the difference between a HDTV that is HDTV ‘ready’ and one that has a built-in tuner. In this case the receiver or sound system (with the PCM) is ‘HD sound ready’ and the blu player acts as the tuner. So you do NOT have to have a receiver or sound system that specifically processes HD audio to enjoy it.

This player was simple to set up with the connection of the HDMI cable and the nice-looking, user-friendly, on-screen menu it offers. The on-screen menu is used for a quick set-up and can easily be accessed to make any changes to your settings.

As for performance, the loading time for this unit is much quicker than I expected as a first-time blu user. It takes just a couple of seconds longer than my DVD upconverter but the video and sound quality are worth the wait of 2-3 extra seconds. Other people who have earlier blu models say the loading time on this unit is pretty quick comparatively. As I said, the picture produced and the HD sound are spectacular and make me very happy making the blu upgrade.

Other thoughts:

Yes, as others have mentioned there is no ‘eject’ button on the remote and it would be nice to have one. Otherwise, the remote has every function on it I would want. I love being able to pull up menus for the discs while the film is in progrss rather than having to stop playback to get to the menu.

It does not have the built-in wi-fi that is now available on other units but firmware updates can be done by connecting an Internet connection (or you can even download updates from Sony’s website and update the player with a disc). I almost spent the extra money on the S560 player with the built-in wi-fi but from what I have heard it does not support streaming Netflix (which would have been my main reason for wanting the built-in wi-fi to begin with). I have not seen any BD live content that seems (to me) worth connecting to the Internet for.

So far every disc I have watched (both new releases and older ones) loaded with no problems and played seamlessly.

This unit does indeed upconvert DVDs but I didn’t see any improvement over the Sony 5-disc upconverter I already have and plan to continue to use the upconverter for my DVDs and just use the blu player for the blu discs.

I do wish there was a 5-disc changer available but as of yet there is not one to my knowledge. I planned to wait for a 5-disc changer but with blu ray you don’t normally have a movie split over two discs as you did with standard DVDs so I decided to go ahead and purchase this blu unit and I have thoroughly enjoyed it and have no reservations in recommending it.

See all detials of Sony BDP-S360 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

¡Ya a la venta el esperado trabajo de CLS, ‘Principios Y Fin’! A la venta en formato cd en las tiendas de hip hop de la península y también disponible en las principales plataformas de venta online como Napster, eMusic, iTunes o Amazon (ver enlaces en este blog).

Videos promocionales de adelanto del disco de CLS, ‘Principios y Fin’, con los temas ‘T Quedas T’ y ‘Hola, Qué hay’.

This is a post first published over two years ago.

It got a couple hits recently.

I read it, having not read it in over two years… and I thought it said things that still need saying.

And I think it manages… to still say them well.

I don’t recycle posts, as I’m long-winded enough, and insane enough that I always have topics for my rage or my reason. But this post seemed… especially timely to me, and worth the limelight… one more time.

Without further ado:

I’m not a fan of profanity, be it the n word, c word, b word, whatever. I don’t have a knee jerk reaction to profanity, I just think your language defines you and yours, and sometimes it traps… you and yours.

So that said, I’m not a huge fan of rap.

More precisely, I don’t like what it has become. I don’t like hip-hop. I don’t like this glamorization of ignorance, this pretense of hardness by too many men who own nothing.

Not even themselves.

You want to be a tough guy. You have a wife, you love her till the stars go dim, you have kids… you raise em right. You teach them to walk with their head held high.

You do this, you do these things, in this world… where you can be broken for walking out your door, if you can do these things in such a world.. that makes you a tough guy. How well or how badly the women in your life live, mothers, sisters, wives, friends, daughters… these things define a man.

Not simply screaming, not cursing,not defiling… but striving, sometimes crudely, sometimes failingly… toward something better for you and yours, in a world that is increasingly not about better.

Those definitions of “tough guy” and “man” are hard ones, and I have met very few, myself included, who rate them.

But sometimes the attempt is enough, the striving earnestly toward those ideals…the striving even though victory not promised, and defeat virtually assured. The attempt to succeed, even when every day you fail… has value.

Once upon a time, rap was filled with men, with tough guys who screamed… for the love. BDP, PUBLIC ENEMY, PARIS, ERIC B, TERMINATOR X, even NWA. And of course the fathers of Rap, men like THE LAST POETS and GIL HERON.

But that was when rap was coming from the streets, rather than the board offices of SONY and TIMEWARNER. Corporate mobs who promoted their Gangsta Rap to the exclusion of all else, who take every virtue and twist it till it’s a vice.

That is America defined.

It is that place, where all virtues are twisted until they are vices.

Blues and Rock, vilified colored music, until they could paint it white… and sell it… and call it Elvis. Rap, same thing. Vilified urban music, until they could paint it white… and sell it ….and call it Eminem.

They can replicate the noise, but somewhere the heart is lost.

They, commercial America- the sellers of standards, have a way of only glorifying the worst.

It really is, about co-opting and corrupting any positive movements… before they can grow.

Which is why more people know the name Eminem than Paris, know Rocky than Joe Frazier, know Arnold Swarzenegger than the man he executed… Stanley Tookie Williams; because America is that place where they sell the lie, when the truth is the wrong color.

So the best stuff in America, will never make the top 40 in America. They don’t play it on the radio, or show it on the TV, or teach it in the schools.

The best stuff in America, the worthy stuff, the positive stuff, you have to hunt for, but it’s worth the hunt.

So I hate Sony Rap, and Time Warner Rap, and Corporate America defined rap. But I love real rap, rap about waking you up, from pervasive nightmares. Conscious rap. Spoken Word. Hip Hop. Call it what you will. I love the people who are still making it, people who are out their… still screaming…”WAKE UP!”

A few that you won’t hear on the radio, but you really should do everything in your power to hunt up, are:

PARIS of course, anything by this soldier, this… prophet of rage. Who for three decades… has held the line. Has held the goddamn line. His DEVIL MADE ME DO IT is one of the great albums of all time.

The usual suspects of Public Enemy, BDP, mentioned above. Also Rage Against the Machine.

And one I want to introduce you to is IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE:REVOLUTIONARY VOL II. I picked it up because of Mumia Abu Jamal, his words on it.

I love courage in people, I love people who speak to you in these volatile times not of sneakers, or cars, or hos… but of volatile times. This CD all the songs are good, some better, some worse (again I can only deal with so much profanity), but there is one song… that is exceptional. And it is worth having the CD for this single song.

I know when I hear something great, and something true, because we live in a nation and a world, where both greatness and truth… are endangered commodities.

So when I hear them…

When I hear these disused concepts… combined… it’s a beautiful thing. I get chills. I listened to THE POINT OF NO RETURN the first song on this CD, the song in question, … and it gave me chills.

I love people who will rage, RAGE…not against you,but FOR YOU! Who will bleed their guts out, rip their flesh off, for the mildest hope… that they can save you, that they can… wake you up.

A lot of people talk about God, and those who talk about him the most, typically know him the least.

Bible thumpers give me a swift pain, I’ve never met one who didn’t lie himself to sleep.

All I’ve ever known of God, any real proof, comes from people who are always outnumbered and always outgunned. Comes from the voice of… sinners and saints. And whether it’s a 16 year old Palestinian girl eulogizing friends who blew themselves up, because their death was all they had left to fight with,… or a man on death row, for not sitting down…. still standing up, or young men on a mic who have watched their neighborhoods become occupied cities and decide to speak against it… whoever the voice comes from, when it’s both great and true… it brings me to my knees.

And those are moments when I believe in God.

That some people, can go on in a world such as this… and still care so deeply, about anything. Those are moments that spur you to want to make a difference, be a better man, make a better world.

Give you the desire to fight hard… one… more…. moment.

That for me, is all I know of God.

And those moments are rare things. And listening to this song was one of them.

I had thought there were no more prophets of rage.

I have never been so glad to be wrong.

Pick up the CD, listen to the song, and if it gives you chills. Share it with a friend, and make your world a better place.

Try.

Dope new video for Survival Skills from two of the most respected Mc’s in the game, Krs One & Buckshot.  Produced by Illmind with DJ Revolution on the cuts.

Survival Skills – KRS One & Buckshot

In a sign that there is much good in Hip Hop legendary rapper KRS One of the group BDP ( Boogie Down Productions ) will be helping to feed thousands this Thanksgiving at the very shelter he once stayed in. Let’s hope others follow his example.

Read the whole story here:
http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html

How relevant is it really to know who is the greatest if you don’t care about their inspirations???  Is it Wayne?  3000?  Em?  Esco?  Or is it still Hov?  We can argue for days and probably add a few other choice names, huh!

***Before I go to far, let me be sure to say Mr Shakur and Mr Wallace (RIP)….LOL

Is it me or does it seem that hip hop fans have become more of a casual fan and not so much a lover of it?  Do we only care about the gossip and who’s “going at who”?  Or better yet, do we only care about today??  Meaning, do we only care about what’s on the radio or in the club this weekend??

I challenge you to get out of your comfort zone if you really love hip hop and music as a whole for that matter.  If you love Drake and Wayne, go buy UGK.  And after you get that UGK, go purchase the first Geto Boys.  If you love Em, you need to get Eazy Does It and the Power album.  Not to leave anyone out, but if you love Jay or 50, you really should have Kane and BDP in your collection.

So on and so on fans!!!

YFTM

Tout d’abord merci à tous pour votre participation à la dernière réunion, qui s’est tenue le 19 novembre.

Un merci tout spécial à Elisabeth pour sa présentation très instructive !

Le compte-rendu est désormais disponible. N’hésitez pas à le consulter et à me signaler d’éventuels erreurs ou oublis.

A très bientôt !

Edwina

As seen in : 

Clark magazine #39 – Novembre/Decembre

www.clarkmagazine.com

More than 100 logistics and transport leaders from over 50 countries will come together in Bangkok for the BDP Global Network Forum – where the focus will be on getting ready for the economic recovery.

Held between 5th and 7th of November at the Banyan Tree Hotel Bangkok, the Forum will see the executives of some of the world’s leading mid-size transport and logistics companies discussing the state of regional and world trade.  The conference is hosted by BDP International.

Elena Golovkina of the newly established Transy GmbH will be attending.

Images courtesy of www.thaiwebsites.com

http://www.discogs.com/Boogie-Down-Productions-My-Philosophy/release/235991

Label: Jive
Catalog#: JIVE T 170
Format: Vinyl, 12″
Country: UK
Released: 1988
Genre: Hip Hop
Style:
Tracklist:

A1 My Philosophy (Album Mix) 6:05
A2 My Philosophy (Extended Re-Mix) 5:10
Remix – Bryan “Chuck” New
B1 My Philosophy (Single Edit) 3:10
Remix – Bryan “Chuck” New
B2 My Philosophy (Instrumental) 5:00

Credits
Engineer – Ivan ‘Doc’ Rodriguez
Producer – KRS-One

http://www.mediafire.com/?ujvbzztngzt

The weeks following the elections have been more of shocking series of events than anything else. First it was the re-appointment of Lt Gen Mompati Merafhe as vice President when a lot of pundits didn’t even give him a single chance to going back and becoming the country’s second in command. Then came the announcement of the speaker of the national assembly which was given to Margaret Nasha, first female speaker in the country’s history which was a great move in the President’s part as a way of empowering women.

The biggest bombshell of all came last week when it was announced that Robert Molefhabangwe has left the Botswana National Front(BNF) where he made his name for the Botswana Democratic Party(BDP) which is the ruling party. In all Molefhabangwe left the BNF a while back when he was expelled from the Party because he publicly expressed an interest in contesting for the position of Party President with Otsweletse Moupo. He was accused of making some uncharitable comments about the quality of the party’s leadership, something that obviously did not go down well with those whom he criticised & the whole BNF leadership. Following the suspension and expulsion of some party members in the past year, the party leadership was said to be under pressure to show evenhandedness, thats why they dealt with Molefhabangwe this way. Immediately after that announcement he revealed that he is looking to find a new political home.

Molefhabangwe rose to the front of politics at BNF when he was member of parliament for Gaborone South West, where he used to keep the executive on their toes with his well researched and well debated motions that won the support of his House colleagues from across the political divide. One of his biggest achievements was when he stood in front of a that big bulldozer in Tsolamosese as the then Minister of Lands, Jacob Nkate was busy demolition houses in the area saying the people had illegally occupied the land. Since that time he became a darling of the people and the media. He served two terms in parliament as a member of the BNF and was hoping to start a third on the other side of this year’s general election where he stood as an independent candidate. Molefhabangwe stood as an independent candidate only to lose to the BDP’s Botsalo Ntuane.

Molefhabangwe is a very talented artist, as a sculptor and painter whose works more than qualify to be part of most art galleries around. He is also a very intelligent legislator who is rumored to speak more than 10 languages, and whenever he took to the Parliament floor, he found it hard to resist the urge to occasionally color his debates with the odd Latin phrase or two. The former MP is also a very religious man as a catholic.

News of his defection to the BDP came as a shock to many of his faithful admirers.He was dismissed by many as a blast from the past before but now the rumourmill has it that he is ear marked for the Gaborone Mayoral Position which he will attain when he becomes a special elected councillor & then he will be challenging Ntuane for the Gaborone South West constituency in 2014. The ruling party have been celebrating his move as a big catch because when he was in the opposition he was a thorn on their side. But whatever happens between now & 2014, dont write out the flamboyant politician popurlaly known as Molf.

Hier soir  les CYPHER lors des BET Awards valaient une fois de plus le détour. Pas de “swag” ou de blagues juste du vrai rap!

3 segments de vrai “MC’ing” avec Primo aux platines permettent chaque année aux BET Hip-Hop Awards de conserver un minimum de crédibilité.

#1 Nicki Minaj + Buckshot + Crown Royyal + Joe Budden

Qui veut voir Nicki rapper ?…Buckshot était trop dispersé, Crown Royyal ? Mouais. On dirait Peedi Crack sans le “gun talk”. Joe Budden “en mode pas réveillé” kicke de la sérieuse punchline ( I’m good with my insanity and fevers/ Cause Pac looking from heaven saying “They ain’t understand me neither”) et balance même une subliminal diss (à l’ancienne mais aussi pour éviter les problèmes) à la fin pour Method.

Wale + Nipsey Hussle + Gsan + KRS 1

Wale? Bof. Ces hipsters n’arrivent pas à me convaincre. Ici il fait beaucoup de références à des équipes de sports US , c’est peut-être pour cela. Nipsey ? Mouais. Tant que Snoop est en vie je préfère l’original! Gsan de Tanzanie rappe en swahili. Je n’ai rien compris mais il y a du flow.  KRS, le seul en VRAI impro (sa phase à la fin est trop forte) les a tous mangés.

Mos + Black Thought + Eminem

Je kiffe les 3. C’est la crème de la crème : Mos a un flow religious, Black Thought est en mode battle mais Eminem reste le plus méchant. Il laisse de coté sa voix de “Hapu des Simpsons sous crack” et tue avec des phases comme  “I’m a fucking cross between Osama, Dahmer (NDR Dahmer est un tueur en série), Obama and Dalai Lama Kamali i’m a knight in shinning armor” digne du grand Big Pun.

BONUS : l’AUDIO à télécharger ICI

A quand un Cypher en France ?

C’était juste un puzzle de mots et de pensées.

Elections have come and gone, the BDP is still the ruling party. They get another term in office, the next five years belong to them to continue the legacy they have so far built in the past 43 years. They seriously thrashed the opposition with a win of 79% of the majority which equates to 45 constituencies out of 57. In the 2004 general elections, the BDP won 44 of the 57 which means this time around they have gained an extra seat in parliament. The opposition has not changed hands with the BNF still the main opposition party in Parliament but they have lost ground, winning only 6 of the 12 seats held by the opposition whereas in 2004 they held 12 of the 13 seats that were grabbed by the opposition. The biggest winners from this year’s elections are the BCP, they have grabbed a number of council wards and also 5 parliamentary seats compared to just one in 2004. BNF’s problems clearly show that the expulsions and suspensions that they meteed out to members didnt help their cause as it shows with the win of Nehemiah Modubule who won the Lobatse Constituency as an individual (mokoko as they are known).

Now that battle is over the next coming ones will be interesting. Who is Ian Khama as president going to settle for as the vice-president? Is he going to take someone outside politics right now to fill the position? Is he going to go with someone who won the elections recently? Anyway, thats a different article entirely which is going to be next after this one. One more battle would be for the speaker of the national assembly. This is one might turn nasty because different factions of the BDP want different people to fill the positions. Its one to keep an eye on too. Then the most of the thorny issues is going to be who are the special elected members of parliament? Jacob Nkate was scalped in the recent elections, is he getting a comeback as a special elected? All this questions are to be answered in the next few weeks as the president will be walking out as the proper president having been elected by the people. His one & half term was marred by a lot of people saying he wasn’t elected by the people, now that he has, cant wait to see what his proper presidency has instore for us.

Egentligt en sang tilbage fra Sunny beach tidligere i år, skulle du være en af dem der også er “gået glip” af det, så får du chancen nu. Er egentligt kun fordi den er spillet et par gange på P5000 på det sidste, at jeg blev nødt til liiige at høre den engang til, og synes faktisk det er en ganske udmærket sang.

Værsgo: Bring Det På – Ring til Politiet:

I always wonder whats the use of having a great manifesto on paper if you cant sell those very same ideas verbally. Like all marketers in the world when they sell their products, they have to convince the consumer to buy that product. Just as well politicians have to convince the electorates that they are worth their votes by really convincing them why they are the right person.I would like to set the record that I dont distaste of the opposition but in my eyes they have failed finish & klaar. Statistics are there to support my views. If you can’t sell your ideas to the electorate how do you expect to lead a whole country.

Look at Rre Moupo, his BNF presidency has been a joke let alone a circus, disaster after disaster. If he cant manage his image and affairs, how can he be trusted to manage a whole country? Unless someone shows me something better, the opposition will remain a joke to me. So far members of the party have either been suspended or expelled yet he claims that he wants a majority in parliament, how do expect to win then when you don’t have your first choice in the game? His electorates even dont see him as Parliament material, they didnt vote him back. What does that tell you about him as president of the main opposition party right now?

All the opposition have done so far is say the BDP have failed but then tell me what they failed at doing and how are you going to amend that? Look at Barack Obama when he was runnig for office, he he didnt go in saying the Republicans have failed but he had motions in place to support him – he set out motions of raising taxes on the rich, reforming healthcare, withdrawing from Iraq, softening the sanctions on Cuba, and boosting the number of student grants which marks a far bolder vision than previous administrations. If the opposition also wants to get my vote they should come to me with a clear mandate of what they are going to change when they come into power. The fact that they are so obsessed with the ruling party is also a cause for concern, one would wonder do they even plans and a cause of action once they become the ruling party? They wouldn’t make a speech without mentioning the BDP. People would say the BCP is a safer bet but I dont think so. They come from the same school of thought as the BNF, they have the same ideologies so what would make them different from the BNF? They come from the same socialist democracy school of thought & the fact that the BCP was born from BNF doesn’t even sit well with me. The founding fathers were hardcore BNF members in the 90’s before the split in 1998. They were part of the cult following of Dr Kenneth Koma. Their president, Gil Saleshando has been rejected twice by the electorate, first in 1999 and then in 2004. What does that tell you about him? People don’t see it in him to represent them in Parliament as an MP, why would they vote him as president then?

Some might say that parties are not playing on a level field when it comes ot finaces and stuff along those lines? How did Obama get into office again? Money from donations, fundraisers and volunteer-ism. People volunteered because they felt that it was time for change and in the process they managed to wrestle the government from the Republicans. Look at BNF, when I look at its top brass, I see lawyers(Moupo, Magama, Sebego etc), lecturers(Letshabo, Mhaswa etc) and other respectable members of society, very highly educated. Can they really fail to raise money for the party? Cant they come up with ideas that can generate money for the party to give them a better campaigning platform? Don’t they have connections from abroad? The money that Obama had was from fundraising and donations, thats how he got to the white house. If they really say there is no political education, why dont they start it at grass roots then they can convince the elctorate that we are worth your vote? Make it your mandate to change the political landscape and not wait for a miracle. IF (its a big if )you want people to “understand” politics then start teaching them as early as 2010 then u might make inroads in 2014.

Another example would be the Democratic Alliance(DA) in South Africa, a so-called white minority party has been making inroads in the ANC territory even in rural Nothern Cape, Natal and the Eastern Cape. How is that possible? They dont get much funding from the government. Donations, fundraisers and volunteering were the order of the day. They have managed to get blacks on board who were fed up with the ANC and they have become the main opposition in parliament. Why can’t the opposition do that in Botswana and stop moarning about the unnecessary. The Opposition also gets support from the private media which levels the playing field with the BDP using state media. There are a lot of independent media platforms in Bots which could cover the news as much as the state organs in the country. How many households have TV in Botswana? How many households have radio? I would say the radios outnumber the tv’s much which means there is a clear platform for them to give BDP a fight. Newspapers!? Mmegi ran an article last time when they were endorsing Moupo, he won, so they do have a platform in that regard too.

They are a lot of things I can mention in this article but these are just some of the few I have picked. Explain your mandate to the ordinary being in the street then u might have it in you to challenge the status quo. The BDP doesnt have to say much, the track record is there and it speaks for itself, so its up to the opposition to raise the bar & challenge the BDP. IF raise enough points that make sense, why not sell them to your electorates then get that majority you will need to go to Parliament and even be the President? The opposition is a joke and the BDP machine doesn’t seem to be coming to an abrut stop anytime soon. So, i think its best we leave it at that. Sam did it all for me when he said, “Rather the devil you know than that the one you don’t.”