Dean McCleland, Author at The Casual Observer

The Criminal Justice System: What the Hell is Going On?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 30 March 2015 1 Comment

The most concerning aspect of the current spate of corruption and incompetence scandals is that many relate to the Criminal Justice System. This structure is supposedly the bulwark against moral turpitude, malfeasance and corruption. Instead it is patently more venal and duplicitous than the supposed criminals.

Without a functioning and competent Criminal Justice System, a country is doomed to anarchy and mob justice. Its role is to serve an impartial role in the dispensing of justice in a fair and just manner without fear or favour.

Casey and Brutus, an Unlikely Pair

By Dean McCleland in Animals 29 March 2015 0 Comment

Naturalist Casey Anderson has an unusual pet which is a major part of his life: A fully grown grizzly bear. How did his happen?

Casey’s love of the wild has led him to have other wild animals as pets such as otters but the gizzly bear is definitely the largest animal that he has adopted.

Main picture: Casey Anderson and his friend, Brutus, the friendly bear.

Only in Africa Again

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 29 March 2015 0 Comment

Africa has its own unique way of doing things as evidenced by this new array of photographs.

Unusual sights from around the World

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 29 March 2015 0 Comment

Most people accept the ordinary as the normal and will follow the well-trodden path . Obviously none of these people follow this prescript. Instead these iconoclasts have created their own path much to the delight and amusement of the other 99.9% of the population.

The Personality Cult of the Kim Dynasty of North Korea

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 29 March 2015 0 Comment

Before becoming sanctimonious that as a Korean one would never be deceived into believing all of the improbable, inconceivable and implausible accomplishments of the so-called Great Leader, consider the milieu in which its inhabitants live. With strict censorship, anything is impossible. This is the deranged topsy-turvy world of North Korea today.

The usual path of dynastic succession unfolded in the case of the Kim Clan. Grandfather Kim Il Sung – the Great Leader – was the architect of the Democratic – read undemocratic – Republic of Korea. It was established in the mould of the dictatorial communist regimes in Eastern Europe where the concepts of free press, free elections and freedom of speech was banished to be substituted by a Party Press, one party elections and Party-Speak.

Main picture: Kim Jong-il, the Great Leader who relied upon his supposedly supermen capabilities to impress his opressed people.

Elizabeth Daisy McCleland: Overcoming Adversity

By Dean McCleland in McClelands, Port Elizabeth of Yore 27 March 2015 1 Comment

Granny Mac was more than our grandmother, she was the matriarch of the family. Adversity came in many forms, all steeling her for the next calamity. But she endured, persevered and overcame all these trials and trubulations. First the family lost its farm on the Gamtoos due to floods, then the cattle herd at De Stades due to rinderpest, but the cherry on the top was the death of her husband, Harry William, due to Black Water Fever in 1925. Despite all this misfortune and adversity, she survived and prospered. With her tiny frame and diminutive size, she was the epitome of the fighter that she was.

This is the story of that amazing woman.

Main picture: Schoenmakerskop and Daisy’s Tea Room with its famous home-made buns became a popular destination due to the convergence of a number of simultaneous events namely the invention of the motor car and the opening of the coastal road to Schoenies in 1922.

My Rocket Scientist Brother: A Youth of Normality

By Dean McCleland in Family Histories, McClelands, Other Personal, Personal 25 March 2015 0 Comment

This blog just comprises vignettes written by my brother mainly to prove that despite his intelligence, he had a normal upbringing. What is singularly important is that he experienced the same anxieties, boredom and surprises as the rest of us. Only now after 50 years have I finally heard about Blaine’s entanglement with the law. What an admission. I never knew a thing. This is a random collection of Blaine’s musings of a life in a different age, an age of innocence and discovery. This is Blaine’s story.

A Footnote to History: Boys as German Soldiers during WW2

By Dean McCleland in History, Military History 24 March 2015 0 Comment

I have always been fascinated how a youngster would cope with the ardours of war. In the case of the indoctrinated youths of the Hitler Jugend perhaps that were able to endure it as they were supposedly the Herrenvolk, Master Race. Notwithstanding that, can the level of brainwashing overcome the trauma of war? This blog contrasts two such callow youths.

The best known example is a 15 year old lad by the name of Wilhelm “Willi” Hubner in March 1945. Hubner, short for his age, possessed the visage of a 10 year old and the vocal register or pitch of a young child. With a naivety belying the deadly job that he was performing, he fixed his gaze on Hitler as he approached the squad of German youths about to be rewarded for their acts of valour.

Main picture: Adolf Hitler congratulating Hitlerjugend boys including Wilhelm Hubner
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Blister Juice and Other Hiking Tales

By Dean McCleland in Hiking, Personal 23 March 2015 1 Comment

After a long hiatus, I heard it again on the Florence Hill Trail at Kaapschehoop last weekend: blister juice as the punctured blister squirted its clear liquid in all directions. Every sport has its own unique vernacular. Often this argot is used regionally whereas often it applies only to a coterie of friends. So it is with the Quo Vadis Hiking Club. This blog covers the transformation of Quo Vadis over a 25 year period from the first blush of innocent youth to a club of geriaterics.

In our youth – when I was 40 years old – a lot was left unstated. Instead it was the competitive male spirit which generated the signals and subtle unobtrusive signs. The six day 120 km Amatola Hike in 1989 epitomised that unspoken communication. Unfortunately Kurt was at the peak of his Comrades and Iron Man prowess while Mike Brown was not a laggard in the running stakes either. Having recently completed a marathon in Edinburgh, Scotland in a whisker over three hours, he certainly was no slough.

Main picture: Looking back to Kaapsehoop

How could they ever have permitted adverts like this?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Other Galleries 23 March 2015 0 Comment

In this era, Political Correctness had clearly not been invented. Women were meant to occupy the kitchen and babies to drink copious quantities of Coke. What about smoking? Even the doctors were advised their clients to smoke.

What will our grandchildren berate us for? Advertising breads and pasta. Perhaps even hamburgers will a distant memory with the Golden Arches of a McDonalds only serving fatty foods and salads but no carbohydrates or starches. That is the excruciating difficulty in making predictions about the future as the future is synonymous with change but where will that change lead us to.

The Opinion Pieces are an eclectic bunch on current affairs & history often with a human interest aspect. The Movie/DVDs reviews are mainly on documentaries with a smattering of movie reviews.

Author: Dean McCleland