shintara . net - keepin` it real!

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One of my all time favourite photos, late afternoon in the Hunter Valley, I crept into a vineyard under a fence and went for a stroll. The sun was fading into the hills behind me and creating a warmth that made the place light up like into a magic flair. It was make or break and I didnt have a tripod so I set the exposure braced the trusty old 10D on my knee and prayed for the best.

All things political
Not being one to air my political feelings or views due to the fact that I believe discussions on race, religion and politics are the primary cause of breakdowns between family and friends. But while watching Channel V last night the touchy subject of politics and political beliefs was aired. Elsewhere on the web political blitzkrieg rages rampantly.

Rock Against Howard is a compilation CD comprising of various Australian musical artists who are using thier musical status to pull some political punch. Everybody is entitled to thier own opinions as to whether they like or dislike something, but in the midst of all reality does the average 18 year old gal or guy know much about political affairs, or even care to a lesser extent as to who is the ruling party in Australia. I know when I was 18 I didnt care, and its only been over the last few years (to be precise I was very against the GST so I voted against it) I started to figure that, well my vote might count. In retrospect Liberal won that election and the GST was introduced, little did the voters know that regardless of who won that election the GST eventually would have been introduced - the Labour party would have just delayed it a few years, so the GST was inevitable.

Back to the machine that is known as Rock Against Howard, these musical artists are using thier status as political punch to influence voters, you only get to see one side of the story here, and that is all things against Liberal - namely John Howard. Howard has made some bad decisions such as involving Australia in the war in Iraq, which in my opinion should not have taken place, though there are some good things to have come from this, like the removal of Suddam Husseins power. The free trade deal is harsh in some areas and good in others, the people affected badly by it dislike it, where as the people who are gaining from it like it, you cant please everyone through every decision you make.

With statements on the Rock Against Howard site like "These musicians are using their place in the Australian consciousness to fight for change, to get those Liberal party scumbags out of Government, and start this country on the road to recovery." and "We're not saying vote Labor, we're not saying vote Green, we're not saying vote Democrat or Socialist, just don't bloody vote Liberal." your left with the feeling that these musicians are using thier influence to mold Australia's youth into protege's of themselves.

Profits made from the sales of the CD are sent to various charities, one of which is to refugee funding. I have some strong views on refugee status, I do understand that people sometimes dont have a choice but to flee thier countries due to prosecution/persocution etc, but you dont see me crying because I am not the son of Kerry Packer. I am struggling to pay a mortgage and to enjoy other aspects of life that I could enjoy if I was well off. Some of us are lucky enough to be born into rich families, on the other end of the scale there are people born in strife striken countries, this is the way the cookie crumbles and its known as life.

The refugees bring no skills to this country, they have no training and therefore have no means of gaining employment. This means that you and I, the tax payers will have to support these people while they are trained to speak the language and while they find work. If they dont find any employment we will be stuck supporting them through our taxes which eventually will start to sky rocket. Ask yourself, where is the funding for refugees coming from?

Right about now you might be saying, this guy is an extremist who hates refugees. No I dont hate them, but I dont sympathise for them. Both my parents migrated to Australia for various reasons, they conformed to the Australian way of life, they worked hard, learned the language and taught me to be an Aussie. Unlike many cultural groups my parents taught me to assimilate, they didnt teach me to stick to my own little clique of the same culture. My parents worked hard to fund my education, they bought and own thier own house and they didnt have a cent to thier name when they came here - they didnt rely on the government for funding.

Now with the above paragraph in mind I demand that my parents recieve government compensatoin for all the hardships they went through in thier process to become Australianised. Heck if refugees are getting a free run here all the people who migrated to this country and refused to take funds from the government should all recieve some form of compensation! Both my parents worked right through to thier retirement - my dad spent 32 years of his working career with the State Rail Authority and what did he get in the end of "working" for Australia? He didnt get much, in fact he had to fight to get a pension. Now if you think about this, shouldnt we be rewarding the people who have done something for this country, rather than handing out funds for people who have done nothing to build the backbone of Australia? Isnt it funny how we always forget to look after our own.

Imagine if we stopped funding our involvement in the war on Iraq, stopped funding refugee status, said to hell with the free trade agreement, etc, etc and we put these resources back into our society, like improved funding for health care workers, teachers or cancer research. Being a health care worker myself I get to see first hand what emergency room waiting times are like, I see angry patients and I see the lack of good hospital treatment on the average Aussie who gets rushed off to emergency. If there was a government that would make adequate funding available for the more important aspects of "our" society rather than make it a prioroty to fund someone elses, only then could we focus on whats important - and that is "us".

So when its your turn to vote, vote for the party that you think will be the best governing body, not what Frenzal Rhomb or any other person tells you is cool or is correct, because the way they think may not be the way you think. In these peoples eyes John Howard may not be a good leader, but under pressure to do the right thing by everyone do you think Mark Latham would be any different? Do you think that Bob Brown of the Greens would make Australia a better place? If I voted greens it would mean less four wheel drive tracks and less access to national parks because they want to restrict access to these areas, imagine having all these wonderful parks and not being able to access them because the Greens think we are ruining them!

Referring back to my second paragraph about the GST, it was inevitable, do you think if we voted Labour it would inevitably change back and all our fairytales would come true? Remember all politicians are liars and will say and do whatever it takes to get to number 1. Vote for what you think is right, not for what someone else thinks is right!

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