Reading Politics

Come to Australia. We're like wannabe USA in training. we want to be a superpower, but we just cant bring ourselves to stop watching football and drinking beer and actually get our asses up off the couch. We're a bit of a wanker in regards to our treatment of East Timor, and we're still involved in Iraq... actually, on second thoughts don't come to australia, go to new zealand. i'm not sure they even know where iraq is :P

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Great! But do you have socialized healthcare? What about public transit? Do you at least tax rich people? But the weather will be much nicer in Australia. Hmmm...

Why is Austrailia involved in Iraq? You aren't making money from the war like the Bush family is.

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We have public and private healthcare, but the public healthcare isn't great. i'm not very up to date with public healthcare though, as i use private healthcare on my father's account... but ibelieve there's health care cards available for students and those eligible for centrelink (government assistance for unemployed and students if they decide they like you. assistance for students is 30% below the poverty line however). public transport is good in Melbourne, i can get almost anywhere in Victoria on buses trains and trams and it's not too expensive as long as you have a concession card.

Why is Australia involved in Iraq... well... where do I start? Basically we have a history of butt kissing to the stronger nations. First the brits, now the yankees... But in recent times i suppose it all comes down to the ANZUS alliance which says that basically if Australia is in trouble the USA guarantee to have a meeting with us and then possibly aid us. So in the name of ANZUS we do whatever the USA want as a bit of a downpayment on an investment that odds are will never pay off. But if you ask most Australians what ANZUS even is they wouldnt know, or they'd think it was an iron clad agreement that the USA will provide military aid if we ever need it, when all they actually have to do is pick up the phone and tell us that life's a bitch.

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Oh my, I've been missing an opportunity to talk up the motherland!

But the weather will be much nicer in Australia.

Hey, the weather in Canada is awesome! Especially Ottawa: stupidly hot in the summer, and absolutely frigid in the winter. The in between times are nice... all five days of them a year. ;p

Ok, so the weather sucks... but we do have socialized healthcare. Which is effective, but not as effective as it should be. And yes, public transit. And we're not in Iraq (Although we'll be in Afghanistan for a looong time :p). Oh, and don't worry about the new Conservative PM, Harper. He's reasonable, and intelligent. How he manages to be a Conservative at the same time, I don't know...

on second thoughts don't come to australia, go to new zealand

But if you can't choose... My oldest cousin went to live in London, England, for a while. She fell in love with a Kiwi also living in London and is now pregnant. That kid gets to have his/her english-speaking nationality cake and eat it too. :D

You're here, aren't you? You're talking to me, aren't you?

we do have socialized healthcare. Which is effective, but not as effective as it should be.

Well, effective socialized healthcare is good enough compared to here.

I can't even begin to talk about how stupid it is that one of the richest countries in the world still has no real healthcare that's affordable for people at or beneath a living wage (thirty percent of employed Americans earn less than a living wage).

And the damn big government hasn't raised minimum wage since I was in high school - more than 5 years ago. It's true that this might "kill small businesses" but what it really allows is for corporate America to pay the blue collar worker less and make even more money from him. In short, keeping minimum wage down only helps the already rich - just like tax cuts in this administration!

And then of course public transit. Not only saves money on precious "foreign oil", but it saves you money on car insurance, maintence, and it decreases traffic congestion and pollution. Hardly anyone in America can remember when there were actually places called downtown in American cities.

This is where blue collar workers could actually save money by living near where they worked, or even take a short bus. But now they have to drive out to the mall or Wal-Mart or something bogus like that.

<End of rant>

And we're not in Iraq...Oh, and don't worry about the new Conservative PM, Harper. He's reasonable, and intelligent. How he manages to be a Conservative at the same time

I'll keep an eye on Canada, see how things work out for you guys over the next two years. By then I might be moving back to the USA. :)

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