Hey Red

[TexDot33]

Red, really, I was just kinda wondering what the time difference is between us ... it's 7:25 PM here on the East Coast of your least favorite land ... what time is it in Oz-Land right now?

 

[Redballoon]

Well it depends when you wrote this.
Its 9.13 am right ,.....now.
Its Sunday Morning.

 

[TexDot33]

you are 14 hours ahead of me ... cool ...

 

[Redballoon]

Well, I would have said Oztralia was about 50 light-years ahead of the evil Empire, but that's just me.

When can we discuss publicly funded health care and social justice for refugees?
When will Peta be on holidays so I can really go to town on you guys?
For the record however, I don't really have anything against Americans as such (They are heaps of fun to make merry_ment over), It's really just the people that you guys vote (or don't bother voting) into Government. So I hope you don't take my little jibes personally. They just pop into my head every time I see the news and I have to get them out there into the public arena. can I have a special Yank bashing section that only I can see?

Quick edit; Anyone who wants to tell me to pull my head in can do so privately on MSN. [email protected] will get you added to my contacts and I do love a verbal joust if you want to do it in private. Upon reading back some of my posts, I do sometimes rant so it seems like I'm seriously angry, but I'm really not. I'm occasionally rude and opinionated. Maybe I have American ancestry.

 

[TexDot33]

Not at all, infact I love when people from other countries see the things that most of us see and make fun of ... you haven't said anything here that I haven't for the most part agreed with ... and for the record, I didn't vote to put that guy in office the first time, and I certainly didn't vote to put him back in the second time ... I personally can't wait until January 21, 2009 ... the start of a new regime ...

 

[TexDot33]

... Maybe I have American ancestry ...

You couldn't be so lucky! :18:

Actually, I am all for socialized health care ... I think it's a wonderful idea, I think big drug companies are making too much $$$ on people ... I also think it's very sad when I see a sick child who can't go see a doctor because their parents don't have health care through their job or a private provider ... I mean, really shouldn't it be part of societies concern (if for no other reason than to propagate that society in the future) that children should be able to have reasonable access to medical treatment even if their parents can't afford it?

 

[Redballoon]

I would have to agree with you. Especially now I am on home Dialysis and a big truck turns up every month with 20 thousand bux worth of machinery and supplies, and that's only until I get my publicly funded kidney transplant. In Oztralia if you earn more than 50 thousand dollars a year, you pay 1% of your income into the the public health fund. If you earn you less than $50,000 a year, you pay nothing. We do have a small problem with our governments attitude to refugees. Its is currently appalling, with the navy sending rafts full of people to the nearest land that is not Oztralia, then burning the rafts (Slight exaggeration there). I happy to say that attitude is going to get the current powers that be thrown out office in the biggest change of social attitude since the Vietnam war.
Also we have what you may call a weird way of voting. On voting day you don't have to vote, its your right not to. But, you DO have to go to a polling booth and get your name crossed off the list. If you don't, you get fined. So as long as your at the polling booth anyway, you may as well have your say so you can whine about the Government when they screw you over. You don't need ID to vote, you just tell them your name and they cross you off the list. What ever you do after that is up to you. that gives us 98% of the population voting when the time comes. I consider myself very lucky to be born here, and would encourage anyone who is like minded to immigrate here.

 

[TexDot33]

... I would have to agree with you ...

Easy there buddy, I can't get a publically funded trip to the Emergency Room for the Heart Attack I just had ... I have to pay for that $hit! :18::18:

What, if I may ask, is your income tax rate there in OZ? Here in the US it is based on what "tax bracket" you are in ... being a single male "Uncle Sam" taxes me at about 22% with very few taxable deductions. WHEN Christy and I get married, that rate goes down to about 16-18% (contingent on combined income staying closely the same) and when children start popping into the mix you get down to about 12-15% ... so what, may I ask, would another 1 or 2 % of my pay be if I was getting good health care? I currently pay $170 a month to cover JUST ME ... that's like 8% of my monthly income (before taxes) ... I would actually be saving money by going with this Socialist idea ... but, too bad it's TABOO around these parts!

 

[Redballoon]

I think it's about 18-20% (I am guessing) Couples can get assessed as a couple or as 2 singles, what ever works out less. Here we claim anything that we can say is a part of us earning money, so we claim EVERYTHING. If you work outdoors or catch public transport to work, you even claim sunscreen and your new Raybands on your taxes. We only just outlawed the "business lunch" as a taxable expence, and 30% of all the strip clubs went out of business overnight!

 

[TexDot33]

"whaddaya mean I can't deduct those 20s anymore?"

HAHA ... times must have been tough for those girls? Did they really have any job skills at all?

 

[Redballoon]

Its ok man, they are not strippers any more,...now they are hookers.

 

[meghanxx4]

Sorry to bud in in your convo, but that is why you should move to Canada. You don't need to pay for health care... well i mean there's insurance... but for the most part its free.

And also i plan on moving to the land of Oz once im done post secondary. there are a tun of Oztralians in Whistler. EVERYWHERE i went tehre a couple weeks ago and it was like 'G'day mate land'.

i think the american leader is better than the guy who was going to get voted in though. Except for the fact that canada has decided to go and help the usa to fight afghan war or whatever. I dont like that.

 

[Redballoon]

You can Bud in any time you like Mehgan.
Not too many Oztralians I know stay away for long.
Does anyone know many Oztralians who live permanently some where else?
There must be some,....

Al gore seemed Like a sensible bloke to me.
Bill Clinton was also my kinda guy,...Dunno why,....
But I don't get a vote.
That may be a good thing.
I here Canada has some fairly sensible people over there.

 

[Peta]

When will Peta be on holidays so I can really go to town on you guys?

She won't be

 

[Redballoon]

Your a woman Peta,...By definition, Your whole life is a holiday.

 

[Peta]

Well in that case I'm on holiday but I won't be away from the board.

 

[nzchickadee]

!7hours ahead of you tex!
I kick!

thats right red yea? I'm 3 infront of you?

 

[Redballoon]

You are correct.
Unless someone from the Easter Islands joins the forums, you will have the edge on all of us.
SO you officially get to use the sun first every day.

 

[pheobus]

you mean I get the ''used'' sun every day? :18::18::18::18::18:

 

[Redballoon]

Yup. bloody new Zealanders use up all the good bits of the sun before we ever get to see it.