Tax cuts vs Family benefit

Scotty's blog on may 27th has an interesting post from Maxim about the "surplus" which got me thinking. On the surface, injecting money into the low - mid income family seems to be pro-family but is it really the best thing for the family? Sure, having a decent sized family can be a financial drain and some help would be gratefully welcomed but why not in the form of a tax cut? Do we want children being born purely for financial gain? Do we want society to become even more reliant on the government? No no NO! This is as Maxim says, an election year ruse to make the Labour government seem compassionate. It is as if they steal cars, gift wrap them and give them back. The money in the surplus is OURS NZ!! On the other hand, if we were to receive tax cuts, then a hard working bread-winner will reap the real results of hard work, Children will not be born just to bring in an extra buck, and our society will not comprise mainly of Labour party sucklings. Bring back personal responsibility - if anyone can remember what that is!

Of sport and music

You are likely surprised to see another post from me due to my busy postless week. I have been playing piccolo in the Opera for the season of Rigoletto for the NZ Opera. We get to play on-stage behind the curtain and see what all the actors/singers get up to. In one scene, the theme of "women as objects" is depicted through the use of mannequins and we (the musicians) were told to leave space for the actors to rush to their on-stage positions with their mannequins. Some of us didn't hear the instruction so I passed it on as "please leave space for them to make a dummy run!". Typical musicians - nobody got the joke.

On a need to do basis!

Aren't we humans funny - and I mean funny Oiiiii rather than funny hahaha (well that depends on which humans we are talking about). ahem - now I'll finally get to my point which is THIS - When nobody is responsible for us we gladly and easily take responsibility for ourselves. Case in point - Mum and Dad are away, we have washed up, put the rubbish bin out, cooked, woken up ON TIME, done the washing (well my brother has) and all sorts of other stuff which would normally induce nausea, migraines or emotional frustration of great proportion. Why don't we do these things as naturally when we are under the authority of others???

Books

I love to read books slowly - like a cow digesting the words in my 6 stomachs. It's fascinating to be a part of the fiction world. From the colonisation of Hong Kong through to builing cathedrals in gothic France, or being a Portugese pepper trader in India. But lets face it - this all takes time. I always intend to read more but often end up being sucked into watching a TV programme because I happen to wander into the room when someone has already begun watching it. It's like being a donkey led by a corrot on a stick. You go that extra step just to see what happens next. Is it actually possible to retain the ability to imagine if you play realistic playstation games or watch TV for hours of the day? I think not, correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure there aren't many people who play playstation and also read fiction for leisure.
I realise this sounds snobby but hello - books are cool and thety have no calories Mmmmm!

First word from Alisa

It is exciting to finally have my very own blog so that now, instead of boring just my own family to tears with the humdrum of my daily doings, I can tranqilize a potential audience of millins with the low-lights of my day. Beware - this is destined to be a blog of random disassociated thoughts and countless spellig mistaches.