YES WE ARE!

Last week David blogged on the cessation of the rebate scheme for solar systems. He is hopping mad that this scheme was ceased without warning despite its huge success. It seems it was too successful in the eyes of the Federal Government.
What? Too many solar systems is a problem, he asked?
He received some great feedback from nannyogg and Gwandalan, one in support and one opposing his point of view.
We also noted that Senator Jenny Macklin would be on talkback radio as advised by Meeting Place visitor, Phyl.
We love subscribers like Phyl – they are our scouts in the wider world. No website can possibly attempt to cover all activities relevant to their audience so we really appreciate it when you tell us of news or events other subscribers might find of interest.

The Macquarie dictionary lists nine definitions for the word political. The one that we think is most relevant for what we do is “of or relating to citizens: political rights.”
Our take on “political” is that we are interested in citizens’ rights, regardless of which party is in power.
When we first took over the About Seniors website the Howard Government was in power. For those working on the site the overwhelming priority was to highlight the very low rate of the Age Pension – in particular for singles.
In 2007 the Rudd Government was sworn into power. Again we ascertained that the low rate of the pension remained the single most important issue to highlight. We have continued to highlight this concern in our enewsletters and our correspondence with members of Parliament from all political parties.
Yes, we are political.
We care deeply that older Australians receive a fair go whether this is related to their income, their rights in the work place, their rights in aged care facilities or their rights with financial planners.
If we believe there is an issue concerning older Australians such as age discrimination, poor media portrayal or lack of incentive to save for retirement, we will highlight this issue and offer an opinion in our enews in a blog or on the Meeting Place.
And every time we offer such an opinion we invite you to respond and tell us what you think. The About Seniors website is open to everyone – we offer content for older Australians, but our site is not a “granny state” – it offers a forum for everyone to share their views on what older Australians want, and how we can get a better deal for all.
So are we political?
Yes, we are!
Why are we?
Because we wish to seek a better deal for older Australians.
But what this “better” deal might be is up to you.
Tell us your thoughts and we promise to share these opinions with the decision makers in Canberra – regardless of which party is in power.

Debbie’s Blog - You’ve got to feel sorry for the children

Michael Jackson is dead. Unless you’ve been on another planet you can’t have failed to have heard this news.  Unbelievably, there are some people who will have met this news with the response “who?”. But love him or loathe him, there is little doubt you will have an opinion on the coverage and reaction to his death.

Take my mother for instance. Only a few years older than Jackson herself, she has grown up with his music and as a devoted fan of Motown. She finds it difficult to see past the little boy with the afro who wowed crowds with swinging music or haunting ballads to have an unbiased opinion of the man he became. As a member of The Jackson Five, Michael and his siblings entertained fans all over the world, under the watchful and domineering eye of his father.

As an adult, having left his siblings behind, he pushed the music boundaries, using the medium of music video and the MTV generation to get his unique brand of creativity to the world.

This is the last positive thing I can say about “the man” and I use the term loosely. Jackson is a stereotypical Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. With allegations of abuse by his father rife, Jackson himself allegedly turned abuser.  Using the pity of his fans who, if they did believe he could have abused children, justified it by citing what Michael himself had gone through and his dwindling fortune to pay-off his accusers, Jackson never faced up to what he had become.

Building his very own Neverland, a fairytale ranch that cost $25million USD each year to run, surrounding himself by children, living in a oxygen tent, extensive plastic surgery and his menage of animals, of which Bubbles the monkey is the most famous are not the actions of a man living in a state of reality. His marriage to Lisa-Marie Presley and his friendship with Liz Taylor, two people who didn’t have conventional upbringings themselves add further fuel to the fire that he wasn’t playing with a full deck.

Of course, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Michael leaves behind three children as his legacy, Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II, known as ‘Blanket’, seven… need I say anymore? In all the furore, it is his children I feel most sorry for. Not because they have lost a father, for I doubt Jackson’s suitability for this role - remember the baby over the balcony photo - but because they will forever live under the shadow of this strange man.  These three children will constantly be reminded of the abuse claims, the strange childhood they must have experienced, the lack of contact with their birth mother and, if rumours are to be believed, the fact that Jackson was about to declare bankruptcy.

His death will undoubtedly bring people out of the woodwork, only too happy to share with the world their experiences and interactions with Michael. The $30 million USD he spent on hush money and legal fees will no longer be enough to stem the flow of tattle-tales.

This is purely my opinion, one which I feel strongly about.  The huge outpouring of grief that we are witnessing is not for Michael jackson as a person or a father but as a caricature of celebrity. Everyday the world looses people who are sadly taken before their time, people whose whole purpose in life was to take care of others and who truly made the world a better place.  The effort, emotion and money spent by people travelling to “pay their respects” could be put to much better use with a little consideration.

So Michael, like many fallen stars before you, your music will live on but sadly under the shadow of a somewhat murky past.

Drew’s Blog - Life experience

As the saying goes, you learn from your mistakes. In my life, I have made a few fundamental mistakes, which have resulted in drastic changes to my life. I do hope that I have learnt from these mistakes and will never repeat them in the future.

These mistakes all fall under one heading, life experience. No matter what part of my life they are in, whether its work, finance, education, travel, exercise or even relationships, it all comes down to life experiences, something that, no matter how much effort is put in by our parents, we had to make these mistakes, or life experiences as I like to call them, by ourselves.

Nothing great was ever achieved on the first try, there was always a mistake involved. Man did not get into space on the first attempt, it took a huge amount of effort from thousands of people who believed in what they were doing, and after all we are only human!

There is an unfair level of expectation on many people in society today that they won’t make mistakes, whether it is the Treasurer of Australia, a cricket player, football player or even a school teacher. It is unreasonable to expect a cricket player to go out and perform every match scoring 50+ runs, as it is unreasonable to expect the Treasurer to run a surplus in a global recession.

Recently, a member of my family was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour and was operated on to remove it, but has since been told that it has spread too far and the doctors could not get all of it. The doctors are going to try chemotherapy but have given it, at best, a small chance of being successful. My life since then has changed a lot. I have seen this person a lot more, and while you would think something like this would upset the person, they are in extremely high spirits because they realise that no matter what the world throws at them, they still have today and tomorrow to look forward to. That is all one can ask for from life.

Up until now, I have valued my family, but have not given them the time they deserve because I have been too selfish thinking my “life” and time is more important. The fact remains that no matter what I do with my life, my family will always be there, and I need to be there for them, through the good and bad times.