EU

Other than our friend Mr Pis and Atonium, Brussels is known for being the headquaters of the European Union and the European Parliament, so naturally I wanted to check it out.

The EU precindt pretty much has its own quarter of the city, which you would think would mean the buildings and entire area would stick out and be quite prominent. In fact dear reader this is not the case, it is all just a jumble of buildings next to houses in a very small city.

I was visiting the EU on a Sunday morning and let me tell you this is not the time to visit it. The area is more of a ghost town then Barton on a Sunday morning, I maybe saw three people the entire time I was walking around.

Another interesting thing about this souless area is that there are other houses and buildings leading right up to the main EU buildings, like for real people have houses and shiz right across the road from the main administration building of the EU. It was a very bizare experience walking through this area and I was kind of as underwhelmed by it as I was when I saw the UN building in New York, or though that is totes more of a let down then EU living, atleast you are in Europe.

After that I went to a bakery to try and escape the cold. I had a quick bite to eat and my god was it expensive. A baguette, some water and a little pastry business cost me over 10 Euros which is rediculous but that is what Brussels living is all about because everyone (or the diplomats to the EU) all have cash to burn, unlike 25 year old Australian hot mess tourists. At least the pastry was delicious.

My fellow Australians - WTF is wrong with you?

Dear fellow countrymen (and woman),

It is with a very heavy heart that I have to ask the question, WTF are you all having a breakdown about having to pay the flood levy surcharge to help rebuild the vital infrastructure that was damaged during one of our countries worst ever natural disasters?

Here is the bit that I am failing to comprehend. We as a people seem to be more than happy to donate money to charities as was shown with the amazing ammount of money raised to support the Queensland flood victims and the efforts we did for the asian tsunami, both times the characters of Australian's to unquestioanablly help those who clearly needed it shone through and I was proud to be Australian.

However now that it is clear that the costs to rebuild roads and other vital infrastructure to get the state back up on its feet, is going to be amazingly high, isn't it obvious that we need to pay for it? The notion that because the funds raised through this one off tax are not going directly into the bank accounts and hands of homeless flood affected Queenslanders and therefore only the government should have to pay is not only short sided but also unintelligent at the very least.

To think that the government should bleed The Treasury dry to pay for Queensland and still keep the countries ecconomy performing as one of the world's best post ecconomic crisis simply can not happen. The truth of the matter is Australia can not afford to rebuild Queensland and so we all need to give what we can.

Obviously those that can't afforded should be omitted from paying (and not simply because their postcode falls within the 2000's) but those that can should, and should also want to help their fellow countryman. The spirit that has gotten our country through so many previous bushfires, earthquakes and floods should be harnaced now more than ever and not quashed as is currently the case.

This also goes to a larger problem which is that this experience has clearly demonstrated that the general Australian public has no comprehension of what their tax payer dollars actually go towards. Sure they do go to pay for schools, roads and hospitals but they do so much more than that. They pay for a respite care worker to go into a home and relieve parents of a child with a serious disability, they basically fund the Non Government Sector of Australia which does everything from providing foreign aid, to support for people and their families living with diabetes, cancer and a whole host of other illnesses, they go into providing bush communities with music and arts that are usually only seen by people in the city, they go into the Soup Kitchens and hostels that feed and house our homeless and woman's refuges for woman (and too often their children) to be safe after a domestic violence incident.

My point is that taxes do a whole lot more than what the average Joe Public might think, and when this mantality of people not wanting to pay tax or to have it directed to places it needs to go to it can jepordise these services futures because it can be all too common for governments to try and win some brownie points with the public by slashing welfare and health budgets just to give people more refunds at tax time and go up in the polls.

Is this really the future direction you want for our country. The debate that is going on with the flood tax will help decide which direction Australia heads down.

Charlie Sheen is a hot mess

So by now the entire world knows what Charlie Sheen got up to on the weekend. Talk about  a hot mess, for all the wrong reasons. WOW does this bish know how to party.

I have to say I'm not all that surpirsed that a Hollywood star who is mega rich likes to party with porn stars and has a coke habit. and surely the produces of Two and a Half Men have known what he was like all along and that is why they cast him as a sexaholic drunk on the show, I am only surprised that Charlie's management hasn't come out saying that he is a "method" actor and was really only doing this to get to know his character better.

And as more information comes out about Charlie's weekend and everything that went down and journalists fill up paragraphs with extra information about his life the story becomes increasingly interesting. For instance did you know that this bish gets paid $2 million per episode of Two and a Half Men. Are you freaking kidding me, surely that is more horrifying than what he did with those porn queens.

Has the bitch who signs the cheques over to Charlie actually seen an episode of this shiz? Surely not worth $2 million. Understandably Charlie obviously doesn't care what he has to do or say in the show for $2 million as long as the cheques keep on clearing right?

Unfortunetly (or probably fortunately for Mr Sheen) he is now in rehab so the world can't see what he does next weekend. Lindsay Lohan must be seething that some other hoe has cashed in on her "actor gone crazy" rehab act. Luckily with great rolemodels such as her Mum and Dad in her life she will be able to come up with something even more farked up and reclaim her crown.

Rumour has it that Lindsay sent a message of support to Charlie in rehab, but we all know that really the message told Charlie to get his own act, washed up Hollywood actor/rehab shiek mess is already taken.

Mini Europe

If you have ever wondered what walking through an amusement park was like in East Germany look no further than the amusement park right next to Atomium. It apparently is a combination park with four main attractions in it, however there is really only one that stands out - Mini Europe. The day I went there it was cold, wet and grey and there was not another living soul around, so I was exactly getting the happiest place on earth vibe.

Getting to the entrance of Mini Europe was an adventure in itself because I had to walk through this almost deserted theme park, which I actually thought was closed and that I was tresspassing, but to my relief when I did get to the entrance there were loads of other people there too.

So basically if the creators of Cockington Green did more crack then Charlie Sheen on a weekend the resulting creation would not come close to the amazeballness that I saw in Mini Europe. As the name would suggest it is a micro view of all of Europe. I pretty much had a breakdown as soon as I walked in and couldn't stop laughing the entire time because it is such an amazing but bizare place to see in person. Having said that it shits all over Atomium.

While the majority of the countries submitted repulicas of their countries finest achievements in architecture one stood out. Luxemburg. Apparently the best thing in their country is a two lane bridge pressumably to leave the country.