Politics is weird

Here in NZ we have an election coming up. And the party I support still can't seem to get their agenda across. Until I read a book written by the party founder, I figured ACT was the yuppie party. 'Hurray for the rich, and all those on a benefit are lazy losers'. In actual fact, ACT is more interested in getting the govt out of the way of those trying to get ahead, as opposed to putting up barriers everywhere. For example, every time Labour has announced another cunning plan to help low income families, we've been hit with more benefit losses. That includes when I've been working and when I've been totally on a benefit.
I'm trying to start a business while keeping my family fed, and Winz doesn't seem to want to know. Going by political statements, they should be doing everything in their power to help me on my way. The sooner I can get a business up and running, the sooner I'm off their books, and can pay off my debts. Yet in practice, every effort I've made to look after my family and get myself work has been met with obstruction.
Overall, my experience with govt suggests that if you have a family, the only way to get off a benefit is to win Lotto. Its all or nothing.

Peace, Love, and mung beans

In all the news about the Discovery flight, I've come across an old arguement again, which I really do not understand. I never got it when I first heard it, and I don't get it yet.
The arguement goes something like this, "Why are we spending billions of dollars getting into space, when we could be helping the starving people of famine stricken Ethiopia/Bangladesh/ etc?"
But famines are man-made events, usually acts of war, and the only way to stop those ruthless enough to use them is to squash them like bugs. Sort of what the yanks are trying to do to the various groups of psychos operating in Iraq today. The kind of people who starve whole villages, or gas them, or tell their kids to blow themselves up in shopping malls, are not the kind of people who are interested in "opening a dialogue" of any other kind. It is only when the nutters are either killed or forcebly confined that more sensible people can sit down and figure out other ways to solve problems.
So why is it that the same people who claim to want to help the victims of said nutters so loudly oppose any effort to bring the nutters under control?
What's more, if the wealthier nations are then forbidden by these groups from using their power to control the various murederous groups, why not let them use their wealth to further our knowledge of the universe. If we are not allowed to help the hurt and hungry, we should at least be allowed to use our resources for something worthwhile.