New Zealand renewed

What is wrong with quoting mythology? They are fables with meaning.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You may not live to learn from your own.

 

This reminds me of the French agents who bombed the Rainbow Warrior. But the Israelis (except one) were able to escape with a clean bill of health from our compliant PM and the bumbling French were not.

And we all know how Israeli hitmen like to travel on NZ passports, don't we?

 

That article about NZ passports is pure fiction. NZ neutrality has nothing to do with your politics, much more to do with nobody else in the world caring about your opinions. Global apathy is not the same as chosen neutrality.

 

And leave it to a Canadian to be unable to grasp the relationship between one myth (Icarus and Daedelus) and another myth (Kiwis flew the first heavier than air machine).

 

New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Finland, Sweden. All of these nations have mastered non-partisan democracy, which has some characteristics of social democracy. Iceland had mastered non-partisan deomocracy, until they deregulated their economy in 2000.

 

I would love for the United States to adopt an option for a national referendum on some issues. Of course, you have to take into account tyranny of majority, so you would only designate referendums for specific types of policy, such as voting changes.

 

Re: OP. I found a good New Zealand website for you to use:

http://www.politics.org.nz/

Welcome to the Department of Personal Opinions
New Zealand politics starts here. This independent politics website enables New Zealanders to have cast their vote on political issues and general beliefs eg:

The IRD Child Support Formula is unfair

The Chinese should be able to buy our farms

Should we remove GST on food

Hope this clears up any confusion you might have and hope this shows you where your opinion is welcomed by fellow New Zealanders.

 

BUMP

I am just wondering- should I go to a New Zealand website and state I am an American and say how much I disapprove of New Zealand as a soverign nation?

 

Yes. We have an upcoming referendum on whether to change elctoral process. But referenda are few and far between.

MMP and STV help to ensure majorities do not get out of hand here. So does that often overlooked political instrument, public opinion and public protest.

NZ governments have become highly attuned to public opinion since the introduction of the multi-party system simply because there are more parties to influence and some may be represented in government.

 

You also have a parliamentary democracy, right? In a Parliamentary Democracy, it's a lot easier to avoid partisan politics. Our founding fathers were afraid of a Parliamentary Democracy due to the tyranny of the majority. However, Parliamentary Democracies are more conducive to an advanced nation in today's world, instead of a Representative Democractic Republic.

 

Yes, we have a parliamentary democracy. But there are many different models. Until 1993, we had one of the worst forms - electorate-based first past the post. Even a third party with 25% of the popular vote managed only 2 seats in the (then) 100-seat parliament.

Under FPP, governments sure of their tenure on power introduced some appalling policies. Not unlike you still do in the US.

 

In a speech to greet the NZ PM, John Key, Obama lavished praise on the man who clearly controls American interests downunder.

Unfortunately, Obama got Key muddled up with someone else - probably from a different country.

What the purpose of the meeting was to anyone is unclear, including I imagine the participants - though Obama spent much of it to talk about Norway.

Though Key probably thinks the blessing of the leader of a country most NZders dislike intensely might help his re-election this September. That's the quality of his "intelligence".

 

Oh well. US downgrade looking very likely. Even if it passes a wimpish debt bill.

Oddly enough, NZ is less likely to be affected than just about any other country. In fact it might help. Our dollar is soaring as frightened money looks for a safe haven. And our economy is improving at twice the forecast rate.

 

It is pure farce we even sent them there in the first place. Apparently less than 1% of all "terrorist" events worldwide are actually carried by (a) al-Qaeda + (b) Islamists.

The whole 9/11 follow-on was a vast and criminal over-reaction intended only to make incompetent Republicans look as though were doing something in the eyes of a gullible and hysterical Yanks.

The American Afghan excursion was not much different. And it sucked in scores of countries who did no-one knows what sort of cosy post-coital deals to go along for the ride. The results of both have tens of thousand totally unneccessary combatant deaths and tens of hundreds of thousands innocent civilian deaths. Every time I see a UK or Australian family greeting their sons, I can't help thinking why none of these people have been angry and incensed enough to plant bombs of their own.

NZ still has battle troops in Kabul and reconstruction troops in Bamiyan. We probably owe it to the Afghans to let the latter stay until we have helped fix up the mess the Americans and their mates created.

 

"New Zealand as a country" can do without being known for an ability to gyrate like demented snakes, thanks Brett.

The demise of whole civilisations has been marked by such successes. Look what river dancing has done to Ireland.

We will know we have officially fallen into the abyss when we start to win competitions for rap "music".

 

Of course New Zealand won't be overly affected, nobody in the world cares about you guys enough to do anything adverse.

 

In the "not being affected" and you guys "not caring that we are not affected" stakes, guess which wins?

 

Does it matter? Winning or losing won't make New Zealand relevant.

 

We pride ourselves on the relevancy of our winning to our not losing.

So there.

 

Perhaps, but nobody will really notice the outcome. What's New Zealand pride worth these days anyway? The cost of yet another bottle of booze?

 

Hoping your wounds from the earthquakes are healing, Kiwi cousins. It must be bloody tough.

Might even let you win the footy again some time. wink

 

At the risk of adducing repetition to defeat repetition, you need to note that Kiwis drink little more than your average Yank. But I doubt you will be dissuaded from what you regard as a crushing argument by a single, simple fact.

I might also note that NZ is not the country in danger of going down the credit dunny.

That would be the US of A.

 

Perhaps the percentages are close, but our population displacements are vastly different, which is why we don't appear to have the problems you do with alcohol. We spread our drunks out, you pack them all together so their mischief is concentrated and all the world hears about it. In fact probably the only thing the world has heard about NZ in decades...

We will be fine, have no fears, and even if it gets worse, we at least will still be relevant on the world stage, nothing will change that.

 

We have new jumpers that are impregnable.

How's the knitting going?

 

i only use my knitting needles for eating chinese food. Who`d want to impregnate a jumper anyway? You Kiwis are a bit of a worry.