I hear New Zealand is nice. December 2, 2008 Jill Time to move there. Thanks to Shankar for the link, and for the quip.
Yes, it is really nice . It’s been allowed to thrive because the US military prevented the German and Japanese from taking it over during WWII. OK, the relevance of that is pretty marginal. But there are lots of countries where there is a domestic military presence that are not [whatever it is that would make you want to move to NZ]. There are plenty of arguments against having that presence, but why get hysterical. (Also, I know the post is a bit facetious, but still)
It’s been allowed to thrive because the US military prevented the German and Japanese from taking it over during WWII You know, speaking as a kiwi living in the US currently: go fuck yourself. Because, of course, NZ was just sitting there, not doing anything about the war in the slightest. It wasn’t like we were being slaughtered on the fields in Europe and deserts of Africa fighting Germany before the US finally decided to turn up. *rolls eyes* Good grief.
New Zealand’s very nice and beautiful country. I have family living there but if you read Maia’s blog, you’ll see that it’s struggling with many issues including those that parallel the U.S. in particular involving “national security” after 9-11.
You’ll be thankful for the 20K troops when Robo-Cheney attempts to reclaim power in a cybernetic coup d’etat.
Freddy, I’m going to second the GFY. I’m a US citizen, but my father is old enough to remember the bombs falling on his town when he was just a little boy, and my grandfather, who was not drafted due to medical issues, led civil defense in town, and my uncle rode motorcycle dispatch for Monty in the desert. In Falkland Palace in Scotland, there’s an art deco ikon of the Virgin Mary, made from the insides of ration cans hammered flat by free Polish pilots fighting from Scottish bases, before the US and the Russians even entered the war. That little island off Europe’s west coast, and its descendants around the world, and the displaced people it took in and aided, were the bullwark against Hitler when nobody else was.
If I were to say what I’m really thinking about that right now, I would under UK law be classed as a terrorist. So I’ll just say that New Zealand has some very nice scenery, and is the only place in the world that has geological features that resemble the Dungeness flats, which are a great haven for birds.
You can drive across the South Island in less than a day, bet on a horse in one town and then pick up your winnings in the next! Allergy season near Cape Foulwind, eeeeek! Bad stuff.
I saw that article on my lunch break. Such sloppy writing: “after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts” The whole of congress? And which ‘experts’? Ditto “…defense analysts said.” Which analysts would those be? And what are there quals for being a quote here? I think encouraging military engineers with experience with actual disasters to communicate with FEMA is a good idea But how does Gordon England go from ‘our current guardsmen aren’t trained/equipped well enough to do this’ to ‘we need 20k more untrained people’?
There are plenty of arguments against having that presence, but why get hysterical. (Also, I know the post is a bit facetious, but still) Jill’s post is certainly facetious, but my quip was a little less so. With an economy being mismanaged and many civil liberties slowly but surely being hemmed in, is it unreasonable to consider seeking citizenship elsewhere? If the United States of America were a company, and I were its employee, my resume would currently be plastered all over the Internet.
Is it dickbag week 2? New Zealand, facetiousness aside, is gorgeous. And not only can you do what Radfem said, you can experience several, widely varying weather systems in the process!
There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military’s role in domestic law enforcement. Gee, wouldn’t it be nice if we had some kind of reserve military force whose entire stated purpose was to be ready to defend against invasion or other disasters on US soil, that could provide a line of defense without tapping into the rest of the military’s resources or imitating a police state?
Freddy, I really don’t see why you even considered it necessary to start insisting that New Zealand’s very existence is a result of the great benevolent wonderfulness of the US in response to ‘I hear New Zealand is a nice place’. WTF?
Until recently, they had a female Prime Minister as well. Tragically, she was still a New Zealander. Seriously, those elections were so disappointing. John Key is an absolute moron and I can only hope that my soggy, chilly geographical cousins get as bored of him in 3 years as they did with Helen Clarke in 10. Also, you’ll never find better possum-fur gloves anywhere.
Yes, New Zealand is gorgeous. So is Canada. So is Norway. Americans have options, that’s all I’m saying. Also, I third the GFY to Freddy. Seriously, it’s attitudes like those that give the US the bad reputation it has, despite its many good people. …well, I’m pretty sure Bush had something to do with f-cking up the reputation too, but I digress… 🙂
Based on the average life span of National party leaders, John Key will likely be gone before we actually get bored with him. The hard part will be getting people to stop voting for Rodney Hide and his damn yellow jacket! NZ is awesome. It’s home to Pineapple Lumps, Tim Tams, the pavlova, bungy jumping, the Coast to Coast, Split Enz, Crowded House, Shihad, Elemeno P, L&P and Outrageous Fortune. We’re also nuclear free, the first country in the world to give women the vote and we make Monteith’s beer.
New Zealand, facetiousness aside, is gorgeous. And not only can you do what Radfem said, you can experience several, widely varying weather systems in the process! Yes, there’s much more discussion of wind patterns there than here. And I remember running on the beach in South Brighton and it was sunny when I started and within 15 minutes, an easterly brought in a storm that dropped the temperature about 30 degrees and it hailed. In January, which isn’t winter there. I had to remember what street post I had left my shoes by as running barefoot in the shorts seemed like a good idea at the time. Icy toes by the time I found them and the the sun came out again. Another time my sister had the kids on the beach near her house and the sun got so hot during their brief time, they literally couldn’t walk back on the sandy trail without burning feet. So my sister had three kids and I had to run back to get my shoes and we both had to carry them all back.