And since a company only costs NZ$160 to register in New Zealand and can be done in minutes entirely on line it's really not that much of a big deal.
As an aside, the Companies Office have obviously just put up their rates. It used to only be NZ$60.
The American regime doesn't oppress it's own people that much. Nobody would argue that it does.
The American regime represses and kills the people of other countries instead.
------------
As an aside, the people of America aren't particularly free by the standards of most OECD countries. Socially you are closer to China than any other western democracy. Financially you are the most free country in the world. Whoop de do. Give yourselfs a gold star or something.
For all those of you just itching to get in your 2 cents about how America is the land of the free, the home of democracy etc... try experiencing life outside of your national echo chamber. There are so many places in the world that have real freedom.
So how many Iraqis do you think should die because of september 11. Just give us a number. When Americans have killed that many will you leave Iraq?
You have killed more than 100,000 civilians, and god only knows how many Iraqi soldiers, so I guess we can safely assume that you want to kill more than ten Iraqis for every American killed by Al Qaeda. Good for you... Nevermind that they had nothing to do with it in the first place.
And you wonder why the rest of the world regards americans as animals...
Never said that it would, however what are you trying to say?
To me it sounds like you are saying 'Oh the problem is too big, we can't fix it'. Like i said defeatist rhetoric.
I used NZ as an example because I live here. Sure we are a small country, but there are plenty of european states that have changed from first past the post election styles.
I can't believe the amount of defeatist rhetoric in this thread. I guess Americans just don't realise [don't bother correcting the english spelling] that there are many countries around the world that use alternative voting methods. I know because I live in one.
In New Zealand we used to have a two party system , not completely fucked like yours but it was pretty bad all the same. People pushed for electoral reform. Getting to the point of holding a binding referendum was a struggle but we got there in the end. Now we use a system called MMP (Mixed Member Proportional) whereby everyone has two votes. One for a party and one for a local representative, like a senator.
Each party wins a percentage of parliament based upon the percentage of the party vote that they manage to get.
This has lead to a much more balanced goverment. People vote strategically knowing that their vote is not wasted. If I like the specific policies of a small party then I can vote for them. Viva democracy. MMP wouldn't work in a presidential election though. IRV would be perfect. We use something similar (called STV - Single Transferable Vote) for some of the local body elections. It isn't a complicated thing to do. Monkeys can rank things in order of preference.
It's time you lot got together and created a more democratic voting process for your country. Before you idiots let some demagogue convince you into raping any other defenceless countries.
Like some I saw around here said, if you keep on voting for the lesser of two evils you are going to keep on getting evil.
My CV is in HTML. All the formatting is done with inline CSS. There are different formatting instructions for print and screen. Every employer I have ever heard of has a web browser. And all of them are interested by the presentation. Presenting it in an unusual format actually makes it stand out from the crowd.
He is a New Zealander who goes for highly balanced commentary. I highly recommend Americans reading at least one blog that looks on from the outside.
Check him out: Hardnews
None of you can even stand to look at what the rest of the world considers normal media anymore because it jars so much with your totally distorted world view.
How soon before the bad guys set up a dummy corporation and start running nuclear bomb or protein folding simulations on this cluster?
The Bad Guys already have nuclear weapons. And it looks like you guys (maybe we should call you the Simple Guys, because you're not actually bad, just misguided) are going to elect them for another four years so that they can do some more damage. Kill some more kids, invade some more countries etc.
...he said that such a rocket could launch a spy satellite that could be the one that starts a war, so he still thinks it's justified to call satellite-launching rockets "weapons of mass destruction".
It's not really surprising. When people in your country, and amongst your ruling administration think an artillery shell constitutes a weapon of mass destruction then I think Michael Moore can call a huge **cking missile one too.
If all these Michael Moore detractors spent as much time fact checking the people he is attacking... Oh wait, I forgot. Bush jnr doesn't lie, he is just "dis-associated from reality".
* The list of the "coalition of the willing" mentioned only tiny, irrelvant countries, and skipped over really important ones: England, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands. Yes, we did 90% of the work ourselves, but the film implied that we had absolutely no international support, which is simply not true.
I hate to break this too you. As someone from outside of America: You were, and still are, all alone on the war in Iraq. Even the governments that did send troops to Iraq had populations that where massively (usually about 90% against) unhappy with your war. Tony Blair is probably going to lose the next election. Mainly because of his support of America. The whole world hates this war that America started
You are comparing two completely different situations. The second world war was nothing like the current war in Iraq. Comparing them makes no sense.
And you are missing the point anyway when you say "This is what my country did after WW2". The whole point is that the war isn't over yet. The Americans have occupied most of the country but the resistance is still very strong. The Iraqis still have a lot of fighting to do before they regain control of their country. The June 30th hand over is a meaningless political stunt. An attempt for the American rulers to claim that they no longer have any control over the situation.
And shut up about rebuilding your country anyway, it is not as if you had anything to do with it. I doubt that you are over 60 years of age.
What happens if someone figures out a way to make a gasoline replacement from genetically engineered microbes next year?
This is my pet peeve with people that ignore the idea of peak oil. They never really understand the laws governing the conservation of energy (I don't mean this in an environmental sense). Where do you think the microbes will get the energy to turn into an oil replacement? The energy they convert into a gasoline replacement has to come from somewhere. You probably thinking: "Of course, it can come from the sun!" Eureka photosynthesising microbes that produce oil.
That will solve the problem
Or not...
You see we already have these things called "plants". They are extremely efficient at converting solar power into energy we can use. Did you know that because of our access to fossil fuels we manage to burn 400 years worth of plant energy a year. Without fossil fules we could not do that.
Now perhaps you can genetically engineer a microbe that is more efficient at converting solar energy to carbohydrates... but 400 times as efficient? And then we would have to cover the entire globe with it.
I am sure that is the case. That the abuse is not representative of the US Army as a whole.
But. It does seem to be widespead across all the US Army run prisons. The stories coming out of Iraq and Cuba are something that nobody should feel comfortable about. The number of civilians murdered during combat is also insanely high. It should no longer be acceptable to go to a foreign country and kill thousands of people living in their own homes. Killing people who are defending their homes (ala Fallujah) is also morally bankrupt as far as I'm concerned.
New Zealand lost its first person in the Iraq mess yesterday. We didn't agree to send any fighting troops but we did send part of our engineer corps and a couple of them got involved in an ambush. It's a real shame.
The photos that were shown are just the nicer side of the abuse that is taking place. People have been beaten to death. Little boys have been sodomized.
Rumsfeld himself admitted this. He said that there are videos out there of this happening; however who the hell is going to broadcast a tape showing kids getting raped. It's probably illegal just to own it seeing as it is child pornography.
I might just cry you a river. I feel sick enough to do it.
At least, as a non american, (New Zealander) I am grateful that my tax dollars are not paying for the production of Kiddie porn.
I think what the world needs from America right now is to see that you guys actually take responsibility for your actions. Instead you seem to be sinking into total denial. Rush Limbaugh recently compared this abuse of Iraqi prisoners to fraternity hazing...
Maybe he was sodomized and beaten to death at college? It would explain a lot. I've always thought he was brain dead.
Slashdot Mirror
And since a company only costs NZ$160 to register in New Zealand and can be done in minutes entirely on line it's really not that much of a big deal. As an aside, the Companies Office have obviously just put up their rates. It used to only be NZ$60.
The American regime doesn't oppress it's own people that much. Nobody would argue that it does.
The American regime represses and kills the people of other countries instead.
------------
As an aside, the people of America aren't particularly free by the standards of most OECD countries. Socially you are closer to China than any other western democracy. Financially you are the most free country in the world. Whoop de do. Give yourselfs a gold star or something.
For all those of you just itching to get in your 2 cents about how America is the land of the free, the home of democracy etc... try experiencing life outside of your national echo chamber. There are so many places in the world that have real freedom.
So how many Iraqis do you think should die because of september 11. Just give us a number. When Americans have killed that many will you leave Iraq?
You have killed more than 100,000 civilians, and god only knows how many Iraqi soldiers, so I guess we can safely assume that you want to kill more than ten Iraqis for every American killed by Al Qaeda. Good for you... Nevermind that they had nothing to do with it in the first place.
And you wonder why the rest of the world regards americans as animals...
Never said that it would, however what are you trying to say?
To me it sounds like you are saying 'Oh the problem is too big, we can't fix it'. Like i said defeatist rhetoric.
I used NZ as an example because I live here. Sure we are a small country, but there are plenty of european states that have changed from first past the post election styles.
I can't believe the amount of defeatist rhetoric in this thread. I guess Americans just don't realise [don't bother correcting the english spelling] that there are many countries around the world that use alternative voting methods. I know because I live in one.
In New Zealand we used to have a two party system , not completely fucked like yours but it was pretty bad all the same. People pushed for electoral reform. Getting to the point of holding a binding referendum was a struggle but we got there in the end. Now we use a system called MMP (Mixed Member Proportional) whereby everyone has two votes. One for a party and one for a local representative, like a senator.
Each party wins a percentage of parliament based upon the percentage of the party vote that they manage to get.
This has lead to a much more balanced goverment. People vote strategically knowing that their vote is not wasted. If I like the specific policies of a small party then I can vote for them. Viva democracy. MMP wouldn't work in a presidential election though. IRV would be perfect. We use something similar (called STV - Single Transferable Vote) for some of the local body elections. It isn't a complicated thing to do. Monkeys can rank things in order of preference.
It's time you lot got together and created a more democratic voting process for your country. Before you idiots let some demagogue convince you into raping any other defenceless countries.
Like some I saw around here said, if you keep on voting for the lesser of two evils you are going to keep on getting evil.
Cheers
Hansel
My CV is in HTML. All the formatting is done with inline CSS. There are different formatting instructions for print and screen. Every employer I have ever heard of has a web browser. And all of them are interested by the presentation. Presenting it in an unusual format actually makes it stand out from the crowd.
Works for me.
Russell Brown often comments on America.
He is a New Zealander who goes for highly balanced commentary. I highly recommend Americans reading at least one blog that looks on from the outside. Check him out: Hardnews
None of you can even stand to look at what the rest of the world considers normal media anymore because it jars so much with your totally distorted world view.
buh bye
How soon before the bad guys set up a dummy corporation and start running nuclear bomb or protein folding simulations on this cluster?
The Bad Guys already have nuclear weapons. And it looks like you guys (maybe we should call you the Simple Guys, because you're not actually bad, just misguided) are going to elect them for another four years so that they can do some more damage. Kill some more kids, invade some more countries etc.
It's not really surprising. When people in your country, and amongst your ruling administration think an artillery shell constitutes a weapon of mass destruction then I think Michael Moore can call a huge **cking missile one too.
If all these Michael Moore detractors spent as much time fact checking the people he is attacking... Oh wait, I forgot. Bush jnr doesn't lie, he is just "dis-associated from reality".
* The list of the "coalition of the willing" mentioned only tiny, irrelvant countries, and skipped over really important ones: England, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands. Yes, we did 90% of the work ourselves, but the film implied that we had absolutely no international support, which is simply not true.
I hate to break this too you. As someone from outside of America: You were, and still are, all alone on the war in Iraq. Even the governments that did send troops to Iraq had populations that where massively (usually about 90% against) unhappy with your war. Tony Blair is probably going to lose the next election. Mainly because of his support of America. The whole world hates this war that America started
You are comparing two completely different situations. The second world war was nothing like the current war in Iraq. Comparing them makes no sense.
And you are missing the point anyway when you say "This is what my country did after WW2". The whole point is that the war isn't over yet. The Americans have occupied most of the country but the resistance is still very strong. The Iraqis still have a lot of fighting to do before they regain control of their country. The June 30th hand over is a meaningless political stunt. An attempt for the American rulers to claim that they no longer have any control over the situation.
And shut up about rebuilding your country anyway, it is not as if you had anything to do with it. I doubt that you are over 60 years of age.
Piece of number eight wire reputation.
Hmm, now I feel sadly parochial.
What happens if someone figures out a way to make a gasoline replacement from genetically engineered microbes next year?
This is my pet peeve with people that ignore the idea of peak oil. They never really understand the laws governing the conservation of energy (I don't mean this in an environmental sense). Where do you think the microbes will get the energy to turn into an oil replacement? The energy they convert into a gasoline replacement has to come from somewhere. You probably thinking: "Of course, it can come from the sun!" Eureka photosynthesising microbes that produce oil.
That will solve the problem
Or not...
You see we already have these things called "plants". They are extremely efficient at converting solar power into energy we can use. Did you know that because of our access to fossil fuels we manage to burn 400 years worth of plant energy a year. Without fossil fules we could not do that.
Now perhaps you can genetically engineer a microbe that is more efficient at converting solar energy to carbohydrates... but 400 times as efficient? And then we would have to cover the entire globe with it.
Gah, too much science fiction for you.
Damn, I knew all those kur5shin trolls would end up somewhere.
I am sure that is the case. That the abuse is not representative of the US Army as a whole.
But. It does seem to be widespead across all the US Army run prisons. The stories coming out of Iraq and Cuba are something that nobody should feel comfortable about. The number of civilians murdered during combat is also insanely high. It should no longer be acceptable to go to a foreign country and kill thousands of people living in their own homes. Killing people who are defending their homes (ala Fallujah) is also morally bankrupt as far as I'm concerned.
New Zealand lost its first person in the Iraq mess yesterday. We didn't agree to send any fighting troops but we did send part of our engineer corps and a couple of them got involved in an ambush. It's a real shame.
The photos that were shown are just the nicer side of the abuse that is taking place. People have been beaten to death. Little boys have been sodomized.
Rumsfeld himself admitted this. He said that there are videos out there of this happening; however who the hell is going to broadcast a tape showing kids getting raped. It's probably illegal just to own it seeing as it is child pornography.
I might just cry you a river. I feel sick enough to do it.
At least, as a non american, (New Zealander) I am grateful that my tax dollars are not paying for the production of Kiddie porn.
I think what the world needs from America right now is to see that you guys actually take responsibility for your actions. Instead you seem to be sinking into total denial. Rush Limbaugh recently compared this abuse of Iraqi prisoners to fraternity hazing...
Maybe he was sodomized and beaten to death at college? It would explain a lot. I've always thought he was brain dead.