Posts by Rich of Observationz
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I guess that's modern Auckland(/NZ)
Bit like South Africa. Soccer's the biggest sport there, but you wouldn't know it, because it's mostly followed by black people.
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The Americans might not have been prepared to win the battle at Pearl Harbour, but they were extremely well prepared to win the war of industrial dominance that followed (as indeed they were for the Civil War and WW1).
The Japanese were delusional that they could ever win WW2. Had they acted rationally, they could have achieved most of their war aims by attacking the British and Dutch empires and leaving the US alone until they had occupied those territories (including possibly NZ and northern Australia). Fortunately, they didn't.
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I think Americans consider Pearl Harbour to be some sort of war crime, despite the almost entirely military nature of the target.
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A tsumani today and dudes going to the beach to surf a wave that caused such damage....
That's only inappropriate (as opposed to slightly dangerous) if you have a particular worldview. The tsunami is a consequence of geophysics - it doesn't have intrinsic evil. To think that surfing it is any wronger than surfing any other water is just superstition.
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Dilworth's endowment is enormous
Phnaar, phnaar. Although I did hear that all the money came from the inventor of the near-eponymous sex aid.
BTW, water levels in downtown Wellington haven't gone over one or two centimetres as yet.
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Um, I would here point out that the Holocaust didn't cause WW2.
The western powers (and indeed the Soviet Union) had no problem with Hitler persecuting the Jewish people from 1933 onwards. It was only when their territory was clearly threatened that they took military action (UK & NZ:1939. US, not until 1941). A sizeable chunk of political opinion in all three countries was quite keen on the Nazis - the UK Daily Mail, for instance.
I hope this doesn't come over as diminishing the evil of the Holocaust (I have Jewish ancestry myself, and some of those relatives disappeared in 20th century Europe). But I have the belief that we are best served by analysing history through thought rather than emotion.
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...as long as there are still people alive who bear the number on their arm -- it's not a joke
So about twenty years, and all will be sweet?
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Almost every nation has atrocities in its past. Including NZ - we celebrate white NZ settler culture, ignoring the fact that if the treaty had been adhered to, Aotearoa would be a Maori nation with a small minority of pakeha, like Samoa or Fiji. The early settlers were only able to build cities like Wellington and Christchurch by stealing land, mostly through violence.
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Milling around outside, you were brought to your senses by some guy in a balaclava holding an assault rifle stepping out of the bushes and telling you that you were not allowed to walk this way.
Yeah, a few pubs in South Armagh used to be like that.
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they are entitled to contribute the benefit of their experience to the people who do decide the policy, though
Yes, in the form of a properly argued submission to the Minister / Select Committee available through the proper channels. Not in the form of sensationalist media outpourings.
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Personally, I'd be much happier if MPs and Ministers got their housing allowances abolished and replaced with a one-off pay hike.
How about giving each party $250k for each elected member, with a proviso that they account for how it's spent.
Then they could have each MP live on an average workers wage and spend the rest on campaigning, or alternately have the leader live in a palatial Remuara mansion with the MPs accomodated in the servants quarters. Or the stables.