USA

[MattG]

[Cyclone268]

[cheapskate]

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS

[taku]

[edrex]

Japan has a good, clean history of not supporting dictators... good call.

[Le Jalapeno]

I'd live in japan if it weren't for all the asian people.. They are OK in small groups, but when i see them in a pack of 5 or more asians, i get kinda creeped out. Makes me think of all those scary asian movies i saw.



but hell, i'd be HUGE in japan...... that is, for my personality

[taku]

[edrex]

Ok, so New Zealand is a greater nation than the US? What is thier contribution to the global community? Do they send out more in foreign aid to countries that need it? Can they help out militarily when they are needed? Technologically? Manufacture of goods? Research and science? Anything non-sheep related?

[buenos]

the thing that sucks is the united states has made it possible for other country's to have the same freedoms as us...but now we are taking the crap for it

[taku]

cliff notes: blahblahblah new zealand is awesome blahblahblah

We could go deep into numbers related to education, science, crime, economics, business, etc., that show we are not the greatest and that New Zealand and others are far superior in this aspect, but I can tell you just want to argue about the USA being the greatest. I know as a child we were all taught America is the greatest country on earth, but that doesn't make it true. Strongest thanks to our military? Yep, but that doesn't make us great, it just gives us a lot of world power.

We don't have more freedoms than most Westernized nations, if you think otherwise, go ahead and prove it. Canada, New Zealand, Scandinavia are just a few. In fact we've lost freedoms in the past 8 years thanks to Religious George Bush who has held back our scientific progress when it comes to genetics study, and who implemented the Patriot Act.

New Zealand is liberal and tolerant. They don't have a 2-party system, and it's actually easy to start up your on political party. Presently there are 8 widely accepted parties in NZ. The country is extremely young, they were only settled by Europeans as recently as 150 years ago. With that being said, they were the world's first country to give women the right to vote (1893). It adopted old-age pensions (1898); a national child welfare program (1907); social security for the elderly, widows, and orphans, along with family benefit payments; minimum wages; a 40-hour workweek and unemployment and health insurance (1938); and socialized medicine (1941), same sex unions are recognized (2004). High quality of life compared to cost of living. UN Peace Keepers, donate aid to foreign countries, Crystal clear lakes throughout the entire country, top priority of keeping the land pollution free, thousands of miles of sandy beaches, government-funded schooling system providing education to all, free healthcare for all residents, the list goes on and on.

And something interesting while on the topic of other great nations...
Denmark has freed itself of dependence on Oil over the past 20 years. They import ZERO. In the past 10 years they've tripled their use of energy efficient products. 1/3rd of all wind turbines in the world today are made in Denmark. Have you looked to see how tiny Denmark is on the map? I actually drove through Denmark on a bus and got to see the wind turbines first hand... that was back in 1999... almost TEN YEARS AGO. Are you kidding me, where are our wind turbines? Practically free energy with wind and solar but you know why we don't take advantage of it? Our government has too many fingers in the oil company pie. AKA corruption.

Anyways we could go on and on but I'm off work today and this shizzle is wasting my day away, it's freakin gorgeous outside!!!

[Cyclone268]

taku, your posts are rivaling esnows in terms of length and they're full of information

information...what a strange concept

[taku]

haha I was thinking about that, my posts have been getting longer and longer. That sucks, because I hate reading long posts :/

i heart home depot

[edrex]

taku, I know it sounded like I wanted to argue that the US is the greatest, but really I just wanted you to back up your statement. Its way too easy for people to imply things like that without any thoughts as to why they feel that way (ie: Being an atheist takes thought and reason as to why you don't believe in god, being agnostic just means you haven't figured it out yet).
One thing that does strike me though is comparing populations: Just over 4 million in NZ compared to over 300 million in the US. Maybe I'm just pessimistic, but I don't think with that amount of people to look over it would ever be possible to do here what they do there.
Anyway, if Udi won't move there with you let me know. We'll be on the next flight out.

[taku]

edrex, I can agree that population difference makes a difference. Though the size of New Zealand is about the size of Colorado. So 4 million people is on par... we just happen to have substantially more land mass and people to fill it

Thanks for the offer btw, I'm quite happy with uid, in fact tomorrow (halloween) is our 9 year anniversary! /old!

[TWG]

9 years!!

[Guy]

taku is right on... usa is a corrupt government.. so are alot of governments..



i would love to live in new zealand and i live in canada