Ben Harper moves to NZ

[puff]

I was saying on a previous thread about Americans moving to other parts of the western world because of unhappiness with their home land , Recently Ben Harper has moved here following closely on the heels of shania twain , Ben likes surfing and has bought property in Raglan on the west coast ,
to answer Jeffs question what is nz like , well theres 40 million sheep and 4 million people so theres lots of quiet places to go .
the government system is proportional representation so theres a few gays and pot heads in govt , theres a bit of skiing for utah ites and lots of fishing and if your into adventure holidays theres lots of white water rafting , mountain hiking and all that sort of stuff ,generally most people here are very friendly . the sort of people who like it here are greenies , peace activists whale freaks and so on ,
the money is a lot lower than America would be but there is lots of work around
i do like nz cause for one theres 1000,s of miles of ocean around and thats great .
if you like nature ,beaches and lots of solitude you would like nz ,
imigration has been steadily growing from u.s.a over the last fiffteen years , i think going nuclear free may have increased that trend , a good place to bring up a family and no hope of your kids being sent to war

[meinmachine]

New Zealand, what an amazing place (or so I have been told) home of my favorite musical acts, Crowded House and of course the Finn brothers.

That being said NZ will have much to answer for in the coming years. Where were they when the world needed a hand fighting Islamofacism? Why did NZ hide in the shadow of Australia and the USA and offer no help in protecting its own interests?

How could NZ disband its Airforce, savage its Army, and all but sink its Navy? Did it really think that the Australians would do all the work for them internationally? Many NZ'ers are ashamed of their socialist welfare state. Such places can only exist if other nations are willing to pick up the load and do the dirty work for them.

NZ is similar to Canada. By luck of Geography both are protected by a larger, stronger neighbor. Canada has tried to stand on the sidelines, but hundreds of Canadians were killed on 9/11 and our cities and citizens have been targeted by terrorists. So now Canada has found out that it really does need a military and it must stand up for its own interests. So now we are rebuilding our military. The "Peaceable Kingdom" as we have been called is now fighting, how long will it be before NZ stops being a leech on the Australian underbelly and starts fighting for its own interests?

[puff]

New Zealand, what an amazing place (or so I have been told) home of my favorite musical acts, Crowded House and of course the Finn brothers.

That being said NZ will have much to answer for in the coming years. Where were they when the world needed a hand fighting Islamofacism? Why did NZ hide in the shadow of Australia and the USA and offer no help in protecting its own interests?

How could NZ disband its Airforce, savage its Army, and all but sink its Navy? Did it really think that the Australians would do all the work for them internationally? Many NZ'ers are ashamed of their socialist welfare state. Such places can only exist if other nations are willing to pick up the load and do the dirty work for them.

NZ is similar to Canada. By luck of Geography both are protected by a larger, stronger neighbor. Canada has tried to stand on the sidelines, but hundreds of Canadians were killed on 9/11 and our cities and citizens have been targeted by terrorists. So now Canada has found out that it really does need a military and it must stand up for its own interests. So now we are rebuilding our military. The "Peaceable Kingdom" as we have been called is now fighting, how long will it be before NZ stops being a leech on the Australian underbelly and starts fighting for its own interests?well i presume you are in canada , which i often wondered if it had a voice of its own as its seldom mentioned in world affairs , but i like your post because its nice and antagonistic and thats always good fuel for the fire .
interesting that you should know so much about nz because most people in that part of the world do not even know where it is , this is true as some reporters went on the streets in new york and asked passers by where nz is , only about one in 10 could give an accurate answer , most confusingly thought it was part of Australia , one thought it was near holland , so i am impressed that you would know that much , some things are not quite right tho,
Nz does have troops serving in armed combat in afganistan ( a S.A.S unit) and recently won praise from the american administration for showing particular bravery in combat . they also have troops stationed in east timor and several nz soldiers have been killed there in recent years .
we still have a navy , three ships but very well equipped and trained .
the airforce was scrapped because of lack of funds but is presently under review .
i think most kiwis would be a bit upset at your statement that nz relies on australia for protection whilst shunning engagement world wide ,
nz is very much involved in efforts to stabilise this area of the world but has taken a anti nuclear stance ,
this caused america to cease its navy visits being unwilling to restrict its visits to non nuclear ships only and also caused the collapse of the anzus alliance between australia , nz , and america , along with this there has been quite a few punitive measures taken by america in retaliation , they being not willing to accept at all the right of nz to be a nuclear free zone , which to me seems quite arrogant , perhaps many americans saw this as anti american rather than anti nuclear which it was not .
as for being ashamed of the welfare state , well which nz people are you listening to ,
personaly i am grateful that i can get sick and go to hospital without incuring a massive bill , and lots of other things like that , generally speaking society is full to the brim with evil greedy people who stop at nothing to line there own pockets to the max and don,t give a toss about the suffering of the poor or anybody else , without a welfare minded state , society itself becomes intolerable harsh , there,s lots of millionares in india and they practice complete capitilism , if you think welfare for the poor is bad you should go and live there for a while and see what its really like , people eating , sleeping , shiting and eventually dying on the streets and even being cremated on the street after death , yet india has a very robust economy , can afford nuclear weapons and large armed forces , would you be happy if nz was more like india ?
nz has a very long miltary history in the world , sacrificed more soldiers per captia than any where else in the west during the two world wars ,
the present issue is about nuclear weapons and increasingly agressive behaviour by some nations that believe they have a right to invade , bomb and subjigate foriegn lands on the trumped up idea that these nations presented some kind of threat to national security .
i also think that the idea that you can turn muslim iraqis into nice happy democractic westerners by force of arms will turn out to be a total farce ,
in that regaurd i feel totaly sorry for families in america and britain that are losing their children and husbands to an idea that will eventually turn out to be totaly hopeless .
it would have made more sense to subdue iran rather than iraq as iran is the real cause of worldwide terrorism , the problem is a worldwide cult that encourages war suicide and murder , until you can root that out there will be no peace , but iraq was not the sponsor of it , how many iraqis were involed in 911 , as far as i know , none , didn,t they just pick on saddam becuase they thought it was the easiest way to make a statement , politics is mostly bullshit , just like religion , anyway nice to hear from you again

[helemon]

there,s lots of millionares in india and they practice complete capitilism ,

What is interesting about India however, is that it used to be a more socialist society. The reason India is having its massive technology boom, according to Tom Friedman's the World is Flat book, is because the socialist government paid to teach a large number of its citizens engineering and computer skills. So when the tech boom took off in the US India was the only place where large numbers of computer savvy people could be found. Makes you wonder why the US continues to cut student aid and tuition continues to rise!! Studies of the G.I. bill said the US reaped $7 for every dollar spent on the program. So if we really want to jump start this economy we need to start subsidizing higher education in order to make it affodable to all.

[puff]

What is interesting about India however, is that it used to be a more socialist society. The reason India is having its massive technology boom, according to Tom Friedman's the World is Flat book, is because the socialist government paid to teach a large number of its citizens engineering and computer skills. So when the tech boom took off in the US India was the only place where large numbers of computer savvy people could be found. Makes you wonder why the US continues to cut student aid and tuition continues to rise!! Studies of the G.I. bill said the US reaped $7 for every dollar spent on the program. So if we really want to jump start this economy we need to start subsidizing higher education in order to make it affodable to all.perhaps india had a communist socialistic phase , which may have been good for it , as it stands now tho , its a place of intolerable suffering , not only because of its miserable economy which does not distrubute wealth to its citizens but also a type of religion that encourages racilism and lack of empathy for the poor , the interesting thing is that they can only prosper by leeching on to other economys as they need material wealth to exsploit , along with that western companys set up in places like india and china so they can pay slave labour rates and avoid all sorts of safety standards ( remember union carbide ).
a good idea would be to ban investment and trade with countrys that do not uphold minimum wage rates and basic human rights , but i doubt that would ever happen because of greed

[meinmachine]

My apologies to the NZ SAS. They are a top-notch unit that is well regarded world wide. NZ'ers should be proud.

New Zealand soldiers were regarded as some of the finest in the Commonwealth during WWI and WWII. It is sad to see how far the decline has gone. Canada has seen a similar but not as dramatic decline. Now the decline seems to have been reversed.

Canada too is sensitive about being accused of free loading off the USA, but the truth hurts. We have a strong well funded national health care system. It is the largest single expense in the Canadian federal budget. We can afford that because we pay less for our military than almost any other NATO country. (We pay more for agricultural subsidies than on our military) Shame on Canada and Shame on Canadians.

I have a great affininty for New Zealand. It seems much like Canada in many ways, but perhaps a little further down the socialist path.

We have a few NZ'ers around where I live, they run the Wool growers association. Go figure, NZ'ers knowing something about sheep!
(They are also Mormons!)

[elder_nomo]

We have a few NZ'ers around where I live, they run the Wool growers association. Go figure, NZ'ers knowing something about sheep!
(They are also Mormons!)
Go figure... Mormons knowing something about sheep! ;)

[puff]

My apologies to the NZ SAS. They are a top-notch unit that is well regarded world wide. NZ'ers should be proud.

New Zealand soldiers were regarded as some of the finest in the Commonwealth during WWI and WWII. It is sad to see how far the decline has gone. Canada has seen a similar but not as dramatic decline. Now the decline seems to have been reversed.

Canada too is sensitive about being accused of free loading off the USA, but the truth hurts. We have a strong well funded national health care system. It is the largest single expense in the Canadian federal budget. We can afford that because we pay less for our military than almost any other NATO country. (We pay more for agricultural subsidies than on our military) Shame on Canada and Shame on Canadians.

I have a great affininty for New Zealand. It seems much like Canada in many ways, but perhaps a little further down the socialist path.

We have a few NZ'ers around where I live, they run the Wool growers association. Go figure, NZ'ers knowing something about sheep!
(They are also Mormons!)lots of greenies have moved into nz so maybe thats why it has a anti war sentiment plus a socialist liberal women priminister who never wears dresses , has a deep voice , has no children and calls herself miss clarke ( dare i say more ), at one stage both major partys had women in charge so you had no choice but vote for a women , some people from overseas thought this was really funny , nz was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote ( now they have taken over )i think thats why the airforce got scrapped , ( we just don,t need those silly boys for toys things flying around) theres more women in nz than men as well ( oh my god we are surrounded ) , so if your a desperate male who likes women with deep voices who don,t wear womens clothes , you should come to nz and have a humping ball

[helemon]

so if your a desperate male who likes women with deep voices who don,t wear womens clothes , you should come to nz and have a humping ball

What makes you think they would even want those "desperate males" ? But I guess there's always the 40 million sheep. :duck:

[puff]

What makes you think they would even want those "desperate males" ? But I guess there's always the 40 million sheep. :duck:
I think you might be getting confused between australia and nz , a lot of americans have this problem as they can,t seem to figure there different places , i bet dogzilla doesn,t have a clue what the difference is .
australia is the place that has wide open spaces with few female residents around , in these sort of places sheep shearing and sheep shagging often go hand in hand , or perhaps i should say hand in wool , whatever .
nz has hump back whales , hump back dolphins and humpy women .
after you,ve finished watching the hump back whales and dolphins you can go to the pub and watch the humpy females ,i,m not kidding you about this , nz is a real humpy place if you like getting humped , and of course theres hills every where so its a real humpy place , unlike australia which is flat boring desert from one end to the other , you only have to travel ten miles in australia and you,ve seen all of it because its all the same , scrub bush , white gums and wind blown dust and dirt ,
in my younger days i traveled from brisbane to perth on a motorcycle alone , there where parts of that journey where i set the throttle open on full , strapped a pillow to the petrol tank and layed along the bike literally asleep , by the time i got to perth i was babling uncontrollably because i had not spoken to anyone for days .
anyway today i went out to the beach and to my surprise there was about 20 people surfing , not bad for winter , but it felt like summer is coming today , one of these guys looked like ben harper ,so i called out , hey ben whats wrong with america don,t they have surf over there , he just smiled and said , kiora mate , this is home and i love it ,
so there you go , some people like week kneed anti nuclear nz with its pettycoat parliment .
after this i went fossil hunting by the cliffs and for the first time found fossils , impermeated in the rock was ancient forest remains , perhaps millions of years old , just laying there waiting to be observed but unoticed by passers by walking up and down the beach with there humpy females , s perhaps you have a better view of nz now , i would like to see the name changed to the humpy islands , but it is a great place for a holiday , very easy to meet people and get *******

[meinmachine]

I'm starting to like you Puff. But not in a "Humpy way".

[papa]

I'd relocate to NZ in a heartbeat, but I doubt they'd have me, not rich enough or smart enough. :duh

[puff]

I'd relocate to NZ in a heartbeat, but I doubt they'd have me, not rich enough or smart enough. :duhi used to help people come here from the islands , all they needed was a gaurentee of work and they could get in , i was on holiday in the islands , people started asking me for work gaurentees as i ran a very small company , like me and a dog and a paintbrush , so si gave one away , then another , then more and more people kept asking for work gaurentees, a gave out about 10 of them , half of them ended up on the solo mums benifit and the other half in jail , so i decided i had better stop giving out work gaurentees for jobs that did not even exist but people kept coming and coming , begging crying , plese help me , my brother , my sister please help , then when that didn,t work they started offering money , lots of money , when that didn,t work someone just decided to forge my letters of aproval , god knows how many people came in on a forged work gaurentee before i found out what was happening , so i finaly put a stop to it but this racket was going on all over town , all they needed was a letter saying they had a job and they were on the boat , so people started selling letters for $1000 a pop ,
the next crazy imigration scheme was some bright spark idea that some dodo in parliment had that to make nz wealthy all we had to do was let rich people imigrate , so if you had a few hundred thousand dollrs in the bank you could get in , well the tricky little chinese soon had this figured out so they setup a floating fund , once one chinaman had gotten in with his 100 ,000 equity whatever he would send the money back to china and the next guy would come over ,
then there is the marry a kiwi bunk , every where you look there is these 80 year old men walking around with 20 year old philipino women , my daughter was working at an indian restraunt and was offered $20,000 to marry an indian , not to sleep with him but just so he could get in the country , but i suppose all this happens in good ol usa with mexicans burrowing under the border and cubans putting to sea in tin bath tubs ect , hey i,m sorry if some of my remarks were a bit harsh on America , i think its a fascinating place and would love to see it all one day , i geuss i was doing that to wind you guys up a bit bit , and daryl as well my old aussie mate m did you see the aussies get shorn and shagged by the all blacks on saturday night , that throat cutting gesture on the all black haka must have really worked , come to think of it , maybe nz is not so peace like after all , throat cutting stomping muscle clad all blacks , mongel mob bikers , speeding drunk motorists , immigrants driving on the wrong side of the road , polynesian gang fights with matchetes and base ball bats , raw sewage pumping into the sea , rock throwing ten year olds on motorway bridges , chinese kidnappers throwing bodies into the harbour in suitcases , drug growers with plantations hidden in the bush surrounded by booby traps and guns, earthquakes , volcanic eruptions, fat greasy fish and chips , pies , dognuts filled with cholestral , kid racers ,maori activists , floods , bible hockers , yep its not really that peacefull at all , probably a lot safer in America actually

[puff]

I'm starting to like you Puff. But not in a "Humpy way".you acually have to have humps in the right places if you want to be my friend , if you have some nice humps and a pretty face , you can just about make me do anything , if you don,t ,then i probably wouldn,t bother to throw you a life belt if you fell off the boat , and thats what everybody else in nz is like to ,:we are only interested in people who have something we want , like humps :rant: :rant: :rant:

[papa]

meinmachine say:

"That being said NZ will have much to answer for in the coming years. Where were they when the world needed a hand fighting Islamofacism? Why did NZ hide in the shadow of Australia and the USA and offer no help in protecting its own interests?"

where'd you get "Islamofascism"? From the Judeofascists?

BTW, perhaps you were not aware of the scandal last year in NZ about the Israeli spies working a fake passport ring for Mossad? Linked with a "murder tourists to steal their passports" ring in SE Asia.

Perhaps NZ figured they had enough on their plate dealing with the Judeofascists abusing their fair country.

[dogzilla]

I think you might be getting confused between australia and nz , a lot of americans have this problem as they can,t seem to figure there different places , i bet dogzilla doesn,t have a clue what the difference is .


Of course I do. I'm fascinated with both cultures and have both countries at the very top of my "places to visit before I die" list.

Australia is the big one with the rabbit-proof fences and the big Indy race at Surfer's Paradise every October or so. It's also where my favorite (at the moment) Penfold's shiraz comes from. (Coonawarra... yumm.)

NZ are the smaller islands about a thousand miles to the southeast of Tasmania, where Lord of the Rings was filmed and where they keep those awesome tree ferns which I cannot seem to keep alive in my yard. They are also starting to make some well-known, very good wines in NZ, which I am looking forward to trying should I ever come across any.

And... evidently, there's a lot of humping going on down there.

:neener:

(What you may not realize is that, unlike many Americans, I am AWESOME at geography. So there.)

[peter_mary]

(What you may not realize is that, unlike many Americans, I am AWESOME at geography. So there.)
I can vouch for this...unlike many folks on the East coast of the U.S., dogzilla has not ONE time referred to my home state as Iowa...:D

She makes me so proud...

[puff]

Of course I do. I'm fascinated with both cultures and have both countries at the very top of my "places to visit before I die" list.

Australia is the big one with the rabbit-proof fences and the big Indy race at Surfer's Paradise every October or so. It's also where my favorite (at the moment) Penfold's shiraz comes from. (Coonawarra... yumm.)

NZ are the smaller islands about a thousand miles to the southeast of Tasmania, where Lord of the Rings was filmed and where they keep those awesome tree ferns which I cannot seem to keep alive in my yard. They are also starting to make some well-known, very good wines in NZ, which I am looking forward to trying should I ever come across any.

And... evidently, there's a lot of humping going on down there.

:neener:

(What you may not realize is that, unlike many Americans, I am AWESOME at geography. So there.)yea i was just kiddin ya Dogzillia , i know you know heaps of stuff about nz , that was true about in new york tho only one in ten new where nz was , but this was about ten years to 15 years ago , nz might have been in the news quite a lot since then .

as for papas comment , i see you can,t do the highlight thing either ,
also don,t forget the rainbow warrior , how french agents came here and blew up the green peace ship killing a innocent person , now if this would have happened in America there probably would have been a war or something .
despite these agents being caught , they only served a token sentence and were eventually given back to the french as the french threatened butter import embargos to europe ,
and nobody was around to back nz up , not the brits americans australians or anybody else , it was politically inexspedient to deal with french terrorism ,
so the ball swings both ways about not being a part of the fight against so called terrorism

[dogzilla]

I can vouch for this...unlike many folks on the East coast of the U.S., dogzilla has not ONE time referred to my home state as Iowa...:D

She makes me so proud...

That's because I'm from Ohio. And I hate when people mix up Ohio and Iowa. (Although now, I've decided that the swath of amber waves of grain from Iowa, across Illinois, through Indiana, and into Ohio all looks exactly the same and might as well be one state, collectively called... Ohiowa! You okay with that Helemon?)

But yeah, puff, the other 85% of this country has no idea where New Zealand is, what Kiwis are or who the Maori are.

[papa]

as for papas comment , i see you can,t do the highlight thing either ,
also don,t forget the rainbow warrior , how french agents came here and blew up the green peace ship killing a innocent person , now if this would have happened in America there probably would have been a war or something .
despite these agents being caught , they only served a token sentence and were eventually given back to the french as the french threatened butter import embargos to europe ,
and nobody was around to back nz up , not the brits americans australians or anybody else , it was politically inexspedient to deal with french terrorism ,
so the ball swings both ways about not being a part of the fight against so called terrorism


The USA is VERY quiet about one type of foreign agent/spy operating in the US. Even when caught, arrests of agents of Israel are hushed up and kept out of the press, and if at all possible, the agent is allowed to return to Israel. So some Americans will no doubt call the NZ prime minister an "antisemite" for choosing to actually prosecute the Israeli agents who were scamming passports in NZ.

As for the French, for their nuclear fiascos they are world criminals, but their alliance with the military plutocrats protects them. The nuclear "testing" in French Polynesia is a major case in point. The peoples of the Pacific Islands and border countries overwhelmingly oppose their nuke testing, but they blow up the Greenpeace vessel and keep right on testing.

Is this terrorism? To the people who are downwind of this mess, yes. I know it terrorized me when, as a child in SoCal, I was exposed to radiation from the Nevada test sites. The many families in Nevada and S Utah who have lost loved ones to radiation diseases/cancers would prolly also feel terrorized. Unless they are so brainwashed that anything done under the emblem of the US flag is considered to be "promoting the general welfare", and therefore perfectly fine.

I always wonder what the "patriots" of Utah will say when their kids sicken and die after being exposed to DU radwaste in the Middle East. "I'm just sorry I don't have more kids to offer the military"??? :Puking

[puff]

Of course I do. I'm fascinated with both cultures and have both countries at the very top of my "places to visit before I die" list.

Australia is the big one with the rabbit-proof fences and the big Indy race at Surfer's Paradise every October or so. It's also where my favorite (at the moment) Penfold's shiraz comes from. (Coonawarra... yumm.)

NZ are the smaller islands about a thousand miles to the southeast of Tasmania, where Lord of the Rings was filmed and where they keep those awesome tree ferns which I cannot seem to keep alive in my yard. They are also starting to make some well-known, very good wines in NZ, which I am looking forward to trying should I ever come across any.

And... evidently, there's a lot of humping going on down there.

:neener:

(What you may not realize is that, unlike many Americans, I am AWESOME at geography. So there.)so if your really good at geography , whats the name of the straight that separates the two islands , ( no looking at maps )

[dogzilla]

so if your really good at geography , whats the name of the straight that separates the two islands , ( no looking at maps )

The Strait of Kiwi!

:D

I have no idea.

But I thought of you last night as I bought 3 kiwi fruits for a dollar. I was wondering what's the best way to pick out fresh ones. I started to squeeze 'em a little and then I thought about how much they look exactly like testicles and I started to feel a little obscene.

So I headed straight for the banana aisle.

:eek:

[puff]

The Strait of Kiwi!

:D

I have no idea.

But I thought of you last night as I bought 3 kiwi fruits for a dollar. I was wondering what's the best way to pick out fresh ones. I started to squeeze 'em a little and then I thought about how much they look exactly like testicles and I started to feel a little obscene.

So I headed straight for the banana aisle.

:eek:well its the cook staight but i will forgive you that one ,
funny you should mention kiwi fruits cuz i just started eating heaps , there great for constipation and stomach cramps , they seem to cure acid stomach really quick ,
not sure if they look like testicles , a bit to big and the wrong color , nice and hairy tho , maybe your suffering from a little bit of depravity and need somebody really hot to make you happy all night long .

i would send you a naked photo but i don,t trust you , i can see you showing it to all your friends crowded round the computer , puffing on buds and laughing insanley,
see Dogzilla , i know you , i got you all sussed out and i havn,t even seen you in the flesh ,
but you can send me a photo if you like and i promise not to show anybody , because i am a quiet reserved kiwi guy and i really respect ladys :Crazy:

[dogzilla]

well its the cook staight but i will forgive you that one ,
funny you should mention kiwi fruits cuz i just started eating heaps , there great for constipation and stomach cramps , they seem to cure acid stomach really quick ,
not sure if they look like testicles , a bit to big and the wrong color , nice and hairy tho , maybe your suffering from a little bit of depravity and need somebody really hot to make you happy all night long .

i would send you a naked photo but i don,t trust you , i can see you showing it to all your friends crowded round the computer , puffing on buds and laughing insanley,
see Dogzilla , i know you , i got you all sussed out and i havn,t even seen you in the flesh ,
but you can send me a photo if you like and i promise not to show anybody , because i am a quiet reserved kiwi guy and i really respect ladys :Crazy:

:D

Actually, I do have sort of a date later, but thanks for your offer. I'll be sure to take care of business this weekend. ;)