CosmicBills Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 (edited) It's now the fifth day since the earthquake in Christchurch. As of this morning, there are over 125 people confirmed dead and over 200 are still missing in the rubble. It's been over 2 days since a survivor was last discovered. There are thousands of families that have lost their homes. For a small island nation of a little over 4 million people, this earthquake has been a national tragedy. It is expected to cost over $16 BILLION dollars to rebuild the city and surrounding towns. I've volunteered to go down to ChCh when the rebuilding begins. I know that my services as a city engineer will be greatly needed. (Many, many kilometers of roading, sewerage, stormwater and fresh water infrastructure will need to be replaced.) I've been helping with the local Nelson Civil Defense in fielding messages from local Nelsonian's offering any help they can. From tradesmen heading down with their heavy machinery to the THOUSANDS of Nelson families offering to open up their own homes to take in families that have lost their homes. The outpouring of support has been incredible in this tight-knit country. In the midst of all this suffering and tragedy, your comments ("Fan in San Diego") continued to pop into my mind and haunt me. Not only should you be ashamed of your comments, toward those of us in peril, but you should apologize to all around you, including your family, for being such an ignorant man. Look at some of the things you wrote when first learning of this tragedy... -" I hope we don't send a penny to help. They pulled out of the alliance, they will not send troops to help us nor do they let US warship dock in their harbors. They pulled out, now live with your choices NZ!" [/i ] - Classy thing to say there, Mate. Alliance? What Alliance? ANZUS? For this, you want to let to not help in these peoples suffering? What are you? -"Well there should be consequences for turning a cold shoulder to the rest of the western civilized world." - What exactly are you talking about? Is this in reference to the Iraq Invasion, the ANZUS Treaty or to another disillusion figment of your imagination? NZ turning its back on the rest of the western civilized world? Huh? New Zealand has always had close ties to America. They've fought side by side in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and now Afghanistan. (While the Iraq War was strongly opposed here in Aotearoa, NZ has sent Engineering teams and public support teams to Iraq.) link If this was in regards to ANZUS, how 'bout a quick little history lesson... - After the Second World War the United States, along with their French and British allies, frequently tested nuclear weapons in the Pacific region. Being located in the South Pacific and having no true enemies during the cold war, Kiwis and other pacific island nations became strongly opposed to the testing. As the same with America, there was a lot of social change in the 1970's in NZ. Much of this revolved around the French nuclear testing in French Polynesia. This strong swell of Anti-Nuke feelings swept the labour party into power and having our Prime Minister send one of our Naval vessels into the French Nuclear testing area as a formal sign of protest. (This vessel was accompanied by many many other private NZ vessels, including The Rainbow Warrior.) These protests so infuriated the French, that they sent a team of commandos into Auckland Harbour who sunk the Rainbow Warrior with explosives. As a result of all of this, the People of New Zealand passed the "Nuclear Free legislation" making the territorial waters (and land), Nuclear Free in terms of weapons and propulsion. We, as a nation, are opposed to nuclear weapons and have adopted that into our legislature. Nuclear Free New Zealand Because of this, any naval vessel entering NZ waters needed to state if there was any nuclear material on board. Unfortunately, the US Navy policy states that they "Could not confirm or deny" the existence of nukes of their boats. Because of this, US Naval vessels are not allowed in NZ. It's NOT because New Zealand did not allow US ships into her waters... IT'S BECAUSE THE US NAVY WAS NOT ALLOWED TO CONFIRM OR DENY OF THEY HAD NUKES. George Shultz was so pissed off at this that he withdrew the treaty, you moron. NOT New Zealand. Read about it here "your country thumbed it's nose at us, why should we help?" - Huh? - Now a little history about me. I was born and raised outside of Rochester New York, (Go Bills!) but moved my family to New Zealand around 6 years ago, when we saw the writing on the wall. I've always loved America and always will. That being said, many tragic things happened as a result of the 9/11 attacks. One of the greatest tragedies of that event is that people like you began to come out of the woodwork and establish a stronghold on the American psyche. Without understanding the facts and without compassion, you breed ignorance through violence and revenge. You spin false accusations while your fellow ilk, lap it up loving it. In the years I've spent living in New Zealand, I've become very proud to be associated with such fine people. You, "Fan in San Diego" are one of the reasons why we moved away. I wish you the best in your journey. (But let's hope our paths never meet.) +1 Edited February 26, 2011 by tgreg99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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