Tonga Riots
- Thread starter AquaErik
- Start date
Here's another Deja Vu moment for you.
"There are no universal elections in Tonga, where 10 of the 14 cabinet posts in government are appointed by the monarchy for life. Two of the remaining four posts, chosen from elected members of the Legislative Assembly, are reserved for "nobility."
"There are no universal elections in Tonga, where 10 of the 14 cabinet posts in government are appointed by the monarchy for life. Two of the remaining four posts, chosen from elected members of the Legislative Assembly, are reserved for "nobility."
One thing people tend to forget when living in a democracy, is how many services the government provides, at whatever level of efficiency. Consider living somewhere where there is no governmental mandate to help the common people and no accountability to the people by the politicos, i.e no elected leadership.
Imagine a world without public trash cans, basic public education, public social service organizations, regulation of the workplace, enforced building codes, sanitary codes or health inspections of restaurants, bakeries and the like.
Imagine a world where there are high (15%) "consumption" taxes and electricity and gasoline are among the costliest in all the Pacific Islands, for no particularly good reason.
Now imagine that you live in one of the poorest nations in the world and that your King goes jet setting around the globe, squandering "public"money on harebrained financial schemes.
I think the Tongan people are some of the finest I've been privileged to live among and it's criminal how they have been treated by their government.
Not that the people in the government today are directly to blame for everything, some are friends of mine,but the fact is that it's a bloated, entrenched, self serving example of a bureaucracy gone bad.
Sometimes I have to remind myself of all the basics I take for granted here in the States.-Jim
Imagine a world without public trash cans, basic public education, public social service organizations, regulation of the workplace, enforced building codes, sanitary codes or health inspections of restaurants, bakeries and the like.
Imagine a world where there are high (15%) "consumption" taxes and electricity and gasoline are among the costliest in all the Pacific Islands, for no particularly good reason.
Now imagine that you live in one of the poorest nations in the world and that your King goes jet setting around the globe, squandering "public"money on harebrained financial schemes.
I think the Tongan people are some of the finest I've been privileged to live among and it's criminal how they have been treated by their government.
Not that the people in the government today are directly to blame for everything, some are friends of mine,but the fact is that it's a bloated, entrenched, self serving example of a bureaucracy gone bad.
Sometimes I have to remind myself of all the basics I take for granted here in the States.-Jim
clarionreef
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- San Francisco
PlayStation 3 Melee Watch: Campers Get Violent
Oh my. As with Tongans...Americans believe in something worth fighting for as well.
*Campers and local news reporter shot with BB pellets
• Guy robs 10 New Yorkers in line at gunpoint
• 60 people fight over 10 PS3s, one guy's face goes into a pole.
• Near riot takes place as SF PlayStation store tries to move line
• Wal-Mart shuts down when fight erupts over moving line from inside to outside
• Future Violence: Best Buy camping only starts at 5:00 am launch day, melee to erupt at 4:59
• Line cutters pissing off everybody, fights erupt
Steve
Oh my. As with Tongans...Americans believe in something worth fighting for as well.
*Campers and local news reporter shot with BB pellets
• Guy robs 10 New Yorkers in line at gunpoint
• 60 people fight over 10 PS3s, one guy's face goes into a pole.
• Near riot takes place as SF PlayStation store tries to move line
• Wal-Mart shuts down when fight erupts over moving line from inside to outside
• Future Violence: Best Buy camping only starts at 5:00 am launch day, melee to erupt at 4:59
• Line cutters pissing off everybody, fights erupt
Steve
Oh, how we in the US seem to think we are immune to the social upheavals our third world friends partake.
Just wait until Bush veto's Nacys' first reform bill.
Then the impeachment.
Then Nacy wont like the idea of playing second fiddle to President Cheney...
so the second impeachment.
Now thats going to be a "riot"!
Just wait until Bush veto's Nacys' first reform bill.
Then the impeachment.
Then Nacy wont like the idea of playing second fiddle to President Cheney...
so the second impeachment.
Now thats going to be a "riot"!
We won't always have to take an expensive vacation to some exotic island to get a real world education in third world unrest. One day we will be able to stay home and get that education. If you ever got out of your gated communities you might find there is some of it here already.
Dizzy, I worked extremely hard for 5 months in Tonga. Not what I'd call a vacation. Try doing a 21 hour, 90 box (big Tonga boxes btw) packout some time and tell me how much of a vacation it seems like. Also, before I left, I was living in a medium rough part of Oakland CA, hardly a gated community!
Perhaps because I'm well educated and literate you assumed I'm rich?
I think even us poor folks don't appreciate what our government provides and to live (not vacation) in a land where the government does next to nothing for the people is a real eye opener.-Jim
Perhaps because I'm well educated and literate you assumed I'm rich?
I think even us poor folks don't appreciate what our government provides and to live (not vacation) in a land where the government does next to nothing for the people is a real eye opener.-Jim
Also, I think that you are correct in saying that our country is headed for trouble. For the same basic reasons, a growing divide between the haves and the have nots, a casual indifference to the plight of the poor, legislative favoritism towards the wealthy etc...-Jim
Jim,
I wasn't referring to you specifically. Check out the plural in communities. I just can't get that Reef Check party out of my head. Everytime I think of California environmentalists I see this picture of rich folks. So sorry for the confusion.
Mitch
I wasn't referring to you specifically. Check out the plural in communities. I just can't get that Reef Check party out of my head. Everytime I think of California environmentalists I see this picture of rich folks. So sorry for the confusion.
Mitch
Oh and Jim, East Oakland is considerred to be on the level of East Los Angeles, VERY ROUGH. Just a few blocks from you old house is one of the roughest spots in all of Oakland. The only thing that is worse, is the bone yard/ghost town where Matt lives (in between two battling rival gangs)
No problem, I'm used to people assuming I'm a member of the "privileged class" so I probably overreacted to your comments. I too find it distasteful when people go on tourist holiday and come back proclaiming "it wasn't so bad there" after spending a week or 2 at some resort, their contact with the natives limited to brief chats with the waitstaff.
I think this is a particularly hot button issue with me since I feel some rich people use their money to (deliberately or not) shield themselves from the grim realities of the lives of the "have nots".
I think this is a particularly hot button issue with me since I feel some rich people use their money to (deliberately or not) shield themselves from the grim realities of the lives of the "have nots".
Sponsor Reefs
We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.
Click here to sponsor $10:
