as deep as a dollar

The prime minister has said that

"Plenty of women go back to work when their baby is a year old and it makes financial sense to do so"

 and that shows what a lowlife he is. Of course he never asks the obvious question of why. Yes a number of women go back to work and some of them may even want to, but many are also forced to because "it makes financial sense". If they didn't then there would not be enough money to pay the bills or create a life for themselves and their families and even for many that do work, the money isn't enough. Welcome to capitalism 101.

Of course the other implication of keys statement is that raising a child is not work which is utter bullshit. A good post on the standard shows the truth of keys lies. As that post shows, key is only looking at one side of the equation and mr moneybags never adds in the cost of working for any parent, let alone a single mum. That's just the monetary values not even getting into the social and moral values of having parent/s around raising young children. The comments on the post also mention - what happens when the child gets sick, or is disabled, or there are 2 or more children - why mention all of these factors when all he can focus on is money. 

The attitudes of key and bennett are the cause of most of the ills of our society.

they are us

The latest announcements regarding welfare reform are indeed beneficary bashing as Hone points out and Paula Bennett is an absolute bloody hypocrite as Hone has stated. The programs attack those who need support and they are not about any reform or improvement at all, they are all driven by a warped mentality that blames people for their situation. Only a very small percentage of the unemployed are recidivist most are there because of circumstance and it takes a very mean spirit indeed to attack those people but this attack is only the beginning of the program to drive people to desperation. No point building new prisons unless you have the bodies to put in them, is there.

NZH

From October, the 30,000 people on the domestic purposes, widow's or woman-alone benefits will have to be work-tested for part-time employment once their youngest child turns 5, and for full-time roles when their youngest child turns 14.

Having an extra child while on a benefit will bring only a 12-month reprieve from these obligations _ a disincentive to having more children. Private agencies will also be employed to manage the benefits of unemployed youth and teen parents.

Not just Mana and Hone are speaking out

Stuff

Child Poverty Action Group spokesman Mike O'Brien said children were invisible in the changes although they would be "profoundly affected". "At the very time the Government is consulting on vulnerable children, it is about to blow a huge hole in the safety net provided to thousands of children whose parents are on a benefit.

"The minister argues on the one hand that her first priority is the protection of vulnerable children so she needs to explain how the interests of children and so-called vulnerable children in particular are enhanced by these moves."

Auckland Action Against Poverty described the changes as a "nasty piece of work".

Spokeswoman Sue Bradford said the Government failed to understand two basic work concepts.

"The first is that there has to be jobs to go to before people can get paid work.

"The next is that bringing up children on your own is very important work in its own right."

Both key and bennett say, "there are jobs for beneficiaries" but Hone again slams them with this

Mana Party leader Hone Harawira said the Government wasn't creating jobs but taking them away.

He pointed to recent announcements of job losses at government departments including; 50 at the Maori Affairs Ministry Te Puni Kokiri, 305 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and 70 from Housing New Zealand.

So their lies are outed but only those affected or those who know someone affected will notice, the 'middle' who voted for the gnats will carry on with their head in the sand attitude, until they are forced to see by the inevitable downside of these changes - the increased desperation, the increased crime and the increased poverty. 

The people who need our help are our brothers and sisters, our family, our whānau - they are us and we are them. A pox on the instigators of these policy changes and their lackies.

wriggleroom shame

Well the Māori Party have found their wriggle room with the state asset sales.

RadioNZ

The Maori Party says its main concern about asset sales legislation was to ensure there was a Treaty clause, and not whether private shareholders would be covered. It's claiming victory after the Government confirmed a Treaty clause of some nature will be included.Finance Minister Bill English says there will be a clause reflecting the concept of the existing treaty clause in the State Owned Enterprises Act.But he says it will only bind the Crown, and not the 49% of private investors.The Maori Party says it can live with that, despite initially arguing that all shareholders should be bound by Treaty obligations.

Just like they found their wriggle room with the Foreshore and Seabed legislation. What a joke they are - I'm not going to go on about how useless they are - we all know it, we've told them it and they continue to display it. Shame on them.

the real threat

The consultation hui on the sell off of state assets are almost complete and Bill English the Deputy Prime Minister says that

Radio NZ

there has been general acceptance at consultation hui that the Government will proceed with the partial sale of four state-owned enterprises, but will protect Maori interests.

so Māori recognise that the sale will go ahead whatever the people say. Somehow Māori interests will be protected. Let's not forget this is the man who says the proceeds of the sale are a guess and not even the best guess and this is the person who deliberately tried to divide Māori on Waitangi Day.

I don't believe english or his guesses and this one regarding the hui is is wildest yet.

English, his position and attitudes are a bigger threat to Māori than Paul Holmes and his racist rant. Anyone who knows anything about this country knows that holmes was expressing a view held by many, often in subtle and hidden ways. Business as usual in other words for those of us fighting for equality.

underreported struggles 58

More essential underreported struggles from Ahni at Intercontinental Cry this month.

Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council won a key judgment against RainDancer Resource Management, a company that was trying to get exclusive rights to economic development on allotted lands. The Company, which has clear ties to the oil industry, had a keen interest in funding an 'off shore' or 'central' bank that would, they asserted, be protected by the Tribe’s treaty rights and sovereign immunity. The company is now essentially barred from doing any business on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Tibetan Villagers successfully halted a controversial mining operation that threatened Kawagebo, one of the most sacred peaks in the Tibetan world. In the midst of rising tensions, on January 23, a vice-official from the prefecture government heeded the Tibetans' concerns and ordered a Chinese company to close its mine and remove all equipment out of the village.

Bangladesh Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, gave renewed hope to Indigenous Peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). The Prime Minister recently pledged to implement the historic (CHT) Peace Accord treaty, which brought an end to decades of unrest in the region. The 1997 Treaty promised recognition for the rights of the indigenous peoples in CHT--rights which are still consistently ignored.

Around 30 Indigenous representatives met in Copenhagen to discuss the best way to secure Indigenous Peoples' full participation in the 2014 UN World Conference on Indigenous Peoples. As the representatives know all too well, the UN has become notorious for sidelining Indigenous Peoples at high level meetings and conferences, despite the impact such gatherings tend to have on our rights and our quality of life as Indigenous Peoples.

Laura Baymarrwangga, senior traditional owner of Murrungga Island and one of the last remaining Yan-nhangu speakers, is setting a powerful example for all of Australia. The 95 year old woman has created a series of projects to secure the future of her language and her people under a grassroots effort known as the Crocodile Islands Initiative (CII). These projects include the Crocodile Islands Ranger (CIR) program which provides "coastal surveillance and bio-security" on the islands; the development of a Web-based Yan-nhangu Ecological Knowledge (YEK) DataBase; and a Yan-nhangu dictionary project for kids.

Visit Intercontinental Cry to read about these issues and many others.

pattern recognition

Farewell Spit Onetahua has been in my head and heart over recent days. I have been taking tourists out there showing them the birds, the sand and the unique ecosystems and environment and I have been loving it. One of the most enlightening aspects of the Spit are the patterns – the patterns of sand, of wind, of waves. These patterns are not created by people but we are part of them and that interconnectedness is one of the themes the tourists get from me. I know – poor buggers! But they seem to enjoy it and I certainly do too.

all are insulted by the dipton-dipstick

Divide and conquer is always a strategy employed by those who want to destroy tangata whenua. Robert Guyton was at Te Rau Aroha marae in Bluff and heard Deputy Prime Minister Bill English say this

robertguytonblog

"If the northern tribes could run a marae properly, New Zealand might have a more positive view of the Treaty."

What English is so ignorant of is the interconnectedness of Māori - we are all related. This meme of southern verses northern Māori is common as muck and often used to try and divide - I've heard it a million times and it doesn't work, it does the opposite - it binds us together. The dipstick from dipton has shown us, with this comment on a southern marae, what a lowlife he is and we can be thankful for that, even though anyone of a thinking disposition knows it already.

Hattip - robertguyton

the slippery snake slithers away

So key ran from Waitangi because he couldn’t be heard – good job I say and well done to the protestors, who at personal risk fronted him, and let him know in no uncertain terms what some of us feel about him. This protest was legitimate and necessary because the state and its representatives are treating tangata whenua disrespectfully as evidenced by the announcements this week of the proposed removing of clause 9 in the new legislation flogging off state assets and the job loses at TPK orchestrated by The Māori Party and the gnats.

Key wants to control the narrative and he wasn’t able to and that is great. This is the way to do it because his narrative oppresses Māori and reiterates inequality and unfairness. Some argue that it is better to be nice but where has nice got Māori?

Some argue it has played into key’s hands by solidifying support from middle NZ against horrid Māori but that doesn’t matter because they are already at that place. If it has played into his hands then THAT is what should be addressed – the fact that he has an anti-Māori agenda and sinister intentions towards tangata whenua. The protestors got it right by forcing the slippery snake to slither away.