Tim at Tumeke has a great post about a hui he attended where Te Ururoa Flavell defended the repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act.
... After a rough session where we remained unconvinced this bill would do anything other than legitimise all the mining and drilling that is planned by the Crown and will lock in the confiscations that have happened all the way to 2011, Te Ururoa breezily attempted to use the same old bullshit line about being open to ideas. This was too much. They cut the process short and say they will do all the changes at committee stage/2nd reading, but we won't have any chance to object to it then. We can't properly tell him yes or no now to the bill because we don't know what the law will say - and neither does he. It is preposterous.
I said I had put forward ideas at select committee stage but had seen no evidence that anything I or anyone else that wasn't a big infrastructure company had said was taken on board. So how long have we got to get back to him with our ideas that he will be listening to (before the caucus votes for whatever the Nats put in anyway?) I asked. Realistically, I said, how long have we got to email you our ideas on this bill before it's too late. I had my pen poised over my pad and I kept looking at it as he struggled to find an answer. All I could hear was the ticking of the clock and him shuffling papers around for what seemed like an age. I didn't look up at him, just at the tip of the pen. The meeting waited in silence. Then he finally said: "a week." I took a long blink, looked up and repeated, slowly: a week. Maybe it was my unchecked expression of derision that did it, maybe it was the laughter from the others, maybe it was the earlier exchange over Hone and who would be the next male leader of the party now "you pulled the pin on him" that had something to do with it, but he seemed a little irked. "A week," he repeated. "One week" I repeated in disbelief. "You wanted a time: a week." - he reiterated tersely. There was more silence as the bad punchline to an even worse joke sunk in. No one had to say anything - it's a farce.
That week has started running which reinforces the 'farce' - it is a joke but no one's laughing.
Bomber at Tumeke blog provides a great little service - he reviews 'The Nation' and 'Q&A'. His analysis is often very funny and sometimes he uncovers deep insights. Previously I have gone to the source and watched the video plus read the transcript but alas I have tried to find this transcript but so far (might be too quick) I have been unable to. You may have broadband and can watch it for yourself. Police, Corrections and Veterans' Affairs minister judith collins offers her insight on why our imprisonment rates are so high and there is one group to blame - maori. Maori have made the stats look bad!
From
Tumeke
"Prison population rising, she argues that Corrections isn't influencing the crime rate, so it isn't Corrections fault. Guyon makes the point however that we lock people up more than almost anyone else, Crusher the astoundingly says the reason why we have such a high lock up rate is because of MAORI???????????? WTF IS SHE SAYING? She says the Maori population is the reason why we have such a high incarceration level when compared to the rest of the world?????? She is claiming it's not the raw law and order meat policy she is implementing that is locking more and more NZers up, she is saying our high incarceration levels are because of Maori???
TVNZ video
When you get up off the floor from laughing or crying just have a real think about the attitudes and worldview that pour forth from this minister. It is astounding to consider the low grade thinking going on, from a minister making decisions that affect us all, that is coloured by racism. It would be good for collins to consider why maori are in the position they are in. Perhaps she could have a look here. And for some reason it reminded me of rick ellis and this.
