All rise for the judge – and all power to him, too, when he cuts a swathe through human rights bullshit

Sulking at missing out on a gong today, and musing on the need to grow a beard to get one, Alf bypassed local newspapers and their stories of Kiwis who profess modesty and insist they don’t really deserve the honours they have been accorded.

In too many cases Alf is apt to agree – no, they don’t deserve them.

Not as much as he does, anyway.

By the way, he does wonder about Sir Pita Sharples professing to be embarrassed by his knighthood.

And he wonders about the title “Ta” given him by the NZ Herald.

Willie claims more support than his rival but he goes to court – not the polls – to prove it

I’m more popular than that Kake feller, and I’ll sue if you disagree.

Far from Auckland, hunkered down in the Eketahuna Club, Alf’s mates couldn’t give a toss about whether broadcaster Willie Jackson should be sitting on Auckland’s  Independent Maori Statutory Board.

They do give a toss about process.

They observe that Willie took a legal route on his rocky passage towards a seat on the board, which provides advice to Auckland Council on Maori issues.

The High Court has ruled in his favour and found the board’s selection processes were flawed.

Jamie has stuck his neck out on that special law stuff and – yep – has smartly been told he is a racist

Which one is regarded as special by that UN thing we signed?

It looks like the special treatment of our indigenous persons is shaping up as a campaign issue – if it isn’t quickly snuffed.

It also looks like anyone who says our indigenous persons are given special treatment will be denounced as racists.

Alf accordingly would never raise such questions.

He wonders about the political wits (and balls) of those who do.

One of them is ACT Party leader Jamie Whyte. Another is New Zealand First’s Winston Peters.

According to a report from Radio NZ, they both say ordinary Maori do not benefit from what they call race-based laws.

But the Maori Party – bless them – said the ACT Party and New Zealand First are vying for the redneck vote.

And they say Jamie’s ideas have no place in New Zealand politics.

If they have no place in our politics, of course, they can’t be discussed.

End of story.

Why the court should have ignored the Mongrel Mob bit and focused on his indigenous status

Alas, the court hasn’t recognised the special qualities that are more than skin deep.

Oh dear.

We have some judges who aren’t up with the play about our indigenous citizens requiring special treatment.

A giant blow was struck in favour of these citizens on 20 April 2010, when Pita Sharples announced your Government’s decision to formalise its support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

He said this would help to restore New Zealand’s mana in addressing indigenous rights.

Pita’s media statement included 16 points set out under an “Announcement of New Zealand’s Support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”.

The anti-tour protesters will be represented in South Africa – by Pita and (unofficially) by Hone too

At first blush, it looked like a delegation without tour protesters.

The impression was magnified by anti-apartheid activist John Minto when he bleated about wanting to go to Nelson Mandela’s funeral in South Africa – but only if he went with the official delegation.

We all remember Minto, of course, as a protest leader against the South African rugby tour in the 1981 and – since then – as a protester against anything that calls for someone to bellow into a bullhorn.

He is reported to have said John Key’s delegation should include him or an anti-apartheid activist MP like Mana’s Hone Harawira or Green Party’s Kevin Hague.

Sharples and Co can’t see the awful truth that Maori are voting by avoiding the Maori roll

Dunno what the problem is.

No matter how hard one tries, it is hard to find.

The Maori Party is banging on about it and demanding remedies, regardless.

It says it is concerned by the low numbers of Maori taking up the opportunity to switch from the General roll to the Maori roll and it is urging Maori voters to stand up for Maori representation and their Maori seats.

The notion that Maori voters might be perfectly content being on the General roll and – in Alf’s neck of the woods, anyway – able to vote for splendid Nats like him appears to have escaped them.

This demonstrates what an ethnocentric bunch they are.

Just a thought: how would the count go if the Maori Party voted today on the co-leadership?

Alf has to confess he pulled the stunt once, some years ago. Unsuccessfully. And embarrassingly.

Yep. He threatened to retire as member for Eketahuna North at the next election if he did not become National’s leader within 12 months.

He made the threat at a caucus meeting.

The reaction was….

Well, very sobering.

Pita Sharples should show us he’s a democrat and put his leadership to the vote

Any curiosity we might have harboured about Maori attitudes to a good old-fashioned democratic vote are reinforced today by Pita Sharples.

The Maori Party co-leader has written an opinion piece for the Herald (see here) to set out his reasons for staying on in the job, paying no heed to fellow co-leader Tariana Turia and MP Te Ururoa Flavell who reckon his used-by date has expired and it’s time he stepped down, rather than stay on past 2014.

The Maori King didn’t piss around – he made plain who owns the water (and it isn’t the Crown)

Waikato-Tainui accepted a co-governance deal – but now they want the lot.

Alf must have missed something somewhere about this water malarkey.

First, he was led to believe Maori claims to water were something to do with rights, not actual ownership.

Second, he was led to believe Pita Sharples would not attend the national hui set up by that Maori king bloke in the Waikato.

Just a few weeks ago the Waitangi Tribunal – urging the Government to halt the partial sale of Mighty River Power – said the partial privatisation would affect the Government’s ability to make redress to Maori rights in water.

It called for an urgent national hui to find solutions to questions around how Maori rights over fresh water are recognised.

The Government duly delayed the Mighty River Power float until next March or April.

It said it would consult iwi associated with waterways used by Mighty River Power but rejected any pan-Maori approach to settle water claims.

But Maori obviously intend to up the ante in their campaign to control all our water before they move on to take control of the wind and the air we breath.

Pita’s attitude pisses off lots of people, but which aspect of it prompted a staffer’s departure?

We learn from the Herald on Sunday that Pita Sharples has an “attitude”.

We knew that, of course, so it shouldn’t be regarded as news.

His attitude is palpable every time he is interviewed, makes speeches, issues media statements, or whatever.

It’s an attitude that is fiercely pro-Maori, promoting “our people” as “special” citizens, which is apt to piss off the rest of us who on that basis are immediately classified as second-class citizens.

It seems to have pissed off one of his staff members, too, which explains why the HoS thinks it is worth bringing to the attention of its readers.

The HoS story suggests there is an element to Sharples’ attitude which has escaped Alf’s notice.