Your Terrible Muriel

Hermitage has not been good for former ACT MP Muriel Newman. She sent this latest missive from her compound in the slums of Remuera:
One of the main reasons for high rates of abuse among Maori was welfare dependency, she said.

"At the heart of the child-abuse problem is a dependency culture that Maori have
embraced. It excuses and rewards irresponsible and depraved behaviour and treats
children as a revenue stream – the more babies you have, the more money you
receive, and the bigger the house you get to live in," she said.
This was
taken from her weekly newsletter (a document, I imagine, hand written on grimy
paper and accompanied by pictures she has drawn in crayon of the apocalypse).
She also stated in this newsletter that “New Zealanders did not want to
acknowledge issues behind one of the nation's biggest problems”.

I believe that this is an untruth (from an ACT MP? Never!) I think that every talk-back station in the country has been hassling the “Maaaaris on the bloody dole!”

The question is: Is this actually the issue behind the one of the nation’s biggest problems? The answer is: sort of.

Benefit dependence and long term benefit use including multi-generational receipt is a real problem. But not just for Maori. And whether it is a direct contributor to child-abuse is an interesting area of research.

Don’t look for a solution here. That would be crazy! Like Muriel level crazy!

I will say this though. The quote above about “irresponsible and depraved behaviour” and “children as a revenue stream” to get a bigger house to live in, may just be the nuttiest thing I have ever heard. To quote Ricky Gervais: “I’ll ask you again, was the newsletter written in shit?”

Speaking of shit, you’ll never guess what President Bush was heard saying to Prime Minister Blair at the G8 Summit. He said that Hizbollah needed to “stop doing this shit”. By shit he means firing rockets at Israel. Although he did say that Syria needed to cut it out as well.

Others have being saying similar things about the attack on Lebanon (which I think we can all agree was not a great idea) but George may not have heard them. It seems he doesn’t like long speeches.

Bush also said that when he next spoke to G8 leaders, he would keep it brief.
"I'm not going to talk too long like the rest of them. Some of these guys talk
too long. Gotta go home. Got something to do tonight," he said.

Wow, look out Laura, Dubya’s comin’ home!