On Australia’s finest stoner television, Today Tonight with Anna Cohen, I almost found myself applauding the TV at a news piece.  One of our mates across the pond on Maori TV called John Howard a ‘racist bastard‘. It was a New Zealand MP Hone Harawira that made the comment, and despite Coren’s reprisal, I damn well agree with everything he said.

If nothing else, Today Tonight is not current affairs journalism, it’s Cheech and Chongesque stoner comedy desperately looking for a red eye time slot to compete with Rage. It’s often so biased, typically lacking even the most basic neutrality and objectivity, you just have to laugh. How people watch this show every night with their children and tell them it’s news, I don’t know.

It didn’t take them long to start the attack. Tonight they interviewed the Maori party leader representing Harawira (interestingly it’s not on their website). In fairness to TT however, they did air about 2 minutes of Harawira’s dialogue that appeared unedited. Harawira claimed que bono [who benefits?] with Howard’s current action up north. Stating Howard’s modus operandi must be that if you move native people off of their land, they relinquish their rights to it. Not to mention to the plethora of natural resources under it. Oh yeah, not to mention that there’s an imminent election. Que bono indeed. With all this alleged child abuse occurring up there, it doesn’t seem the kids they’re so concerned about. But doing something about it while there’s an election imminent.

This much of what Harawira said is true: "He never sat down with the land councils. He never said to them ‘there is a problem here but we recognise that the best people to sort it out are yourselves, and here are all the resources’,". It would seem at least the most humane and altruistic way to solve a crisis. But no politician has altruism at heart. Evidently not Howard.

Insofar as Howard has a lot to gain by taking affirmative action on a very safe, if not problem of his own creation, I agree with Harawira. One thing is for certain that if Howard was genuine he’d should be flying in doctors, teachers and coppers, not soldiers and politicians. This isn’t affirmative action, it’s parapsychology. It reeks of Jimmy Carter’s Iran Hostage Crisis, where he delayed freeing hostages until the election was imminent, so he’d look great for it.

Even if Howard’s motives are pure, how come they have some much propaganda on the TV of soldiers and politicians flying into Aboriginal settlements like Condolezza Rice and George W? How can a man that refused to say sorry to native Australians have such a change of heart? Even if it was a bit harsh calling Howard a racist bastard, there’s enough to suggest it’s true. Maybe lying bastard would’ve been more accurate. There’s plenty to back that up. Like the GST we were never going to have!

Anyway one good thing has come out of this. New Zealand is by no means completely socially harmonious. They’re not without violent gangs or issues. But it does make you swell with pride to see a strong indigenous culture with a prominent voice stand up for what’s right. Oh yeah and if you really want to get me to vote Liberal John, get the hell out of Iraq!