Icons of the equal rights movement such as Wilberforce, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Mandela all had the concept of one law and one set of rights, responsibilities and privileges as the cornerstone of their philosophy for the citizens of their countries.
Some writers to this paper now claim that supporters of this concept such as myself are racist, bigoted, redneck and other labels. They claim the desirable way is to separate citizens into ethnic labels and award special rights, privileges and status on the basis of a preferential ethnic ancestry. I find this quite bizarre and a pathway condemned to social failure by the weight of history.
The quote from Hitler that M Nelson claims I invented was attributed to Hitler in an article I read some time ago. I mentioned it in response to the suggestion of T. Tuakaokao that only non-Maori had reason to fight in WW11 and Maori were sent to fight in a war that did not concern them.
I cannot affirm authenticity which is why I described it as a ‘reported comment' but neither do I have any reason to doubt it is genuine and the tone of it is in keeping with his known attitudes. Even a self professed Hitler expert like Mr. Nelson cannot be aware of all the content in the thousands of speeches, conversations and articles espoused by Hilter over his time in power.
Mr. Nelson's claim that Hitler was only concerned with central Europe is not supported by the fact that he invaded countries in Scandinavia, islands in the Mediterranean, a number of countries in Africa and Russia whose territory includes parts of Asia and into the Pacific. He also formed an alliance with Japan, the other country I referred to that also had an attitude of racial superiority evidenced in their treatment of the peoples they overran in Korea, China, the Pacific and their Prisoners Of War.
Mr Nelson shoots himself in the foot when he reminds us that Maori were not included in the first units sent to fight and had to petition the government to be included. This clearly suggests that they knew what they wanted to do and why they wanted to do it which is what I maintained, unlike T. Tuakaokao. They certainly did make a valuable contribution, one that continues in the armed forces today.
The exclusive Maori extension to the home insulation scheme most certainly does exist despite claims to the contrary and was part of the Coalition agreement between the Maori Party and National. The first stage rollout was announced by Dr. Pita Sharples several weeks ago and involves bringing up to standard the (Maori) homes of a community in Hawke's Bay. I suggest calling Dr Sharples' office if you want more details.
Mike Kuipers von Lande