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Shuttle threat from down under?

It seems the Tuhoe tribe of New Zealand’s Maoris have decided to think big:

“In answer to my questions, they also confirmed their claims of absolute sovereignty over all air space to the heavens above. It was specifically stated that, once the Foreshore and Seabed legislation is resolved, they would be approaching Air New Zealand and other airlines to negotiate compensation for all incursions into their air space.

“They drew the parallel of other sovereign states where missiles are deployed to shoot down unauthorised aircraft. The group also confirmed that it would be approaching NASA and other authorities in respect of their satellites that orbit the Earth.

You simply could not make it up.

19 comments to Shuttle threat from down under?

  • Euan Gray

    “I’m lazy, gimme money. By the way, I’m a minority*, so if you say no you’re racist. Gimme more money!”

    * Are there any Maoris in New Zealand? I thought they were all wiped out 200 years ago and those who say they are are basically whites pretending to be victims?

    EG

  • I thought they were all wiped out 200 years ago and those who say they are are basically whites pretending to be victims?

    WTF??? Please tell me you are kidding.

  • Hank Scorpio

    Maori tribe: “Hey, US government, you owe us billions of dollars for violating our airspace with your orbital sattelite overflights.”

    US government: “Hey, Maori tribe, we have a long history of decimating native peoples and your government isn’t exactly on our buddy list at the moment.”

  • Harry

    “Maori tribe: “Hey, US government, you owe us billions of dollars for violating our airspace with your orbital sattelite overflights.”

    US government: “Hey, Maori tribe, we have a long history of decimating native peoples and your government isn’t exactly on our buddy list at the moment.””

    Hank Scorpio: “Hey, everyone, I’m an idiot. There’s nothing to see here. Move along.”

  • Alternatively it could just be a damn good joke on their part.

    Quite a good one too, if it is intentional.

  • Guy Herbert

    They aren’t the first to try this. Bit slow off the mark in fact. Link

  • J

    Lol, nice one Harry.

    Best of luck to them. They do us a service by pointing our how silly and artificial our ‘international laws’ concerning the air and sea are. Every country owns the sea out to coastal battery range, and the air above them up to interceptor maximum altitude. After that, why, ownership is just whoever’s got the biggest army. Which I imagine the Maori, ex owners of New Zealand, are keenly aware of.

    Custer wears an arrow shirt.

  • I have a 747 fly over my house just about every day and get really good reception on my satellite TV. Any idea who I contact for compensation and how much I should ask for?
    Best
    Cass

  • The point about the artificiality of certain kinds of laws is right on the mark. In practice, a “right” you can’t enforce isn’t worth the breath you claim it with. They can ask for anything they like, but if no court will pay attention and they have no force to try to impose it themselves, then it doesn’t matter any more than it would if i claimed everyone on earth owes me $1.

  • Tom

    Be interested to know how one could establish property rights in million cubic miles of space, exactly.

    Crazy story. You have to almost admire the Maoris’ chutzpah, though. Of course if they were really serious they’d be pushing for space colonisation, but that requires getting off your backside rather than demanding a state handout.

  • Julian Morrison

    Applying strict libertarian property theory to this: you can’t homestead what you can’t use. Mr Rutan might have a case. These guys don’t.

  • toolkien

    How Bizarre, How Bizarre.

  • J

    Tom

    The maori are not asking for state compensation. They are asking for wergild. Their land was taken from them by force, they want it back or they want compensation. That may or may not be either reasonable and/or realistic, but it’s nothing to do with a state handout. They have no social contract with the current state of New Zealand.

    Generally speaking I’ve little sympathy for various groups (like gypsies) who proclaim themselves outside of society, and therefore unobliged to pay taxes etc., since they are usually pretty willing to take benefits such as police protection.

    Indigenous peoples who have been forcibly assimilated into a foreign state on their land are an exception in my opinion.

    If I were native American, I’d really resent paying taxes. Having ‘donated’ my entire country to the federal authorities in the 1860’s, I’d kind of feel my tax account was in credit for a good few centuries.

  • bob

    Coincidentally, here is an excerpt from Bush’s speech at the UN a couple of days ago,

    “Well, I don’t give a flying phooey what the polls say about maori. I believe it is time we send a man to Mars. In fact, if we send anyone, it will be my good friend, Bob, who deserves more than Cheney, even. You can find his harrowing yet inspiring journal at http://www.sendbobtomars.com and it’s a darn good read, y’all.”

    Thanks, Dubya. Right back at ya.

  • I suspect the Maori have discovered the wonders of the nuisance lawsuit.

    The Maori have no moral claim to victimhood. They attacked and raided everywhere they could. They wiped out an entire people on island about three hundred miles east of New Zealand even though the islanders were pacifist and offered no resistance. The Maori like most groups of humans, killed and enslaved every other people they got power over. They just eventually ran into somebody a hell of lot better at it than them.

  • Bruce Hoult

    This probably hasn’t made it out to the rest of the world, but these claimants are a rather fringe group, and are currently the laughingstock of most of the Maori in NZ.

  • Shawn

    “They have no social contract with the current state of New Zealand.”

    Strictly speaking this is not true. As the state is representative of the Crown, the Maori peoples do have a contract called the treaty of Waitangi, which, depending on your interpretation, grants Maori tribes soveriegnty over certain areas and resources.

    The Tuhoe claim though is laughable (but they are serious I’m afraid).

    Maori tribes do have common law property rights over parts of New Zealand, and the current socialist governments foresore and seabed legislation amounts to a massive nationalisation of private land.

  • Tim Sturm, who could probably qualify for a land claim based on 1/16th Maori blood.

    The Maori case is an abject lesson in the coordinated / uncoordinated strategy of the left.

    First they entrenched a post-modern view of history which painted Maori – collectively – as victims, while the white man was saddled with collective guilt. This idea was firmly planted in education curricula at all levels.

    At the same time political moves were afoot as the left saw an opportunity to gain ground by appropriating Maori victimhood to further their own power. Even while the so-called free-market revolution was going on, various institutional and legislative changes were taking place that would ultimately prove devastating for race relations in the country:

    – a requirement for the Crown and many government departments “to have regard to the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” – a vague three paragraph document written in 1840.

    – the establishment of a “Waitangi Tribunal” to consider Maori claims to land, fisheries, forests, radio spectrum, beaches, you name it.

    With the trough wide open the hogs dived in, buoyed by self-righteous indignance and the complete impotence (and incompetence) of the establishment conservatives to stem the tide.

    The number of bloated dependents grew, while self-reliance, individualism, and employability went out the door. Finally, the country has become utterly divided and there has been talk – however glib and however remote – of civil war. This is obviously exaggerated, but, the point is, things are very, very bad.

    I only hope that this can somehow be turned around over time. The good news is that the conservatives have finally started to get their act together and actually say something with conviction and without apology. But who knows where it will end up.

  • In 1978 some guy in Manila tried to sue NASA for injuries sustained when he fell out of bed. He was having a nightmare about the US Space Station Skylab falling on him.