Sept. 6, 2009
Episode 43 Horse Meat ,Michael Laws bullies Kids.
Hello and welcome to another episode of Jay Wont dart's podcast, your number one source for New Zealand News.
My intro was a youtube clip about Gay Anarchists upsetting church goers.
This episode, the sale of Horse Meat intended for pets to people who eat it, and Michael Laws, a mayor and celebrity upsets some young Maori children.
First, Horse Meat.
Horse meat is not sold in New Zealand, at least not in a way that makes it safe for people to eat. This story covers people buying horse meat from a pet food abattoir, the meat is meant for pets to eat, and is sold in bags saying "not fit for human consumption". I really want to get some of those bags and use it for vegan activism, with toy chickens and cows inside of the bags. Maybe I could change the words to "not fit for HUMANE consumption".
So called Pet food meat is not prepared to the same standard as meat designated for people. It has a greater chance of causing food poisoning, from having higher numbers of bacteria and parasites. Its also probably not hacked up in as clean a facility, to save the factory owner from having to invest as much in machinery and processes. Basically, pet food grade meat is not as "clean" as meat designated for human consumption.
People are outraged about this, people eating Horse Meat in New Zealand, despite the fact that we kill horses for pet food, and I've heard we export horse meat overseas.
This is another case of people believing some animals to be too important, or too special, to be eaten. A lot of racist remarks have come up, because its apparently mostly Tongan people who are buying the horse meat to eat as a tongan specialty meal, called Loi Hoosi. However, in the video, one of the sellers mentions all sorts of people as buying horse meat from her.
Heres the first clip
I've stopped here to mention whats going to happen, when the slaughterer is approached, he hugs and kisses the reporter! Its very odd, but effective! I have a 3 minute video clip, the full footage of his response, but as its not very audio centric, I wont play it. Ok, back to the first clip.
Its somewhat difficult to find the difference between "pet food" grade meat and "human grade" meat. How is the average New Zealand meat eater, with pets, meant to feel hearing that pet food grade meat contains quote "more parasites" and quote "greater chance of food poisoning"? Would you really feed it to a cat or dog you consider a family member?
People are terribly upset that New Zealanders are eating horse meat. The people upset by it complain that its not a "new zealand" thing to do, we dont do that in this country. Well, tell that to the people who DO eat horse meat in this country. You cant control what people do, just because you dont agree with it. I must sound like a hypocrite now right?
I love to ask people what they think is in their pets food, oh sure the ad shows "lovely pure meat" going in, but thats an ad, it would make dirt look healthy, all the while claiming it promotes a shiny coat. In reality, Pet food grade meat is awful, by definition its "worse" than normal meat. If you buy pet food that contains "meat", its probably pet food grade meat, meaning its the absolute worst, most diseased animals you can think of, hacked up. I've read about some pet foods that claim to use "humane grade meat", but thats not a class of meat technically, so it could just be marketing speak! Heres a hint, if it says "not intended for human consumption" on the packet, its probably diseased. If it has a warning not to be eaten, then its probably not a good idea to feed it to your pets.
The other story I'd like to cover today is Michael Laws, and his reply to some 11-12 year old kids who wrote him a letter. Michael Laws is an outspoken Mayor, and hosts a radio show, amongst other things. Hes a right wing commentator type guy, the man on the street is meant to like him because he "cuts to the chase", "none of that Politically Correct garbage". An average Michael Laws comment will focus on race, that "certain races" beat their kids, or are all on benefits.
I'll let the clips speak for themselves.
Even when Laws is defending himself, he often brings up annoying things, like that the teachers MUST have put the kids up to it, or that kids that age are only into Harry Potter. Who is he to tell kids what to be interested in? If younger people are into politics good for them. Just because they are below voting age, doesnt mean they should only read children's fantasy books.
At the end of that clip, Michael Laws sounded apologetic, but on his own radio show, hes quite different. This is part of Michael Laws response on his radio show, hes always very sure of himself and comes across as boisterous.
So, thats Michael Laws.
Thank you for listening about two current events that are happening in New Zealand. My outro is an angry Scientologist talking, he swears a few times.
You can find the script for this episode, as well as downloads for every episode of Jay Wont darts podcast at jaywontdart.blogspot.com
If you want to contact me, even just to say you listened, send an email to [email protected], j a y w o n t d a r t @ gmail.com, I'd appreciate it.
Have a super happy day, bye.
