G'day. 'Mo Stoogers' reckons he's a concerned Australian too, because he thinks Howard is cool and the nation would miss him. Here's his plea to other readers of the NHJ website.

'I cannot believe how any, intelligent Australian could want to replace one of Australia's best Prime Ministers and Governments with a proven failure leading a party who is a proven economic failure.

'Latham's record is that as Mayor he drove the Liverpool Shire to the brink of bankruptcy. And you dickheads want to replace Howard with Latham. If Australia is broke how is that going to defend our democracy. We have a strong democracy and economy thanks to Britan who has provided our system of Government, USA who provides our protection and John Howard who has made us strong economically.

'Stop being a bunch of dickheads and get behind Howard to keep that loser and failure Latham out of office at all costs.'

G'day again. Here's some great stuff on political and media ethics from Simon Longstaff, Executive Director of the St James Ethics Centre, on Meet the Press this morning. I agree with EVERYTHING he says, except on the Kernot/Evans affair, which I think Laurie OPakes was correct to report. The heated Webdiary debate on this one is at Your say on the Cheryl Affair, Sex and the politicians, Rights of reply and An affair to remember.



GREG TURNBULL: Some cynics see honesty in government as a contradiction in terms. Does it have to be that way?

SIMON LONGSTAFF: Well, it can't be like that. In a democracy, it ultimately depends on - all authority comes from the people and they, w

test

If, to quote from the homepage, the problems lie with 'Big Parties, Big Business and Big Media', is there so much emphasis on the one individual ? Believe it or not, there are parts of the country that prefer Howard to journos (but don't forget that it was while campaigning for gun reform in front of country people that he wore a bullet resistant vest. But that was years ago, and nobody in this country remembers past the budgie cage lining from last week.

Quite frankly, if I judged ALL criticism of Howard by the mindless schoolboy sloganeering (examples from reader reviews include 'Howard and his oligarchy', 'ashamed to be an Australian', 'our own 'Austrian housepainter'') that comprises most of this site, then I would have to assume he was a saint.

I know that ain't

I am angry, I am upset to the point of tears, I am terribly sad. This morning I was reading in NHJ about the extraordinary security measures taken when Bush visited Canberra and I have just witnessed, in Adelaide, the extraordinary measures taken to protect JH.

I went to the Festival Theatre complex to book some tickets and saw half a dozen kids on the footpath with home-made banners and at least half a dozen police. Walking in towards the theatre I saw the white car, number C1. Some Liberal function was happening.

When I came out I hoped JH might cross my path (no one thought me a threat apparently), but he didn't. I saw that the protestors had moved and police had followed them. I stood next to them and heard that they were forbidden to make their protest and had to move on.

Six teenagers, none of them resisting or shouting, were just trying to reason with the police. But six police were not enough. Along came a white car and out gets a plain clothes - what?

Margo, having returned from 18 months in Palau, where I became for the first time an SMH and webdiary fan, I am stunned. Having devoured the book in 24 hours, I am still shaking my head that through our lack of awareness our democracy is disolving like sugar in water. The insidious nature of the erosion of individual and NGOs right is appalling. It makes me shudder.

I view Howard as Gollum in LOTR 3, his power addiction is terminal to all around him. The vulnerable 'articulates' in society (feminists, gay, indigenous, socialists etc...) and the environment suffer .

All I can say right now is Mr Latham 'Get well and help Australia recover!!.' I will take Margo's sugestion and vote independent first, Labor second - the first time ever for a small l liberal voter. Thank you Margo!!

Max Suich, old time media heavyweight, suggests today in The Age that our media establishment is failing in its duty, primarily due to playing the he said/she said game with the political parties, rather than seriously questioning establishment power. It's a very NHJ message.

And, with the American election heating up, an increasing number of entertainers are taking sides and campaigning for Kerry or Bush. This Crikey piece examines the politics of Bruce Springsteen who has teamed up with a number of high profiles musos, along with moveon.org, to take their message of moderation around the US.

I would be interested in joining / starting a NHJ! movement in Perth. Any others in Perth interested?

NHJ responds (AL): Fantastic idea, Stevan. Any interested parties should contact Stevan directly and perhaps soon enough we can unfurl a NHJ banner from one side of Australia to another!

The web address for Parliament House listed in the book is incorrect: www.aph.gov.org

The correct address is www.aph.gov.au

Yesterday I was attacked by a peacock on the Pacific Highway at Ulmarra (NSW North Coast) while listening to an update on Mark Latham's pancreatitis

It's great to be back home in Australia!

It seems like every day, something quirky and unexpected happens. You only have to get out and about amongst it and before long you get a bizarre situation like the one above.

I'm certainly not the only one to love this sunburnt country. I was driving between Brisbane and Sydney and have never seen that part of the country looking drier. I could have flown but I wanted to drive and reconnect with my homeland. Dorothea Mackellar juxtaposed many images of Australia in 'My Country'. She wrote of the beauty and the terror of this place.

The juxtaposed images and situations this country has a habit of dishing up have always meant that more than anything you have to respect it. The blue ringed octopus may be pretty, but don't pick it up.

John Howard

I am living in Brisbane and was wondering if anybody has started their own NHJ OR SIMILAR interest group? Erosion of our DEMOCRATIC rights are only the symptoms of something much more sinister going on behind the scenes.

As an individual Social Justice Activist I'm doing the best that I can in bringing awareness to the masses by way of personally made advertisement and of course the display (at every opportunity possible) of the NHJ book. I can be contacted at 0422 276 294 or [email protected]. Thanks - Keep up the excellent work.

Thank you for the bumper stickers sent me - they'll all be on Noosa-area vehicles by this evening. When it comes to getting the George Bush clone of John Howard out of office, I am so happy to be able to do more - to feel empowered. I have a dream of a renewed and reinvigorated Australia. I am grateful, and will leave you with an idiom I love which seems appropriate. It is sheer folly to tear at ones hair in grief, as though baldness will lessen the situation.

There is a destiny, which makes us brothers

None goes his way alone,

For all that we bring into the lives of others

Comes back into our own

Requiescat In Pace Prime Ministerial Shame

It is with a profound sense of incontinent hilarity that NHJ! announces the retirement of Australian Political Satire, who this morning cited 'personal reasons' when asked what lay behind his surprise decision to flee public life prior to the next Federal election. Pressed on rumours of a breakdown of his fertile 30-year marriage to the political columnist Underlying Serious Observation - who has also recently announced her departure from Canberra - Satire acknowledged that both he and his partner's careers had suffered lately as a result of what he would only describe as 'current affairs', before adding that in his case he saw 'no point in carrying on now anyway, given that all the most audacious lines have been nicked by the Straight Men.'

Asked to comment on the unexpected retirement, the Prime Minister declined to moralise on what he said were purely 'private' matters, but did urge Satire to reconsider his decision:

Keep up the good work. Your comments pointing out that both Liberal and Labor essentially represent the same vested power interests are spot on. There is only one way to change the status quo...and that is for voters to rattle the cage.

The big parties keep waffling on about the need for stable government, but in reality this means maintaining the status quo. Change can only occur through instability, s what is needed is concerted efforts to elect ndependents, not only to the Senate, but also the House of Reps, State Governments and Local Government.

We are in an age of 'snouts in the taxpayer trough',and everyone is at it. It is my view that voters have forgotten why governments exist (if they ever knew).

Margo, you may be interested to read a letter I wrote to Mr John Howard this evening, August 18. It contains a brief view of my concerns. Keep up your own good work!

The Prime Minister, Hon. Mr John Howard, MP, The Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Mr John Anderson, MP, For Information: >The Federal Member for Longman, Hon. Mr Mal Brough, MP

An Appeal from a Conservative Voter

Gentlemen,

It is with some considerable difficulty and regret that I have the need to pen this letter, for I feel that in recent months the credibility of our conservative Government has taken quite a battering. I have laboured over the content of such a letter as this for some weeks, but I shall now give it my best shot.

I am acutely aware that the previous ALP government under Mr Paul Keating received numerous letters of condemnation from my desk as their credibility, in my opinion, was completely in tatters. However, since the conservative government came to