Times have long gone for John Howard to accept his skills as a manager-of-something were always phoney.

He should accept retirement gracefully and as I mentioned before, he should go on a world cruise. But if he still wants to make himself "useful" (could it be just a way to get out of the house?), why not become a deck-hand on the cruise ship set up by one of Gaddafi's son, now on its way to Gaza? A good deed indeed...

But trying to become head honcho of Rugby League takes the cake. Sure, Johnneee helped towards the creating of this new "independent" position while still in office by making a re-election promise of a 10 million bux towards the future headquarters of this new fixture. But isn't this covering one's crumbling arse?

Meanwhile I know a few Rabbitoh tragics who would be shaking their heads at the gall of the man now rejected for the vice-presidentship in the cricket's world whatever.

When real Rugby League was being destroyed by Murdoch, Johnneee was hand in hand with him on many fronts, including union bashing. Meanwhile, the TV anti-siphoning laws were being bypassed by Murdoch in a very clever way. News basically bought clubs and created a few "new ones" (including the Storms — presently embroiled in breaches of salary cap) which were owned privately in a private game thus the "public" had no interest in it, except watch the best players (the lavish contracts of players were with News Limited, not the clubs) biffo it out on the privately owned Foxtel channel. For a fee of course...

Meanwhile Johnnee Rattus continued to indulge in his favourite pass-time — union bashing. With the help of Peter Reith who was doing most of the dirty work, then Abbott who carried on in the Reith tradition, with a bit more deceitful deviousness. Abbott had some "training" in the days he was a hack for Kerry Packer — even leading a strike against management! But the union managers saw through his capers... they called him a "rebel-rousing right-winger" and "immature" who played often against union rules...

But back in the late 1990s, the existing league, the ARL was still holding its tattered own while becoming broke. Murdoch sunk more than 3/4 of a billion dollars to support his private league (Super league). All were bleeding till a peace offering was made: join the two leagues together, trimming the number of clubs. Criteria were set, I believe to favour Murdoch's clubs that were "profitable".

The Rabbitohs could not make this criteria because it was more or less set up as a non-profit organisation. At the end of each season, there was nil profit and usually nil debt. Meanwhile clubs like Cronulla would have been sunk would it not be for much of Murdoch's generosity... To supplement cash, the club was also trying to build "private stuffs" on "public lands" that has been gifted to the club for "public purposes"...

The whole thing was a giant mess — a mess that pitted good people against good people, even within clubs such as the Rabbitohs. For example Andrew Denton was prepared to fight to the death, while an Alan Jones recommended merging with Cronulla, then Canberra... 

North, meanwhile, was the club that bit the dust without a suitor and no real fight. North had been designated for the chop, no matter how good the books were.

The Unions of course were supportive of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Who else but a well organised system could have the necessary connections to make the biggest protest in sporting history — twice. The first protest found more than 40,000 people in the streets of Sydney. The second protest saw an 80,000 plus crowd that stretched from Town Hall to Central Station. All this for a piddley sports club! Blimey! But the events drew a tiny paragraph in Murdoch's papers on page 40, while making front page news in the other rags and top news of every TV in the land... Don't tell me.

Eventually with their own moneys, collected by rattling tins and holding lamington fetes, the Rabbitohs took the NRL and News to court... to lose the first case but to win on appeal...

Mortimer supporting John Howard?... Of course the former Canterbury halfback would. Canterbury was the biggest profiterer of the war between the leagues... if my memory is not wonky, the club eventually got away with about 36 million of grants, gifts and loans that News Limited wrote off its books...

Actually I am too kind to Johnnee... He should be made to feed the fires of the boilers in the ship, that is sailing towards Gaza, about to be sunk by the Israelis...

If only any one of the MSM considered or printed or told of the issues that you have encompassed, what a different attitude the Australian public (high, middle or low) would have.

However, there is some small satisfaction to me that people like you and John have such a fair dinkum grip on the political landscape of a still “lucky country” that is on the verge of destruction by the vested interests of foreign predators.

The current Prime Minister of our nation has tried desperately to settle the media inspired faults of an innocent Rudd Labor, in this Class election.

Using Australians as the correct terminology, the foreign greedy and undisciplined resource nations have used the Murdoch media to misrepresent a massively mounting crescendo of objections to all of the real or guessed intentions of the Rudd government.

I have written before that IMHO, the intention of the Foreign Miners; the Murdoch media and the Liberal/Coalition had conspired to “raise the stakes” of a false reason for a “Double Dissolution” election which, by their timing, would force Kevin Rudd into the trap of an unwanted election when his stakes were at their lowest.  (The Murdoch power?)

Kevin Rudd stood firm and tried to satisfy the predator’s orchestrated  problems which was immediately considered as a backflip.

As a Labor voter, I could see the positive side of the Rudd administration and I was annoyed at the misrepresentation of the issues used by the Murdochracy to destroy this man who they could not control.

The Labor Party must have realized that if the lies and unfair attacks on Kevin Rudd were allowed to fester, then the unbelievable result could be a Murdoch election of “I don’t always tell the truth” Abbott.  Struth. So is the power of Murdochracy.

When faced with a “deal” with the Labor government on the ETS, the upheaval of the rank and file of the shattered Liberal/Nationalist party of “obstruction” stabbed their leader (Malcolm Turnbull) in the back and, by accident, allowed the “Mad Monk” to assume the leadership of that group of Howard remnants.

No argument John and Gus, this is an election between the media and the Australian people.  A perfect example of people voting on issues that they have no way of understanding.  That can only exist in supposed democracies because the only people with that "freedom are the powers that be”.

God bless Australia and let’s hope John and Gus, that your input can reach a sufficient number of unsure voters to avoid our capitulation to complete third world status. NE OUBLIE.

Thanks Ernest for your support...

I'd like to clarify here a small point:

I say:

The Rabbitohs could not make this criteria because it was more or less set up as a non-profit organisation. At the end of each season, there was nil profit and usually nil debt. Meanwhile clubs like Cronulla would have been sunk would it not be for much of Murdoch's generosity... To supplement cash, the club was also trying to build "private stuffs" on "public lands" that has been gifted to the club for "public purposes"...

I hope one understood that I ment:

The Rabbitohs could not make this criteria because it was more or less set up as a non-profit organisation. At the end of each season, there was nil profit and usually nil debt. Meanwhile clubs like Cronulla would have been sunk would it not be for much of Murdoch's generosity... To supplement cash, the Cronulla club was also trying to build "private stuffs" on "public lands" that has been gifted to the club for "public purposes"...