I’m waiting - in vain - for someone to point out that every former Prime Minister is offered an honour in the Order of Australia. Paul Keating refused his. John Howard hasn’t.
One of the changes that John Major made on becoming Britain’s PM - to reinforce his theme of a meritocratic, classless society - was to call for public nominations for honours. There was a lot of controversy in the first year that they were sought - the number that came in far exceeded expectations and there was some suspicion that many of the public nominations were not even considered. Yet the great and the good - former civil servants, Foreign Office grandees, personal friends of the Royal family, and ex-pollies continued to dominate honours.
The introduction of the Order of Australia did do something to take away the cringe factor that went with Imperial honours, something that is still very much alive in the United Kingdom in a society still structured by deference and status in a much more overt way than in this country. Some of the last knighthoods given out in Australia went to Joh Bjelke-Petersen and his corrupt cronies, one of whom reportedly paid $100 000 for the “honour”. In the UK, “peerages for cash” continues to cause scandal for the Labour government. In Australia, we’ve taken a few important steps towards reforming the honours system. It might have been nice if we’d taken advantage of this Queen’s Birthday to take the next step - doing away with automatic nominations and making the system genuinely meritocratic.
Well, I for one, have no problem with those letters after John Howards’ name.
Always thought he was one.
Come on, John Howard sucked up enough to the Queen to get t his. He didnt put hi hand on her ass either. He needs all the accolades he can get in order to do what now is his life mission; to defend his reprehensible legacy and hope to god history doesn’t savage him like it already appears to be doing.
Why on earth should we celebrate someone who dragged us into a war based on a lie, and helped up the xenophobic ante, not to mention lied himself (Children Overboard), and who decimated the Liberal party (but that’s a good thing hehehe) so much that he actually became the second sitting Prime Minister not only to lose the election but get booted out of his own electorate. Ugh, never thought much of those royal Pats on the Back, now even less so.
The fact that Kelty was on the same list will not sit well with Howard. What an insult. And where is the one for Hyacinth?
These awards have nothing to do with the Queen, D B Valentine.
What’s leaving a sour taste in my mouth is Howard’s use of a routine honour to talk up his “legacy”.
But there are other reasons, as I’ve said in the post, why we shouldn’t be giving out these routine “honours” at all. Props to Keating for refusing his.
“And where is the one for Hyacinth?”
Under the pot plant aside the front door at The Lodge.
(No wonder she never found it.)
Did he get it for services to the ALP?
@Zoot, that would be the Order of Australia awarded to Quentin Dempster.
Keating was correct. Serving as PM of this country is of itself an honour.Howard, on the other hand, thought that we were honored to have him as dear leader, hence his gushing receipt of the gong.
If we really feel impelled to continue with this anarchic system of thanking the do-gooders let’s make sure it actually involves all of them, rather than the select few who truly understand how to word the ‘application’. Year after year the usual suspects front up to the media, all humble and ‘gawsh,folks’, while the true samaritans of this country go unheeded.
High bloody time the whole dubious back slapping was looked at,never mind giving these awards to those that are already sitting back waiting for their perceived entitlement.
“These awards have nothing to do with the Queen”
Shock. Horror. You mean they take her name in vain.
Who would have ever thought?
About time this farce was deposited into the dustbin of history.
Indeed!
Well, I pointed it out - although I’m not convinced that I’m someone
It’s hard to look on this dispassionately, but I really do think that Keating set a fine example and it would be nice if his successor (or any of his predecessors) had done the same. By definition, politicians made a choice to dedicate themselves to public service and they have received the recognition of their electors. Whether we consider their legacy good or bad, their works and achievements are visible to all. It would be better if our glorious leaders would let this particular spotlight shine on those who might not have such widespread recognition of their good works.
Let the silly old bugger have a few more hours in the sun - I don’t begrudge him something like the Order of Australia. He was PM for 11 years, not everybody hated him for that whole time as much as I did.
What’s making me laugh is that he always bristled when Keating and Fraser rained on his parade by talking up their legacies, and he always swore he’d resist the urge but clearly he can’t. Whitlam talks up his legacy every week, but who cares?
Makes Rudd look magnanimous, that and the gongs for Arthur Sinodinos and Darcy Tronson.
Everyone:
I don’t mind in the least that the former Young Liberals boss-cocky, valiant Anti-Communist and a really truly patriot who did so much to Viet-Nam War veterans and their families, Mr J W Howard, got an Order Of Australia.
It will be one more thing to enjoy watching being handed back when the time comes ….
L=O=L
I’m going to agree with Keating’s view.
In general, I beleive that if you’re doing the job for an award, you’re doing the wrong job. Further, if you know you’ve done a great job, an award can never represent the achievement, and in fact degrades the power of success within ones-self.
Knowing no award can represent the success is far more powerful.
It will be interesting to see (if and when the time comes) what Mr Rudd does when in the same position as Howard (ex - PM). I hope that he would follow Keating’s example and not Howard’s, as a Republican that would be the only position with any integrity.
I’ve often wondered if some of what Mr Howard has done has come from some niggling lack of self-worth.
In which case, perhaps accepting such an honour is something that makes him feel as if his years of service to Australia have been properly acknowledged. Which is rather sad in a way.
Eatedish 2 17,
Doubt very much that Rudd is going to be arraigned for war crimes at the Internatuional Crimimal Court, the way Howard will be. So he won’t have to hand any gongs back, the way Howard will.
Apart from which, apart from his forthcoming war crimes trial, the sad, publicity-hungry little fart is irrelevant. With a little bit of luck and even more courage rhan I think he’s actually got,, Rudd might get rid of everything bad and evil the little pr*ck did over the past 11 years. Though I doubt it.
Rayedish,
apologies for mispelling your name.
No worries, Paul, I knew who you were talking too.
I wish that I could believe that Howard is going to be done for war crimes (an ‘honour’ he rightly deserves, along with his US cronies) but I just don’t think that it is going to happen.
Through it really should.
I noticed that Howard’s reported comments on the ‘honour’ all contained a phrase along the lines of “said from overseas”. This led me to wonder - not for the first time - exactly how much time he’s spent in the country since the election. That Gold Pass seems to be getting a good work-out.
You guys attack the Howard legacy because you don’t see things as he saw them, just as Howard attacked the Keating legacy because he saw things differently to Keating. And by the way, I look at Australia in 1995 in a poorer light than Australia in 2007.
He was Prime Minister for 11.5 years, presided over a period of sustained economic development, was personally responsible for toughening gun laws, and strengthed our defence and our relationship with our most important allies. I think he probably deserved his AC, and it’s up to him to accept it or otherwise.
Poor substitute for a knighthood, let alone a peerage.
A long slide south from the time of the Majority of Lord Casey, or Sir Robert strutting about putting the poms to rights, after assuming the Cinque Ports.
And no Dame Bucket ( after meself and wpd )?
“Land of Hope and
Glory,
Mother of the Free;
How shall we extoll thee,
etc, etc”
If no prize for Honest old Jack Howard, what hope Gerard (Henderson ); let alone Pru Goward,
on the March to Pomp and Circumstance?
Was not there five others given the same award yesterday. You would think Howard was the only one. How does Mr Howard think of sharing his day with Mr Kelty and others. Mr Kelty was much more modest in his acceptance of the award.
Mr Keating was correct in refusing the award.
yeah,Howard C @ 23,
Howard really deserved to be recognised for;
War crimes in Iraq.
Introducing a tax on services and books.
Attempting to dismantle Australia’s welfare system (a task he would have completed if he’d been re-elected.)
Demonising the poor, the disabled, single mothers and the unemployed, and cutting disability pensions.
Introducing slave labour in work for the dole.
Dismantling Australia’s national health sysrem by stealth.
Making lying by politicians an accepted part of our political culture.
Imprisoning refugee children behind razor wire.
Usurping the role of the Governor General.
Adopting the racist and xenophobic policies of One Nation.
Removing the right of habeas corpus with his anti-terror laws.
Gutting the ABC.
Introducing fees into universities.
Getting rid of student unions.
Workchoices.
Refusing to stand up for Australians imprisoned on dubious charges by overseas governments in the near equivalent of WW2 concentration camps.
I’m sure other LP-ers can thing of many other instances.
He sure deserves the Order of Australia for all that.I think OAs have had their value greatly diminished by Howard being awarded one.
Maybe some recipients will hand theirs back in protest.
So pollie fell off his perch and landed on a gong. Better a shiny trinket to amuse him than a mirror to rage like Caliban.
Paul Burns list of Howard’s “achievements”
War crimes in Iraq. - opinion
Introducing a tax on services and books. - policy
Attempting to dismantle Australia’s welfare system (a task he would have completed if he’d been re-elected.) - policy
Demonising the poor, the disabled, single mothers and the unemployed, and cutting disability pensions. - opinion
Introducing slave labour in work for the dole. - policy
Dismantling Australia’s national health system by stealth. - opinion
Making lying by politicians an accepted part of our political culture. - opinion
Imprisoning refugee children behind razor wire. - policy
Usurping the role of the Governor General. - opinion
Adopting the racist and xenophobic policies of One Nation. - opinion
Removing the right of habeas corpus with his anti-terror laws. - policy
Gutting the ABC. - opinion
Introducing fees into universities. - policy
Getting rid of student unions. - policy
Workchoices. - policy
Refusing to stand up for Australians imprisoned on dubious charges by overseas governments in the near equivalent of WW2 concentration camps. - policy
I think what some on this blog struggle to accept is that even at the zenith of his electoral (not polling) unattractiveness, 19 out of every 40 Australians endorsed Howard, and his record, over Kevin Rudds. Howard won four elections. He didn’t steal them, his record was there for everyone to see.
OK, you don’t believe Howard deserves an AC, but I would suggest that you don’t believe anyone in the right wing deserves any sort of award of merit. While I don’t agree with everything Howard did while Prime Minister, his record of achievement was remarkable, and I don’t have a problem with my country granting him this honour.
“He was Prime Minister for 11.5 years, presided over a period of sustained [UNSUSTAINABLE] economic development [IN CHINA AND INDIA], was personally responsible for toughening gun laws [I’ll pay that], and strengthed our defence [OF WHAT?] and our relationship with our most important allies [OF THE PAST, WHILE NEGLECTING THE ABOVE CORNERSTONES OF OUR ECONOMIC FUTURE].”
What a freaking legend.
I would have thought withdrawing from a multilateral defence initiative involving India pretty much hits the “NEGLECTING THE ABOVE CORNERSTONES OF OUR ECONOMIC FUTURE” nail on the head.
Howard C, forget the right and left labels for the moment - the test of any PM is if he left the country in a better or worse state as a result of his governance.
In the areas of foreign affairs, human rights, education, the environment, health policy, communication policy, manufacturing, indigenous affairs, ethical governance and infrastructure development, you’d be hard pressed to argue that Australia is a better place after 11 years of Howard.
Oh,
I forgot to add:
Doing bugger all about climate change.
Gutting the Native Title Act.
Refusing to apologise to our indigenous people, despite the fact that the majority of Australians wanted him too, including some in his own party.
The list of bad or downright evil things that Howard did that tore aqt the fabric of this country and went against every decent value Australians hold is so immense, I couldn’t remember them all off the top of my head.
There’s good and bad policy, Howard C, and apart from getting rid of guns and backing the East Timorese against the Indonesian occupation, after immense public pressure, something I freely admit the ALP never did, to its eternal shame,He did nothing good for this country and he certainly does not deserve our highest honour. I do not object to right wingers getting an AO if they have acted honourably, but for 98% of the time Howard acted dishonourably. In fact dishonour was the hallmark of most of his conduct.He wouldn’t know what honour was if it bit him on the bum.
When I saw JWH had been awarded an AC… I was licking my lips in anticipation of the rants that would appear on LP. I’m glad Paul Burns hasn’t disappointed!
JWH will go down in history as one of Australia’s greatest PMs. It’s only fitting that he is acknowledged in this way - even if it is, as Mark says, routine.
As these awards mean next to nothing to most people I think it’s all a non-issue. The Australian people gave Howard 11 years as head of the country, he wasn’t indicted for any crime or anything remotely as scandalous so it is sour grapes to whinge about him getting a gong. No matter how many gongs he gets, he will always be Ratty.
Umm Yasmin is being her usual dishonest self in saying Howard lied about WMD. Practically everyone believed he had them, including the Rudster and most other lefties. This habit of calling an error a lie is shameful.
steve munn is being his usual self by personalising the issue.
“JWH will go down in history as one of Australia’s greatest PMs.”
Yes, along with Dolly Downer as one of the greatest foriegn ministers, Peter Costello as one of the greatest treasurers, and Miranda Devine as one of our greatest journalists.
Mr Munn is also perpetuating the lie that most people believed that Iraq posessed WMD prior to the invasion. This is such a blatant and outright lie that those who perpetuate it are either totally dishonest or suffering from a severe case of amnesia.
Wether others believed in WMD is irrelevant.
Howard had an intelligence and defence services who he commanded to find out the truth. He didn’t ask the question and neither did they.
Passing incompetence up and down the chain absolves you from nothing when you’re at the top.
“Mr Munn is also perpetuating the lie that most people believed that Iraq posessed WMD prior to the invasion.”
Which senior figures in the Australian Labor Party or the US Democrats believed otherwise? Which senior defence analysts believed otherwise?
Howard was a petty, horrible, meany but he wasn’t a criminal or a serial liar or anything of the kind. Lefties who say these things shame the whole left. He now has a boring and meaningless gong. So what? Take the lemon out of your mouths and ignore it like everybody else.
It turns my stomach to see a wrecker such as Howard awarded the AC, but I take heart from the fact that he missed out on becoming a member of the Order of the Garter a few weeks back.
Steve Munn @ 39,
few people, who had not studied the issue closely could honestly say whether it was likley that Iraq had WMD’s, but the Intelligence services certainly knew that the was the case, and ex-WMD-inspector and ex-US-marine had said since the 1990’s tath there were none and he was proven right.
But this is beside the point, even if there were the situation was well in hand because the country was being scoured by UN WMD inspectors who all asked that they be given more time to complete their task.
There was no need whatsoever to invade Iraq at that point, even if it had turned out that there WMD’s hidden somewhere in the country at the time and Howard damn well knew it. Had Hans Blix’s advice been listened to we would have been spared the bloodshed and the price-tag of the war estimated at a ruinous and staggering $3trillion dollars would have been avoided.
Howard, Bush and Blair deserve to stand trial for the lives needlessly lost and for the economic ruin they have helped bring about.
Sorry, the first sentence @ 41 should have read:
and I should have omitted “would have been avoided” at the end of the last sentence, which was redundant.
Again, my apologies. (I won’t hold my breath waiting for Howard to apologise for the vastly greater harm he has done, however.)
It does seem a bit silly to give people awards for work they are paid to do anyway - eg politicians, public servants and industry leaders. I agree it would be better to use the awards to identify those who aren’t already well known by the public.
Andrew,
At least I’ll see the evil coming next time.
btw,
Andrew, when I had letters in the local pepers published, described in replies from RWDBs as ‘rants’, I’ve invariably turned out to be right.
Which senior figures in the Australian Labor Party or the US Democrats believed otherwise? Which senior defence analysts believed otherwise?
Steve, you’re claiming the entire lefty leftosphere believed in WMDs. What most of us actually thought was, why don’t they let that Hans Blix fella finish his job and investigate properly.
A lot of us, also, believe in not invading a country unless it’s attacking yours. The presence of WMDs, had there been any, would certainly have been reprehensible and to be loudly condemned, but then we would have to condemn Korea, Pakistan and many other posessors of WMD’s who weren’t attacking us at the time.Face it, the real reason Howard went in was because his nose was stuck so far up George’s a$$ he couldn’t see properly.
In response to Adrian at 31, yes, I would be hard pressed to argue Australia is a better place … unless I looked out the window. It seems everyone has forgotten how awful and full of despair Australia was in the early-1990s. The recession was, at least, exacerbated by the decisions of the Hawke/Keating government, and their timing. Now we have a labour force that needs people to be brought in from other countries to meet demand.
The argument that he did nothing good for this country is simply not true, as demonstrated by your gun concession. He was more interested in providing successful administration rather than fanciful goal setting through purely symbolic gestures.
Yeah, and he singlehandedly orchestrated demand from India and China for resources exports. Since you’re defending the “legacy”, Howard C, perhaps you could explain precisely which economic decisions Howard took which turned around our country’s fortunes?
NB: The early 90s recession was over when Howard took office. Do you give Keating credit for that?
Well I had the ute and the trailer full of farm stuff with hannah sitting in the back seat bored and my wife was inside the supermarket doing the weekly shopping [no comments about the sex role stereotyping please] and so I found a park nearby and settled down to wait for a while. And to help pass the time I bought, actually paid money for, $1.10 no less, an “Advertiser”!
The Opinion pages spread was dominated by Howard and his gong.
-A cartoon with 2 persons watching Howard get his medal bestowed, One says to the other “Just a flawed relic of days gone by” and the reponse is “Howard or the medal?”
Letters.
-Senator Guy Barnett [who is he?] “…. the wrong [birth]day, the wrong month and with the wrong monarch”.
-’Good leader’…says someone about Howard.
-”Unworthy recipient” says another, ’should be getting a summons to The Hague … to be charged with the deaths of more than one million human beings…”
-’A Disgrace’ say yet another “..the use of refugees and their children as political pawns. What a disgrace.”
And finally, on the Johnny and the gong issue,
-’If ever there was a case for ridding this country …throwback to our dim dark colonial past ….it would have to be John Howard.”
Meanwhile the [sub] editorial is headlined “Rudd visit sets right tone”.
Yep, it WAS the “Advertiser”, I checked the front page to make sure.
There are many people out there who should be honored, but are not. I must admit surprise at John Howard being awarded this - but Paul Keating should have accepted graciously though. Did John Howard go all out to get one. How did he get on the list.
Personally, think these awards are out of date now and should be abolished.
“Yeah, and he singlehandedly orchestrated demand from India and China for resources exports. Since you’re defending the “legacy”, Howard C, perhaps you could explain precisely which economic decisions Howard took which turned around our country’s fortunes?”
Good point, Kim. Howard made no major economic decisions other than WorkChoices, which the public has rightly rejected. The best that can be said about rotten Johnny is that he didn’t frighten the horses. But it is nonetheless sour grapes to deny the old fart his pathetic little gong.
Helen sez:
“A lot of us, also, believe in not invading a country unless it’s attacking yours. ”
Without the pre-invasion “no fly zone”, which obviously constitutes a military attack, Saddam would have finished off his pogrom against the Kurds. Do you not care about genocide?
I don’t care much, except that I agree that public service should be its own reward. I think it’s a sign of Little Johnny’s own insecurities that he’s making so much of it!
I think Ratty would give it back in a nanosecond to have his power and Bennelong back, I was all ready to start frothing about it yesterday but then remembered we threw him out like an old shoe only 6 months ago and no amount of gongs will change that. Hahahahahahahhahahaha
P.S I think he was the most revolting Curious Snail page 3 boy I’ve ever seen, if your going to drape someone over an expensive car, please at least shave their legs! Theres a tradition which should go the way of the dinosaur.
Howard C []:
We might have had 11 years of a John Hewson government - which would have made the Keating years look bleak and poverty-striken by comparison.
We didn’t.
We had Howard foisted on us instead …. by devious means …. and during his reign [for that’s what it should be called] we lost eleven years of opportunities, we lost much of our sovereignty and our wealth-producing enterprises, we came within a hair’s-breadth of losing our traditional legal protections and obligations.
Surely you don’t want to celebrate and reward that, do you?.
b.t.w. Both you and FDB [29] were wrong about the firearms issue; it was so sloppily handled that there are probably thousands of greased-and-wrapped semi-automatic military weapons - as well as millions of rounds of ammunition - hidden in polypipe right across Australia.
yes Howard C, the Australian Govt is in control of the global economy.
Lucky old Ratty! The luckiest politician who ever lived I reckon, who happened to get control of the country, which had just been entirely re-tooled by Hawke/Keating (with much pain) just after the start of a bull run the likes of which we’d never seen.
But don’t forget that Ratty nearly got tossed out on his ear in ‘98, only two years after this supposed Dickensian period under Keating, a period so horrible and one that we couldn’t all apparently wait to escape from that we then voted as a majority to return to only 24 months later. Revisionism don’t always rule ok?
And then again in 2001, Ratty was gorne for all money and bang-o over the horizon steams the Tampa and it’s tragic cargo. Cue 9/11.
By 2004, Stockholm Syndrome had set in and even as Ratty was being regularly spruiked as Teh Greatest PM Evah, a boofhead from Liverpool gave him a decent run after having had no functional opposition for many years.(Simon and his unfortunate charisma bypass would have lost way more seats than Latham. It’s why Beazley genuinely thanked Mark on election night – they knew it coodabeen a whole lot worse.)
Ratty’s achievements – he ran down vital national infrastructure & stuffed up national broadband rollout, he ran down vocational education (skills shortage anyone?) he ran down tertiary education, dropped the ball on R&D & sustainable industries, he ran down public health and public schools and pork barrelled away taxes on frivolous fifth order concerns.
He locked up and vilified people escaping from the very regime he was sending our country to war against without a UN resolution and even worse if possible, after his Govt had bankrolled the same EVil regime undermining the entire global strategy up to that time.
Then Gitmo, Hicks & the whole hideous disaster of undermining the foundations of two great democracy’s independent legal systems and the Geneva Conventions.
And his final insult - ripping the hard fought over generations take home pay and conditions from the mouths of the lowest paid workers across the country.
Besides that, he was a great PM.
rather…. they oversaw the bankrolling of the EVil regime…..
Or rather they chose not to oversee.
But Keating was a wanker…..and still is….especially if you look at the big picture, you know, the recession we had to have…..you recalcitrint persons you…you….
By the way jo…Howard ‘lied’ about the children overboard? Not like Rudd’s promises…cheap petrol, low interest rates…stuff that really affects us…oh and the 2020 summit..what a complete waste of time and money…and trying to see kate blanchett’s baby.
and then this “The luckiest politician who ever lived I reckon, who happened to get control of the country, which had just been entirely re-tooled by Hawke/Keating (with much pain) just after the start of a bull run the likes of which we’d never seen”
Keating and Hawke ran this country into the ground, Howard did the hard yards and won an election on the GST, thats what put this nation back on track….Hawke was still crying “NO kids in poverty while I’m PM”…yeah right. Keating and his pig farms and the big picture, worrying about building surfboards for lesbians and refurbishing hotels in Indo china…please.
RUDDs worrying about atomic bombs and japanese whaling niether of which he can do nothing about..but hang on…..peter garrett will save the day, that fool cant find his arse in the dark with both hands…and my kid does not have a computer yet!!!
my…we all seem a bit miffed about johnnie’s AC…hey. That nastie monarchist, what was she thinking. Christ, now all we will hear about is a bloody Republic……
Any chance this was a non-core promise?
Howard was foisted on us? Are you high? He was democratically elected four times. Obviously I don’t live in the same country as many of you. And for your information, I live in Australia.
Nice to know from you guys that tax reform wasn’t an economic decision, and neither was the original Workplace Relations Act, or maintaining a budget surplus in order to ease pressure on interest rates. And working with the good and the bad: yes, the Howard Government did benefit from India and China growing late in their term, but they also weathered an economic crisis in Asia early in their term. And then there is Free Trade Agreements, and so on.
And by the way, I don’t know what this “in” joke is about mispelling the word “the”, but I’m pretty sure it’s a none-too-clever crack at our intelligence. But we wouldn’t expect any better from people who call Howard “ratty”. We don’t need to resort to name calling, even if their record for contempt for this country is as legion as Paul Keating’s.
There seems to be a belief that this was an imperial honour, granted by the UK, and that a consequence of removing the Australian monarchy will be the cessation of such awards.
This has not been the case for roughly 35 years (for the information of commenters who appear to not have grasped this snippet)
Howard C, how just like Ratty himself!! An insistence on civility and no crudity whilst the man was sending our troops to war without a UN resolution, and whilst his Government was locking up refugees and throwing away the key for partisan gain.
But mind ya p’s & q’s while we trample all over the Geneva Conventions.
The biggest boom in history and all you can point to is a consumption tax and a workplace agreement that was watered down by the Democrats so it was almost workable.
Keep going. Actually don’t. We’ve heard every single one of your talking points ad nauseum, only directly from the scribes at the Australian & for 11 years.
And as for Tax Reform where are those reforms to trusts that were promised by Costello on introduction of the GST as a trade-off for working families copping a regressive tax? Deafening silence for eight years on that subject by all concerned.
I do have a list of the positive things that Ratty did and it’s not short but the terrible things he did to keep power…if you want to hide behind a surplus that’s for you and your own conscience.
As for your slid-in-slur about our supposed contempt for this country - yet another hackneyed culture war tactic that you’ve picked up from the Oz – ie. conflating contempt for Ratty & cronies as being contempt for the entire country…it aint 2002 Howard, you can fool some of the people etc.
Well, I don’t really read The Australian, but thanks for the conclusion jumping.
I’m sure I’ve read everything you are saying about Howard in Green Left Weekly, so I’m not the only one whose views coincide with that of a newspaper.
We’ll just have to disagree, and I’ll just have to hope you never make it to the selection committee for the Order of Australia.
So you don’t really read the Oz, but you do really read the Green Left Weekly.
Does the name Howard and lying like, go together or sumthun?
I don’t really read either. Maybe I should correct myself by saying that everything you are saying “will be found in Green Left Weekly”.
Howard C,
If you haven’t read Green Left Weekly how do you know?
Are we really down to this sort of petty argument? I’m happy to be ganged up on, but can we keep it to substantive issues?
I’m sure anyone who has walked down Bourke St and heard the sellers trying to sell their papers and seen the flyers for Green Left Weekly will know what sort of stuff is in there.
Anyone want to ask me what I was doing walking down Bourke St?
Selling heroin?
Howard C was walking down Bourke Street looking for Richies older brother Chuck, who disappeared mysteriously after Season 1 of Happy Days.
I personally think he’s buried under the concrete of the bomb shelter after mumbling something about becoming a communist. I’m looking at you Marion - you’re just not as ditzy and jolly as you make out on TV, are you?
Besides which, what jo said at 64, although I still think J-Ho can have his OA and choke on it as long as he buggers off out of public life.
“I’m happy to be ganged up on”
Sweet!
“Anyone want to ask me what I was doing walking down Bourke St?”
Weeing your pants, poo-poo head? Was it weeing your pants?
Anyway, Mr Cunningham, on to the substantive issues.
You once said the fat on a steak is where all the flavour is, and offered a starving Fonzie only that portion of your meal. Firstly, is it true that all the flavour really is in the fat, and secondly what are the consequences for Green Left Weekly’s continuing stranglehold on the opinions of LP commentators?
Dang.
Be nice.
Sorry Kim, I did try to keep it light and he did ask for it!
For the record Howard C, I regard you as “one of the good ones”. Apart from that Fonzie-starving incident. Kids love that guy.
You know what LBJ said, FDB - “if we don’t love each other, we die”. Or something.
Howard C [62]:
It is easy to assume that only a trendy-lefty would say a thing like that. In fact, I quoted a dyed-in-the-wool life-long Liberal supporter …. who reluctantly voted for a Rudd government because it was closer to true Liberal values than the nasty extremism of Howard and his cronies. Don’t underestimate the disappointment at missing out on what would have been Australia’s greatest ever period of prosperity had John Hewson not been stabbed in the back by …. guess who?
Of course, of course. This is Australia - a land absolutely free of any sort of electoral shenanegans whatsoever; a land with a vigorous highly-competitive news media; a land of an electorate with near-perfect information on which to base their voting choices. Me? I’ll just wait patiently for all to be revealed - however long that takes
What’s the problem? The whole awards thing keeps old farts happy, genuinely lights up the life of those that did so for others, engenders pride among the awardee communities and costs us fuck all.
Howard, for all his many faults, clearly thought he did right by his lights, And he didn’t fuck up as badly as some other PMs I could mention. So why deny the poor old bugger a trinket or two to fondle in his crepuscular years. What else has he got to look forward to?
An eternity of baffled but polite applause on the US Neocon rubber chicken circuit as he concludes his stump speech and hands the plaque/vase/urn off to his factotum while wondering if the batteries in his hearing aids have gone dead again - or it just him now.
Not like like the real corporate and geopolitical player sinecures are rolling in now are they? Well OK, he’ll probably score a few “honorary fellowship” gigs with some right wing think tanks. Until they discover he’s not much chop as US TV pundit talent and has zero brand recognition outside Aus. Meanwhile Janine will be driving them crazy chasing up the late retainer fees and asking why she isn’t booked on Martha Stewart yet to ramble away about the Kirribilli furniture patterns.
But hey John, there’s still late night TV ads.
“As a former Prime Minister, I know how important it is to keep things neat and tidy so they don’t get out of control. That’s why I only use Jim’s Mowing. And you should too. Because he’s called Jim. And he mows lawns. What? You’ll have to speak up. Or switch that bloody machine off. OK, let’s do it again. You really can’t afford an autocue? OK, I’ve made some notes on my cuff? Which hand was it again Janine?”
If you want to remembered as a good citizen, then just do good stuff. Awards are recognition not incentive.
Lets face it, everyone like to lampoon poor old john, but he was still elected by the majority and he presided over a very prosperous time in Australia while labour did nothing but spend billions on social welfare programs and fuck the country up. I can recall during the Keating years that his government coughed up a huge grant for some idiot to go onto work/building sites and read poetry to workers, only good union sites of course.
And why is it that so many labour politicians end up getting locked up (WRIGHT/DARCY/MERRIROSE/ kiddy fiddler, what’s his name in NSW and perhaps NUTTALL)in jail or slapped silly (insert anger management program of choice)for being so nasty (Insert any current IEMMA minister)?
At least KEV looks as funny as johnnie in the cartoons, just a lot more boring. Kev is also surrounded by a lot more funnier people that Howard. Peter GARRETT can do the most amazing back flips (”does anyone else want to dump there nuclear waste here”)while we sing “US Forces give the nod” at the same time we sell uranium to the world.
lets face it, Costello was never funny…..
I guess DOWNER had his moments.
Now, Julia GILLARD……She’s funny
“Lets face it, everyone like to lampoon poor old john, but he was still elected by the majority and he presided over a very prosperous time in Australia while labour did nothing but spend billions on social welfare programs and fuck the country up.”
Is that train in Beaudesert running on time Jim? It’s called the Great Southern Train…the GST…sister of the Workchoices Express. Runs past the detention camps doesn’t it? Brings back memories.
Drivers working overtime for a sandwich and a milkshake. Runs on taxpayer’s dollars, and puts out fear and xenophobic steam… TOOT RORT…even tried ethanol for awhile…
ran right over the man who knew too much, Mr. Wilkie…& a lady who couldn’t get outa the way, Vivian Alvarez…and children were thrown overboard to lighten the load…lost its way to HABEUS CORPUS…and it got to dropping heavy pork barrels wherever it went…just ask the cast of THE FRONTBENCH…
TOOT RORT…building up a head of steam, interest rates and inflation as it ran down Private Equity Hill…and right on past the AWB mob running for the gun club…
money is no object when the fevered taxpayer is funding the train that races towards the town of PRIVATISATION in the state of UTOPIA, just right of Public Service Drought.
Chugga chugga chugga, just like the sound of gulping corporations & mates at the Top End of Town, yep that train is sucking up the resources…gonna need more & more fuel if it’s gonna beat the record of the last white Australia train, the ONE NATION…so it makes its way onto aboriginal land…only to be diverted like Custer’s last stand…
so it flees & transforms into a major airline that decides it can find more prosperous pastures than Nth. QLD…so it flies to Texas, only to find itself losing its moral bearings again…& ending up in the Hague.
Plenty of illustrations w/ that sordid tale. Labor better start colouring them in.
Ah, the old uninformed electorate chestnut. Can I guess they would be uninformed unless they received this information that you would agree with? Hmm?
We have one of the best electoral systems in the world. It is easy to manage and difficult to manipulate. We all know who the Prime Minister will be on the Sunday morning after an election. We save money by avoiding run-offs. Occasionally (not brought up by the Howard-haters) we get a government that the majority didn’t vote for, like in 1998 or 1990. I think the 1990 election result hurt Australia more, even only because we got 18 months of an ineffectual Hawke Government before Keating took over.
British Prime Ministers get an honour when they are finished. The Order of Australia is our equivalent, and JWH is under no compulsion to refuse the order like Keating did. And he has been reasonably quiet locally since losing the top job. Basically, he offered support for Brendan Nelson and defended his record - nothing Earth shattering.
Thanks for all the gentle ribbing, and no thanks for the heroin remark.
“he presided over a very prosperous time in Australia”
hmmm…:
Dear Reader: The title of this book is composed of three words from my novel Cat’s Cradle. A wampeter is an object around which the lives of many otherwise unrelated people may revolve. The Holy Grail would be a case in point. Foma are harmless untruths, intended to comfort simple souls. An example: “Prosperity is just around the corner.” A granfalloon is a proud and meaningless association of human beings. Taken together, the words form as good an umbrella as any for this collection of some of the reviews and essays I’ve written, a few of the speeches I made.
(words of Kurt Vonnegut re: Cat’s Cradle)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat’s_Cradle
Sorry bud. No harm intended.
Sense of humour tends to get a bit black at times.
nasking, at present your comments seem to be frequently going into moderation or the spam bin. I don’t know what you’ve done to offend it. But if we keep fishing you out theoretically the damn thing will eventually learn.
BTW the spaminator quite likes me too, but at least I can liberate myself.
lol…Brian, i’m used to it…happens to me at RTS quite frequently too. The great swallower likes to eat my words for some unknown reason…;) I sweep my cache & kickout unwanted things & keep my fingers crossed, but alas it keeps happening. Anyway, I think Gandhi is onto something when he talks about diversity of opinion & Democracy so i’m gonna take a break. It’s been fun. Insightful posts & topics and such.
At least this thread has been a wonderful opportinity to have a cathartic act. That man has no idea how much worry, concern & fear he caused…amongst other things.
P.S. I think there’s a last comment awaiting moderation on childcare and such.