John Howard has finally called a federal election after months of stuffing around. I think Mark Latham is sitting pretty at the moment. If things keep going the way they are, Howard is stuffed. So why did he call an election now?

I think calling a federal election now is the best thing he could have done (for Howard not for Australia). Howard is saying to Latham “Bring it on buddy! You may have your pitiful lie list, but just try and beat me where it really matters; a federal election.”

Howard has also solidified his base, telling those who have private health insurance that their rebate will be increased. Increasing the Medicare rebate could take the form of an election promise. The problem is that Howard has made plenty of promises before and broken them remember this:

John Howard: No, there’s no way that a GST will ever be part of our policy.
Journalist: Never ever?
John Howard: Never ever. It’s dead. It was killed by the voters in the last election.

Increasing this rebate could also give Latham millions of dollars to pay for his own election promises. Howard is just not the same person in the eyes of the Australian public that he was in his earlier elections.
I don’t think Howard can win this election, but Latham can definitely lose it, the ball is firmly in Latham’s court.

“Face it. Conservatives are now the party of change…….”

- Mike Jericho

Sorry Mike, I had to, it’s not very often when someone says something so incredibly funny without meaning to.

To see the full context of this quote click here.

Athens has been the best Olympic games ever but only for the media. The controversy started before the opening ceremony, drugs this, drugs that and then JANA’S KNEE! Need I say more? This sad theme extended to the opening ceremony a great cheer when Afghanistan and Iraq walked in, a thunderous boo for America.

The Greeks had a great start to the games with two of their sprinters avoiding their drug test. They successfully dodged the tests then afterwards created an excuse, “We had a bike accident, we’re tragically injured.” It’s great the crowd practised their booing, so they could boo every time a hundred meter race was run.

Many people were questioning why the crowds were so small in most events. This question was finally answered. Some hotels were charging $50,000 to stay 2 weeks, forcing fans and athlete’s families to sleep in tents.

Then there was that boxer from Iran who refused to fight a Jew, a disgusting display of un-Olympic behaviour. If only Israel and the Palestinians felt the same way.

In the swimming, Gary Hall Jnr wore the stars and stripes, displaying his pride at being an American, it wasn’t the uniform so he was fined $5,000.

The judging in the men’s Gymnastics was so bad that it nearly had to be postponed because the crowd was booing so loudly.

I have to mention the Australian women’s eight, one of whom stopped rowing 300 metres before the finish line.

The best news from the Olympics: The Dream team lost twice; I think it’s about time for them to change their name.

I think I will end this on a good note, before sports fans start throwing themselves off the tallest building. I do think the Olympics were great Australia won more gold medals than they ever have before, the chicks in the beach volleyball were wearing less than ever and no drug cheats were allowed to keep their gold medals.

Boo!

Margret Thatchers son Mark, has been arrested in South Africa for apparently plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea. This country is an absolute shit hole, the people are dirt poor, and they have a life expectancy of 55 years. The AIDS rate is relatively low (3.4%), so that is not what has lowered the life expectancy.

Things are so bad in this country because of government mismanagement. They have heaps of natural resources, gold, uranium and especially oil. 300,000 barrels a day this should raise 2 billion dollars a year for the people of Equatorial Guinea, but instead it just disappears into the pockets of the President Teodoro Obiang Nguema and his cronies. Most of the companies are government owned, and in the control of friends of the President.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema has ruled Equatorial Guinea for 20 years since 1979. He runs a semi dictatorship and tries to kid the rest of the word by rigging elections. If anywhere needed a coup, this place did. 2 billion dollars could do incredible things in a country of 523,051 (July 2004 est.).

Equatorial Guinea could have the best way of life in all of Africa, because of the greed of a few the people of this country rot, starve and die.

With petrol heading up to $1.10 a litre it is about time the government started subsidising green vehicles. There is an increasing amount of green vehicles available, from the two seater smart car, to the prohibitively expensive Toyota Prius. People may complain that subsidising will cost the taxpayers money but this doesn’t have to be the case. People who buy petrol guzzlers could pay, they can afford a car that sucks down petrol as if it is going out of style.

It is about time to bring in a sliding scale of subsidies and taxes. There should be a tax on gas guzzling cars, the money raised can be used to subsidise green vehicles; the greener the vehicle the greater the subsidy, and the thirstier the vehicle the greater the tax. We need to make 2005 the year of the green vehicle, this area needs the serious attention of state and federal governments.

Here are some figures to ponder.

Toyota Prius.
Cost: $36,990
Litres per 100 kilometres: 4.4
Description: Hybrid vehicle uses electric motor and petrol engine; it has regenerative braking (when you put your foot on the brake it charges the batteries). It also has silent running mode (this is good for perverts). This car is pretty cool. It’s got all the gadgets you could want. It also has 5 seats, air conditioning, and power steering.

Smart Car Cabrio.
Cost: $26,900
Litres per 100 kilometres: 4.8
Description: This car is strictly for wankers. It only seats two people and it’s bloody expensive. If you want to be good to the environment buy a Toyota Echo.

Toyota Echo.
Cost: $14,990
Litres per 100 kilometres: 5.7
Description: It seats 5 people, it’s cheap and has good fuel economy.

Commodore Executive.
Cost: $33,160
Litres per 100 kilometres: 15.3
Description: This car is for a different kind of wanker, who will be very good friends with people who own the following vehicle.

Land rover Discovery.
Cost: $51,990
Litres per 100 kilometres: 16.6 (petrol) 9.4 (diesel)
Description: The people who drive this vehicle, lets face it, they are scumbags. They are far more likely to park in disabled spaces, they don’t give a stuff about the environment and have too much bloody money. This vehicle has one redeeming feature, it is available in diesel.

Volkswagen Caravelle.
Cost: $49,500
Litres per 100 kilometres: 13
Description: This is my van, fuel is too damn expensive and this shit box of a vehicle drinks too much of it, but I love it anyway (I call it Thunder bird 2, or Nazi noise box depending on my mood).

One thing I realised while writing this post was that fuel economy is not displayed on drive.com or any other of those car sales sites. I think fuel economy should be plastered across cars that are for sale just like the price is. Fuel economy is measured; at least in Australia using litres per 100 kilometres or L/100km. Displaying this information on these sites would be good for motorists and the environment.

A site to check out is the green vehicle guide.

www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au

Australia’s idiot foreign minister Alexander Downer has seriously put his foot in it during his visit to China. He said that Australia wouldn’t automatically back the USA if China invaded Taiwan.

This is an incredibly stupid thing to say for multiple reasons.

1. If China thinks the world wont side against them in the event they invade Taiwan, they will be far more likely to do it; Australia and America’s policy of helping Taiwan no matter what is designed to avoid war. If China thinks it’s not worth it they wont do it. Downer’s single statement has increased the chances of a war (Not by much but still.)

2. It offends Taiwan and many other Asian nations who feel threatened by China.

3. It’s against everything else the Howard government is doing, if there is one thing worst than being right wing lunatics, it’s right wing lunatics that that change their policy every time they visit a different country.

4. It pisses off both sides of American politics.

When you give a fool like Downer this much power, it is down right dangerous. If Howard wont sack this incompetent fool, he is an idiot.

Don’t nurses understand that patients have rights too? Mark Latham, who is suffering pancreatitis, wanted to be treated like any other working class patient, he bravely opted to go where no politician has gone before.

TO A PUBLIC HOSPITAL!

I think he should get a bravery award. But what do the nurses do? They ignore his wishes, and much to Mark Latham’s horror put him in a,

PRIVATE ROOM!

Poor Latham, he should know those nurses just don’t listen, THEY know what is best for a patient, THEY know that Latham just wouldn’t survive in the overcrowded stench of a ward, THEY know that politics doesn’t really matter, THEY know the loss of the next election wouldn’t really kill Latham, he’d just feel like it had.

When are nurses going to learn to look after patient’s mental health as well as their physical health?

The media have picked this “children overboard” story up again and has started to run with it. Things have recently got worse for Howard with Robert Corr digging up a 2002 Four Corners interview. In this interview Howard admits speaking to a former staffer of Peter Reith, about photos and a video the exact opposite of what he said just recently.

What Howard said in 16 August 2004:

It is a matter of public record that I did speak to Mr Mike Scrafton on the night of Wednesday 7 November 2001. I told the House of Representatives of this in answer to a question on 19 February 2002, some 2½ years ago. I said in that answer that I had spoken to Mr Scrafton entirely about the video. This was reported in the media the following day.

What Howard said in 28 February, 2002:

I had some discussion ah with a member of [Peter Reith's] staff who had viewed the video. There was in the terms that I’ve already explained ah a reference to the debate about the photographs and ah…

This is direct evidence that Howard has told a lie, naughty Johnny. I don’t think this one is going to go away too soon. Add to that a bit of the “tall poppy” syndrome Howard has had it too good for too long. All my friends and family are talking about this “children overboard” thing, I don’t think they have forgotten as some analysts have been saying.

I think it is too soon to say that Howard is screwed, he’s too sneaky and he still might get out of this one.

It seems the “doddering daiquiri diplomats” are not alone in their dislike of John Howard, they have been joined by the “Not happy, John” campaign as shown on this morning’s Sunday programme. This campaign is lead by former liberal party president John Valder. The name “Not happy, John” is taken form the Margo Kingston book by the same name. The campaign’s goal is to unseat John Howard from Bennelong at the next election; John Valder himself is going to stand against him.

John Valder is sick of Howard’s lies calling him a “grubby prime minister” he also criticised him for Tampa, his involvement in Iraq, his butt-kissing of George Dubya. He also accuses Howard of usurping the role of the Governor-General. John Valder’s major issue is John Howard slowly but surely pushing the Liberal party to the right.

The “Not happy, John” campaign has a number of liberal villans in their sights including Tony Abbott, Alexander Downer and Phillip Ruddock what a delightful bunch! Each of these villains has a member of the campaign standing against them.

John Valder adds to the increasing amount of people that are now critical of John Howard, the daiquiri (which surprisingly enough are made from bananas) diplomats, Malcolm Turnbull, liberals for forests and a number of small “L” liberals that are sick of watching Peter Costello turn green and roll his eyes when John Howard is on one of his rants.

I think if John Howard does not step down by the election after next the liberal party could begin to fracture. Internal strife in their party would be more damaging then not having John Howard in the leadership. It would be hilarious if they went the way of the democrats!

I dont have time for a long post but if anyone hates this Gay marriage thing they should read this.
andrewsullivan.com/homosexuality.php
Andrew sullivan raises some good points to support Gay marriage. This guys is actually known as a conservative and a Catholic.