In doing research for my last post, MrLefty, I’m sorry, but Johnny’s dead!, I was trying to find a transcript of John Howard’s farewell speech to Australia. After 10 minutes and searching I gave up. But what I did find was this little gem. It is a speech John Howard gave on the 50th anniversary of Quadrant, a magazine a dedicated to the right in Australia.

What follows is a little hypocritical according to my last post.

The speech basically lists all the reasons why we are lucky to be rid of John Howard. According to him the people who contributed most to the 20th century were Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II.

Ronald Reagan an actor turned president the only reason he got a second term was because he got shot. Late in his second term Reagan was caught up in the Iran-Contra affair, he professed complete ignorance of it. (Maybe this is where John Howard got his talent for pleading ignorance.) Margaret Thatcher admitted to being friends with far right dictator Augusto Pinochet. Pope John Paul II was a great man from the way he battled against the Nazis and later the communists in Poland, but his policies on condoms greatly contributed to the AIDS crisis in Africa. Not the sort of people who are my heroes.

John Howard goes on to say:

Of the causes that Quadrant has taken up that are close to my heart, none is more important to me than the role it has played as counterforce to the black-armband view of Australian history. Until recent times, it had become almost de rigueur in intellectual circles to regard Australian history as little more than a litany of sexism, racism and class warfare.

Again, it would take the brave voices of a few individuals to take a stand against the orthodoxies of the day. And again Quadrant has been an outpost of lively non-conformity in its willingness to defend both Geoffrey Blainey and Keith Windschuttle against the posses of political correctness.

The black-armband view of Australian history? Geoffrey Blainey and Keith Windshuttle argued against the views of many historians who say aborigines got seriously fucked over by white colonization. I don’t really understand how you could argue like this. After all there isn’t a single full-blooded aboriginal in Tasmania. It’s the only successful genocide I know of. John Howard wished the Blainey-Windshuttle version of Australian history to be taught in schools.

Blainey and Windshuttle probably were treated badly by the intellectual establishment. Everyone does have a right to their views and that should be respected. But for a Prime Minister to pick a minority view in a field as important as history is something else.

This speech does show why we are lucky John Howard is no longer our Prime Minister.

Hopefully, Kevin Rudd can identify John Howard’s mistakes and govern for all of us.

Johnny has finally been voted out, but I don’t think MrLefty can handle the fact. Everyone, left right and center, has been telling me how good they thought John Howard’s last speech was. But I log on to An Onymous Lefty and he seems to be the only one in Australia who thought his speech was shit.

The speech was good. It was positive; he congratulated the other guy and wished him the best. He thanked all the people that should be thanked. It seemed genuine and nonpolitical. He also didn’t seem bitter or upset with the Australian people – he accepted the fact that Australia wanted change. It affirmed what is great about a democratic system.

He even accepted full responsibility for his, frankly pigheaded, decision to lead the Liberal party into one last election. Overall, a good speech.

I was no John Howard fan. I despised the Howard government and especially their policies. I hated the way John Howard lied to the electorate multiple times. I was very fucking pleased when the Liberal party were voted out and even more pleased when Howard lost his seat. I hated Howard the politician. But Howard the man seemed like a relatively nice guy.

We can stop hating the Howard government because it doesn’t exist any more. Hating Howard the man is stupid and pointless. Unfortunately, some of Lefty’s latest posts do seem targeted at Howard the man.

The age of John Howard is over – he even lost his seat. So please stop flogging a dead horse and stop mentioning people who are politically irrelevant. Your target, as you have said yourself, is now Kevin Rudd and the Liberal party minus John Howard.

Henry Thornton tells the truth here: Interest rates – the truth of the matter.

On other news things get even worse for Howard. (I almost feel sorry for him. Hehe.)

Yesterday 16 asylum seekers were rescued by the Australian Navy. All 16 ended up in the water with no lifejackets – it is amazing that they all survived. Earlier that day an oil and gas exploration ship found the sinking boat. The crew gave the asylum seekers a pump, but felt they were unable to rescue the people, as that would breach Australia’s immigration laws. Instead they had to wait several hours watching the asylum seekers battling to keep their boat afloat until the Navy arrived and performed the rescue.

If you remember the way the crew of the Tampa were treated you can begin to understand why the crew of the exploration vessel were reluctant to help.

It is unbelievable to me that the laws of Australia directly threaten people’s lives. A rescue is a matter of common human decency – how could that be considered a bad thing? According to the Howard government it depends on you are rescuing.

Amazingly, the Howard government tried to flip this incident around into an attack on the Greens. They have come very close to succeeding. Greens Senator Kerry Nettle was the first to suggest that Australia’s strict immigration laws threatened the lives of 16 people. In Howard land this constitutes a despicable attack on the Navy. And we know that any attack on the Armed Forces is political suicide. Those Radical Extreme Greens! In reality the senator said nothing of the sort, she was criticising the Howard government not the Navy as it says in this press release.

The coalition has successfully deflected this damaging incident. They may have failed to damage the Greens but now the issue is too complicated to be explained in a 30 second sound bite so the government wins this round.

Things continue to go bad for the coalition with their smear campaign against nine Labor candidates failing miserably.

Thanks to An Onymous Lefty whose comment alerted me to this smear. Jeremy is doing a great job this election campaign defending the Greens from smears from Labor, Liberal, The Nationals, Family First, The Herald Sun, far right pundits and other media and who pass on said smears.

A man who kept his $700,000 lottery win secret is now in big trouble with his wife. Arnim Ramdass was one of 17 aircraft mechanics who won a $10 million lottery prize. He was reluctant to share is his prize with his wife, Donna Campbell, and tried to keep it secret. Unfortunately, she checked her mail and discovered a postcard congratulating him from purchasing a new house.

Many people would be dismayed that someone would try to keep such a big secret from their partner, but I understand where he was coming from.

Imagine if your partner spent every single cent you earned and had their several credit cards maxed out. With some people it doesn’t matter how much money they have. They will find a way to spend it all.

According to the Miami Herald this guy’s wife is a former model and runner-up to the 1979 Trinidad and Tobago beauty pageant – a real diva I’m sure. And you know divas, they need the best of everything regardless of the cost. An airline mechanic just isn’t going to have the cash to keep up with the diva lifestyle.

I’m sure this guy was just trying to do the responsible thing and invest the money for their retirement needs. Of course, a diva would be unable to understand this. Her lust for cash blinded her to all rational thought. She is now suing him for half.

This story is a sad reflection on our world where cash is more important than anything else.

Arnim Ramdass has now disappeared with the cash – good on him!

The Fryer household has a new dog. She is a two year old black standard poodle by the name of Sophie.

We have recently trained her to play fetch. This is great as we have never had a dog that plays fetch, it is a novelty and it’s handy too. When it is stinking hot and you don’t want to torture yourself and the dog by going for a walk you can simply throw the ball.

Yesterday we discovered that it depends on which ball you use whether the dog will bring it back or not. If it’s a nice new fluffy green tennis ball there is not a problem. If we throw a faded greeny grey one she runs after it, but neglects to pick it up and bring it back. That damn ball snob! A diva dog.

I enquired of Sophie why she has such an attitude towards faded balls and she just stared at me smiling. Is it the brand? Is it the taste? Is it the fact they are not fresh and new? Or is she just attached to a particular ball? Alas, maybe it’s our fault.

In the last days before the election John Howard appears to be losing it. They are going nuts with this scare campaign telling us all about the evils of the Greens and Labor.

I believe John Howard may be remembering back to the 1993 election when Labor ran a successful scare campaign on the GST. The public have seen so many scare campaigns on various topics from drugs to smoking to drink-driving and obeying the speed limit that they are now immune to the scare campaign.

Howard has also come out with some frankly bizarre, but predictable, policy choices like his no dole for drug addicts. Under this scheme convicted drug addicts and dealers would have their dole payments “quarantined” they will only be able to get vouchers for food and bills – no cash. This has the added bonus of not allowing drug addicts to buy alcohol or cigarettes – all drugs are evil according to John Howard. If you don’t think about to deeply it sounds fairly good. But it means that a drug addict will be more likely to turn to crime to feed their addiction and to buy their cigarettes and VB. I agree it is bad that taxpayers money is currently used to buy drugs, but would you rather have them get the money by mugging a granny?

John Howard is also disgusted about our attitude to drugs. He doesn’t like the way we call them recreational or party drugs. He wants the community’s attitude toward drugs to be the same as that against cigarettes. Apparently smokers are treated like pariahs – and should be according to John Howard.

What John Howard doesn’t understand is attitudes have moved on. Australians feel the same way towards drugs as they do towards premarital sex (such an archaic term, but I need to make sure that the oldies understand). As long as you take proper precautions, your not some kind of sex addicted maniac, you have fun and don’t hurt anybody it is perfectly natural. If someone is taking drugs and they are not addicted they just do it to have fun and no one gets hurt – what the hell is wrong with that? Oh it’s illegal therefore immoral. Even Alan Jones is saying the government may have to change its stance towards drugs.

I am really stick of politicians trying to control us and tell us what to believe. We vote them in we tell them what to believe.

John Howard has also accused the Labor Party of having a “nanny state” mentality, but judging by Howard’s recent comments you could say exactly the same about the Liberals – Howard is a hypocrite too.

I really can’t wait to vote.

Blogs, like all other living things are born, grow, age and die. Some blogs get sick, others change their name or fall victim to foul play. Some blogs even mutate into something unrecognisable to the casual observer. The concluion is my blog roll has become very out of date and desperately needs updating.

I will use this unique opportunity to take a closer look at the current status of the blogs that live in my corner of ozblogostan.

An Onymous Lefty The pre-eminent, melbourne based, left wing political blog. This popular blog started in 2004 within a week of my own under the name of melbourne lefty. The author was forced to give up the blog, but the author was soon back with a new name, Mr Lefty. His blog was now known as Anonymous Lefty. Soon after this his blog was actually stolen and Mr Left’s real identity revealed. But luckily Jeremy got his blog back with the name An Onymous Lefty as he is now almost completely onymous. Jeremy receives more comments than the rest of the blogs is here altogether and he should really be proud of the community that has formed on his blog.

A Western Heart A formerly popular right wing blog it seems to lean further and further to the right with every blog post. If you can manage to get the writers and visitors to this blog to have an honest conversation about politics they can sometimes be considered reasonably ok people. However, the numerous examples of death threats (in jest of course) against left wingers make this site rarely visited by myself. Unlike the politics admired by the authors of AWH, this blog is still very much alive.

Mike Jericho This was the blog of a former contributor to AWH. Mike is probably the most human, friendly and reasonable of the AWH crew this might be the reason why he maintained his own blog. Mike became a friend of mine and this is probably why I initially refused to take his now dead blog off my blog roll – it’s gone now.

After Grog Blog This well named blog is a feature of almost every blog roll in Ozblogostan. This very funny blog is sometimes considered unintelligible by those who lack an Australian upbringing. If you have an interest in cricket or just wish to populise the phrase, “Get a dog up ya!”, this site is for you.

Darpism Darpism, was once one of the most popular left wing blogs in Australia. His favourite target was the home of the hypocrite- the Hillsong church. He gained infamy among the right wing religious establishment when he set off stink bombs in the middle of a sermon at the Hillsong church. Unfortunately, just like an olympic athlete who wins 8 gold medals, there was only one way this ball shaving blogger could go after this – that was down. Darpism was struggling for life and now has now finally died.

Troppo Armadillo This is a mainly politically centrist blog. Troppo Armadillo was started by Ken Parish, but has many other high profile contributors. It has changed homes many times and is now known as Club Troppo. This blog provides very in depth political and economic Commentary. This is very much the thinking person’s blog and if you wish to learn something new visit here often. Troppo is also well-known for their Missing Link. This is a rundown of all the blog posts from Ozblogostan in that week that the guys at Troppo think are worthy of greater attention.

The Inflatable Voodoo Dolls This is the blog of the band The Inflatable Voodoo Dolls. This is a mutant cameleon blog I am not certen what it will become next. At the moment it on Livejournal.com and continues to live quite happily. Joe the guy who, I believe, runs this blog was a popular visitor to my site and when he left a comment it was always a pissa.

A Yobbo’s View The name says it all. This blog came close to dying when its author contracted a terrible disease – World of Warcraft addiction. He does post every now and then. I do believe this blog will be back stronger than ever when Yobbo recovers from his addiction.

Reasons You Will Hate Me (Ms Fits) I believe this blog is run by Marieke Hardy. She is one of the most foulmouthed and funny bloggers I’ve come across. She has a particular skill in offending those of the right wing political persuasion. It was her that set off the famous panda gate blog war – which she won in convincing fashion.

DREADNOUGHT (John Heard) A gay cathloc is the blog. Much of what he writes infureates me. He is a right-wing religious conservative, but he loves posting pictures of hot naked men – did I mention this guy is a cathloc? This maze of contradictions puzzles me greatly I no longer visit this blog in case I turn gay.

Hecho En Mexico This hardy beast is the spawn of a public transport obsessed young male human. This blog is way too cool for me so I seldom visit it. If you wear sunglasses in dim nightclubs this may be the place for you.

The Road to Surfdom (Tim Dunlop) Tim Dunlop is very popular Australian blogger who has has been around the Internet’s inception. The centre-left political blog is still alive.

Guru Ann I don’t know much about this blog as I never visit it. But it is still ticking along. Its author is a Hume city councillor who is very active in her community belonging to many committees: Vice President of Sunbury Jnr Footy Club, Vice President of Sunbury ALP, Vice President of Sunbury Downs College Council, Member of Empowering Sunbury Committee, Member of Sunbury Festival Committee, Member of Calder Action Group, Board Member of Sunbury Cemetery Trust and Member of VLGA. She must be very busy woman and that is probably why her blog hasn’t been updated recently.

Sterne (Tim) The author of this blog is a genuine comic genius. This blog features some of the greatest piss takes I’ve ever seen. If there is only one blog you visit this lifetime make it this one.

Right Wing Death Bogan (Nilknarf) Well the name says it all really, except she isn’t really a bogan she is just a little bit too politically aware to be a true ugboot wearing bogan. If you are a lefty and want a good argument this blog is for you.

Lightning Struck Itself (Clem) This was the blog of Clem Bastow a funny female music journalist writer and blogger with a penchant for the word cunt! Unfortunately, Clem has moved onto greener pastures and her blog has now starved to death.

No Talent Time (Martie) The name here is misleading, but says something about the quality of the author. This humourous blog mainly follows the life and times of Martie sometimes psychologically challenged Brain.

I hope I’ve given you a small glimpse into the blogs that live in my small corner of the blogosphere.

This post was a real strain to write as there were so many blogs on my blog roll most of whom were dead. I defined dead by not having posted for six months or more. There was a lot a research mostly searching through my own buggy memory. Many of the blogs I couldn’t remember, I never visited or didn’t have a clue how they ended up on my blog roll. If you know of a blog or have a blog that you think I should know about tell me about it in the comments.

When I heard they discovered a dinosaur with a vacuum cleaner mouth on the news this morning I didn’t think it would actually have a mouth that looked exactly like a vacuum cleaner.

Check it out.

I do wonder how the Nigersaurus taqueti ground up its food? Maybe it had some sort of gizzard that processed the food before digestion.

According to NationalGeographic.com this 100 million-year-old dinosaur was a relative of one of my favourite dinosaurs, Diplodocus.

On Monday the 12th of November, I was booked in for a sleep study, at the Austin Hospital. A sleep study basically involves them sticking electrodes all over your body mainly on your face, the electrical signals received during your sleep are recorded onto a computer and then analyzed by a physiotherapist.

I was to under go this torturous ordeal to monitor the quality of my sleep. I use a ventilator to help me breathe during the night, and the sleep study is to determine how well my ventilator is performing and whether any changes need to be made.

I was very reluctant to have the sleep study, for a number of reasons. The main one being someone adjusting my ventilator settings with out my approval. This has happened to me once before when a nurse got to arrogant and too clever for my own good. The nurse adjusted a setting called tidal volume which regulates the size of each breath. When this is set too high air gets forced into your stomach, and you blow up like a balloon, vomit and get violent diarrhea and horrible stomach pain.

As it turns out my worries were totally justified, as I was starting the study I noticed the technician looking at my ventilator settings and I thought I saw her altering the settings, I asked her if she changed them and she goes “oh no”. The fucking lying Bitch altered my tidal volume and by the morning I was blown up like a fucking balloon.

You must realize how serious this could pretentiously be, I have Muscular Dystrophy and a lot of people with my condition have serious heart problems and numerous other issues. The trauma of this could result I in the death of someone. Many of the people under going sleep studies are extremely unwell and to treat ventilator settings so casually is extremely negligent.

This gets back to the basic problems of our medical profession, the medical profession is arrogant and does not communicate well with patients and other hospitals. A life saving treatment offered in one hospital goes completely unnoticed by other hospitals resulting in needless deaths each year. The odds of your surviving a hospital visit can be directly determined by which hospital you are taken too. Theses are things that the medical profession sweep under the carpet.

This may sound overly dramatic but I am sure you know at least one person who has been victim of a hospital fuck up. Thousands of people each year are needlessly effected by medical mistakes and I think it is time that someone had a serious look at our medical profession in it’s entirety.

Nick Fryer