Please aim more carefully (G.W. Bush leaves office)

I'm back after a 1 year unplanned sabbatical. I’d like to thank the parole board out at Port Phillip... no, not true. It’s been study and work commitments that have kept me from shooting off my mouth here. It’s not because I’ve been super-busy (there have been a lot of 18-hour days) that I haven’t contributed here in a year, it’s that with the work I was doing for school I didn’t feel the need; it seems that well-constructed academic essays come from the same place - use the same energy as emotive polemics (sorry, rants). I did try to keep writing, but sated, spent, energy channelled elsewhere, I couldn’t be bothered – I’ve got the start of dozens posts that I couldn’t have been bothered finishing (I might start posting those up if they interest me enough to finish them, and aren't relevant only to a moment now passed).

John Howard wins "brown nose" medal

Former Australian PM John Howard will receive the highest civilian honour a US president can bestow during a White House ceremony this month.

George W Bush will confer the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom award on his staunch international supporters in an East Room ceremony on January 13, exactly one week before he leaves office.

Howard says he is honoured personally to receive the award but more so because of the compliment it pays to Australia.

"It's an indication of the very close relationship between our two countries and I'm very pleased that during the time as prime minister I was able to contribute too," he said.

It was also testament to the "very obvious"

update

It's been a long time since we posted, and it's not because America has suddenly picked up it's game. On the contrary, I've been so engrossed in the pre-election circus over there, I've hardly had time to think about how insane the whole thing is and write it all down.

After all, since we lost John Howard, all we have is George Bush, and even he's been pretty quiet.

The parties over there sure put a lot of money, effort, bile etc into competing against their own people, then as soon as a winner is announced, it's all forgotten and the other party are the bad guys again.

Hopefully American's will pull their fingers out and put in a representative vote this time. Once the Democrats are in we can all go back to picking on TV Evangelists, paedophiles and fast food chains (not necessarily in that order).

Newsflash! George Bush got it wrong

How strange that the "democratically elected"leader of the so-called "free-world" has got it wrong yet again.

In the case of Iraq, Bush's own people told him that there were no WMDs. The ensuing invasion and occupation that occurred despite this information failed to uncover the fictitious stockpiles used as justification for the devastation of an entire region.

Now to Iran. Again Bush has banged on and on about the Iranian weapons program.

"A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains frozen, contradicting judgment two years ago that Tehran was working relentlessly toward building a nuclear bomb."

By no means is this a reason to breath a sigh of relief in the comfort that Bush won't decide to invade. After all, there is an election coming up, and Americans tend to vote for war mongers.

As long as Iran is enriching Uranium for civilian purposes, there is always enough doubt to justify a unilateral preemptive strike.

On the other hand, Americans could come to their senses and head Bush off, vote him out, get some Democrats in, and end the latest Western tyranny of our times, just like we did in Australia.

American Idiot

Does anyone think that George W Bush is an intellectual giant?