Antony L's nod to a wiser-headed Liberal Elder is a good 'un to off-set my hotheadedness on Abu Ghraib and leave a better taste in our mouths for the weekend.

In my earlier mock-telegram I think I describe the Iraq invasion/liberation as an 'unnecessary war' of 'Australian aggression'. Yeah, well, I stand by that - ugly as it may seem - because I reckon there were other ways we could have got rid of Saddam. I am, however, a bleeding-heart idealist who, since I'm no longer a soldier, doesn't have to cope with the practical trickiness inherent in removing bedded-in dictators without hurting innocents. So let's just assume for a moment that the Iraq invasion in which that 'isolated bad apple' Major George O'Kane - according to the Yank high-up chain-of-command, that is - failed to act honourably and competently on Abu G abuses was/is never-the-less still justifiable on more generalised humanitarian gr

When I attended a Victorian state high school in the 1960's part of our English lessons were spent learning Clear Thinking. What I learned then has enabled me to see just how cleverly someone can use some facts to present a false overall picture, and to detect when this is happening. So, I have suspected for sometime that our current Prime Minister speaks with 'forked tongue'. After reading NHJ I am persuaded it is worse than I had thought, and am moved to action. Thank you Margo Kingston for not giving up to despair. I am proud of you.

As a basically positive person who has been getting thoroughly disillusioned in recent years with Australian and global issues, I was inspired by your book. I especially loved that it finished on an upbeat, positive note and gave me some suggestions for things I could do (or websites to look up for further information) to make some sort of contribution as a citizen. Am now passing the book on to other members of my family. PS. Keeping this website going must be a full time job??

Those fellow Australians with loved ones in uniform who have spent many long midnight hours pacing anxiously over the last three years since 9/11 will of course sympathise with the terrible uncertainties that surround this 'war on terror' of George n' Tone n' John's. Yes, the worst of it all is the absence of concrete information, I feel. (Is my little brother still alive? Is he dead? Is he being beheaded by some fanatic - right now, even as I vomit into the dunny at 3.00 am? Or...is he exposing himself to future 'war crimes' prosecution? Does he have legal and political 'top cover' for the act of controlled violence he is committing, right now...?)

Ah yes, it's the 'not knowing' that drains you the most, I feel...so NHJ! readers will understand how much it pleased me to receive this 'stray' ADF telegram just now. Whether good, bad, or - like this - utterly sickening, hard news of any kind can only help keep the rising panic down.

FROM: HQADF CANBERRA
TO: HQ TASK FORC

I am still under 30 and therefore grew up with a Labor Govt and was lead to believe by my family that Australia was the lucky country because everyone could acheive their dreams.

This seems to be something that I have watched slide over the years little Johnny has lead the country. My deepest concern with this is Education because I am a teacher. I teach in a state school and I don't need to talk about its condition or our lack of resourses because it's nothing new and I have written to The Age on the matter millions of times.

But NHJ gave to me a new perspective of ideas to put towards the students I teach, to help them understand the kinds of things that are happening in this world. It did make me feel very sad whilst reading because I still hold that romantic notion that Australia is The Lucky Country.

I have called for fixed terms elections in a few letters sent to media outlets - as yet unpublished! [Keep at the bastards - they'll crack eventually! JR]

However - John Howard's cavalier treatment of the election date has annoyed me, as has the way the media have treated him on this matter. While some media pundits have pressed him for an election date much more serious energy has been invested in filling pages and our air waves with mindless speculation and too-clever-by-half analyses of the conditions that might drive the bugger to the polls. While he is entitled under the current rules to tease the electorate with the prospect of an election, Howard's coyness on the subject is approaching the perverse - and for as long this nonsense of leaving the election date in the hands of the leader this nonsense will happen again and agian. John is by no means the first to act in this way but he certainly has milked this little bit of power for all it's worth.

The electio

Things to remind the voting public about the Howard Government in the lead up to polling day.

Since 1996, the Howard Government has:

1) Created a gap between the rich and poor only exceeded in the developed world by the United States.

2) Nearly one in four Australians suffers financial hardship.

3) Twenty-eight per cent of Australian workers are in casual jobs - an increase of 22% in casual employment since 1996.

4) Unpaid overtime has increased by 24% since 1996.

5) Long-term unemployment (26% of total unemployment) has grown by 68% since 1999.

6) Sixty-four per cent of jobs created in the past four years pay less than $600 a week and most of them are casual jobs with no job security.

7) Housing and rent prices have doubled in the past decade. Many Australians will never be able to buy a house.

8) Seventeen per cent of Australians are functionally illiterate, compared with Sweden at only 7.6%.

9)

Earlier today, while listening to retro 80's hits on a Wagga Wagga radio station, I sped by the Dog on the Tuckerbox just outside Gundagai. It even has its own exit on the Hume Freeway. I always thought the Dog was in the town. Neither the Dog nor the town alone were sufficient enough to attract me. Had they both been in exactly the same place, I would have stopped. I'm in Albury tonight, en-route to Melbourne. My journey today started in safe Liberal territory on Sydney's North Shore. Before long, I was in the less safe Prime Ministerial seat of Bennelong. Later I was in Latham's Liverpool. All very exciting but the undoubted highlight of the trip thus far has been at least sighting the Dog on the Tuckerbox exit (if not the Dog itself).

The Dog on the Tuckerbox is safely located in Riverina, one of the coalition's safest seats. On the other side of the ACT though is the classic bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro. It's held by the Liberal Party with a margin of just 1.7

I have been very disturbed for a long time over what is happening in this wonderful country. We are losing our freedom and our dignity. Government departments and the public service is expanding at the speed of light. Getting prompt service is as ancient as dinosaurs. A good percentage of these government employees are police persons in some way or another employed by us to make sure we dont get into any mischief. Every time a new law is passed a new department is created to enforce it. Local councils are getting bigger and more dominant and more unwieldy. We are a relatively small country, population wise, and yet we have a massive government more suited to a population of 100 million or more. It is so sad. Australia used to be a wonderful counrty to live in. Now we are plagued by crime, high divorce rate, high suicide rate, high unemployment rate (I don't believe the publicised figures) just like America. Why on earth do we follow the Americans in everything. What is

Thankyou Margo & contributors!

I have just read Not Happy John!. I was never duped by the 'weapons of mass destruction' lies about Iraq and it has shocked me that so many people were sucked in by Howard's propaganda. This book exposes many, many lies and deceptions committed in the name of the Liberal tradition.

Not Happy John! is inspiring, provocative and refreshing. I love the honesty and the openness of the contributors. It is political commentary with guts that I haven't seen for a long time. I hope that this will help Australians wake up to the importance of a healthy democracy. Let's work together to replace the Howard government with a truly democratic people's government.

Not Happy, John'.... At long last someone has had the guts to pull it all together and slam it on the kitchen table!

Margo Kingston's probing finger has to land somewhere where it hurts this time, before it's too late and all of our kids have left the country in either uniforms or baggies to escape the crazies running this country.

Sadly, when this nightmare is finally over, HE will simply retire to Burbs, dig out his fluffy brown slippers, cardigan, regrow his eyebrows and fade into the Westminister carpet...totally oblivious as to what it has morally cost this great country....

By the way Margo, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia our full Aboriginal Elders call him...'him that liar-man, we file his liar letters in rubbish bin'.

Brilliant concept Margo,

Go girl go, we are all behind you!

Sincerely Kathy Charlesworth, Fremantle, Western Australia.

I've just finished reading 'Not Happy John' - I've gobbled it up in the past week on a couple of plane rides, and it's bright cover has helped more than one animated conversation begin! Thanks, thanks, thanks.

Thanks for the passion and the honesty you brought to the book and for putting the whole thing together. Thanks for the balance in your analysis and the inclusion of people from other points on the compass, such as Harry Heidelberg. Thanks for the devastating clarity and the spirit of hope with which you unwrapped our story.

You unpacked some of the events that I knew already were on the nose, and you opened up inside stories that detailed things I had only guessed at, and some like the media ownership debates and Brian Harradine's role in it, that I had forgotten. (Your portrait of Harradine prompts me to write to him too.)

I'm a Catholic priest working mostly in education. Through my work, my song-writing and my own website, I've been doing a bit to

Our dear leader yesterday responded to the ever-growing campaign of John Valder and co in his NSW seat of Bennelong.

Howard said: 'I take strong stands on issues. I have never been a person reluctant to state my view and if you take a strong stand on a range of issues inevitably there will be lot of people who are very strongly opposed to you.'

The PM knows the mood may, just possibly, be turning against him. It's gonna be a wild election campaign.

As a member of the NT Greens (Alice Springs branch), and with a meeting being held on Sunday the 29th of August, can you please send me any information you have on how we can add our voice to the NOT HAPPY JOHN movement? I would present any information to the meeting for discussion. Thank you Hal Duell

NHJ (AL): Hi Hal. I've just popped a handful of NHJ stickers in the post to you, so feel free to start spreading the word that way. Otherwise, if there is anybody out there who wants to join Hal in Alice, let us know. The best way to voice your NHJ movement is getting people involved. For example, who is your local MP? Is it a safe seat? Start campaigning on the issues that matter to local residents. You'll be amazed how receptive people will be. Perhaps writing a letter to the local paper? Whatever you do, start people talking and use this website, it's full of information.

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

Please consider carefully the following quotes:

'It is only those who have never fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is Hell.' American Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman.

'War is often the product of those who never fought, while those who did the fighting are often the ones fighting against war.' Gerald S. Rellick, a retired 'Star Wars' scientist.

Mr Howard, in the name of humanity, please stop your lying, your obfuscations, and your fawning to the corrupt regime currently installed in America. Too many good people have already been killed.

Dollars for Big Business are not worth all this bloodshed. Unless you think that 'foreign' blood is less valuable than White Australian blood...

You also need to know that I'm doing everything in my power to ensure that you are not re-elected.

You have offended me badl