It is good to see that NHJ - the book is doing well and also NHJ the organisation. From where I sit up here on the Sunshine Coast (in the safe Liberal seat of Fairfax, I can only give the cause of unseating John my ethical support. I wish there were some way of unseating our local member as well as Abbott, Downer & Ruddock and maybe Costello.

While I can sympathise with John Valder' desire to rid his party of Howard as a symbolic cleansing, I suspect that the ideological rot is far deeper and it will take nothing less than a time in the wilderness for the party as a whole to cleanse it of the corruption of the far right ideology that has become accepted doctrine. I' sure that he realises as much as I do, that John Howard is NOT a great ideologist or strategist - others have created that framework. At be, Howard is a good tactician - given the scenario, he is capable of playing it for all it is worth, with dogged determination.

The bigger question for John Valder is

Margo, I went, I saw and ended up on Chanel Nine's Sunday program strolling through Eastwood Plaza handing out 'Not Happy John' stickers and am now running as an Independent candidate against Ruddock!

Here is a link to a non-political petition to be given to Mr Howard and Mr Ruddock during the next election: http://203.147.191.19/declaration.htm. The text is brief and to the point and I have received a strong positive response from everyone who has seen it to date. For this reason I now want to start getting signatures.

My flatmate was employed to design some graphics for a small crew that have designed a web based game called, 'donkey john'. I understand that the game has the same look and feel as the donkey kong game, except it has John Howard throwing barrels of oil from East Timor into Australia. Class.See http://www.donkeyjohn.com

Margo, I have just finished reading your book and am now recommending it to my friends and family. While I have long felt unease with the direction and policies of the current government, your research has confirmed some of my suspicions and delivered many other tangible examples of anti-democratic behaviour amongst our 'leadership'.

I feel that it would be worthwhile to look at the government's position on industrial relations and the trade union movement in the context of the defence of democracy. In my view trade unions, as collective organisations, provide vehicles for democratic participation. This goverment, however, misses no opportunity to attack trade unions and John Howard recently listed a 'reduction in trade union membership' as an example of his 'achievements' in economic management.

Maybe this is is an area in which JH merely uses the old 'economics above all' mantra as a pretext to stiffle dissent? Of course is unitarist stance also keeps big busines

Ms Kingston, I feel the words 'thank you' are simply not enough to express my gratitude for the existence of your book. I'm at a loss to describe the feelings NHJ has evoked in me. It is as if the world around me has changed in the space of 24hrs; from when I picked up the book yesterday afternoon to when I put it down today.

The sad thing is I was not really surprised with the atrocities contained within; it merely cemented my disappointment and lack of faith in our 'honourable' representatives. I only hope the growing discontent among my fellow Australians will be represented by something dramatic and remarkable in the next election giving way to a positive change for all.

As it stands I, in my mere 20 years of existence, feel there something is drastically wrong with our society when the youth of the country not only lose faith in its leaders but never have any to begin with. For we are the future, yet we have little hope. Where are our inspiring leaders? Who a

I wrote this letter to John Howard on August 17th:

There was a time when Australia was regarded, around the world, as an honest broker, a small, proud, courageous nation. A nation that neither bullied nor crawled, willing to stand up to its friends as well as its enemies. A nation proud of being honest and forthright almost to the point of rudeness, always ready to barrack for the under-dog and both preach and practice giving everyone a fair go. A country in which I was happy and proud to live and glad to see my children and grandchildren grow up.

What have you done to it John Howard?

In the years of your stewardship I have seen Australia become a bully. Our public servants and bureaucrats are bullied into keeping quiet or giving only the advice that you expect from them. Political protest is stifled by

I came across this website after seeing the Sunday programme

Margo, thanks for the book Not Happy John. The only unfortunate effect of the book on me is the rising of my already high blood pressure when I read of little Johnnie's exploits. And now more lies re the children overboard. I hope your book helps get rid of the little upstart at the next election and gives Australia back to Australians.nd regards

The John Valder interview onlast week's Sunday program was very revealing. The idea (beautifully articulated by Renata Kaldor), that for otherwise generally conservative voters, any risk to the economy by a Latham Labour Government was, at least in the short term, a worthy alternative to the social disruption of a return of Howard, was a winner. My guess is there are lots of people who feel this way, and need this idea to be seeded and made an acceptable and responsible option.

This festering Howard boil of dishonesty, public information manipulation, and fear-mongering abuse of human rights is not going to go away. It would be a pity if those voters not in the {Valder campaign} targeted seats felt they were stuck with their fears and uncertainties. They need to be helped come to terms with the idea of 'anyone but Howard', and helped to understand they are acting in the true cause of liberalism and comfortable with the idea that rather than abandoning their political lo

The Sydney Morning Herald's right-wing columnist, Miranda Devine (whose email address, devinemiranda@hotmail.com, really sums up her attitude) today takes aim at the so-called Howard haters and kindly even mentions NHJ!

'Hating John Howard has become an industry', she begins, then deems it irrelevant if Howard and his ilk lied about children overboard, or any other major issue, for that matter. Power at any cost. Media cheerleaders are so transparently supportive, it's pathetic.

Meanwhile, Liberal Senator George Brandis will be supporting Howard till the end. Speaking on ABC's Lateline last night, it was almost tragic to see a democratically elected representative defending a position which is becoming more convoluted by the day.

'The prime minister's version of these conversations has been consistent from the start

I have discovered that, despite my passion and intention to try and make a difference, I am not able to nominate for election to the Senate as I was, earlier this year, granted Naturalisation in the United Kingdom and therefore hold Dual Nationality.

Looking at the AEC website this is listed as one of the exclusions under the Constitution, Clause 44, that bar nomination for public office.

Section 17 of the Australian Citizenship Act (1948) was repealed as it meant citizens without Dual Nationality 'by birth' automatically lost their Australian Citizenship if they took nationality of another country. The argument around the repeal of this section was that there were around 2.5m Australians already holding Dual Nationality by birth. Since this section was repealed a record number of Australians resident in the UK have applied for, and been granted, Dual Nationality.

As a result more than 10% of the Australian population is barred from the House of Representatives and

Pastel green ex-local councillor and now Independent candidate to boot Tampa Phil Ruddock out of Berowra, Matthew Benson, drops by to call for policy input and invite all to check out his campaign website. Well worth a good browse if you live in this 'Very Safe Liberal' seat and you're fed-up with Ruddock being treated like an Australian National Treasure by JWH and his right-wing chums, simply for playing base-instinct button-presser-in-chief throughout the 'Border Protection' beat-up.

Older smaller-l Libs in Berowra might remember the days when the Liberal Party actually felt compassion for refugees, having been the ones to blow away White Australia and set in train the new accord that bequeathed Oz politics a few brief decades of
10.30am, August 24th (that's next Tuesday)
Eastwood Masonic Hall
186 Rowe St, Eastwood (Western end of Rowe St Plaza)

I am so heartened by the fact that some people like Andrew Wilkie with WMD, and these latest public servants making comments about 'children overboard' claims, are coming forward and speaking up. There is a principle at the heart of this which is that no government should require anyone to do that which is immoral or to allow governments to propogate lies when they know the truth.

There must be many public servants, officials and contractors who would be able to tell us about the truth of WMD and when the government actually took the decision to go to war in Iraq. Who funded and trained waterside workers in Dubai and what the government knew about it? What legal advice they were given about the war in Iraq? About the Tampa, the ship with asylum seekers that sunk? And the treatment of Hicks and Habib. There is much else that others must know about the lies and deceptions.

There are some of you who are in the 'know' and who should say what you know. If it becomes mor

It was with a deepening sense of gloom and depression that I read your book Margo. I hasten to add that this was not reflective of the treatment of the subject matter or the quality of your writing, rather it was for the reason that is obvious from the title of my review.

I fear that only people like myself and others of a similarly 'liberal' persuasion would bother to read it and thus would not be aware of the fact that their democracy is being corrupted by those who profess to be its most ardent practitoners.

Although I was heartened to read articles from those who are from the 'right', I am yet to be convinced that those voters who do not take a strong interest in the electoral process can be mobilised against the party machines at work.

I fear that the level of effective public debate is such that if anything, the government's appalling actions will be put under the category of: 'They're politicians...what do you expect?'