We're approaching snake bite season. It has been a dry winter and there's going to be a lot of angry snakes coming out of hibernation. Now would be a good time to go into the anti-venom business but to do so you need experienced snake milkers and they're as rare as hen's teeth. That's the hard part. You can't make the anti-venom unless you collect the venom itself. People say we should take the venom out of the public debate in Australian politics. I'm not so sure about that. I've been bitten* and I reckon it's a case of once bitten twice shy. As one who has been bitten, I'd now like to bite back!

Oh and by the way, what is all this nonsense about the way elections are called in this country? Howard's the snake charmer. He plays a ridiculous flute, trying to mesmerise us cobras, the voters. We play along, half mesmerised but coldly calculating in our little serpent-like brains. Eventually, the music will stop, the election will be called and that's when we BITE.

Oh dear me, Arthur.

Meanwhile...I wonder who we higgerant, bored, 'bilious Howard-hating' 'mob' of voting scum (who so want to 'move on' from Kids Overboard, 'cos anyhow youse look at it, good ol' Honest John stopped them boats comin', huh)...will be moved to believe in this other developing uniform v. suit truth-telling head-to-head?:

The Minister for Defence, Robert Hill, has denied he blocked an Australian military lawyer from being interviewed by a US investigation into the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. But a US Army spokesman told ABC

Margo, I must thank you for your book Not Happy John. It has restored my faith in humanity that there are at least a few people around who are able to stand up and be counted on these intensely worrying issues.

In the past I was a fairly conservative person who tended to be a swinging voter depending on current issues. However, while John Howard holds the reigns I can no longer in good conscience vote for this evil man or his party. (If he doesnt have Alzheimer

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??

Loved the book and now I'd love some of those 'Not Happy John' stickers. Are they available anywhere in Adelaide?

NHJ (AL): Hi Brett. We've just placed some stickers in the post so by early next week you'll be ready to go! Feel free to hand them to interested parties and if anybody else in Adelaide is reading this, and wants stickers, let us know.

Whilst reading Not Happy John, the thought occurred that we need some action similar to Ian McKiernan's 'Clean up Australia', to get rid of Howard and this government. It seems to have raised awareness about environmental issues and been successful in cleaning up the physical environment, so why not try a similar approach in an effort to clean up the political scene? I'm not sure how this could be done but I imagine a good start would be to get some high profile person(s) like Ian McKiernan with the know-how and enthusiasm to lead the fight.

NHJ (AL): Interesting idea, John. Moveon in the US have brought onboard a number of high-profile celebrities to help spread their progressive message. There are an increasing number of well-known individuals getting involved in marginal seats such as Bennelong. If anybody out there would like to bring onboard other well-connected invidivuals, all ideas are welcome, though one of the big message of NHJ is ordinary people joining togethe

Poor old colicky Labor swallows a hefty dose of its own icky PBS medsin, courtesy of a most annoying (for us ritual Howard-bashers, I mean) story on Big Pharma Donocracy in today's Oz.

TWO Labor frontbenchers were the star attractions at a $1000-a-plate political fundraiser organised by a group representing big drug companies - just six weeks before the Opposition labelled the multinational firms a threat to Australia's cheap drugs. Labor health spokeswoman Julia Gillard and her partner, industrial relations spokesman Craig Emerson, attended the function, which benefited ALP candidates, on June 30 at the American Club in Sydney. Six weeks later, Opposition Leader Mark Latham was proposing amendments to the US free trade deal because of fears that giant American drug companies would use a loophole in the agreement to prevent the entry of cheap generic drugs to the market.

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

The NHJ campaign just keeps on rolling, with Canberra Press Gallery President and West Australian correspondent, Karen Middleton, giving readers today a summary of our dear leader's week.

Breakfast fare sounds alert and alarm for PM

By Karen Middleton

On Tuesday morning, John Howard fronted Channel 9's Sydney studios for one of his regular breakfast interviews with program host Steve Liebmann on the Today show. With its chatty soft format, Today is one of the Prime Minister's favourite ways to get a message out and Liebmann, the bloke he hired to front the Government's anti-terror 'be alert, not alarmed' advertisements, is friendly. This time the smile had sharp corners.

'You don't think you're becoming increasingly vulnerable when it comes to the fundamental question of honesty and trust?' Liebmann asked. Huh?

Mr Howard responded that the Australian people were his makers and would judge him and opponent Mark Latham on what they s

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

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

I

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.

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.

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