US Mormans swallow Howard's line, hook and sinker

The Salt Lake Tribune reports on John Howard's chase of the almighty dollar last Tuesday.

 

This time his paid speaking trail led him to the Zions Bank International Trade and Business Conference at the Downtown Marriott in Salt Lake City, where he continued to tell America just what it wanted to hear.

 

A former Australian prime minister and a senior Bush administration trade official on Tuesday pressed their cases for open-trade policies at a time of sudden global food shortages and criticism that free trade has led to job losses in the United States.
    "I think the world cries aloud in 2008 for a reaffirmation of the view that protection is something of the past," said John Howard, who led Australia for over a decade until he was turned out of office by voters in November.
    "Because if the world goes back into protection we will aggravate some of the difficulties that are now being faced and I think that will present very significant challenges and very significant difficulties for all of us," Howard said.....

Howard spoke repeatedly about his faith in global trade as a vehicle for lifting undeveloped countries from poverty. He said the rapid rise of food prices during the last year is causing enormous social and political consequences in poor countries worldwide that call into question the basis for subsidies and tariffs.
    "This is really a time for scaling down rather than scaling up or maintaining agricultural subsidies," Howard said.
    "If you have a relatively heavy demand for a commodity, it doesn't make sense to maintain subsidies that were designed to protect producers at a time when people didn't want to buy their product," he said.
    Howard called for developed countries to engage China and not fear its rising economic clout. With a population of 1.3 billion, it is helping to lead a profound adjustment of buying power from North America and Europe that by 2030 will have produced a middle class in Asia that numbers in the hundreds of millions.
    "The center of gravity of the world's middle class is shifting from the Atlantic to Asia. This is, in a way, one of the most significant developments since the industrial revolution," Howard said.

 

It is beginning to look as though Howard will be able to mine gullible Americans for pin money for some time to come if this Utah Pulse blurb is any indication.

 

John Winston Howard, who served as Prime Minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, will be the keynote speaker at the half-day conference, which will run from 8:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m...

In his first visit to the United States since his term in office ended last November, John Howard will discuss his uniquely global approach to leading the most prominent Western stronghold in the Asian-Pacific Rim. He will candidly share his vision for the international economic future, with special focus on the roles that China, India and the Pacific Rim will play.

As Australia's second-longest serving prime minister, Howard pursued broad pro-market economic policies. During his period in office Australia experienced economic growth averaging 3.6 percent per year. What's more, in the face of criticism from many, Howard initiated unprecedented efforts to broker a free-trade agreement with China, paving the way for China's willingness to participate in a free market. Because of his work in developing ties with China, the country is now Australia's largest export market.

 

Although it must be added that he was only considered to be a crowd drawer if the keynote address ticket cost was kept under $40 per person.

Closer and closer it crept, until......

No matter how swift is John Howard's patter or how quickly his ghostwriter types those autobiographical pages, history is inexorably writing a thread the former PM will never escape from.

 

The Sydney Morning Herald.

 

"Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for Western leaders including Australia's former prime minister John Howard to be charged with war crimes over the war in Iraq.

In a speech at Imperial College in London, Mahathir called for an international tribunal to try US President George Bush plus former prime minister Tony Blair of Britain and Howard for their part in the conflict, said a spokesman for the Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim group that organised the event.

Spokesman Mohammed Shafiq told AFP that Mahathir, who was in office from 1981 to 2003, wanted to see the trio tried "in absence for war crimes committed in Iraq".

 

"On the war in Iraq, Mahathir spoke about "the thousands dying, the economic war, the power of oil and how we could utilise some of these tools to have a leverage against the people who commit countries to war", Shafiq said."

A Harvard student spills the beans on that speech - John Howard bored, fizzled and embarrassed

In last Thursday's issue of The Harvard Independent Student one Australian gave an undergraduate

view of John Howard's university speech and his meeting with the 'great leader'.

 

Here are some highlights.

 

"It was to the collective antipodean chagrin that John Howard, recently voted out of government in Australia, was repeatedly referred to as "Prime Minister" on his recent visit to the Kennedy School of Government's IOP forum. Perhaps I am mistaken, but "Prime Minister" is not to my knowledge an honorific title that once acquired is taken to the grave."

 

"When I implied that the Australian tertiary education system was held together by chewing gum and fee paying foreign students Mr. Howard stuttered:"Yes, well there's been a flood of Chinese students taking advantage of the opportunities presenting themselves." Such is the delicacy of the man. He might as well have alluded to the "Yellow Peril" without actually addressing my point."

 

"The Howards wanted to know what we all planned to do. Around we went, finance, law, and charity featuring prominently. When I said I wanted to be a journalist Mr. Howard grimaced a little, like a man discovering spoilage in an otherwise preserved bottle of red. He exlaimed, "A journo! What do you want to spend your time writing about people like me for?"
What indeed. Fortunately, before I could explain myself an anemic looking aid came in and suggested we leave. The talk was beginning."

 

"John Howard doesn't speak from text. He freestyles with the convincing invective of a stuttering schoolboy debater. It has a charm, it must be conceded, but it is not the silky polish of Bill Clinton or the merciless sophistry of Tony Blaire. He misuses words, jumbles them and draws on an outdated vocabulary.

Howard appears to be at pains to prove things that are self-evident. He has the conservative, unimaginative, "we know what we know" way of talking which must have made him very convincing in suburban litigation. Good fences make good neighbors."

 

"The speech gave little insight into Sino-Australian or American-Australian relations and, but for some irksome factual errors, succeeded in boring the majority of those in attendance. At one stage, Mr. Howard referred to Australia as a "Western European nation" in the Asian Pacific region. Cringe. It was full of classic Howard half-tautologies that meant nothing, yet were exasperatingly inefficient: "I've learned over the years from my time in politics that the substance of what you do is more important than the symbolism; but also symbolism can mean a great deal and can say a lot about relations between society's and nations."

Wouldn't be dead for quids in 2008

Just when you think life has shown you pretty much everything - a pregnant man, mice with human body parts attached, plants with animal genes, cats that glow in the dark, Malcolm Turnbull - along comes something which makes you realise that the world can grow even more bizarre.

 

The week PNC Financial Services Group awarded former Aussie PM John Howard a cash prize of $US50,000 for being the best little fascist on the Pacific street for 33 years.

 

For a real belly laugh the PNC media release is here.

You'll enjoy the Howard CV which shows the little man's ongoing attempt to rewrite history and the description of the neo-con Liberal Party during the Howard years as "centre/right".

DESPERATELY NEEDED: A Federal Government that's prepared to take on Exclusive Brethren

Is someone, anyone, in the Rudd Government prepared to stand up and be counted in relation to the continued funding of Exclusive Brethren schools?

The issue is a simple one. Exclusive Brethren schools receive federal government funding that should be directed towards the education of the nation's poorest children.

Funding deals for Exclusive Brethren schools were set up by the Keating government. They continued and were promoted under the Howard government and still operate under the Rudd government.

The Sunday Age (April 6, 2008) reports rich Exclusive Brethren schools are receiving the same generous rate of government funding as the nation's poorest schools, including those in impoverished Aboriginal communities.

The Rudd Government has pledged to continue paying millions of dollars to the religious sect despite the group boasting that its students are "found in the middle to upper levels of the socio-economic group".

Exclusive Brethren schools are being funded as if they are Category 12 schools, which are the poorest schools in the lowest-income communities in the country. In other words, Category 12 schools serve communities which have very low incomes. Does that sound like the communities Exclusive Brethren school students come from?

Government documents obtained by The Sunday Age show Brethren schools in NSW and South Australia receive category 12 funding despite not meeting these criteria.

Federal school funding documents show that the Brethren's multi-campus NSW school, Meadowbank, and the South Australian school, Melrose Park, were funded at the same rate as "special schools", giving them the same per-student funding as Nyangatjatjara College, in the Northern Territory, the Giant Steps school for autistic students and schools for the hearing-impaired.

The Brethren's MET school in Meadowbank does not meet the criteria for category 12 funding: it is in suburban Sydney, has small class sizes, and is financially supported by a community that boasts it has no poverty.

This scandalous matter need to be addressed, and soon!

Yorkshire in for a nasty surprise if it expects Howard to be 'facinating speaker'

Not to be undone by Australia's indifference, John Howard continues to court the unsuspecting overseas.

Now the good UK citizens of Harrogate are to play host to Howard the professional speaker during that city's International Business Convention in June this year.

The spin is that they expect him to be a fascinating speaker. 

But then Yorkshire's The Press  has Howard "losing to the Republicans last November".

Broke Libs call on politically bankrupt Howard to fill the party kitty in NSW

It's now four months since the Liberal and National parties were frogmarched out of government.

Plenty of time for the parties to regroup and find a common direction.

However the apparently cash-strapped NSW Liberals are determined to keep reminding voters of their past folly - they have invited John Howard to speak at a fundraiser this May.

At least they appear to have had the grace to hide this 'tribute' dinner away in the suburbs and not charge thousands of dollars for a seat.

In fact tickets are rumoured to be on the cheap side. Probably because Howard's recent US speaking tour showed that he has nothing left to offer except reworkings of his 2007 election set pieces.

I suspect that, besides being in need of a metaphorical group hug from those guests attending, Howard is using this event to keep his profile up just in case a publisher does actually decide to purchase his autobiography.

It surely can't be because this former PM wants to meddle in domestic politics - he was always so vocal in his condemnation of other prime ministerial relics who refused to fade away.

John Winston Howard, no man of steel just an embarrassing old f*rt

Former Prime Minister, John Winston Howard, continues his whistlestop tour of America in defence of those personal attitudes and government policies rejected by the Australian people on 24 November 2007.

 

It's all a bit sad really. Instead of trying for a dignified position on the world stage as a former head of government, Mr. Howard has opted to act the embarrassing old f*rt.

Refusing to believe that he could have been wrong and also refusing to accept that his public intransigence may yet have a direct impact on the political survival of the Liberal Party of Australia.

 

ABC News yesterday published this brief synopsis and video link to his 10 March speech to the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, billed on the school's webpage as "A Conversation with the Honorable John Howard".

 

"Former prime minister John Howard has again defended his government's record in a speech in the United States.

Mr Howard addressed students at Harvard University's John F Kennedy School of Government.

He spoke about his support for nuclear power in Australia and his opposition to Australia signing the Kyoto Protocol.

He has also restated his opposition to a formal apology to the Aboriginal Stolen Generations."

 

John should have ignored Janette's desire to pursue the fleeing tatters of former glory and stayed quietly at home.

 

I wonder if Harvard Uni and his other hosts know that they are objects of ridicule for taking Howard so seriously? For paying him $50,000 a hit to spout a very unoriginal piece of sour grapes from what appears to be a single compilation of highlights from his 2007 election speeches. 

Crikey on John Winston Howard in Washington 2008

Crikey on Friday 7 March 2008.

Bernard Keane looks at John Howard.

"Having been abandoned by the Australian electorate, his own constituents and, finally, by his own party, John Howard has had to retreat to the United States to find a sanctuary from where he can defend his record.---
Defeat doesn't appear to have agreed with Howard. Perhaps, deep in the bowels of Parliament House, there's a Dorian Gray-style portrait of him. Now that the spell has been broken, the picture has reverted to the Howard with hair, black-rimmed specs and bad teeth, and the man himself has started decaying before our very eyes. There's something pathetic about his preaching to his last remaining mates. It must infuriate him that Australia has so quickly moved on from him, and taken most of his former colleagues with it, leaving him to look like a relic from another age. But as Paul Keating would tell him, there's nothing so ex as an ex-Prime Minister."

What a miserable and deceitful little worm is our former PM

On Wednesday 5 March 2008 John Winston Howard delivered the Irving Kristol Lecture to around 1,400 guests at the neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) gala dinner in Washington DC.

 

Ignoring the fact that both the Australian electorate and his own party repudiated his major industrial relations and foreign affairs policies as well as conveniently forgetting that the Howard Government presided over rising interest rates and decreasing national productivity, the former PM sort to justify himself and dump on the new Rudd Labor Government. 

 

In a display which confirmed his local standing as 'lower than a snake's belly'; Howard also managed a swipe or two at left-wing liberals, single parent families, feminists, gays, those against the Iraq war and anyone who had ever disputed his version of Australian history.

 

Showing an unparalleled level of manure shovelling in Washington, John Winston Howard has also awarded himself the honourific title of The Honourable according to AEI documents. Something he is no longer entitled to since he was kicked out of Parliament.

 

Here are some excerpts from the speech.

 

"The former Australian government, which I led, was accused of many things, but never of betraying its essentially centre/right credo. We pursued a blend of economic liberalism – in the classical sense of that term connoting as it does a faith in market forces - and social conservatism. So far from being in conflict the one reinforced the other. ---

From our election in 1996 we pursued reform and further modernisation of our economy. On the social front we emphasised our nation's traditional values, sought to resurrect greater pride in her history and became assertive about the intrinsic worth of our national identity. In the process we ended the seemingly endless seminar about that identity which had been in progress for some years.---

Of particular note, economically, were our major reforms to the taxation system, the complete elimination of net federal government debt, and changes to our labour market laws which produced a freer and less union dominated system.
These last mentioned reforms, strongly supported by small business, not only boosted productivity but even more importantly they helped reduce unemployment to 4.2%, a thirty-three year low, when the government left office, compared with 8.5% in March 1996.
They included the abolition of unfair dismissal sanctions on smaller firms, which had been discouraging those enterprises from taking on more staff.
The new government in Australia is pledged to reverse those labour market changes.---

We should maintain a cultural bias in favour of traditional families.---

In Australia, at any rate, the late eighties and nineties was the heyday of the more zealous feminist view of these matters. According to this view women who elected to stay at home full time when their children were young were regarded as inferior and in some cases traitors to their gender.--
I am disappointed that Australia's battle group will be withdrawing from Southern Iraq in June as one of the new Labor government's election commitments – rather than making a greater contribution to training the Iraqis to maintain their own security."

 

John Howard's 2008 Irving Kristol Lecture full text.

Liberals rewriting history in an effort to gain distance from former policies

Bereft of any redeeming features and as politically effective as t*ts on a bull, the Liberals now overreach to 'discover' that John Howard was actually in favour of withdrawing troops from Iraq this year.

Pull the other one! Some in the Liberal Party might have privately favoured getting the h*ll out of Iraq, but Howard would probably have fought tooth and nail to keep Australia's combat troops in the Iraq War.

He was in love with the idea of himself as a 'war leader' - it made him feel oh so Churchillian.

Rats in the ranks Liberal Party-style

I'm really looking forward to tonight's ABC1 Four Corners episode on John Howard's end.

I foresee the amusing spectacle of Downer, Abbott, Hockey, and other Liberal Party luminaries, all vowing that they are truly intelligent politicians in tune with Australian voters, who just happened to be led by an old, stubborn man in November 2007.

This is going to be good for a belly laugh, because Hansard and newspaper archives clearly show that this baying mob of arrogant, right-wing bullies eagerly helped turn into law every one of the former PM's biased and misinformed notions of what Australian society should be.

This mob must really think we came down in the last shower, if they believe that they can distance themselves from their previous actions by a sly knife job on their former leader.

'Specially as the Liberals are now saying that they will resist any reform of their most oppressive acts and regulations.

Just how much is an old prime minister worth?

Well, we are all now aware that John Winston Howard is offering himself as an international speaker for hire.

The Liverpool City Champion in England has just given us an idea of how much The Washington Speakers Bureau might be charging to hear The Great Man's pearls of wisdom.

How much do you think a tired old neo-con is worth on this fee scale?

 

"The website does not say how much eager audiences will have to cough up to hear Mr Howard but its billing code offers six categories, in US dollars: $1000-$7500; $7501-$10,000; 10,001-$15,000; 15,001-$25,000; 25,001-$40,000; and $40,001 and over."
The Liverpool City Champion article:

http://liverpool.yourguide.com.au/news/national/general/howard-for-hire-on-website/1166094.html

 

Now The Sydney Morning Herald informs us of at least four US speaking engagements next month.

If John Howard were to fall in the mid-range of the billing code he might potentially be earning US$60,000 over those four weeks.

Subsidised as well by the Australian taxpayer who is paying for that research/personal assistant.

 

While Howard is overseas talking up his place in history, let us hope that he will refrain from sour grapes.

Because, behind the fine public words of those close to the Bush Administration, there lies a basic lack of comprehension concerning the Australian Labor Party which makes Americans nervous.

The fact that John Howard's visit appears scheduled to closely precede Kevin Rudd's first official visit as Prime Minister leaves Howard with an opportunity for some private political mischief-making.

The Sydney Morning Herald today:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/in-with-the-new-and-no-hard-feelings/2008/01/25/1201157663391.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

How the mighty are fallen or the would-be memoirs of JW Howard

It appears in the case of John Winston Howard, that when the country turns its back on you it turns it for good.

This was Google Trends' reply when looking for January 2008 Australian searches using the term "john howard" yesterday.

"Your terms - "john howard" - do not have enough search volume to show graphs."

Google Trends result for Howard:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=%22john+howard%22&ctab=0&geo=AU&date=2008-1&sort=0

 

While an all-years Google Trends comparison with another recently retired prime minister, Britain's Tony Blair, shows that the world is losing interest in Howard at a faster rate than with Blair.

Google Trends result for Howard & Blair:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=%22john+howard%22%2C+%22tony+blair%22&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

 

Howard's memoirs may be a no-go as well, which might explain his flirtation with The Washington Speakers Bureau. Perhaps he feels that if he says a thing often enough that will make it historical fact and compensate for his lack of a Churchillian autobiography.

 

"Richard Walsh, consulting publisher with Australia's biggest independent publishing house, Allen and Unwin, said the prospect of books from any of the three was "not creating a lot of excitement" in the industry.

"I think we'd feel that any memoir by Howard would be too self-serving," Mr Walsh said.-----------

Literary agent Margaret Gee, however, was singularly unimpressed by the idea.

"I don't think they are blockbuster material," she noted drily. "I mean, what would you call their books? Perhaps Peter Costello's could be Bridesmaid Revisited, John Howard's could be The Feather Duster Diaries."

The Age article last week:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/words-are-not-enough-/2008/01/14/1200159362741.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

John Winston Howard or Speaker No. 6132 offers to bore the world

John Howard is now on the list of public speakers for hire with The Washington Speakers Bureau.

He is apparently available to speak on such riveting subjects as Leadership in the New Century and The Global Economic Future. Fees on application to the bureau.

No wonder that Australian taxpayers are footing the bill for a personal assistant and possibly one other staffer for The Great Man.

It's going to take a very big shovel to gather the necessary for these speech topics.

 

Leadership in the New Century
Steering the ship of what is the most prominent Western stronghold in the Asian-Pacific Rim requires visionary and forward-thinking leadership. Australian Prime Minister John Howard approached his responsibilities to his country from a uniquely global viewpoint, providing economic vision and security strategies that raised Australia's profile and impact around the world. Howard discusses the role of world leaders in a new century, detailing steps for handling the growing concerns of globalization and global economics, the environment, and threats to international security.
The Global Economic Future
Providing economic leadership in today's world means re-envisioning old economic models to discover new ones. Prime Minister John Howard did precisely that, and so much more, for Australia: in the face of criticism from many, Howard initiated efforts to broker a free-trade agreement with China, a strategic move that was completely unprecedented and, when ratified, will add further credibility to China's willingness to participate in a free market. Howard candidly discusses his vision for the global economic future, and in what ways, and to what degrees, China, India and the Pacific Rim will participate.

Washington Speakers Bureau:

http://www.washingtonspeakers.com/speakers/speaker.cfm?SpeakerID=6132

Help Wanted: no bleedin' hearts, trade unionists or furriners need apply

It seems that former Prime Minister John Howard is availing himself of part of his 'retirement' package by advertising for a research assistant cum personal adviser.

This is a taxpayer-funded position to the tune of between $62,124 and $74,516 a year according to newspaper reports.

Apparently the hired staffer will assist with preparation for his Washington trip in March.

Yeah, like I really want my taxes to go towards helping Howard strut the world stage.

Australia sacked you, John. So for goodness sake do us all a favour, and just fade away into a very private and inexpensive twilight.

 

George Bush uses backdoor to reward Friend John

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research has announced that it will be giving John Winston Howard the 2008 Irving Kristol Award for, wait for it, having made "exceptional intellectual or practical contributions to improved government policy, social welfare, or political understanding."

Almost choked on my wheeties laughing at this institute, which has close ties to the Bush Administration and US Republican Party.

Went to its website to find out more and discovered that "John Howard is one of the world's most successful democratic politicians."  Which made my laughter turn almost hysterical.

My mirth became paralytic when I went on to read that Howard had been "retirement by the voters in last November's national elections." and that "After September 11, 2001, Prime Minister Howard forged a strong alliance with the United States and Great Britain in the global war on terror, sending Australian troops to Afghanistan and later to Iraq."

Only in neo-con America could such an contrary, autocratic political bully be described in this manner.

I don't usually put links in my posts but everyone deserves to enjoy the joke.

http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.27308,filter.all/pub_detail.asp

Rudd's deeds speak volumes

Mungo McCallum writing in The Byron Echo (January 1, 2008) has a telling yarn about the character of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

 

McCallum wrote, in part: 

"The most interesting political story of the holiday break came not from the news pages, where the election and its aftermath had finally succumbed to the demands of sport, but from the letters column of the Sydney Morning Herald. 

Last week a social worker from St Johns Church in Canberra revealed that on the morning of Boxing Day the Prime Minister, unannounced and accompanied only by a security guard, had arrived to help serve breakfast to the homeless of the national capital, of whom there are rather more than is generally supposed. Kevin Rudd talked to both workers and clients at some length, and then announced as the most serious of his new year resolutions his intention to do something about the plight of the homeless. 

A cynic commented that this would all have been more convincing if he had been engaged in similar activities before becoming Prime Minister – but he had. During the hectic campaign, after the exhausted media retired for the weekend, Rudd regularly visited homeless centres in whichever city he found himself. 

As with St Johns the visits took place without any kind of publicity, and the fact that they had taken place only came out after polling day. They were acts of private charity and compassion which some observers have clearly found surprising and disconcerting in a man who has been seen as a ruthlessly efficient and single minded politician." 

To read more about this go to http://www.echo.net.au/archives/22_29/pdf/p10.pdf

Comment: Former PM Howard had neither the guts nor the common decency to do anything such as this during his 11+ years in the post. What more needs to be said, other than good riddance to bad rubbish.

Hankering for Howard

I'm getting a little better at navigating the Internet since I started posting on North Coast Voices. Never too old to learn it seems.
Want a good belly laugh? Go to http://iserv.com.au/ and see Lord Watchdog vainly trying to preserve the Howard 'legacy'.
The poor Lord Watchamacallit woke up on Sunday 25 November hoping the election result was all a bad dream.
This site has multiple contributors and Whois.domaintools.com tells us that Brad Leet is the registrant contact name.
Someone using an identical IP apparently likes to use naughty words on Wikipedia.
Yes, I finally discovered Wikiscanner.virgil.gr.

Today the Australian Governor-General accepted the formal resignation of outgoing Prime Minister Howard, so there is only one thing left to say...

Image found at http://typingisnotactivism.wordpress.com