Politicans and the Worm!

It was a triumphant return for the controversial "worm" last night with Channel Nine's coverage of the leaders' debate snaffling the top spot in Melbourne ratings and third for all programs nation-wide.

But the "worm" had to wriggle through a political minefield which included the plug twice being pulled on Nine's direct feed from the debate, forcing it to take emergency measures.

The ensuing media imbroglio of accusation and counter-accusation is likely to be dealt with at a special meeting of the board of the National Press Club, which admitted cutting the direct feed, this afternoon.

So how big was the worm?


[File photo] (Getty Images: ANSTO)

Prime Minister, John Howard, disgusted by the fact that a feed to the Packer Media upstaged his presentation on the ABC - was especially displeased by the use of the "Worm" as an indicator of his success - or otherwise in his debate with Prime Ministerial aspirant Kevin Rudd. He appears to be telling people about how THICK it was!

Peter Costello - the heir apparent, was of course a little bit at odds with the PM's description of the worm, when he congratulated John Howard (2nd-R) standing with his wife Janette (R) and Alexander Downer (C-background) on the occasion of his debate with Australian opposition leader Kevin Rudd at the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra, 21 October 2007 in front of hundreds of spectators. That was only to be expected.

Not to be out done, the Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, himself an ambitious politician who has aspirations for the top job was probably also telling the crowd about what he thought of the size of the worm.
(File photo) (AAP: Tracey Nearmy)

Not having watched the Channel 9 coverage my question is did they really see the worm or is this simply more spin?

A Downer for Palestinian Leaders or perhaps more cynicism about the elections

Or more accurately - Australian Foreign Minister - Alexander Downer is due to meet the Palestinian leadership later today as part of a two-day trip to the Middle East.

He is due to announce a $7 million aid package, including $3 million through the UN, to help families in Gaza and refugees in Lebanon.

see http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/27/1963031.htm

I wonder if this is yet another campaign to try and win the hearts and minds of voters who have relatives in those countries? After all it could be a way for the politicians here to save money for those of their constituents who have arrived in Australia and would have to provide the support for members of their extended families who are still in refugee camps back in the "home countries".

Kevin Rudd or "How the Worm Turns"

After the great "debate" last night on the ABC and reported by some aficionados of the Packer media empire as "How the worm turns" I think it is time for some real focus on this aspiring leader of Australia.

Wikipedia seems to have something to say among many other sites.

Search for Kevin Rudd 1957 (his birth year)
There is the occasional occult reference as in: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~dymock/instal35.html where there is an article about Kevin Rudd's astrological chart or perhaps more interestingly ttp://www.astrologyoz.com/edtamplin/kevinrudd.htm

Apart from that it's mostly spin or the truth depending on your point of view!

What's in a Name or NOT the PM!

It appears that John Howard the PM of Australia has found out the value of the Internet and so he and his publicists have managed to enter the information revolution and make his name available to prospective voters.

Alas there are others out there who wish to bring THEIR view of the PM to our attention as well, for example: http://www.101usesforajohnhoward.com/

And of course there are misleading references and unrelated sites.

Having seen the charismatic John Howard PM on TV in the latest debate I did manage to recall that there was another actor by the same name.

John Howard featured at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0397397/

To tell the difference between this person and our PM you only have to check out the differences in hair.

Of course there are those that want to cash in on the PM's lack of hair as well - try and look at:
http://www.advancedhair.com.au/2004/johnny.html

(AND DO PUSH THE BUTTONS DEPENDING ON YOUR VOTER PREFERENCE!)

There are other mentions of a John Howard on the web, not the least of which is the "John Howard Society" in Canada. Of course the name used by this group is most likely based on a very different John Howard whose biography can be found at: http://www.johnhoward.ca/bio.htm

When you see the Australian PM on his daily walks to try and get or at least remain fit
you could be misled by being referred to yet other sites:
http://johnhoward.net/training/ or http://www.ultracycling.com/about/hof_howard.html

Last, but by no means least - check out the John Howard Hotel in London - it should suit our PM as a place to stay when in that town if and when he is no longer PM.

It is within walking distance of most of the tourist sights.
That way like some other former PMs (Bob Hawke comes to mind) he can stay in the public spotlight as he jogs his way around Hyde Park or at least is seen as going one way to a lip smacking encounter with an Aussie beer at Earl's Court or perhaps a quick visit to the Tennis or the cricket!