john howard losing his car

The video below is mean and nasty, petty and cruel and wholly unworthy of your attention. It ridicules a past leader of this great nation in a way that lacks humanity, musical taste and wit of any discernible nature.

Which is why I recommend you only watch it once. Or perhaps twice.

Running
13km this morning in freezing conditions. I did a session my training plan calls “anaerobic threshold”, which involves 4 sets of 4 minute fast running, with 2 minute jog between efforts. It was quite fun, in a way. I finished the 13km in 55 minutes, including stopping at traffic lights on the way to and from Princes Park.

just call the bloody election, please….

When it comes to epic battles of political ideas, I’m as big a fan as anyone. I’d also agree that Australian politics have gotten a fair bit more interesting in the post “Kevin07” era. I’m generally in favour of politicians running around the country throwing out fistfuls of cash left, right and centre, on the grounds that one day they might throw some at me.

But it’s gone on too long. If they keep on this way, there’ll be no more money left to “promise”. After all, it’s our money, from our taxes. Just call the election!!!!!

From the age today:

… Mr Howard could address the matter while campaigning in Macarthur in Sydney’s west today…

If he’s out “campaigning” today, he’s obviously not doing what he’s paid to do: govern the country.

So, if he’s conducting an election campaign, call the election!!!! It’s not a difficult concept to grasp, even Alexander Downer might be able to understand if you say it to him slowly.

Running
If the bit above strikes you as being more assertive and positive than average, never fear: it’s just the post-run happy-juice talking. I had a particularly enjoyable, fast, trip around the tan. So fast in fact I wasn’t able to jump off in time and ended up swinging around a second time.

Even the hordes of Show-bound school kids and harassed-looking parents didn’t phase me. Federation Square, which had transformed itself into a heaving mass of hormones and acne in honour of the final 12 warblers from ‘Strayun Oidol: it had no effect on my serene state of mind.

Running’s good like that.

Music
I wrote a post a few weeks ago, the main thrust being that Patti Smith is crazy. Well, today I take it back. She’s not crazy, but she is a little peculiar.

I was listening to “Birdland” on my run today. Beautiful song in it’s way, but it really bugs me the way she keeps saying:

all the long, black funeral cars

Hearse, woman. Hearse. Haven’t you ever heard the word?

I think I need to have a lie down.

kiss of death

According to the age:

GEORGE Bush has embraced John Howard with an emphatic display of solidarity

I think that’s what’s known as a political “kiss of death”, no?

I realise he’s a bit desperate for friends at the moment, but surely Howard could have come up with a better re-election strategy than turning central Sydney into a war zone and having his picture taken with the least popular US president of all time?

Running
While my co-workers were slacking off, lounging about in the park and stuffing themselves full of various delicacies, I was beetling along the north side of the Yarra, sweating up a storm and frightening passers-by.

It was around 13k, done in slightly under 4.5 minute ks. Route is online at mapmyrun.com.

That run pushed me over 2400km for the year.

Weather
I realise it was only 16 degrees yesterday, but I felt quite warm at least in the direct sunlight. Perhaps winter has made me soft.

is there hope?

Indulge me dear reader, if you will, as I detour into a brief, very brief, mention of Australian politics. Apologies to my septic readers for whom this might be a touch unfathomable…

The budget was released only the other day, and it seems to have been seen by most people as pretty successful, and hence a bit of a blow to Kevin Rudd, who’s now said to be “on the back foot”.

I wouldn’t be surprised to find it’s popular, as Costello seems to have done his pre-election imitation of a drunken sailor in port for the night. Why give senior citizens cash handouts? What’s it supposed to achieve?

It reminds me of this quote from Grandpa Simpson:

Marge: “Where’d you get all the money?”

Grampa: “The government. I didn’t earn it, I don’t need it, but if they miss one payment, I’ll raise hell!”

But despite all that – the polls show Rudd is still in front, and the government still looks vulnerable.

Which brings me back to the post title: is there hope? Have Australians realised how tired, old and bereft of ideas this government is? Have we understood how behind the 8-ball we are on climate change, and how Howard’s only ideas about the economy is to give the big-end of town open slather and nail workers’ arses to the wall?

We’ll see.

One last thing – it’s about time the Australian bit the bullet and renamed themselves something more accurate. Perhaps “the Liberal Party Stooge”, “the Big End of Town”, “the Rabid Right Wing”. They’ve spent the past few months desperately getting someone, anyone, from business to admit any kind of concern about Labor and Rudd, and then running it as front-page news “Rudd under attack” “Rudd to destroy the economy” etc.

What a load of bollocks. They have no balance or objectivity whatsoever, and are making fools of themselves just like in the lead-up to the Iraq war.

Running
None yet. I’ve been super lazy, which I think is my right during tapering. I actually got up early and made it into work by 7am, only to find it was raining. I didn’t want to risk getting the new shoes all muddy, so I’ve put off the run until lunchtime.

I’m due for a 10k-er, with some fartlek if I have the energy. Possibly around Princess Park, who knows.

english surrender-monkeys

I don’t envy whoever’s doing John Howard’s speechwriting at the moment. They must wake up every morning just dreading having to go to the office. Every time the phone rings, they must flinch.

It seems every day the Iraq thing just gets worse for our glorious leader, and I’m not even talking about the actual killing and bombing on the ground. Every day the original justifications get more discredited, and the explanations get more torturous and twisted. What’s more, every other one of the “allies” jumps ship.

It must be hard, selling our “policy”.

The latest ship-jumper is of course Tony Blair, who will shortly pull out a whole heap of soldiers. Howard and co’s response has been to say that:

• the Brits are pulling soldiers out for the same reason we’re sending more. Work that one out.
• we knew it was happening anyway. It’s all part of the plan.

Yeah right, I believe it….

So let’s get this straight – a staged withdrawal is a “staged surrender”. That was last week’s theory. Extending that idea just a bit makes Tony Blair a cheese-eating surrender monkey, just like his colleagues across the channel. But he’s English so does that make him a warm-beer-drinking surrender monkey?

And if the government has known about it for so long, why was Downer on Lateline on Tuesday saying:

it’s not good enough for Australia to say to the Americans and the British and others, you do the job, we’re not going to do it because it’s not polling very well

Isn’t that exactly what Blair is doing?

Running
An improved effort this morning. I did 14k, which counts as this week’s mid-week long run. Probably not race fit, but the strength is coming back to me, bit by bit. The lungs don’t protest as much.

I’m still catching up with this week’s training after the flu early this week. Tomorrow’s rest day will have to wait. I’ll do the 10k hill session instead. The only session I’ll really miss this week is an 8k recovery run. No big deal.

Strides

I’ve said in the past JRuns readers are, on the whole, extremely fit, intelligent and kinda good-looking, although obviously too modest to mention it. To this list of admirable characteristics I now have to add another, not so spiffy.

You know an awful lot about torture. Worryingly so.

I must be careful not to get on your bad side from now on.

Politics
I note our glorious leader has expanded his sphere of operations to include US presidential candidates. Isn’t it wonderful that we have such a far-sighted and insightful person at the head of our government? Without him, I would never have known the US Democratic part was a hotbead of Al-qaeda sympathisers who just aren’t taking the Iraq war seriously, like us.

Blogs
Amusing post at the Spin starts here.com

Running
An easy-ish 10k this morning, followed by 6 “strides”. I’ve never done these before.

The instructions (in my program) say to run for 80-100m on a flat surface, accellerating to just above 10k pace. You then walk or jog back to the start and do it again.

What it ends up being is 6 lazy-ish 100m sprints, followed by 6 lazy-ish jogs. I’m not sure that’s right.

If you feel like you can enlighten me, then feel free. Go ahead, enlighten away. Just keep the stuff about hanging and torture to a minimum.