Why is John Howard so Concerned About Gap Years?

He will discuss a proposal with George Bush at APEC about the prospect of allowing Australian youths spend a gap year in the United States. This may be a way of getting some American training for the youth? Maybe its just he thinks it is every teenager’s dream. Eighteen to twenty four year olds like YouTube, Myspace and America. Howard, who is struggling with the demographic, has some sweet contacts which he is pulling for you to live the dream. I notice he now has a more respectable number of friends on his Myspace than the 8 he had last time I checked, but that was a while ago. Possibly his staff spent their time also creating friends accounts for him while they were editing Wikipedia.

The America deal does show that Howard is focusing in on the very American concept of a gap year. A few weeks back, he and Brendan Nelson proposed school leavers to spend their gap year in the military under a revamped version of the old ‘try before you buy’ push of the 90’s. Talk back callers in or formally of the Army said there is a culture within the army that treats even the reserves as well as teenage adventure campers with incredulity. The cost and effort to train someone for a year only is not effective at all, and really is not sufficient to make an impact on their leadership skills.

Oddly I do agree with the principal of school leavers not going straight to University. It has been something I have long felt would benefit universities with an extra year of maturity and the weeding effect time to think away from the pressure of teachers that the HSC is your ticket to university and life. Many of those students who really don’t belong their will find other avenues and those who do go to university will likely perform better. Still, I do not know if I advocate federally funded gap year programs. Why can’t they just get a job while partying hard and maybe traveling? Unless this is to help disadvantaged students then it seems a resource draining activity.

Personally I would like to see universities offer an introductory year that all potential students would be required to take. This will give them university rather than HSC levels of mathematics and statistics, logic and argumentation, history, philosophy, essay writing, and research skills, while allowing them to spend the year partying uni style. High intake and a nice cash earner for universities, but ultimately the weeding will begin during basic training.

Election Date Speculation

Obviously the election declaration is the week after APEC unless something goes wrong for Howard. The Liberals have been trying to advance purchase campaign advertising ahead of actually calling it, which I understand is not the convention. The time frame they were looking at was about two to three weeks time, which puts it straight after APEC. Labor tried to purchase advertising for the same period when they found out. Both were rebuffed. Labor has called for the Government to call it.

It makes sense as APEC should look good for Howard. I guess that is his strategy at least. I do not think aspirational targets are going to cut it on progress and everyone will know it. If he wants to win again he will have to use the opportunity to stage his own assassination attempt. He will become matyrly and that’s about all that can probably save him.

What will APEC achieve?

To me it feels a symbolic gesture given the host has gone into it with the agenda of ‘inspirational targets’. It is embarrassing to us as a nation to be represented as thinking that is actually something the world needs and that we think it actually means anything other than being a slogan. What does it mean? Whatever Howard wants it to mean; being Howard defined places it in common with non-core promises (also known as the promise which probably isn’t one).

Protests always follow Bush and they do get your city in the news. Most the world, including Americans these days will think more of us as a nation if we make protesting news. It will not be because of assassination. Why when he is just treading water until he will be unceremoniously voted off the island. Howard has not been assassinated to date, and he makes it reasonably possible every morning in his tracksuit. Again, most people would rather wait the two months rather than be incarcerated for the rest of their life to see him gone. Terrorism usually does not happen at such events because only an idiot would attack when they are expecting it. I believe the Pope has usually been pretty safe. We are actually protesting against its host if we chose to attend.

They don’t want protests. Why do they not want protests?

The police are basically saying stay home or you will be hit. I am intuiting that most people will stay home. They really do seem to mean it this time. The Labor state government has gone to a great effort to make John Howard look good to the world considering their obvious annoyance at having this duty thrust upon them.

I would like to see them purposefully be incompetent and throw it, let chaos reign. Howard will say, vote for me NSW, as those who claim to rule you are incompetent. We will say, we already knew that, and nothing will change in the polls. The fun bit is Howard will be embarrassed in front of Bush and the other 19 party goers as the parents come home early.

Why has Howard become obsessed with having parties at our expense? I do hope they visit a strip joint. It would actually make me feel a little better about the whole affair if there were photos of Howard dancing on the bar in his underpants with dignitaries chanting chug, chug, chug. He could be remembered in history as the man who had the best piss up in Australia, which is possibly kinder than it currently looks to do so, what with that failed pre-emptive war with a despotic country you bribed to take your wheat. It’s often the big things people remember.

Sadly they will not do so. Apparently Howard has trapped them on this as:

• They have the city of Sydney’s PR at stake. You must sell the brand; be taken seriously as a city for all those consumers of cities.
• The out going Ken Moroney exits the battle field of law enforcement a hero.
• The in coming Andrew Scipione wows the world with his feats of competence.
• Iemma apparently likes to be taken seriously on occasion, especially when the world is watching.

Are protestors really that bad for a city’s reputation? What is wrong with letting the world see we are democratic and free? Maybe they are concerned some of the other countries will think we are rubbing their noses in it. Protests have violence, but a prepared police should be able to handle what are usually isolated incidents. This is not only well prepared, it is actively menacing. There is a very very bad driving offence which is driving to menace. This is policing to menace. How will it look to the world? How will it look to us?

The police will be smacking some socialists. I suspect it will be the same pleasant feeling for most that we get when we see Vivien violently attacking Rick, the People’s Poet. This will play out like a professional wrestling bout, where the professional means it is all theatre as opposed amateur which means it is in the Olympics. The Good wrestler Captain Fuzz will be cheered for as he destroys the Evil wrestler El’Socialisto. No body likes Resistance and it is amazing how easily they can be used as a the face of terror? The people will clap and praise the police for ultimately suppressing free speech and Resistance will be heaped with the blame for justifying the police to do so. How dare they take away my democratic right to protest by provoking the police. I kind of feel we would not be allowed to protest even there were no Resistance. The Howards must keep up those appearances.

Sydney: the city where a man can not get a drink outside a strip club

What is this? New York? Clover appears to be out of the loop on APEC preparations, while she fights the good fight for nicer, more intimate boozerias. I’m not sure she will beat the might of the Hotel lobby, but I am personally tired of being rejected from every pub or club because I am not female enough nor clearly cashed up. This is exactly the kind of discrimination I hate the most. The kind against me. Until Clover’s triumph, men in the inner city will be forced to watch naked women and pay exorbitant money for drinks