Rising to the occasion to wedge Labor, John Howard announced his $10bn plan to take over water powers from the Labor states for the sole purpose of selling it all off to privateers in his next term.

What, he didn't mention that? Perhaps he was too busy trying to control his quivering lower lip as he presented Tim Flannery with the Australian of the Year award. Instead of taking the opportunity to punch Howard in the face, Gentleman Tim merely said it was one of the "ironies of life" to be receiving the award from Howard, who now fancies himself not only a "nationalist" but a "climate-change realist".

Meanwhile, let us all hoist our flags or drape ourselves with them or show off our all-Aussie tatts or whatever it is we're supposed to do on this holy day of patriotism as we celebrate the birth of a once proud nation called Australia but which in recent years has become a caricature better known as The Howardland.

Can anybody beat him? Oops, that's a headline on the front page of today's Australian, referring to Roger Federer. The answer, as it relates to Howard, is not going to be just Kevin Rudd but the Australian people. Unless they do something about this political robot, this Golem, this Frankenstein they have created, the opening line of Mad Mel Gibson's excellent film Apocalypto may apply in spades:

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. -- Ariel Durant

Too late. We're already conquered. After the slow invasion of our minds over the decades by their media, eleven years of subservient Howardism has clinched the deal. America well and truly owns us, from our wallets to our gray matter.

So, despite what he says, remember that the man who stands at the top of the self-aggrandising pyramid of patriotism is John "I'm All-Australian, except for the 99 per cent of me that's American" Howard.

The shame of it all is that Australia was done in by an ungainly, uncharismatic, unlikeable twit of a traitor.

-- Olney Garkle

Afterthought: Some big time journos are urging the states to agree to Howard's power play, "for the good of the nation". But they are foolishly assuming he has any credibility left. Nothing John Howard does is for the good of the nation, but only on behalf of his lust for power. OG