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Friends deserve respect National Post: Editorial Saturday, May 20, 2006 If anyone could have stood to benefit from the message delivered in Ottawa Thursday by John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, it was quite a few members of the Liberal caucus. Mr. Howard told a joint sitting of the Houses of Parliament that Australia "is an unapologetic friend and ally of the United States," and called the U.S. a "remarkable power for good in the world." He went on to warn that those who would prefer the U.S. to have less influence "should be careful what you wish for,...

Australian PM courts Canadian support in rare address Mike De Souza CanWest News Service Thursday, May 18, 2006 OTTAWA — Australian Prime Minister John Howard made a pitch for his country and Canada to work together in facing the challenges of globalization and climate change as he made a special address to members of Parliament and senators in the House of Commons on Thursday. “Those countries that pull down their trade barriers and open their economies and embrace globalization are the economies that will thrive and succeed,” Howard said after arriving in Ottawa for a three-day visit to Canada....

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has a record that is the envy of conservative leaders around the world. Recently elected to a fourth term (with an enhanced majority, to boot), he has charted a distinctive and largely successful course for Australia's international relations over the past decade. As the Harper government begins to formulate its own approach to foreign policy, Mr. Howard arrives in Ottawa at an opportune moment. Under Mr. Howard's leadership, Australia's ties with the United States have warmed considerably, stemming in large part from Canberra's staunch support for U.S.-led anti-terrorism initiatives and the invasion of Iraq. Mr....

Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean has contradicted his party’s platform and infuriated gay rights advocates by saying the party’s platform states “marriage is between a man and a woman.” “Howard Dean puts his foot in his mouth so often that he should open a pedicure wing in the DNC during his tenure,” Log Cabin Republicans President Patrick Guerriero said Wednesday. “Howard Dean’s positions on LGBT issues have changed more often than the weather in New England, where he’s from.” National Gay & Lesbian (Socialist) Task Force... Foreman said in response to Dean’s “pandering and insulting interview” with the Christian Broadcasting...

Prime Minister John Howard is standing by Australia's top Catholic, as Islamic and other groups question Cardinal George Pell's remarks about the intolerance of the Muslim faith and the Koran's "invocations to violence". Dr Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, defended comments he made in an address to US Catholic business leaders in Florida in February, which were published this week. In his speech, Cardinal Pell questioned the tolerance of Islam. "Considered strictly on its own terms, Islam is not a tolerant religion and its capacity for far-reaching renovation is severely limited," Dr Pell said in the address. He also said there...

Howard Dean, in a speech to the American Jewish Committee... took a swipe at the Republican Party, saying the Democratic Party is one of inclusion and religious freedom. "I was recently asked about the difference between the Democratic and Republican parties," Dean said. "When it comes right down to it, the essential difference is that the Democrats fundamentally believe it is important to make sure that American Jews feel comfortable being American Jews." Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who is Jewish, addressed the group on Tuesday. The head of the Democratic Party said Wednesday that unchecked U.S. reliance on...

Friends, I wanted to write to you and thank you in the aftermath of the Special Election for the 50th Congressional District. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to claim victory in this past Tuesday’s Special Election. The good news is that we managed to keep the anti-war liberal Democrat, Francine Busby, below 50% - and therefore kept her from winning this seat outright. Spending over a million dollars in the final few weeks, the liberal, anti-war extremists were dealt a stunning blow. There will now be a runoff election in June between the top two finishers....

Democrats hold camp to train election activistsBy Lisa Vorderbrueggen CONTRA COSTA TIMES Posted on Sat, Mar. 18, 2006 Jim Dean, brother of ex-presidential candidate and Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, will deliver opening remarks today at a campaign activist training camp in Stockton, a site chosen because it's in one of a dozen congressional districts that Democrats hope to seize from Republicans this year. "Absolutely, we're in Stockton for a reason and that's Richard Pombo," said program director and East Bay Democracy for America volunteer Kathy Klein, referring to the seven-term incumbent Republican congressman. Nearly 200 people have signed up...

Alexander Downer is in for a tough day. He sits down this morning for the first ministerial-level tripartite talks with the US and Japan. Top of the agenda is the complex and vital issue of the rise of China. And Downer will be in a minority of one against our major ally and our biggest trade partner. These talks are not routine diplomacy. The US Secretary of State and the Japanese Foreign Minister have gone to a lot of trouble to be here together for today's session. They have a serious purpose: to arrest what they see as Australia's drift...

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - In one of his more famous moments of talking Texas, President Bush described Australian leader John Howard as his deputy sheriff in the war on terror. But as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads into East Asia security talks here, she's finding there's another sheriff in these parts. Chinese officials are working closely with Canberra to hammer out an agreement that would recognize China as an open market and bring billions of dollars of business to resource-rich Australia. And Australia is doing everything it can to accentuate China's positives. Last year, the country's former defense minister,...

OK, I am going to give most of you the day off. The rest of you need to pay close attention. You have some work to do. A lot of you I know like a book. That comes from almost a decade of responding to your letters and emails on a variety of subjects. You've told me in no uncertain terms that you don't like watching cowboys kiss each other. In fact, watching the media gush over boys marrying boys and girls marrying girls makes you want to upchuck your biscuits and gravy. You don't have much tolerance for those...

In a rousing speech that drew an overflow crowd to the University of Vermont on Friday, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama endorsed Bernie Sanders for U.S. Senate and Peter Welch for the U.S. House, saying the country could use a "nice cool blast of the truth." The rising star of the Democrats said Americans were starting to pay attention to their federal government and are ready for a "call to action." He called Sanders and Welch "two outstanding progressive candidates" who could bring about change in Washington He also praised former Gov. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who...

THE reaction of the UN to the nuclear crisis in Iran will be a test for the international body, Prime Minister John Howard says. Mr Howard said those critical of the US, UK and Australian governments for invading Iraq would see for themselves how effective the UN was when it decided what action to take against Iran. Ahead of a visit to Australia next week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said Iran is the number one challenge for Washington and would be a major threat to US Middle East interests if it acquired atomic weapons. Iran says its...

SYDNEY--Australia celebrated 10 years of conservative government this week under its seemingly indestructible prime minister, John Howard. Amid a flurry of tributes, toasts and spotlights that blanketed the nightly news here, Mr. Howard did little more than say he's "still surprised" to be in office, and smile. Somewhere, Ronald Reagan is smiling along with him. Like the Gipper, Mr. Howard has fundamentally reshaped Australian society through economic reform. When elected in March 1996, the plain-talking Aussie pledged lower taxes, privatization and labor market change. A political veteran who'd been defeated in national votes before, he vowed his government wouldn't "be...

Critiquing the Press (But You Know The New York Slimes) Howard Kurtz has been The Washington Post's media reporter since 1990. He is also the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" and the author of "Media Circus," "Hot Air," "Spin Cycle" and "The Fortune Tellers: Inside Wall Street's Game of Money, Media and Manipulation." Kurtz talks about the press and the stories of the day in "Media Backtalk."

IT WAS an unexpected double act which again demonstrated the power of the written word. On Monday, the media reported comments by John Howard to journalist George Megalogenis, which are in Nick Cater's edited collection The Howard Factor (MUP, 2006). The Prime Minister expressed concern that for the first time in Australian history, there is a "fragment" among immigrants "which is utterly antagonistic to our kind of society". The comments were made on December 9, shortly before the social unrest which followed events in Cronulla. Howard referred to (unnamed) groups "raving on about jihad" and holding "extreme attitudes" to women....

...commentator Keith Windschuttle, writing in the Australian as Howard's published interview became headline-making news, noted: "...[T]he response to the Danish cartoons demonstrated that, even when Muslims go on violent rampages, burn down embassies and, in Britain, march with placards threatening death to their fellow citizens, many people regard this as somehow understandable, even acceptable, since we have no right to judge another religion and culture." He referred to Howard as a "cultural warrior" and pointed out that, in Europe, statements like the Australian leader's "have seen government ministers in several countries condemned by their colleagues," with the result that some...

SYDNEY, Australia -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard said some segments of the country's Islamic community were "utterly antagonistic" to Australian society in comments published Monday that immediately drew criticism from a Muslim group. Howard also denounced "extreme attitudes" held by some Muslims, including their views on women and support of jihad, or holy war. He said some Muslim immigrants had not integrated into Australian society as well as previous waves of Europeans and Asians. "There is a fragment (of the Islamic community) which is utterly antagonistic to our kind of society, and that is a difficulty," Howard said. "There...

The Australian Muslim community says it is being further alienated by comments made by Prime Minister John Howard regarding Muslim extremists. This morning Mr Howard repeated remarks he originally made in an interview for a book due to be published later this month. Mr Howard criticised a small section of the Muslim community for its views on jihad and attitudes to women. "I stand by those comments that there is a small section of the Islamic population in Australia that, because of its remarks about jihad, remarks which indicate an extremist view, that is a problem," he said. "It is...

A TINY minority of Australia's Muslim population was preoccupied with jihad, causing concern for the federal government, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said today. Mr Downer said he shared the views of Prime Minister John Howard, who today stood by his comments that some Muslims were antagonistic to Australian culture. Mr Howard's views are outlined in a book to mark the 10th anniversary of his rise to power written by journalists and commentators from The Australian newspaper. In the book, Mr Howard said a commitment to jihad and extreme attitudes towards women were two problems unique to Muslims that previous...