I watched, or I should say flicked in an out of, the first part of the Howard years last night. I must admit I had forgotten some of the blanket changes to this country his government made in the first few years in power.

The passing of the gun laws was something of little concern for me at the time but with the benefit of hindsight I am amazed they got past this one. A few years after this battle was fought I found myself living in an area of the country where people were still very upset about this and it became more of a story to me after the fact. Don’t worry, a large amount of these guns are still hidden and buried on properties all over the country. John got his way, but not all the way

Then they went after the wharf workers in a battle that both sides claim partial victory but in one Peter Reith doesn’t come off (to me) as totally honest. Reith’s move (years later) into a company closely associated with his political role left a bad taste in many a mouth also.

Then, after all that, the bane of John Hewson’s political existence, the GST. I recall this as not such major concern to me because there was always a sales tax and the GST seemed to bring commonality to the whole thing. But I can understand the fears that many people had about this tax.

In the end he got all of this through and kept office which looing back is pretty surprising.

Brock Lesssnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr

He came out to legendary Metallica song ‘Enter Sandman’ and for Randy Couture that’s exactly what occurred.

It was a strange experience watching this fight live. I am usually fairly passive and like to watch the fights with an open mind but I was very much on Lesnar’s side and really into it. I was putting myself in his shoes as he stood across the Octagon and thought that he must be nervous. He later admitted that indeed he was pretty nervous but you wouldn’t have picked it by looking at him.

It wasn’t an out and out brawl but that is the beauty of MMA in my opinion. Anyone can beat anyone if the correct strategy is employed.

Anyone can beat anyone……except for this night. I had my $100 riding on Lesnar and was pretty happy when Couture went crashing to the canvass and Lesnar started landing the first of 12 unanswered shots to Couture’s face before the ref stopped the beat down.

A humble Lesnar took the title in the manner in which it should be taken and Couture was, as always, gracious in defeat.

We now look forward to the winner of the Noguiera V Mir to determine Lesnar’s next victim

I was mucking around on the net earlier and stumbled across a community of niffs. And in all situations where you stumble into an area you where you feel scared I slowly backed away avoiding eye contact…..

The first one is Nirvana’s Lithium

The next is an Eclipse of the Heart Remix

Then we get some Deep Purple with guess which song?

I will let you try and tell me where the last theme comes from…..

There are heaps of these on you tube alone so I assume it has spread to other areas as well. This infection must be stopped, if you come across it you know what you should do.

Due to Main Events arrogant attitude that “we are Australia’s only PPV provider so we can do what we like” I have searched long and far for a solution to watch UFC 91 live this Sunday.

My abilities continue to astonish me and I have located a lovely little service available through Yahoo.com to stream the fight live on the internet. It ain’t free, but she live!! In your face Main Event, in your freaking face you pricks!

So we are back! UFC 91 Couture V Lesnar starts 1pm Sunday afternoon. If you want to watch I need to know ASAP. If I have not heard from you by Friday I will assume you are out.

I am really not sure who is going to win the main event but I have to lean with the bookies. Lesnar is so big, powerful and quick as all hell, I just struggle to see an easy way to victory for Couture. I will be having a $100 on Lesnar @ $1.83.

Great preliminary fight with Joe Stevenson taking on Kenny ‘Kenflo’ Florian (worst nick name in MMA). The bookies have ‘Kenflo’ at a $1.55 favourite but I think the fight may be closer than this.

Either way, bash it up your clacker Main Event, you want to push me around? Then lets dance dog!!

Australian cricket died this afternoon in no small part due to the inability of one of the worst cricketers to wear the baggy green Michael Clark. In fact as per normal, under the most extreme pressure know in cricket the out-of-form Matthew Hayden was the only person to put up a fight. And much the same as he did in the early nineties Matty will more than likely be dropped for this effort.

This fact that Hayden will probably be dropped disappoints me to a degree but the following concern me more.

• Michael Clarke is in the side
• Michael Clarke has any influence in strategic discussion in the side
• That Michael Clarke will die if he walks within 50 meters of me
• Laura Bingle finds Michael Clarke the least bit interesting
• Ricky Ponting has grown up with 3 of the best captains in Australian history and he hoped just having the name ‘captain’ would be enough, as feared he was WRONG.
• The abysmal performance Australian put up on the third day. As I watched it I continually asked “why are they playing so slow and negative?”
• When questioned about their negative play the Australian’s said “India was restricting us to that style of play”
• Australia seem to have absolutely no answer to any thing thrown at them.
• Shane Warne has retired
• I will be forced to endure what England have in recent memory. That, my fat little friends scares me more than anything!!!!

All’s well that ends well and the career of Roy Jones Jr. ended well on Saturday, at least I hope so.

When I was a younger fella (teens) my favourite fighter was always Roy Jones Jr. and with advent of Foxtel in Australia during the mid nineties I was lucky enough to get to see many of his fights. Most of which ended by KO, but all of which were entertaining. The speed, the power, the showmanship (a little like Mundine) always impressed me as he always seemed to finish with a victory. Jones carried his skill from middle weight all the way up to heavyweight champion of the world (becoming the first middleweight in 106 years to hold the heavy weight crown).

Yesterday he was as showy as ever but unfortunately father time caught up with him and the gifted Welshman Joe Calzaghe showed no fear of Jones’s speed or power. It wasn’t all the Welshman’s way with Jones scoring a knock down in the first round but after cutting Jones above the left eye Calzaghe earned a dominant decision victory.

Like all great sportsman Jones was gracious in defeat and said he would now think about his future. I hope he thinks a loss to the unbeaten Calzaghe is an acceptable way to end his career and leaves it at that. Unfortunately, most athletes can’t leave it at that so I wouldn’t be surprised if he fights on, but in my eyes his career ended yesterday.

Thank you Mr Jones.

I don’t want to bring this up to much, mainly due to the fact that a good friend of mine has copped a pizzling with the ABC fiasco, but ABC Learning centres is gooooooonnnne!

It is a shame that a company with such a great monopoly on childcare in Australia would allow itself to get so riddled with debt that it can’t support itself. Unfortunately this is just another example of the ‘debt’s ok’ culture that grips people & companies all over the country (and world). Debt is acceptable in some situations but it is ridiculous in others.

ABC = Ludicrous

The following is a bit of a re-run from a post earlier this year. Eddy Groves will in all likelihood face criminal chargers at some stage. The following question remains unanswered and is one of that shareholders, banks and the government should demand an answer to.

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How is it that Eddy Groves former high flying corporate hero turned lame duck, on Friday the 7th of March 2008, was able to fly back into Australia and sell 12,165,301 ordinary shares for $2.1390488 per ordinary share?

Reviewing the total public share trading results for ABL (ABC’s stock ticker) for the entire trading period on Friday indicates that the share price never got past $1.75 per ordinary share. Who in their right mind would have paid 19% higher to purchase Mr Groves shares over those available on the stock market at a lower rate.

Possibly some back door deal done with a company/group interested in a position in ABC? If this is the case, are ordinary, off the street, shareholders allowed to do such deals?

Do any of you chief champs have any idea on the hard and fast rules here?