More on Howard

John Howard has been Australia's Prime Minister for over ten years, the second longest in Australia's long history. He has been a very popular PM, but this popularity has been waning a bit in recent years. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but Howard has retained his seat by waiving the election whenever it comes up or something like that.

Born in Sydney in 1939, Howard knew he was meant for politics after his successful bid for Class President in 1946 thanks to his "Bring the Troops Home" campaign. After a few years in office, his politics became more conservative. Upon re-election for Class President in 1949, his "Send the Troops Back" campaign was met with lukewarm reception. He lost his seat and was grounded.

After a brief stint with The Muppets in the 70's, Howard returned to politics. Around this time his vision started fading and he had his eyebrows surgically moved from his forehead to the top of his glasses.

"John" comes from the Hebrew for "God is merciful".

"Howard" has an English origin, meaning "guardian of the home". It was also the name of a duck who travelled to this planet in the 80s and became very famous.

So "John Howard" means he's going to guard your home and, as a last resort, pray for God's mercy.