Meet Sinclair Patrick Howard and Kieran Paul Howard, our ex-leader's second cousins. As you can see, they are identical twins, but one looks like a reflection of the other. Mirror image twins are created when the fertilised egg splits quite late - around days nine to tweve. Any later and the twins can be co-joined. Typically one of the Howard twins is right-handed, while the other uses his left.
While one is right-brained and artistic, the other is a left-brained intellectual, and nick-named "Head-on-a-Stick" by his brother. While one is outgoing and popular with the ladies, the other is left... for me. I first met Kieran and Sinclair when they were in their early 20's. They said they were returning from a great course at the Marxist Summer School on Oral Sex, which had apparently been led by a group of militant Feminists. At that time, the more extroverted Sinclair was the public mouth-piece for the pair, with Kieran acting as his whispering, eminance grise... In an informal context, they shared a witty eccentricity and a true passion for politics. Unlike their grandfather's brother's grandson, the Right Hon. John Winston Howard, they have always tended strictly to the Left; with Kieran taking an interest in history, economics, art history, lierature and philosophy; and his brother Sinclair, in oral sex, art and the environment. It would appear that the political split occurred in the Howard family two generations ago, and the two grandfathers hardly spoke to eachother again. Sons of the late Cecil Howard, Political Correspondent, honored WW2 veteran, Communist, and prominent member of the Sydney Journalists' Club, The Twins have endeavored to keep left-wing politics in their side of the family. They have both been strongly involved in Australia's Trade Union Movements and were active members of the A.L.P.'s "Young Labour" for some time, until brutally evicted in the '80s, due to their interests in the ideas of the now-defunct Communist Party. Since that time, they have continued to operate, and often worked hard to build the careers others, such as Carmel Tebutt, Linda Voltz, Paul Lynch, and Maxine McHugh. The once-quiet Kieran now has his voice heard by night, as K.Osmosis: writer of poetry, prose and philosophical texts; with the revived S.P.K. collective. They have released a DVD with online editions, that has been No. 1 on Tesco Germany's Charts for the last 7 months. His day jobs have been as varied as the Deparment of Defence (Class 5), and the Sydney Sexual Health Clinic, but always political. Still a Union representative, he is also working for the Refugee Tribunal Committee, giving as much support as he can to applicants. Kieran is appalled that many of his clients must be refused residency - due to imposed quotas - even though they legally comply with immigration requirements. "How the f*** do you explain that to them?", he protests. He is nevertheless content to be the first contact for Asylum Seekers and to have the opportunity to present their case. It is clear that Kieran suffers, due the stress that "ruining lives" causes him. He was put on 3-day-a-week stress leave, after witnessing a refugee cut his throat in front of the Tribunal, upon refusal of residency.
As for the "mouth-piece", Sinclair Howard: he rose to the level of Senior Management at the Department of Social Security, but was declared "redundant" in 2003, in a departmental reshuffle, and has since become a struggling artist. His passion (and talent!) has become photography and painting, and he occasionally sells. Sinclair's health began to suffer in 2006, due to seriously infected wisdom teeth. He could not afford to go to a dentist, so he joined the Dental Hospital queue, for over a year. In 2007 - by which time his left leg was storing the infection - Sinclair, in despair, declared himself Indigenous, in order to have the teeth removed more quickly. Mr Howard stated that he was from the "Malingara" (malingerer?) tribe, and was accepted immediately by the hospital for treatment.
It took 5 people 4 hours to perform the act, and much to Sinclair's surprise, the strength of his "indigenous teeth and jaw-line" was cited as the reason for the hospital team's difficulty in getting the buggars out. Naturally Sinclair asked his twin brother to get a second opinion about that issue from another unsuspecting dentist. And somewhat amazingly, Kieran's dentist also confirmed the hypothesis that he was of Aboriginal descent. Now would that be on their German mother's side, or what?
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