there have been more lives lost in 747's but no one rags them
I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Very sad news about our 'yellow Wiggle' and the Black Hawk helicopter accident. Greg Page by all accounts is a lovely man and a great bloke. To have this medical problem must be so dis-heartening. It would be such a horrible thing to experience. At least he knows what it is now and knows what he can and cannot do comfortably and safely. I don't know enough about the military or the eqipment used to say the Black Hawks are a problem in themselves although I do know there have been fatal accidents with them.
Bob Irwin celebrates his third birthday Friday Dec 1 16:56 AEDT
Some kids get a petting zoo and a handful of friends to come to their birthday party.
But Steve Irwin's son, Bob, had an entire wildlife park and thousands of well-wishers on hand to celebrate his third birthday in spectacular style at Australia Zoo.
Bob publicly celebrated his birthday at his family's zoo, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, despite concerns about how he is coping with his father, Steve's, death.
Bob, clad in khaki, was given a big cheer as he was carried into the Crocoseum in his mother, Terri's, arms and with his sister Bindi, 8, by his side. He cut an impressive Thomas the Tank Engine cake as part of the nursery rhyme-themed celebrations, while a crowd of thousands sang happy birthday.
Terri helped blow out the candles before planting a big kiss on Bob's forehead.
She briefly thanked everyone for attending.
Humphrey B. Bear, Noddy, the Smurfs and a gang of pirates also were part of the fun, while Santa made a surprise visit to feed some crocodiles during a live feeding show.
Entry to the zoo was free for children and the party included prizes, cakes, rides and face painting.
Terri, who did not give any media interviews, recently raised concerns about how her children were coping with their father's death, saying she had taken them to see a psychologist.
She said Bob had not coped with Irwin's death as well as Bindi because he did not understand death.
Irwin died in September when a stingray barb pierced his chest while shooting a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef.
Beazley suffers cruel blow December 04, 2006 11:58am
KEVIN Rudd was elected leader of the Australian Labor Party this morning, ousting Kim Beazley - who immediately suffered another blow when he was told his brother had died.
According to Malcolm Farr of The Daily Telegraph Mr Beazley found out the tragic news moments after his Caucus defeat by leadership challenger Kevin Rudd and his "dream team" deputy Julia Gillard.
David Beazley, who was disabled, lived in Perth. It is as yet unclear how he died or when - but it is believed to have been overnight.
The news has brought a sombre note to the day for Labor MPs, who elected Mr Rudd with an emphatic 49 votes to Mr Beazley's 39.
Beazley breaks down
Speaking at a press conference following the vote, Mr Beazley broke down as he spoke of his family before apologising to assembled media.
"Finally, I thank Susie and my family….family is everything," he said before trailing off.
Asked later about the sad news he received today, Mr Beazley said "let's just leave it," before leaving the press conference.
Mr Beazley said he wanted to be remembered for his contribution to nation-building over his long parliamentary career.
"I am proud of what I've achieved for this country and proud of what I've achieved for the party," he said.
"I want to be remembered as a man obsessed with nation-building.
"I want to be proud as the man who made Labor competitive again after a bad loss."
Asked about his political future, Mr Beazley said: "For me to do anything further in the Australian Labor Party I would say is Lazarus with a quadruple bypass.
"So the time has come for me to move on but when that gets properly formalised I will let you know."
He said he wouldn't seek a position on the frontbench.
"I think the time has come for the Labor Party, having made a decisive decision to turn to a new generation, I have no part in that."
But then asked if he planned to retire, he said that he had not yet given any thought to the matter.
United front
Mr Beazley emphasised Prime Minister John Howard would be hard to beat at the next election and that would be impossible without unity.
"We in the Labor Party will need to be solidly behind Kevin because John Howard is the most formidable conservative politician of his generation, the most formidable conservative politician I have served in parliament with," he said.
"He is not going to be an easy man to beat, and he'll not be beaten by a rabble. He will only be beaten by an absolutely united team."
Julia Gillard earlier won the deputy leadership after Jenny Macklin did not contest the position. There were no other candidates.
A vote on frontbench positions has been deferred until Thursday.
The sudden death of his brother is tragic. Politically it's the right result for Kim. Unfortunately he wasn't a leader. Seems like a nice enough bloke though.
He's taken it well and looks like he will be leaving politics, credit to him for leaving with dignity.
( although , i doubt he wants too keep going after the next big one ! )
looking good right now , co's most people , even myself - hate Costello the arrogant twat
i think the real good thing is ...if only given 1 year to establish faith , i reckon it's already there mostly. none of this build up popularity over 4 years stuff !
now , those of us in Victoria just have to fix up knobhead Steve " I'll Look Into It " (Mirror Man ) Bracks now
The sudden death of his brother is tragic. Politically it's the right result for Kim. Unfortunately he wasn't a leader. Seems like a nice enough bloke though.
He's taken it well and looks like he will be leaving politics, credit to him for leaving with dignity.
Totally agree, lets hope he gets some peace so that he can come to terms with the death of his brother.
yeah agree, i think there is a great weight lifted off his shoulders now ( so too speak ) .
i also realise he has waited a long time as leader too ...but that bit was never gonna happen, at the end of the day - this has put their party back on the map ..and in the best position there've been in for YEARS !
anyway, you can retire now if ya want & forever ! ...and collect your $ 80,000 + per year for the rest of ya life .
the minute this ' political selfishness 'dissappears - i'll vote for them .
this is most of their original purpose in getting involved in politics anyway, if ya ask me. ( thats ontop of their already overpaid working wage )
co's most people , even myself - hate Costello the arrogant twat
Although I agree I'm in two minds about Costello, he comes across as an arrogant wanka but I wonder if most of that is 'put on' so he'll fit in with the other liberal party goons. With his recent stouch with johnny rotten re the promised leadership handover and the evidence pointing to johnny (surprise surprise) lying about the deal, he had the opportunity to see johnny for who he really is, a lying, deceitful, stab anyone in the back weasel. I'm hoping that incident opened his eyes to the calibre of people in his party running the country and I hope he rebels against that. His brother's a good man, is it "good brother, evil brother" or "good brother, misguided brother"? I'm hoping for the latter.
Mind you if he ever makes it to leader of the Liberal Party, which is looking very unlikely, he'll probably get "Beazlied" anyway. I doubt the Liberal powerbrokers would allow a potentially 'good guy' to run the party.
Koch apologises for poor joke By Alex Murdoch December 06, 2006 02:00am
TV host David Koch has been forced to apologise to the nation after reciting an off-colour viewer joke about the PM and his wife, former ALP leader Kim Beazley, some snow and a bit of urine.
Sunrise viewers were not amused with Koch during the show's popular Joke of the Day segment, bombarding Channel 7 with complaints, with one unnamed government minister and a number of high-ranking Channel 7 executives also lodging complaints.
Even Koch's on-air colleagues were struck dumb by the joke, until stunned co-host Natalie Barr asked: "Did you vet that with anyone before you ?"
At the time, Koch defended his decision to air the joke, suggesting that it was relevant given Kevin Rudd's ALP leadership coup.
But yesterday he said: "If I offended anyone, I'm sorry. Some people may think I crossed the line, and perhaps I did."
Koch said if the Howards were offended he would happily personally apologise.
A Seven spokeswoman said Koch had been rapped over the knuckles but would not be further disciplined.
I'm not surprised that Kochie would eventually have to apologise for one of his jokes...some of them in the past have crossed the line especially at a time like 7:30am. I remember one of them was about a granny and a sex toy. I wont elaborate further. . .
I don't particularly like David Koch and find any jokes I have heard that he reads on Sunrise on the rare occassions I see it, very off colour. Don't they read them first before ever putting them on 'live to air'?
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