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Yet another disastrous event in the USA.  What I can't understand is why houses in tornado-prone parts of the country are not mandatorily constructed with steel frames on concrete bases as is the case here in the north west of Australia where more cyclones touch land than anywhere else in the world.  Any insight into this from our north American contributors?

Wednesday 13th. February is a significant day in the history of Australia when the new Labor (sic) Govt. plans to issue an official apology to the indigenous people of this continent for - among other crimes committed by the European (read English/Irish/Scots/Welsh/Dutch/German...at various stages during the last 230 years) - the Stolen Generation, the policy in White Australia from the beginning of the 20th. Century where a significant number of Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from the care of their families and placed in foster familes and raised as "Europeans" in the belief/hope that they would die out. 

Already I have been at odds with narrow-minded Caucasian Aussies (some of whom are immigrants themselves from southern and eastern Europe and East Asia very recently) about the issue.   

Give me strength.   

Folks
no matter what we do for a living there is always a positive to our jobs.  But there are times when the downside really is the pits.  That happened to me over the past 3 days.

At 4.10 on Friday evening I got a call to get ready for a serious emergency medivac to Perth, 3 hours south.  Normally, a medivac is to Port Hedland, 50 minutes north.  20 minutes later I was called and told to stand down, that it was too late.  A worker on site was using a cherry-picker and somehow got crushed against an overhead beam.  Don't know the details.  I then had to fly to Newman to bring in the police, and was told to be ready to take the body that evening back to Newman once the police had finished their job.  As it turned out their work didn't finish until Saturday afternoon.

I then had to load the body on a stretcher and in a bodybag onto one of our planes and fly to Newman where it was transferred to the undertaker there. The drive in the heat would have taken 3 hours, the plane trip took 30 minutes.

We've been flying various bigwigs, government officials and counsellors in since too. 

The deceased was only 27 and had been married one week.

It has just been announced that the DNA testing technique in the Omagh bombing trial was used in the Peter Falconio murder case resulting in the life sentence of Bradley John Murdoch, and has been called into question as it is an evolving technique.  There is now a call for the case  to be reviewed.  This will open a huge can of worms if it is proved doubtful over here.

Always had my doubts about that case anyway.

Now that was some goal.   Reminds me a little of Arie Haan v. Scotland in 1978.

It's being shown over and over here in Oz and in NZ, too.  It has even eclipsed the Beckham freekick v. Sydney last week. 

Finally  a bit of good news...yes John Howard and his cronies are no longer in control.  Kyoto Protocols to be signed, soldiers out of Iraq (and presumably out of Iran) the end of Workplace Agreements and no more smug feckin Liberals(aka Conservatives/Republicans - US type) telling us that unions are evil, George Bush is a good friend of Australia, and it's ok to burn coal, that Greenhouse gases are a figment of the Greens' imagination.

Folks,
a 20 y.o. Irish lad was killed last night in a car accident about two miles from where I live.  He was the front-seat passenger in a car carrying a total of 7 which collided with another car just 200metres from where he was staying.  An Irish girl is seriously ill in hospital.   I don't have any other details at this stage. 

yes, it looks like Carlton are to get the services of Chris Judd after he chose them over Collingwood (thank God).  No contract details to report but many millions no doubt to feature.  That will be great for the Cork men no doubt helping to develop theirs and the games of all the other younger inexperienced players on the squad.   Suddenly Carlton are no longer the whipping boys of the league. 

Sad news from Perth this morning with the sudden passing of Chris Mainwaring at only 41 years old.  A heart attack is suspected at this stage.  He was a two-time premiership winner with the Egos in 1992 and 1994.

West Coast EGOs drug cheat supreme, Ben Cousins, he of the Meth-Amphet induced 0% body fat physique has apparently been busted for possession of drugs at The Waifs concert in Broome last Wednesday.  It hasn't hit the headlines but for obvious reasons things are very quiet in the Egos' camp. 

I'm actually not surprised Chris Judd has left.  And thank fcuk he has taken that dimwit skank of a girlfriend with him.  She earned no kudos with her drunken (actually probably drug-induced, seeing as she is associated with the Egos) slur on Perth at the Brownlow Medal show on Monday night.

What's the craic with the Irish school up in Tír Cahan?  When did it start up and where (apart from Slaughtneil) do the students come from?  Where are the other such schools in the county/Antrim?

Just wish I'd stuck at the Irish when at school.

Watching it live over here.  C'mon the Catalans.  I'm a Wigan fan from years of going to watch them while living in Preston.

Why is it that EVERY time I log onto this site and go to post something I lose everything and can't post? I then have to log-in again and save what it is I post then click POST, get logged-off, have to log-in again then post. Very tedious...

Could anyone suggest relable radio internet sources for me to listen to the Derry-Dublin game tonight?  The BBC badly let me down in the Derry-Mayo game.  Thanks.  There'll be many Derry exiles all over the world listening to/watching the game.  Me...find Newman Western Australia, then find Port Hedland.  About one third of the way out of Newman is where I'm at. My turn to piss off the lad next door as he fcukin woke me last night.

The foreign army is leaving.  Hope you all are enjoying it as much as I am on the other side of the world.  Thieves, thieves, tramps and thieves they heard it from the people of Ireland, we called them....

Last night, Iraq beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 to win the Asian Cup for the first time.  The team is composed from the Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurd populations within the country and the victory over SA was well deserved.  The game was pretty average to say the least with the Iraqis setting up more (albeit few) scoring chances and the Saudi keeper concentrating on stopping shots as opposed to faking injury every time the ball came near the goal as was the case in the semi. v. Japan (the best game of the tournament and with two of the best goals of the tournament - the Japanese volley and the individual goal from the Saudi winger).

The celebrations at the end were great to watch and the Indonesian presidential body guards were all probably expecting their redundancies this morning after the fiasco on the dias.

Of note was the no-holds barred attack on the Aussie team by their own in the studio afterwards where, in no uncertain terms, they were told to show a bit of humility and respect to opposition as they were running around boasting how they were going to win the whole thing before a ball was kicked. 

A few political comments were made at the end, too, suffice to say C-standard Aussie/soccer commentators should concentrate on the game not politics.  I doubt if the Kurdish community in Australia would be too happy with some of the stuff spouted.

I'm now officially an Aussie.  That's right, citizenship, passport (in the post) and all that...along with the obligation to defend Australia if it were ever to come under attack.

Don't be shy nor hold back with your congratulatory comments.

Well lads and lassies, I'm 10 hours away from facing the Australian Citizenship Office to convince them I am worthy of becoming an Aussie.  Actually the only reason I am doing it is cos of my son, who's 9/16 Irish anyway.  Among the responsibilities and privileges of note are the following:

- "defend Australia, should the need arise."  In other words if the w**ker John Howard pisses off the Indonesian or if Rio Tinto keeps increasing the cost of Iron Ore for the Chinese, there is every likelihood I will be called upon to defend Australia.  Hmmm, 7 years of Tae Kwon Do might not go very far I think.

So those of you out there who have or are contemplating getting dual citizenship, who among you would be prepared to give your life for another country?

Then there's the question of the oath to be taken at the ceremony...
"From this time forward, under God*
I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people
whose democratic beliefs I share;
whose rights and liberties I respect, and
whose laws I will uphold and obey."
* A person may choose whether or not to use the words " under God".

I have chosen to omit the words "under God" as I feel only Mother Ireland deserves such loyalty.