Steve Irwin haters can suck it. What have you done ever?

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20356038-29277,00.html

God love Steve Irwin, but I am not sure that any entertainer in short pants should get a state funeral. But if it is a state funeral featuring friends and colleagues handling snakes and wrestling treacherous beasts, then I am all for it.

I think Paul Hogan was my first exposure to Australia. I still think Australians are exactly like that.

Were they showing stingrays at the beginning? I guess it was because of Steve Irwin. Tacky.

"He died doing what he loved.

We should all be so lucky."

I think it'd be better to do what you love until you reach an extremely old age, then die of natural causes.

I'm sure Steve Irwin would have taken that option too, given the choice.

Wow, quite a bit has happened since I've been on vacation. Congrats dotdude (and joemwalma)!
and Steve Irwin, dead?!

Sorry, I'm kind of an asshole sometimes.

It's just a weird phenomenon. Every hipster in the world suddenly became a lifelong Johnny Cash fan on September 12, 2003.

And people just love INXS after Hutchins died.

I recall most people thinking Steve Irwin was kind of an irresponsible douche after seeing him dangling his baby over a feeding crocodile. Now that he got a stingray in his bloodpump he was the most awesome shit ever.

I loved Steve Irwin, he was a courageous activist and environmentalist. But I don't see the need for the sudden urge to watch his videos even more now that he's dead.

Dang, I really am a sour asshole. I'm sorry, I can't help it.

Oh yeah, the Steve Irwin thing. Sorry, I just don't think he's suddenly awesome to watch just because he died. The only reason people watched him on television was because they wanted to see him get hurt. You guys got what you wanted, except it won't be televised. Guess we'll all have to watch the Earnhardt footage over and over again.

Oh, and everything else of yours that I've voted on has been an upvote. You have good picks.

He was an amazing guy. Thanks Steve Irwin...rest in peace.

A ten minutes news footage from Australia regarding Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter who was killed on 4 September 2006. It also shows Steve Irwin's past encounters as a memorial tribute.

From http://www.hemmy.net/2006/09/05/steve-irwin-news-on-australian-tv/

THE Crocodile Man, Steve Irwin, is dead. He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said. It appeared that he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest, Queensland Police Inspector Russell Rhodes said.
He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas where he had been filming an underwater documentary when it occurred.

Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef off Port Douglas.

Mr Irwin, 44, was killed just after 11am, Eastern Australian time.

His American wife Terri learned for the tragedy from police in Tasmania, where she had been trekking in Cradle Mountain National Park.

His friend and manager John Stainton said Mr Irwin was filming some segment for daughter Bindi's show on the reef between sessions filiming the main documentary.

It is understood Mr Irwin was killed instantly.

A source said Mr Irwin was already dead when his body was brought onto the Isle.

A source said Mr Irwin's body was being airlifted to Cairns Hospital in North Queensland for formal identification.

An Emergency Services Response Management spokeswoman said they received a call about the tragedy at 11.11 am, Australian Eastern Standard Time.

The response unit left in a helicopter for the Batt Reef at 11.18am and arrived shortly after.

Mr Irwin was pronounced dead at the scene immediately, the spokeswoman said.

Steve Irwin's activities went far beyond his universally-known roles as an international TV star and owner of Australia Zoo, north of Brisbane.

They includes assisting Australian Quarantine Inspection service with advertising campaigns warning travellers not to bring foreign matter into the country, and he was becoming a vocal critic of the slaughter of Australian wildlife.

The federal government recently dropped plans to allow crocodile safaris for wealty tourists in the Northern Territority after Irwin intervened, taking Environment Minister Ian Campbell on a tour of croc infested Cape York.

At the time, Irwin told Australian TV program A Current Affair that: ``Killing one of our beautiful animals in the name of trophy hunting will have a very negative impact on tourism, which scares the living daylights out of me.''

The Prime Minister John Howard considered Irwin a friend, inviting him to a barbecue at The Lodge for US President George W. Bush in 2003.

Irwin was a devoted father to his two children Bindi, 8, and Bob, 3.

"Bindi is the reason I was put on this earth. All I want to do is be with her and all she wants to do is be with me. We have such a great time together and it's not just a father and daughter relationship, it's also like I'm a big brother and she's my little sister,'' he told New Idea magazine in 2005.

However the previous year Irwin had created a furore when he took 'Baby Bob' into Australia Zoo's crocodile enclosure while feeding a four-metre salt water crocodile.

Irwin burst onto the media scene with his documentary The Crocodile Hunter in 1992, and his over-the-top persona soon made him a star. In 2002 he burst on to the big screen on Crocodile Hunter: The Collision Course, soon achieving A-list fame.

His celebrity friends include Russell Crowe.

Despite his worldwide popularity, closer to home Irwin got bad press after he was controversially paid $175,000 for a quarantine ad.

Irwin was named Queenslander of the Year in 2003.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20349534-952,00.html

Just heard on the news that Steve Irwin has died after being stung on the chest by a stingray. Is this a prescient video? A case of synchronicity? Foreshadowing? Or, maybe just a funny commercial?