nihil de mortui bollockum

Duelling Obituaries.
(For Recently Deceased Irish Heroes.)

Hugh Leonard, Playwright.
The Sunday Independent refers to the playwright Hugh Leonard as "a raconteur, wit and great man of letters."
James Healy notes: "Hugh Leonard spent his life sneering at the Catholic Church. As a columnist for the Sunday Independent he also spent decades advancing in a most supine and conformist manner the interests of the O'Reilly family. Never once did he speak out about the danger that the O'Reillys were devolving inappropriate, nay feudal, power to themselves as they took over virtually every newspaper in the Republic of Ireland along with the Waterford Crystal factory and the ephin phone company. Hugh Leonard's death when it came was a blessed release. For all of us."

Conor Cruise O'Brien. Journalist, editor, and politician.
The Irish Times refers to Conor Cruise O'Brien as "brilliant."
James Healy notes: "Conor Cruise O'Brien spent most of his life sneering at the Catholic Church and attempting to convince the Irish people that killing unborn children is the mark of a great civilisation. This is the beginning middle and end of his character. A pissant little atheistic abortionist conforming with all his heart throughout the abortion era to the abortionist credos of his atheistic paymasters. I mean, I don't want to go casting no aspersions. He never said or did a courageous thing. (My family believe he was courageous in opposing the IRA.) His early career in politics was established by a clownish decision to commit Irish troops to battle in the Congo during the 1960's. The Irish troops were sent in to fight the secession of Katanga from the Congo. They were sent in to fight without being assured proper logistical and weapons capabilities for the enemies they faced. And they were sent in to fight without any of us being sure we were fighting on the right side. To this day we have no idea whether Katanga was entitled to secede or not. It's secession was opposed by the idiot UN. That's all we know. A whole passel of our soldiers died without having a clue what the hell they were doing there. Conor Cruise O'Brien's decision as UN ops chief on the ground in the Congo made him look decisive to the sort of idiots who believe Irish troops haven't been wasted for thirty years in Lebanon, and aren't being risked wastefully, misguidedly and uselessly at present in Kosovo and Darfur. Irish pseudo adventurists anxious for a career in politics will often strike a big pose in some conflict zone. Look at UN Viceroy John Ging swaggering around the Gaza strip provisioning Jihadis for all he's worth while accusing Israel of war crimes. Ging has ensured that the Palestinians are the fattest deprived people on the planet. And they never seem to run out of baseball caps. Hoo yeah. Hate America. But love dem baseball caps. Does anyone doubt John Ging will be inflicted on us through Irish media and television and what passes for our parliamentary system for the next thirty years? He has made his career. The liberal atheists always see to it that those of their stripe are amply rewarded. It matters not one whit if Ging has put Ireland on the wrong side of history. But I digress. Conor Cruise O'Brien made his career in the Congo during the 1960's. A lot of soldiers died to help make his career. I never quite forgave him for it.

Bob Doyle, the last surviving Irishman to fight in the Spanish Civil War.
Artist Robert Ballagh commented this week: "Bob Doyle and all those who joined the International Brigades were amazing men, giving up their lives in the fight for democracy."
James Healy notes: "Bob Doyle and all those who joined the International Brigades were fighting for communist dictatorship. Bob Doyle was assisting the venerable Joe Stalin of Soviet Russia in attempting to turn Spain into a communist country. He was fighting for communism. Nothing else. He and his comrades had no interest in democracy. Their sole concern was something they called the dictatorship of the proletariat. Which really meant putting Joe Stalin in charge of the world. Bob Doyle was a communist even while Joe Stalin was murdering millions of Russians to enforce communist rule in that country. Bob Doyle remained a committed communist until the end of his life. Bob Doyle never wavered from his commitment to communism even when it became clear that Joe Stalin and Joe Stalin's communist successors had killed more than fifty million people in Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa, East Asia and South America. (And Ireland of course. My sources tell me that from the 1970's the IRA was formally taking orders from the communist secret police the KGB. But we're not going to quibble over a few thousand dead and maimed in Ireland, when these warmhearted Commies with their love of democracy were murdering whole populaces elsewhere.) Bob Doyle never wavered from his commitment to communism as Chairman Mao murdered at least 70 million people in China. In fact, Bob Doyle's life was defined by a slavish love of that same barbaric communism, a pathetic devotion to the class conflict maunderings of Karl Marx, and a thoughtlessly crude espousal of Charlie Darwin's saddest atheisms. The people who marched in Dublin this week to honour Bob Doyle should be ashamed of themselves. Ballagh you're a tit. Bob Doyle himself now knows for sure whether there's a God or not. He also knows for sure whether it's a crime to murder 50 million Russians and 70 million Chinese and hundreds of millions of unborn children. The rest of us will find out presently.