Category Archives: obituary
James Foley
The New York Times reported that ISIS wanted $130,000,000 ransom for James Foley. European countries have paid ransom in the past. It’s a major source of income for ISIS. The US policy is not to pay ransom for hostages, on the theory it encourages more hostage taking.
The same theory doesn’t seem to apply when it comes to swapping terrorists for American hostages. We gave up five of GITMO’s worst bad asses to bring home alleged deserter Private Bergdahl.
Bergdahl’s parents were flown in from Idaho to celebrate the joyous occasion with President Obama in the White House Rose Garden.
James Foley
James Foley met his grim fate with courage. His parents showed the source of that fortitude in their meeting with the media to discuss their son on the day of his death.
Obama played golf.
Mad Mad World of Comic Genius
Jonathan Winters was a mentor to Robin Williams. Both were tormented comic geniuses. Russell Brand calls it a “divine madness” in this essay in The Guardian.
I was surprised to learn Jonathan Winters spent 8 months in a psychiatric hospital just before his brilliant performance in It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. He wasn’t doing research. He managed to outlast his demons and died of natural causes at age 87.
Update: Here are some thoughts from Ben Stein on comics, depression, and suicide.
Death from Complications of Execution
Suffering pets are put down humanely every day. Same goes for gramps if you live in Holland or Washington state. So what is it about death with dignity for degenerates?
Capital punishment by lethal injections is botched 7% of the times. It happened again last week in Oklahoma and last January in Ohio.
In 1999 Clayton Derrell Lockett shot Stephanie Neiman twice and then buried her alive in Oklahoma. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to die.
At 6:23 pm April 29, 2014, lest he be stressed out about his own demise, Lockett was given the sedative midazolam . He nodded off ten minutes later. Then a paralytic to stop respiration was administered along with potassium chloride to stop his heart. I’m not sure about the need to paralyze and suffocate the guy. It seems like stopping his heart might accomplish both those goals.
Execution Complications
Anyway, it didn’t work. Lockett started thrashing around and exclaimed “Oh man!”. At that point the proceedings were stopped. But the executioners blew that too. Lockett suffered a heart attack and died 43 minutes after the initial sedation.
Apparently, he succumbed to complications of his own execution.
Waiving the Individual Mandate for Sainthood
Four popes, two living and two not so much, gathered at the Vatican on Sunday for a papal Hall of Fame induction. The wildly popular and beloved Pope Francis canonized the wildly popular and beloved Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII. It was a two for one not seen since the middle ages. The brains of the operation, emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, assisted. Daily Beast called it a Pope-a-polooza.
John Paul II ended communism. John XXIII ended meatless Fridays. They’ve been called bookends of the Second Vatican Council
Individual Mandate for Sainthood Waivers
John Paul II took the High Speed Escalator to Heaven when Benedict XVI waived the 5 year saintly waiting period. Francis greased the skids for John XXIII by granting a waiver of the two miracle mandate for sainthood.
Here’s Peggy Noonan capturing the sweeping grandeur of the event. And here is Maureen Dowd capturing the sweeping under the rug of the priest sex abuse scandals.
Dead Fred
The God hates fags guy is dead.
Fred Phelps was the Pastor of Westboro Baptist church in Kansas. His followers appeared at events protesting homosexuality. I used to amuse myself watching them in the fenced off protest areas at political conventions. They held signs saying”God Hates Fags”. They were attention getting.
Phelps followers also liked to get attention by exercising their free speech rights to picket the funerals of troops killed in combat. They held signs saying, “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.”
Dead Fred
Dead Fred managed to shield his own mourners from any such an indignity. There were no services to honor him.
