Above & beyond…
January 22, 2008 — bjflanaganSometimes compassion rises to heroic heights.
War & Peace
John Gebhardt’s wife, Mindy, said that this little girl’s entire family was executed. The insurgents intended to execute the little girl also, and shot her in the head… but they failed to kill her. She was cared for in John’s hospital and is healing up, but continues to cry and moan. The nurses said John is the only one who seems to calm her down, so John has spent the last four nights holding her while they both slept in that chair. The girl is coming along with her healing.
- James Gates, U. S. Navy
Palestinians Returning To Devastated Lebanon Camp
October 11, 2007 — bjflanaganThe situation these people face is utterly deplorable. No wonder the militants are up in arms.
Who among us has known such misery? (Aside from Katrina victims, I mean.)
Palestinians Begin Returning To Devastated Lebanon Camp – washingtonpost.com
Ahmadinejad’s Day One in New York
September 26, 2007 — bjflanagan 
I am no fan of Ahmadinejad. I regard him as dangerously unbalanced, a little Hitler and a looming threat to civilization.
So saying, I’m uneasy as to the wisdom of humiliating him in front of a world audience.
Ahmadinejad’s Day One in New York: A Hostile Reception, a Rambling Talk – washingtonpost.com
The Open Society: Irony Rises, Feels Much Better
September 21, 2007 — bjflanagan 
I admire George Soros. He passes as a philosopher among businessmen and his Open Society Institute has done great good in the world.
In college, I avidly read Karl Popper’s masterful work on The Open Society and Its Enemies. In brief, an open society sustains a free market for ideas and their unfettered expression. A closed society tries to stifle same for reasons religious, political and/or ideological.
We are an open society on good days. China is not. The USSR was not. And neither, apparently, is the Huffington Post, where the following item appeared the other day:
Dept. of Misdirection: With Iraq a Disaster, GOP Goes Crazy Over a Newspaper Ad
I attempted to reply in their house blog that Soros had seen fascism up close in his youth — and that perhaps this early scarring had something to do with the ad targeting Petraeus, which was remarkably tone deaf and tellingly juvenile.
I argued, quietly and calmly, that to call the Iraq war a disaster does not make it so. That, to fill a bubble with the refrain does not make it so, though it may deafen us to what we might otherwise hear.
I stated that the left had acted to balance the right, that our soldiers were coming home, that we can all take a measure of comfort in the implications.
That the war is over, that it ended the moment Al Qaeda began to attack the Iraqis. (Would that all our enemies were so stupid.)
I reminded that the Iraqis, their neighbors and the rest of the world are now free of Saddam & Sons. That Iraq has held elections, forged a constitution, and created a fledgling democracy.
It was too much. They didn’t want to hear it. They refused to air it. They declined to give a reason why. (I asked.)
None of which is important. Except insofar as it highlights a larger picture, wherein the left & right continue to shout past one another, neither hearing what the other has to say — and so unwittingly limiting their audiences, preaching to the choir, filling their echo chambers with sound and fury that comes to stand in for original thought and authentic emotion.
We all suffered a major trauma six years ago. The word, ‘trauma,’ is related to the German traum, meaning ‘dream.’ Those who have been traumatized behave as though they continue to relive a nightmare wherefrom they cannot awaken, often thrashing about in an effort to call attention to their plight.
I want to wake both houses and alert them to the dangers within and without. While we squabble among ourselves, the world moves on.
Israel has just now bombed Syria, on suspicion of nuclear activity abetted by N Korea.
France is talking about war with Iran.
The political structure of Pakistan is wobbling.
The polar ice caps are crumbling.
Our economy gives evidence of another meltdown.
Our people are putting on lard like they expect an extended privation.
Our homeless children are showing up on porn sites everywhere.
Millions more have no health insurance and meanwhile a billion dollars no longer qualifies you at Forbes.
Wake up.
Bush must face trial over Iraq
September 14, 2007 — bjflanagan 
He also said he thought Hillary Clinton’s new look was “rather fetching,” and wondered aloud as to just “how married” she was.
Khamenei’s withering personal attack on the US president in a Tehran prayer sermon to mark the onset of the Muslim holy month Ramadan came one day after Bush once again accused Iran of undermining the Iraqi government.
“I have a firm belief that one day this current US president and the American officials will be tried in a fair international court for the atrocities committed in Iraq,” he said.
“I also believe, contrary to popular opinion, that one day pigs will fly and that unicorns will be found living on the dark side of the moon.”
Observers noted that an early recording of Pink Floyd could be heard from behind the speaker, who giggled at odd intervals in the course of his remarks.
Bin Laden to Rest
September 11, 2007 — bjflanagan
Why does Osama now sport a dark beard and tan?
Look a little closer — it’s a mask to disguise the cadaverous husk beneath.
