The Lord of Hypocrisy "Gerry pleads with himself" was the best headline we've seen in reaction to Gerry Adam's Wednesday speech about the future of the IRA, provided by the Hungary-based N.Irish Magyar. Adams' performance reminded him of another type of creature that has trouble letting go of his "precious."

"I can't be the only person who sees the parallels between Adams and Gollum's schizophrenic rants in The Lord of the Rings. 'Give up the guns, Gerry ... power and riches are just around the corner,' Gerry the politician shrieks. 'I can't. United Ireland is years away, we didn't murder all those people for a partitionist government,' Gerry the terrorist godfather replies."

Bloggers have their day in the spotlight. Five bloggers appeared on RTE's The Big Bite with David McWilliams this week, to discuss, among other things, the difference between men and women in why they blog and what they blog about, with the suggestion being that the boys are more into politics.

Caoimhe Burke worried that "I may have risked upsetting some bloggers by suggesting that some male blogs read more like ego trips." She added, "Why have your 15 mins and not stir the pisspot?"

She also spotted an early Irish general election website, www.backingbertie.com, which says it hopes will "register a highly visible and damaging protest vote against Bertie Ahern and his right-wing leanings."

Dan Brown Set for Afterlife Pole-Axing. How Ireland should mark the passing of the Pope was a subject of debate as frenzied on the blogosphere as it was in other media--sometimes with both sides represented.

Irish Eagle decided that a Day of Mourning would be appropriate.

Ireland is no longer in the grip of the bishops and priests. Making Friday special is not a return to that Ireland nor is it an insult to those of other faiths. Making Friday special acknowledges to older people that they are still respected. All those politicians who make noise about adding a few euros to the Old Age Pension at budget time should recognise that for many old people a proper acknowledgement for John Paul II is worth more than a few euros per month.

Blather.net is running a satirical series looking ahead to the selection of the pontiff. It's calling the process "Pope Idol" and suggests that the ghost of Karol Wojtyla might already be settling scores.

It would appear that readers of the squillion-selling Da Vinci Code are being visited by the spectral form of none other than the late pontiff. And the Big Man is after author Dan Brown himself.

Barry Ahern, from Dublin Ireland, was reading his copy of the novel at home in bed when he was visited by a ghostly figure bearing a resemblance to the deceased Pole who fumed "What the hell is wrong with you people? 3000 years of the written word and you choose to buy this pile of steaming bilge? Ha? Oscar Wilde? Agatha Christie? Homer? Ovid? Maeve Binchy? And you choose to buy this knock-off airport rag of a book? Just wait till I get my hands on that filthy little infidel.

Paul -- "Gerry Pleads with himself"
Caoimhe Burke -- "Madam, your 15 minutes of fame have now expired."
Irish Eagle -- "Young versus old"
Damien on Blather -- "Pope Idol"

x_ref1256