Posse Incitatus

The long shadow of World War I

Most Americans are woefully ignorant of World War I.  It gets scant attention in history classes, basically being treated as the grainy, trench-ridden precursor to World War II.

While the Second World War brought many changes, it was the Great War that truly shaped the modern world.  In his later years, Winston Churchill speculated that future historians might look at them as a single combined struggle – a modern Thirty Years’ War.

On Nov. 11, 2010, it will be 92 years since the guns fell silent, but the issues of that great cataclysm are still with us.  This week, Germany made its last reparations payment.

The title of the article is a misnomer, of course.  The war officially ended with the Treaty of Versailles.  But its legacy continues. 

Consider the most seminal events of the last century – events that are still with us today.  Beyond the seeds of World War II, the First World War saw Russia fall to Communism, the breakup of the Ottoman Empire and the beginnings of a Jewish state in the Middle East.

The societal transformation – women gaining the vote – was also enormous.

France was bled white by the war and any possibility of it resuming the Great Power status it had enjoyed since Seventeenth Century was destroyed by the inferno of Verdun.

Two shots in Sarajevo 96 years ago, and we are still grappling with the repercussions

Enough with the pre-season warmup

I missed watching MSU's delightful little romp against Northern Colorado High School this weekend, but it is clear that I didn't miss much.

This business of walloping second-tier schools has got to stop.  If we needed another reason to add a ninth conference game, I think we go it: these games prove nothing.

The real season starts Saturday and I think it speaks volumes that almost half of the conference is undefeated and that everyone knows this is meaningless.

Will MSU's secondary come alive?  Will it even show up?  MSU has developed a great running game, but only against teams that cannot block and are outweighed.  (I was going to count Notre Dame as a test, but they are looking weaker after yet another loss this week.  Then again, they haven't been playing patsies for the last month - or have they?)

All of which is to say that when MSU and Wisconsin face off Saturday, a lot will be at stake.  Even more will be at stake the following weekend when my beloved Spartans visit Mordor Ann Arbor.

I'd like to say I stand by my pre-season predictions, but my confidence is sorely shaken despite our record.  This team is not even close to being an 8-4 squad.  Right now it is set on a 7-5 glide path, which - given its talent would be a gross underachievement.

As for the Skunk Bears, they are looking more and more like they might amount to something minor, maybe a grim 6-6 slog.  I had initially counted Notre Dame as a loss based on Brian Kelly's wizardry and it being in South Bend, so while Indiana is also undefeated (see?!  Meaningless games!) I would be surprised if U-M lost there.

Call it the Clash of the Untried Undefeateds.  May the least overrated team win.

Annoying Liberalisms

You've heard of aphorisms, those adages and pearls of wisdom that offer genuine value and substance.

Well, I've coined a new phrase: Liberalisms.  But the definition is different.  It does not mean a maxim or adage that is wise and serves everyone well.  It just means a simple-minded bromide or cliche that knee-jerk liberals accept as if it were a glass of water.  (It's good for you; it's natural; I'm thirsty right now; I'll benefit from this....)

Here are my top three Liberalisms that come to mind:  1) Millions of working class whites of modest income "vote against their interests" when they vote Republican.  2) "We" society rather than "me" society;  and 3) Jesus was a liberal.

The first one is easy to explain: In the liberal mind, folks of modest income should fall all over themselves voting for a sugar daddy government that bestows entitlements on them and advocates a so-called "living wage." (Even if that wage is not reflective of labor pool supply and demand, and results in fewer jobs for unskilled workers.)

What the libs forget is that many people with limited education and/or of modest income are conservative socially.  They may be born-again Christians, and turned off by the secular, libertine bent of so many Democrats.  They may adamantly oppose abortion, and cannot stomach the thought of voting for a party that not only defends "the right to choose," but has many members who defend the barbaric practice of partial birth abortion. 

Too, working class folk often believe staunchly in the Second Amendment, and this places most Democrats off limits for them.  These are just a few of the reasons; in many cases it might just be that salt-of-the-earth folk who wear jeans and flannel shirts, suck down a few beers while watching football, and are not ashamed to admit that Cracker Barrel is their favorite restaurant, just loathe limousine liberals like Nancy Pelosi and condescending, pompous ivory tower types like the Celebrity-in-Chief.

I could easily turn around No. 1, and say that African Americans, about 95 percent of whom vote for Democrats, are voting against their interests.  This is because many black people oppose abortion and homosexuality, and are appalled and disheartened by the wretched schools their children are consigned to if they (the parents) cannot afford private school tuition.  Large numbers of urban black parents favor vouchers and charter schools, but Democrat politicians are beholden to the teachers' unions that feed them money.  So these hypocrite pols, who send their own children to private schools, keep poor black children trapped in gang- and drug- infested, dangerous, violent schools.  Real compassionate, eh?

Moving on to No. 2, this trite expression about a "'we' society, not a 'me' society" is one of those feel-good phrases Michael Moore and his ilk like to utter.  These folks assume that anyone who doesn't favor ballooning government and a boatload of entitlements is automatically selfish, self-centered, and wants to stomp on the poor.  As my esteemed co-blogger wrote a few years ago in a humorous bit of satire, "Every night I pray to my white Protestant God for war.  I spend my spare time trying to figure out how to feed the homeless to the hungry.  And I love to pour motor oil onto the ground because I hate the earth."

Well, it just so happens that people who believe in capitalism, who know that competition inspires and motivates people to hustle and make the best of their God-given talent; people who are aware of how capitalism has raised standards of living and led to countless beneficial inventions and scientific breakthroughs....Well, many of these people are extremely generous in giving money to charities, churches, and other organizations striving for the bettermennt of society.  Compassion does not have to come from the government to be compassionate.  I'd just as soon contribute food to a local food bank and help out with Meals on Wheels (I've done both, many times) than send money to the labyrinth bureaucracy to pay useless paper pushers and have much of it wasted before indirect relief reaches the truly needy.

No. 3, Jesus was a liberal -- Well, in some respects, I guess he was.  He was more than willing to thumb his nose at the pompous and self-righteous religious leaders of the day, and associate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other misfits.  He went out of his way to comfort the afflicted, while those whose position was in the higher echelons of Jewish society may have conveniently ignored the suffering downtrodden, perhaps surmising that their suffering and painful fate had something to do with moral shortcomings.

But did Jesus share a political and ideological philsophy with today's moveon.org readers? No! The fact that some people think so is evidence of liberals' ignorance of scripture.

I don't claim to be a theologian, but I've read enough scripture to know that Jesus did not promote premarital sex, and I am quite certain he would oppose abortion -- especially the odious partial birth version.  Remember Jesus' statement that even if a man fantasizes about having sex with a woman other than his wife, he's already committed adultery in his heart?

Liberals -- and many conservatives, for that matter -- do not adhere to such a strict standard.  Matter of fact, based on my observations of liberal thought and behavior, they would be likely to mock and ridicule someone who stated it's a sin to even have lust in your heart. 

Free sex, the pill, condoms, gay sex, abortion, and an overall libertine attitude that debases humans, making them more animal-like; damages self-respect; leads to suffering (AIDS and many types of VD) as well as unwanted pregnancies and abortions; and also cheapens what should be a beautiful act between two loving, respectful partners....I don't think ANY of this jibes with Jesus' message.

I can hear the retort: "Well neither does being an uptight, judgmental, greedy CEO who cheats consumers and destroys the environment and guzzles gas in a hog SUV....blah blah blah.....Yeah, whatever.

 

 

 

Youthful Indiscretions

Most, if not all, of us have done things in our younger days that we're not proud of.  We've also said stupid things, and perhaps written stupid things (letters to the editor, term papers, whatever.)

So it should come as no surprise that it's easy to make someone look like an idiot, druggie, or unstable by playing up their youthful indiscretions.  That's exactly what the jackals in the mainstream press are doing with Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell.  About 20 years ago, she made an offhand remark about dabbling in witchcraft, and now the press is all over it like flies on dog poop.  If only I had a dollar for every time that footage has run on the TV news and talk shows in recent days.

Well, as I said, many of us have done ill-advised things when we were young and immature.  George W. Bush was an alcoholic and allegedly snorted cocaine.  President Obama has admitted to using cocaine and smoking pot.  Ted Kennedy was a boozer and one of the biggest philanderers around, only in his case, the "youthful" indiscretions stretched well into middle age.

Needless to say, the mainstream media has shown selective indignation, jumping all over Republicans for their indiscretions, but going easier on Democrats.

If you'll pardon a crude analogy, the media with the O'Donnell witchcraft video is like a pubescent boy who just discovered a new pleasure.  He can't get enough of it.

This is the kind of madness and stupidity that riles people up, making them determined to bring about change.  It is a catalyst that mobilizes groups such as the Tea Party and untold numbers of other disgusted Americans who are sick and tired of condescending media elitists who don't report the news, but rather, try to propagandize so as to aid politicians of their persuasion.

As an aside, this type of childish YouTube sensationalism keeps pounding more nails into the dinosaur media's coffin.  But alas, their comprehension of this obvious fact is about equal to the faculties of the corpse inside that coffin.

DON'T MISS THIS COLUMN -- The other day, I came across this excellent piece on the confused thinking of liberals.  It's a keeper.  If you read it, you might have the same reaction I did: Gee, I've heard of all these things over the past few years, but never realized how LONG the list of hypocritical contradictions would be if these items were collated.  Now I do.

 

Mourning in America

I wish I could take credit for coming up with the headline.  The credit goes to Citizens for the Republic, a conservative lobbying group that has come up with the 2010 iteration of the classic "Morning in America" ad that ran during Ronald Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign.

Unlike its predecessor from a quarter century ago, this ad is not optimistic and cheerful.  Rather, it is ominous, and speaks to the pain millions of Americans are enduring, in no small part due to the misguided policies of a narcissistic, egotistic, left-wing president whose world view is informed by a phony charade of community organizing, ivory tower hobnobbing, and pandering to identity group sycophants.  A president whose "hope and change" campaign drivel was nothing more than massive smoke-and-mirrors.

It ought to tell the administration something when even traditional sympathizers write or say things that are hard-hitting and call attention to disillusionment, disappointment, anger, frustration, and dwindling patience.

As angry as I get at Democrats for their disastrous ideas and policies; as disgusted as I get by the arrogance and condescending ways of so many liberal Democrats, I do not take pleasure in seeing them flail away helplessly in the political waters.  I don't care so much about their pathetic poll ratings, or how much people despise them.

What really troubles me is the fate of our nation.  No politician or political party can inspire or disgust me as much as the condition of our nation and its future prospects.  And frankly, things look bleak.  It's dusk in America -- at least for the next several months or years.  But I still believe we haven't passed the point of no return.

The anger and disgust so many millions of good Americans have expressed toward this incompetent and calamitous administration gives me hope for the future.  If folks were apathetic, and there were no Tea Party, no conservative talk radio hosts and conservative blogs, then I'd be plotting my getaway to South America.

DETROIT 1-8-7 -- Tonight at 10 p.m. EST is the pilot episode of "Detroit 1-8-7," the ABC police show about a fictional Detroit homicide squad. About 40 percent of this episode was filmed in Atlanta, but the vast majority of subsequent episodes were filmed almost entirely in Detroit.  The cast includes Michael Imperioli, an excellent actor who played Christopher on "The Sopranos", and James McDaniel of the popular 1990s cop show "NYPD Blue." 

I work in downtown Detroit, and in recent months I've seen a lot of movie crews filming such flicks as "Transformers III," "Real Steel," and "Harold and Kumar."  One of the better movies to come out in the past few years, "Gran Torino," starring Clint Eastwood, was filmed in the gritty Detroit suburb of Highland Park, with a few scenes in posh Grosse Pointe Shores along Lake St. Clair.

Because of Michigan's severe budget problems, lawmakers have considered reducing or eliminating the state's 40 percent movie tax credit, which reimburses movie makers for 40 percent of their production costs.  I believe this would be penny-wise and pound foolish.  Since the tax credit took effect in 2008, there have been many movies made here; acting schools have sprung up; and Hollywood film companies have spent millions and established a presence in the Motor City.  Many Michigan residents have found jobs as script writers, actors, production assistants, and the like.  It will take time for the tax credit to pay off in a big way, but we are definitely on the right track.

SPARTAN EMBARRASSMENT -- I've frequently criticized University of Michigan athletes who've had run-ins with the law, so I want to be even-handed and lambaste athletes from my alma mater who run afoul of the long arm of the law.  I just read in the paper today that sophomore tight end Dion Sims, a highly regarded recruit in 2009, has been arrested and charged with being part of a theft ring that stole computers from Detroit schools and sold them to folks all over the world.  It's appalling that he threw away his opportunities to join this bunch of losers.  Here again is an example of a black person screwing over his fellow African Americans.  Whether it's gang-bangers blowing away a "brother," crooked Detroit politicians taking bribes and stealing from the city coffers, or young guys stealing computers intended to help African American children learn and get ahead, there are too many black people doing wrong by other blacks.  Bulletin for Jeremiah Wright, Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton: Sorry to contradict your convenient template about whites harming blacks.

An Imam with Chutzpah

Been out of state for a few days, attending my niece's wedding in Atlanta.  It was hot down there (in the 90s Thursday-through-Sunday), and I'm glad to be back in the 65-degree weather!

Because it would be anti-social to take my computer along and be surfing the net and blogging while so many relatives are around, I left my MacBook Pro at home.  Besides, my wife would have been angry.  It seems weddings and funerals are often the only time we get to see extended family members and meet relatives from the other side of the family.

So, without further delay, although I'm several days late with this one, I just cannot help but express my disdain and disgust with the pompous Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.  I nearly blew chunks the other day when I heard his interview with Soledad O'Brien of CNN.

"if we move (the proposed mosque) from that location, the story will be that the radicals have taken over the discourse, Rauf said.  "The headlines in the Muslim world will be that Islam is under attack. And I’m less concerned about the radicals in America than I am about the radicals in the Muslim world.”

Oh my. Where to begin? 

First of all, this narcissistic moron calls himself a "bridge builder," but what he's really done is enflame already raw relations between Muslims and persons of other faiths.  His self-serving campaign to build the Cordoba House at Ground Zero is not even supported by a majority of Muslims in the Middle East.  Take a look at this insightful piece in today's Wall Street Journal, written by the always compelling and eloquent Fouad Ajami.  This is a real eye opener.

Second, it is galling for the imam to refer to opponents of the Ground Zero mosque as "radicals." If they're radicals, what does that make the jihadists in the Middle East who ruthlessly blow up fellow Muslims, Americans, Jews, and anyone else who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?  The fact is, Muslims such as the jihadists and the late despots Saddam Hussein and Hafaz al-Assad of Syria have killed far, far more Muslims than the United States has.  It isn't even close.

As for the imam's preposterous statement about headlines in the Muslim world declaring that "Islam is under attack" should the Ground Zero project be defeated....this is just breathless hypocrisy and audacity.  Millions of Americans who are supporters of our long and honorable tradition of pluralism are angry and disdainful toward the likes of Imam Rauf and sanctimonious leftist media elites at Time magazine and the New York Times, who continuously label opponents of the Ground Zero Mosque "Islamophobic." This nonsense speaks to a substance void on their side of the argument.  Got nothing worthwhile to say to defend your stance on an issue? Then start with the name-calling and demonization.  That's the leftist way.

The fact is, opponents of the Ground Zero mosque have many legitimate reasons to oppose it, including the sensitivities of 9/11 families, concerns about whether hellhole dictatorships and terrorist organizations will fund the mosque, Rauf's refusal to call Hamas a terrorist organization, and the ominous connotations of the word "Cordoba."  If anything, they've given the issue far more thoughtful consideration than their predictable knee-jerk opponents.

The leftists who keep preaching "tolerance" are intolerant of dissenting viewpoints. And the Muslims who are indignant about not getting their way with the Cordoba House are shameless, not grasping the double standard of their faith, which in many countries prohibits Christianity and other faiths.  This is another example of leftists overplaying their hand and shooting themselves in the foot. 

If Imam Rauf does prevail, and the Cordoba House is built at Ground Zero, he is likely to discover that his is a Pyrrhic victory.

NO HEARTBREAK; A HEART ATTACK — Thoughts and prayers to Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio and his family.  Dantonio suffered a heart attack early Sunday morning, an hour or so after his Spartans defeated Notre Dame, 34-31 in a thrilling overtime game at Spartan Stadium.  A doctor at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing inserted a stent to open up a blocked vessel near 54-year-old Dantonio's heart, and the prognosis is good for a complete recovery. Dantonio will take some time off, understandably, and Offensive Coordinator Don Treadwell will be temporary head coach. 

Maybe the stress of MSU's back-and-forth game with the Fighting Irish contributed to the heart attack.  MSU trailed in overtime, 31-28 following a Notre Dame field goal.  Following three plays that failed to get a first down, the Spartans lined up for what would have been a 46-yard field goal to tie the game and send it into a second overtime period.  But lo and behold, holder Aaron Bates (the punter, and a quarterback in high school), stood up, scrambled to his right, and hit a wide open tight end Charlie Gantt.  Gantt caught the ball and ran untouched into the end zone, causing the sellout crowd to erupt in raucous celebration.  The game started at 8 p.m. and lasted until almost midnight.  It was a relief for MSU fans, who almost expected another heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Fighting Irish, as happened last year in South Bend.

LEFTIST OVERKILL — The New York Times, Obama administration, and sneering, smirking leftists like Bill Maher are falling all over themselves trying to belittle and demonize the Tea Party and candidates such as Christine O'Donnell of Delaware and Sharron Angle of Nevada. They're basically just digging the Democrats' hole deeper and deeper.  The more they flail about with their hateful rage, the more millions of Americans resolve to vote for conservatives.  It remains to be seen how things will shake out between the loosely organized Tea Party and the Republican Party, which has far too many fat-n-happy blue blood establishment types inside the Beltway and in its leadership.  But one thing's for sure: The Democrats will get their heads handed to them on a silver platter come Election Day.  It is a sound pummeling they richly deserve.

 

It's the Anger, Stupid!

The GOP has had its share of rifts of late regarding primary endorsements of traditional Republican hacks (e.g., RINO U.S. Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware) vs. the upstart Tea Party candidates.  Establshment suck-ups like like Karl Rove and other staunch conservatives such as columnist Charles Krauthammer opposed Delaware U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell in her bid to defeat Castle, whom the lefties laughably refer to as a "moderate."  Thankfully, O'Donnell won.  Castle is just another Olympia Snowe type. He voted for cap-and-trade; need I say more?

Rove and others who opposed O'Donnell's candidacy don't think she has a chance to win in the general election.  The so-called experts didn't give Scott Brown a chance in Massachusetts last winter, and look what happened.  The naysayers doubted U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul in Kentucky, too, but he proved them wrong.

Candidates such as Sharron Angle in Nevada and Nikki Haley in South Carolina have also ruffled GOP feathers and garnered strong Tea Party support.

The media will, of course, focus on Republican infighting and fissures, portraying the GOP as coming apart at the seams with bitter divisions.  Methinks the disagreements are not THAT bitter; Republicans whose candidates lost to fiscally conservative Tea Party candidates will certainly support the Tea Party candidates over the vast majority of Democrats.  If not, they need to have their heads examined.

As Dick Morris has noted, issues like abortion, gun control, and gay rights have taken a distant back seat to the absolute critical, urgent necessity to halt the obscene, insane spending and skyrocketing deficits being perpetrated by this reckless administration and Congress.

In short, voters are disgusted, appalled, and livid at the outrageous shenanigans going on inside the Beltway.  They are very, very angry, be they Republicans, independents, libertarians, or conservative Democrats (yes, there are still a few). They just want very badly to "throw the bums out," and they will.

The insipid talking heads on CNN, MSNBC and the dinosaur networks can prattle on all they want about how those scary yahoos from the Tea Party are "extremists" or dipshits who wouldn't know their head from their arse.  But their inane babble will largely fall upon deaf ears in this unique and watershed election year.

The insufferably smug and arrogant leftist Bill Maher once stated that Americans were "too stupid" to understand the issues; therefore, the Democrats needed to ram Obamacare through.  Well, in actuality, I think Maher and his ilk, plus the media elitists as well as the blue blood GOP establishment, may well be "too stupid" to comprehend how much anger there is toward incumbents in the Fall of 2010.

I firmly believe that even in traditionally blue states, a heck of a lot of Democrats will be shown the door come November. I look forward to that day with great anticipation.

B-B the B's, Because of Another "B"

Blame it on Bush! IT'S ALL GEORGE BUSH'S FAULT!!!

For years, that has been the mindless, knee-jerk M.O. of the kooky leftists who proliferate in poliical discourse like cockroaches in a Detroit crack house.

But even the tone-deaf Democrats are finally beginning to realize that such tripe just won't cut it with an angry American public.  What they're selling, Americans aren't buying.

So, devoid of positive accomplishments or good ideas to talk about, the Demagogues have chosen a new target to demonize -- another "B": Future House Speaker John Boehner.  They'll accuse him of favoring "tax cuts for the rich," a lib line that is as worn out as a rusty '87 Ford F-150 with bald tires and 250,000 miles on the odometer.

At least the tax charge has some substance to it.  But just watch, the Democrats will get personal as they always do.  They'll make fun of Boehner's alleged aritifical tan, and maybe another "B" word: Botox.

So we've gone from Blame Bush to Bash Boehner. Demonize. Personalize. Attack, attack, attack.  Sling mud with abandon.

Such demagoguery from the Democrats is par for the course, primarily because of another "B" word: Bankrupt.  As in, the Democrats are bankrupt of positive achievements (yes, they've got Obamacare and the stimulus bill, but those are hugely unpopular "achievements.")  They are bankrupt of fresh ideas and innovation; bankrupt of foresight, common sense, and common decency.

But they certainly have a boatload of balderdash, a beaucoup bonanza of bad bromides.  Bah, humbug!

Same Old Lions? Kinda-Sorta

The Detroit Lions lost their opening game, 19-14, to the Chicago Bears.  Another Lions loss.  So what else is new?

Unfortunately, starting quarterback Matthew Stafford was removed from the game with a shoulder injury; at this point, it is undetermined how much time he'll miss.

At one point the Lions were ahead, 14-3, with only a little more than a minute left in the first half.  Then things began going downhill rapidly.  Chicago had the ball on its own 11 yard line, and quarterback Jay Cutler threw a screen pass to Matt Forte. Just a safe 5- or 10-yard pickup, right? Wrong. This is the Detroit Lions we're talking about. Forte ran it 89 yards for a touchdown.  The Bears also recovered a fumble and scored a field goal with 4 seconds left in the half.  Adding insult to injury, the Bears' $91 million free agent defensive end, Julius Peppers, slammed Stafford to the ground just before halftime, rendering him out of commission.  Unfortunately, it was the lackluster Jeff Backus (a former Michigan Wolverine) who had the tough assignment of blocking Peppers today, and as expected, he fared poorly.

The Lions almost pulled out a victory near the end, as backup quarterback Shaun Hill hit a leaping Calvin Johnson in the end zone, but the officials ruled Johnson didn't have control of the ball and fumbled it when he landed.  It was a typical rip-your-heart-out gutwrenching defeat for the snakebit Detroit Lions. 

But as a long-suffering Lions fan, I take heart about a few things.  First, the Lions were competitive in a road game (they've lost 21 straight road games).  Second, their defensive line managed to get some heat on Cutler, despite frequent double teams and heavy-duty blocking schemes (i.e., there were a heck of a lot more blockers than rushing defenders).  The Lions actually had four sacks in one game.  Third, the Lions made a goal-line stand after fumbling at their own 1-yard line. This would have been unheard of in recent years.

On the down side, there was some horrendous play calling (stupid runs up the middle that would net 1 or no yards), and too many dropped passes by receivers who were supposed to be "weapons."

I've learned not to invest too much emotion in the Detroit Lions, and I won't this season, even though I do believe they will be improved.  They're definitely not a playoff team, but a final record of 6-10 is a huge improvement over 0-16 and 2-14. It puts the playoffs in reach in 2011 and 2012.

AMAZING FACTOIDS -- Over the past several months, I've been reading a biography of John Adams.  It's taking longer than it should, because I'm often reading one or two other books at the same time, plus magazines, newspapers and online content.  I came across a couple of interesting factoids in this impressive tome, written by David McCullough:

1) When England declared war on France in 1793, at the height of the French Revolution, those two countries would end up being at war for an incredible 22 years!

2) During the Reign of Terror, when political factions such as the Girondins and Jacobins mixed it up, about 14,000 people lost their lives.  Many were beheaded in the guillotine, including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.  Some of those killed were the instigators themselves.

9/11 Pissing Match

Forty-four years ago, John Lennon made an ill-advised comment about the Beatles being "bigger than Jesus Christ."  Methinks he was saying it in the context of, "This reaction we're getting is incredible.  Jeez, people, don't lose your minds. We're not THAT big a deal!"

But many folks, particularly fundamentalist Christians, interpreted it as an arrogant, narcissitic statement, i.e., "We're more popular, more charismatic, better liked, therefore, more important, than Jesus Christ."

Across the South, Baptist preachers gathered their flocks for bonfires of Beatles albums.  (But then, better to be burning Beatles albums than burning crosses with dunkoffs running around in white sheets.)

Book burnings have been going on for centuries -- since long before the invention of the printing press.

Flag burning by Muslim extremists abroad and leftist kooks in America has become commonplace, as has Bible burning by Islamofascists.  A few days ago, a rural preacher in Florida started a worldwide firestorm when he decided to burn Korans on Sept. 11.

The Rev. Terry Jones of the Dove Outreach Center eventually backed down from his plan after Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Jones he would be placing American troops in greater danger in Afghanistan and Iraq.  FBI agents also reportedly paid a visit to Rev. Jones.

The Drudge Report today stated that one guy tore pages out of a Koran in front of the White House, then crumpled them up,and another man torched a Koran at Ground Zero. The infamous and twisted Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., which claims American military deaths are punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality, also burned a Koran (and Old Glory, to boot!)

Meanwhile, loud demonstrations and flag burnings took place across Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the controversy surrounding a proposed Islamic mosque near Ground Zero continues to fester on.  This is all getting to be a bit much.

I certainly hope it does not degenerate into a childish, tit-for-tat burn Bibles/burn Korans/burn Ameican flags/destroy Korans and/or vandalize mosques, etc.  For one, we shouldn't lower ourselves to that level, although I'm sure our country has its share of folks who will willingly engage in such behavior.

But more important, we need to think about the lives of our troops overseas, and how stirring up a hornets' nest of lunatic Islamofascists is not wise.  We also may increase the chances of domestic terrorist attacks.  Let that sleeping dog lie. 

But on the same token, let's not bend over backwards sucking up to the Muslims, as many on the left are wont to do.  Islam deserves harsh criticism, because it is a highly dysfunctional religion with too many extremists who take violent Koran passages literally; and far too many followers who refuse to strongly denounce terrorism, anti-semitism, intolerance toward people of other faiths, and the misogyny so prevalent in Islam.

We must be vigilant without being ridiculous.  But it's also possible to be respectful of pluralism without sucking up to a badly flawed religion that, frankly, does not deserve awe and deep reverence.

CONGRATS, WOLVERINES -- I predicted Notre Dame would crush Michigan in South Bend.  Michigan won a classic game, 28-24, thanks in large part to a superhuman game by sensational quarterback Denard Robinson, who singlehandedly chalked up over 500 yards of combined rushing and passing.  Meanwhile, at Ford Field in Detroit, the Michigan State Spartans won a lackluster 30-17 victory over a weak opponent, Florida Atlantic.  Edwin Baker, a native of Detroit suburb Oak Park, carried the ball 15 times for 183 yards.  A great effort.  Notre Dame visits East Lansing next week, and the Spartans had better sharpen up their game and get fired up, because they may well lose if they don't play better.  There's a good chance MSU's offensive coordinator and head coach did not "show their hand" vs. their first two opponents, saving more sophisticated play calling for worthy opponents such as the Fighting Irish.  Let us hope so.

SHARIF DON'T LIKE IT -- Just came across another incident of Koran burning.  People who allow their names and/or photos to get out on the Internet as desecrators of the Koran are simply putting a target on their back.  We need to be careful, or this could get out of hand.  It's one thing to incite Muslim fanatics 5,000 miles away, but to incite the Islamofascist sleeper cells here in the United States would truly be disastrous.