Imagine If An Obscure Muslim Preacher Announced A Book Burning..

So let me get this straight:

1. A preacher from an obscure Christian church in the United States decides to practice his freedom of religious expression.


2. He announces plans for an old fashioned book burning on September 11.


3. The book? None other than the Muslim Quran.


4. News spreads worldwide like wildfire. The world reacts.


5. Muslims around the world protest. Chants include "Death to America" and "Death to Christians".

Imagine if the preacher did follow through with the book burning. Imagine if the preacher did not make those plans to begin with. Imagine if a preacher from an obscure Muslim church in Afghanistan announced plans to burn the Christian Bible.

Religious intolerance, especially when expressed like this, is quite simply a shame. Stupid behavior such as this leads to bloodshed and terrorist acts -- in part based on religious beliefs -- from extremists on BOTH sides. Plain and simple.

Is FRC's Tony Perkins An Expert On Military Readiness?

It is hard to believe that the president of a charitable organization about families knows more about what impacts military readiness than the service chiefs who are all on record saying the law on homosexuality in the military should not be changed. I would call Judge Phillips a fair minded judge who believes differently that the likes of Tony Perkins, president of the notoriously anti-gay and conservative Family Research Council.

I was really curious how a statement by Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, would sound if you tweaked some of the wording. The original statement appeared in this article on the recent ruling on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. In this article, Mr. Perkins questions how an activist judge knows best with regards to military readiness.

I wonder the same about Perkins.

Frugal Billionaires and Lucky Doctors

So, I'm doing my Facebook thing and enjoying this three-day weekend when a friend posts a link to an article with the following headline:

7 Tips From Frugal Billionaires

Really?

It reminded me of the story of Doctor Shirley which was recently featured on one of those "Lottery Changed My Life" shows. She continues to work (which is admirable), has a strong desire to help people (which is pretty cool), and is now writing a book about her experience (huh?). I wonder if she's thought of contributing to political causes and to finding solutions to make emergency health care and expensive medical procedures affordable and accessible to the common, honest, decent person. Now that would make her effin' awesome.

Correction, 10:20pm: When I wrote this earlier today, I did not remember whether or not there was mention of the doctor's charity work on the TV show. This article states that she has "started a foundation to pay for uninsured medical expenses for Holocaust survivors that is run by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation." That is pretty awesome. But on the show which featured their story, they flashed price tag after price tag for the things she bought after winning the lottery. When they talked about the medical emergency and organ transplant, there was no mention of the cost nor how it was paid for. This just did not sit well in context with all the price tags.