If you haven’t heard by now, Terry Jones, some wingnut preacher in Florida is planning to commemorate 9/11 by burning 200 Qurans. The very idea of it has caused a conflagration well before his planned event.

Hell, even President Obama and US General Petraeus have waded in on it saying how it will endanger the lives of US soldiers.

This whole issue is ridiculous on so many levels I hardly know where to begin. It seems to have begun because of the hysteria surrounding the “Ground Zero mosque” issue in New York where muslims are planning to build a community centre.

Yes, this idiot does have his freedom of speech rights to do whatever he likes and burning the Koran would qualify as free speech. What he’s doing seems pretty minor in comparison to the flag burning, riots, murder and protests that radical muslims have taken part in over the years, most notably the riots related to the Allah cartoon controversy. Just because you have the right to do or say something doesn’t mean it’s right.

Why is it that radical muslims will turn any perceived slight into an excuse to call for jihad, fatwahs or general stupidity? Why should something like this endanger anyone’s lives? What has long been endangered in the radical muslim world and Christian world is common sense.

Islam and Christianity both claim to be peaceful religions while the evidence of history puts both their claims to shame. Enough blood has been spilled by both in the name of God to fill stadiums full of blood and the adherents of both religions should be ashamed (I don’t give a damn if you didn’t do it either).

I would suggest that both sets of religions focus on their own affairs and fulfill their claims of following a peaceful religion. Leave the rest of us out of your petty squabbles and quit trying to convert everyone to the “true path.”

So many of the conflicts around the world now, and in the past, have had religion at their core. It’s time to put this bullshit behind us. If we can’t learn to live peacefully together as a species, we are doomed to extinction.  This is exactly where the small-minded of the world’s “great religions” are taking us.

Right now the thought of an idealistic Star Trek sort of society is a distant fantasy. I’m not confident we’ll make it with the current crop of idiots we have running the world and ruining the world. Those groups aren’t mutually exclusive either.

I have a great respect for human rights but lately the sheer idiocy of what’s happening in the world is causing me to question the freedom of religion. I’m not sure how tenable a peaceful, free society is when religious zealots are ruining it. I know, it’s ironic that one of our freedoms may be destroying the rest. It’s not lost on me. I think it is on the zealots though.

Another irony of eliminating freedom of religion would be that, in the Western world, the terrorists that our politicians are using to leverage the fear some possess  are victorious in attempting to vanquish Christianity.

You can be certain that there’s no true freedom of religion in muslim countries and they’re highly unlikely to try to stop the public expression of the state religion.

This all kind of brings us back to square one. What do we do? Kind of a stalemate unless we all wise up and just learn to get along. Sounds hokey, but it’s really quite simple.

I can’t really offer a solution. It’s in the hands of the lunatics heading up the “great religions.” On behalf of the remaining sensible people on the planet, I can offer all the extremists and zealots of all religions some new real estate on the sunny side of Mercury. I hear it’s nice there this time of year. I’m sure we’d all pitch in to build space ships to send you there free of charge too.

On Christmas Day we heard about the crotch bomber. Apparently the US was fully aware of him, but still allowed him to fly. Now there are questions about whether this was a “false flag” event, which the US is known for, to keep the terrorist fear ball rolling. (I guess Yemen has lots of oil and will be invaded soon.)

Don’t believe the US government lies to start wars or keep them going? (Not like they’re the only government that does either.)

• first Gulf War – manufactured story by Hill & Knowlton PR – Iraqi soldiers pulling Kuwaiti babies out of incubators
• second Gulf War – no evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction – the Bush Whitehouse was keen to eliminate Saddam Hussein, so it falsified “evidence” of WMDs
• Vietnam War – pretext for the Vietnam War – Gulf of Tonkin incident never happened.

Admit it America: the terrorists have won. They’ve succeeded in terrorizing your entire country to the point that you’ve begun dismantling the principles, laws and institutions that differentiate you from the nations and groups those actual and alleged terrorists come from.

Now there just needs to be a hint of terrorism, a vague mention or some unverified tape from a terrorist country and more legislation is trotted out to “protect” us. Who’s protecting us from our governments now?

“Terrorism” aftermath: more travel restrictions

I’ve always liked Rick Steves and his Europe Through the Back Door series of books and TV shows, so I was curious to know what his reaction to the latest “terror in the skies” might be.

I am not sure what his reaction will be to full body scans and no carry-on bags (carry on bags will now be checked luggage), but his reaction to the fear of flying was predictable. Rick is a huge advocate of travelling light and carry-on bags, so it should be interesting to know what his thoughts are going to be on no carry-on bag rules. I can predict what he’ll say.

So now your laptops, cameras and other valuables will be at the mercy of the airport baggage handlers. They’ll either be damaged or stolen because of this idiotic American panic. Valuables routinely go missing this way. I know people who’ve had this happen.

Travellers will increasingly be subjected to dangerous, invasive and civil rights violating full body x-ray scans. They claim it’s low dose, but it serves no purpose and full-body x-rays are dangerous. I had to laugh at one comment on a CBC story on this topic that the next attack will be an “anus bomber.”

Does it really make sense to be giving grandmothers full body x-rays? Six year old boys? Fourteen year old girls? We’ve reached a new height of paranoia and stupidity and it’s up to us to stop it.

How far are we going to let our governments go in violating our democratic and civil rights in allegedly protecting us?

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Benjamin Franklin
Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759