Stranger than ever

I intended for this blog to be consistently positive (that's why it includes the words mashed potatoes, because what could possibly be negative about potatoes?); almost any online discussion of a news post quickly dissolves into someone calling someone else a moron or stupid, etc., but the national news was just too strange today, so I want to make a couple observations that may be viewed as negative.

First, I have to say I am not in favor of people buring copies of the Quran. As a Catholic, I would be offended if someone burned or mutilated a Bible to make a statement. The USA is founded on religious freedom (which makes me wonder why some people are offended when they are wished a Merry Christmas instead of the politcally safe Happy Holidays).

Anyway, a couple observations about one area of current madness in the world:

- The media keeps reporting that Pastor Jones' plan to burn copies of the Quran on the 9/11 anniversary has become an international incident. But if the media did not devote so much attention to this single, small planned protest over the past couple weeks, would the world even know or care about the activities of one pastor and his congregation of 30 people in Florida?

- Pastor Jones' position is that the Quran advocates violence towards non-Muslims, thus the reason for his symbolic burning of the book. Footage on the news today of Muslims in foreign countries showed them protesting the pastor's planned protest by burning American flags and shouting "Kill the Christians."

Did the pastor ever say anything about killing Muslims?

- Finally, another strange aspect of this is the pastor said he might cancel the burning if he saw a sign from God, and for a while he took the sign that the imam behind the mosque near Ground Zero in New York was considering changing his plans. Then the imam is interviewed and said he can't change the location or his plans because that will put Americans at risk for attack for imposing their will on the Muslims. That seems to be saying that if the Muslims do not get what they want, they are likely to resort to physically attacking Americans.

But I'm sure that wouldn't happen, as Islam is a religion of peaceful people. Right?