There’s a rumor we’ve burned some Korans in Afghanistan and some Muslims go on a murder spree.

Oh, really not good.

President Obama apologizes for the burnt Korans.

And the religious right goes nuts.

Also not good.

Iran starts burning Bibles (or so the Washington Times says, and they aren’t the most reliable rag, so I’m not really sure that really happened).

And the religious right has another excuse to go nuts.

Also not good.

Because burning any book is bad (when it’s done for censorship purposes; old and discarded books are burned all the time, including Bibles and Korans) but it’s not like we’re burning God or Allah alive at the stake. And I’m pretty sure that we can print more Bibles and Korans.

So, the murderous Muslims get the prize for the most out of control religious fanatics of the day. While the religious right, it’s just part of the normal electoral pandering that they are usually doing on behalf of Jesus.

Just another day of religion making the world a better place.

Mary Davis gets away with it

Mary Davis, the former principal at Charles Lindbergh Middle School, got her self arrested and charged with theft. The case fumbled around for a while, until last week when Peoria County State’s Attorney Jerry Brady dismissed 13 serious theft charges. In return, she pleaded guilty to a Class A misdemeanor and pays $15,000 in restitution.

Basically, she was accused of getting restitution for items that she shouldn’t have gotten restitution for. Now, exactly how this restitution slipped right pas the ever vigilant watch dogs at District 150 we’ll never know. Trials have this nasty knack for bringing out unpleasant truths about all concerned, including the victim.

We’ll never hear then-Lindbergh principal Julie McArdle take the stand to describe how Superintendent Ken Hinton fired her as she was in the process of informing officials of the thefts perpetrated by Davis.

But I have some advice:

Folks, if you are going to steal, don’t steal with a handgun. Steal from your employer. And be sure to steal LOTS of money, something like the thousands that Mary Davis is accused of stealing. And make sure you steal from the taxpayers, because the prosecutors will be SURE to let you off. All government employees are born thieves anyway, so when one thief encounters another in the courtroom, the are full of sympathy.

Here’s my advice for ANYONE caught in the act of stealing far, far, far LESS than Mary Davis: Look the prosecutor in the eye and DEMAND the same sweet deal that Mary Davis got.

Be like Bo Brownstein, the Denver hedge fund owner who stole $2.5 million and he ended up getting a year and a day. Don’t be like poor Junior Allen, who spent 33 years in prison for stealing a black and white TV.

Did conservative hatred of gays contribute to Whitney Houston’s death?

Here’s something to consider.

And I ask you to bear with me while I make this argument.

Whitney Houston is dead. The pop-singer was laid to rest this two weeks ago.

And the conservatives have been clucking their tongues ever since. They are amused/annoyed/disgusted by all the attention being paid to Whitney Houston.

All that attention, they say, should instead be paid to all the soldiers arriving home from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Because, in the minds of conservatives, one cannot feel something for the death of Whitney Houston and have room in their heart to feel anything for any soldier. That there might be one or two people mourning both Miss Houston and the slain soldiers seems to not be their concern.

But they are really clucking their tongues over exactly HOW she died. She apparently was found dead in a bathtub. She was off the wagon. Booze was found in her hotel room.

She MUST have been drunk, some say. She must have been on pills, others add. Conservatives say this speaks volumes about celebrities, and the fact that dirty liberals are so concerned about the death of this alcoholic drug abuser.

Fair enough. Well, I mean, when I heard about Whitney’s death, I said “how sad” and got on with my life. But if conservatives want to paint with broad brush strokes, so be it.

But here is another life lesson to be taken from Whitney’s life and death that conservatives don’t really talk about.

You see, Whitney Houston was gay. At least, that’s the story some people are telling. I don’t know if it’s true, but people who knew her are telling the story.

Her family and business managers, the story goes, pressured her to end a relationship she was having with a woman. It would be bad for her image. Bad for her career. And it certainly went against the teachings of her church.

So, she gave in. She ended up married to bad-boy musician Bobby Brown. He beat her and helped contribute to her drug problem, but at least it wasn’t another woman. Her sexuality was a choice, and she made the correct, Christian choice.

Don’t argue with me on this point. ANY marriage to a man was preferable, in the eyes of those in her church, to ANY happy union with a woman.

And THAT is the lesson from Whitney Houston’s death that the conservatives are not telling. They aren’t telling the story of what happens to someone when they are forced to deny who they are. When they are forced by convention to give up their great love of their life. They don’t tell the story of a woman who ended up married to the wrong man instead of the right woman.

And here is the message I asked you to consider: If gay marriage has been allowed earlier, might Whitney Houston be alive today?