09-09-2010, 09:54 AM
EXCELLENT AND ON POINT EDITORIAL BY MIKE THOMAS OF ORLANDO SENTINEL TODAY! well worth reading... 
The Rev. Terry Jones was a sad-sack preacher, lucky to draw 50 people to his steel-shed house of prayer, when the words "burn" and "Quran" had an unfortunate collision in his limited brain.
That he has become an international phenomenon as a result must be a sign the apocalypse is near.
We actually have Gen. David Petraeus, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the White House and even the pope pleading with a hick pastor not to burn books. This is a guy who looks like Jed Clampett wearing a Hulk Hogan mustache, who uses words like "tragical," who earlier this year launched a "No homo mayor'' campaign against a candidate in Gainesville.
Last year Jones sent the kids of the congregation off to school in "Islam is of the devil" T-shirts. Of course they got booted, which got Jones an enticing taste of media attention.
But that was small taters. There are a million Muslim bashers in the big city, and Jones had to do better to hit the big time.
So he got a big old sign and put it on a big old truck in a big old field. It said: "International Burn a Koran Day."
Ding! Ding! Ding!
It was like the three strawberries coming into alignment on a million-dollar slot machine. The New York Times and The Associated Press whipped out their notepads. The networks and cable stations broke out the indignant anchors.
"No Muslim is going to be on your side when you burn their holy book," huffed CNN's Kiran Chetry. "It's silly."
"By carrying through with this, you could be contributing to the harm or death of an American soldier," argued Kelly Cobiella from CBS.
"Do you really think that if Jesus Christ were here today, he would say, 'Pastor go burn that holy book?'" asked ABC's Terry Moran.
Course he would!
I mean, seriously, are they expecting Jones to slap the side of his head in a moment of rational thought and introspection and, right there on camera, take it all back? By golly, you're right. Jesus wouldn't burn them books so I'm just going back to my irrelevant life. See ya'll.
This is someone who can barely scrape together enough people to carry a tune in church, and now he has the world breathlessly waiting for his next words.
He is a regular Moses on the mountaintop, urging the spineless Christians to take a stand against the Muslim hordes.
Even better, Jones is getting burned in effigy over in Kabul, where — on cue — the Islamo whack jobs are demanding President Barack Obama send one of his warlords to silence this crazy infidel.
Crazy begets even crazier.
That all this might get some 20-year-old kid from Ohio blown away in Afghanistan isn't about to stop Jones now.
The good pastor has done found his version of 72 virgins and is living in paradise.
As much as everyone is blaming him, this is far from his fault. He's just a prop.
I ask you: If a sad little man burns some Qurans in the woods, and the media aren't there to film it, is it news?
Of course not.
We created the Rev. Terry Jones from dust. And in two weeks, to dust he shall return. Then we'll move on to the guys who plan to run over the Quran at their monster-truck pull. Whatever it takes to keep your attention.
It is all so truly tragical.
We could help head off such future nonsense if we folded up the circus tent and left Jones alone with his blowtorch and 30 followers.
Maybe if Gen. Petraeus told the media that it isn't Rev. Jones who is endangering troops. That it is our coverage of Rev. Jones. That without us, this book burning would be little more than a grainy video on YouTube.
Put the onus on a responsible party and hope it acts responsibly.
Fat chance.
The Rev. Terry Jones was a sad-sack preacher, lucky to draw 50 people to his steel-shed house of prayer, when the words "burn" and "Quran" had an unfortunate collision in his limited brain.
That he has become an international phenomenon as a result must be a sign the apocalypse is near.
We actually have Gen. David Petraeus, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the White House and even the pope pleading with a hick pastor not to burn books. This is a guy who looks like Jed Clampett wearing a Hulk Hogan mustache, who uses words like "tragical," who earlier this year launched a "No homo mayor'' campaign against a candidate in Gainesville.
Last year Jones sent the kids of the congregation off to school in "Islam is of the devil" T-shirts. Of course they got booted, which got Jones an enticing taste of media attention.
But that was small taters. There are a million Muslim bashers in the big city, and Jones had to do better to hit the big time.
So he got a big old sign and put it on a big old truck in a big old field. It said: "International Burn a Koran Day."
Ding! Ding! Ding!
It was like the three strawberries coming into alignment on a million-dollar slot machine. The New York Times and The Associated Press whipped out their notepads. The networks and cable stations broke out the indignant anchors.
"No Muslim is going to be on your side when you burn their holy book," huffed CNN's Kiran Chetry. "It's silly."
"By carrying through with this, you could be contributing to the harm or death of an American soldier," argued Kelly Cobiella from CBS.
"Do you really think that if Jesus Christ were here today, he would say, 'Pastor go burn that holy book?'" asked ABC's Terry Moran.
Course he would!
I mean, seriously, are they expecting Jones to slap the side of his head in a moment of rational thought and introspection and, right there on camera, take it all back? By golly, you're right. Jesus wouldn't burn them books so I'm just going back to my irrelevant life. See ya'll.
This is someone who can barely scrape together enough people to carry a tune in church, and now he has the world breathlessly waiting for his next words.
He is a regular Moses on the mountaintop, urging the spineless Christians to take a stand against the Muslim hordes.
Even better, Jones is getting burned in effigy over in Kabul, where — on cue — the Islamo whack jobs are demanding President Barack Obama send one of his warlords to silence this crazy infidel.
Crazy begets even crazier.
That all this might get some 20-year-old kid from Ohio blown away in Afghanistan isn't about to stop Jones now.
The good pastor has done found his version of 72 virgins and is living in paradise.
As much as everyone is blaming him, this is far from his fault. He's just a prop.
I ask you: If a sad little man burns some Qurans in the woods, and the media aren't there to film it, is it news?
Of course not.
We created the Rev. Terry Jones from dust. And in two weeks, to dust he shall return. Then we'll move on to the guys who plan to run over the Quran at their monster-truck pull. Whatever it takes to keep your attention.
It is all so truly tragical.
We could help head off such future nonsense if we folded up the circus tent and left Jones alone with his blowtorch and 30 followers.
Maybe if Gen. Petraeus told the media that it isn't Rev. Jones who is endangering troops. That it is our coverage of Rev. Jones. That without us, this book burning would be little more than a grainy video on YouTube.
Put the onus on a responsible party and hope it acts responsibly.
Fat chance.