Good News(not Happy Talk)

There are two actual positive developments to report, just in time for your mellow Friday evening. The first is that an imam who once was a mentor to Osama bin Laden has publicly reproached him, an unprecedented event among clerics of his stature. This Saudi imam asked aloud whether Osama could approach Allah with the heavy burden of sin he was carrying. We have been waiting for someone to acknowledge what a catastrophe this man has been for Muslims worldwide, so this is a welcome development.

The second is that Buddhists have taken to the streets to picket one of the worst governments in the world, the military junta of Burma. Recall that Buddhist protests in then-south Vietnam toppled a terrible, repressive regime in l963--they didn't do it physically, of course, but pictures and video of Ngo Din Diem's "hounddogs" beating and kicking the non-violent Buddhists, to say nothing of the monk who immolated himself, brought about in Diem's demise just a few months later. The Buddhists are a mighty force, a scourge to rotten regimes everywhere. The Burma tyrants should be afraid, very afraid.

So let's celebrate a bit of genuine good news, news that shouldn't be confused with the administration's Happy Talk...