Officer Loehmann displaces John Moshitta as fastest talker

Remember the 1980's Fed Ex commercials featuring John Moshitta, the acknowledged king of fast talkers, using Fed Ex because their service was, well, so fast? Turns out Moschitta has nothing on Cleveland policeman Timothy Loehmann, the fast talking cop who pumped several slugs into 12 year old Tamir Rice, waving a toy gun in a Cleveland park, killing him. Loehmann grabbed Moshitta's fast talking crown by rattling off 'repeated' calls for Rice to drop the toy pistol he was playing with in under 2 seconds before rattling off several shots into Rice's child's body. It was this claim by Loehmann that may have prompted Cuyahoga County DA Tim McGinty to advocate for Loehmann's innocence before the Grand Jury instead of arguing to indict him for homicide. If Loehmann is not the new world's fastest talker, maybe he began warning Rice to drop the gun while he was still pulling up to Rice instead of after getting out of the car. Or it could simply be that Loehmann, who quit the Independence, OH force 2 years earlier to avoid being fired for 'emotional instability', was inexplicably hired by the Cleveland force, putting him in position to senselessly kill a child. That most likely scenario may only be comforting to John Moshitta, who can continue to wear the crown as the fastest talker.

Hillary's no-fly zone for Syria is warmongering insanity

"Imposing a no-fly zone would require as many as 70,000 US Servicemen to dismantle Syria's sophisticated anti aircraft system and then provide a 24 hour watch over the entire country." - Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, NY Times, 2013.

Hillary Clinton's call to impose a no fly zone over Syria, in order to effect regime change against the elected President Assad, amounts to a declaration of war against the Syrian government. By extension, it puts the US on a collision course for war with Russia, Syria's ally, and major user of aircraft to defend Syria from rebels forces, including ISIS.

One can only trust Clinton has no intention of implementing such a suicidal policy should she ascend to the presidency. She is surely just trolling for votes from that vast number of ignorant, uninformed voters who value bellicosity against the imagined foes of the shining city on the hill. But given her vote to launch our murderous, criminal Iraq war, and her zealous support of our murderous bombing campaign that ousted Libyan strongman Qaddafi, spiraling both countries into chaos, we cannot be certain.

You will never hear Bernie Sanders pander for votes by trumpeting new and senseless war. That's why I'm feeling the bern till the last vote is counted. And when it is, I think the more peaceful candidate will win.

Still waiting to close $400 million American gulag in Guantanamo

President Obama has been, on balance, wildly successful during his seven years as Uncle Sam's CEO. He's delivered on health care and immigration reform, universal gay marriage, ending large scale combat operations in the Middle East (alas, replaced by endless criminal bombing), rapprochement with both Cuba and Iran, and many other lesser successes . But he's failed on a signature goal of closing the American gulag in Guantanamo. That's a shame because it represents one of America's most egregious examples of rampant Islamophobia; defiling American values of equal protection under law and serving as a costly recruiting tool for Islamic 'blowback' against this symbol of American aggression. How costly? This year's cost is $400 million, roughly $2.7 million for each of the roughly 150 unfortunates snared in a ferocious roundup of suspected bad guys, some of whom were simply sold into our gulag by their enemies for blood money. They languish because we don't have the goods or the will to try them in an fair court of law. They languish because cowardly American congressmen pander to their constituency by insisting they can't be brought into American supermax prisons because they might escape and cause mayhem. The most recent vote against funding such a move was 91-3 in the Senate; 370-58 in the House. One reason the president is not giving one of his famous versions of the FDR 'fireside chat' to inspire and ennoble the public on the urgency of closing Guantanamo is that far too few Americans demand removing this despicable stain from the American legacy. That must change.

Cutler should cut losses and retire

With a game to go in his tenth season, Bears QB Jay Cutler won't reach even .500 in a ten year career. A win puts him at 84 wins to 87 losses; a harbinger for no SB Ring and no invite to the Canton, OH Hall. But it's not losses on the filed that should prompt Cutler to retire; it's the losses to his delicate brain cells that should give pause to playing even another season getting jammed into the turf by 300 lb. tacklers. Having just watched the two part Frontline investigative report on CTE, the degenerative brain disease caused by repeated football concussions, or even repeated non-concussive football knocks, it's clear football as a fools' game, even if you can achieve earnings north of $100 million, like Cutler. He should consider the urgent need to enjoy his three young kids for another half century, or even longer, with a clear head, something less likely with every sack. Maybe he should pay a visit to Bear's Funky QB Jim McMahon, 56, to learn the woes of football caused early onset dementia. I think one visit would be enough for Cutler to decide getting even to .500 next season ain't worth following McMahon's sorrowful trajectory.

At Wheaton College dancing angels the problem

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer, Senior Pastor at The Moody Church, Chicago, sure knows how to hurl back handed compliments to his fellow man who happens to follow Islam. Lutzer wrote an op-ed 'In defense of Wheaton College', justifying their suspension and likely firing of tenured poly sci prof Larycia Hawkins for violating the 'one true God' loyalty oath she signed to get her job teaching truth in the pursuit of knowledge.

While Muslims around America are being subjected to hostility, threats, burned Mosques, and physical violence stemming from systematic Islamophobia emanating even from presidential candidates, Wheaton College and its enablers like Lutzer, are not helping.

At issue is Hawkins imminent exit for wearing Muslim head gear to express solidarity with her Muslim brothers and sisters being subjected to unprecedented domestic hostility. That act was the trigger for her suspension after three other imagined heresies to the oath involving the racial divide and human sexuality, matters also critically affecting our ability to live in harmony with the universe.

But Lutzer, ignoring the fantasy that makes up every religion's story, charges the Muslim god is fake while the Christian god is real. The Christian god is a 'redeemer'; not so the Muslim god. Lutzer is aghast that Muslims aren't simply saved like evangelicals, but "are always unsure how to keep score" that their good deeds outweigh their bad sufficiently to reach Heaven. Lutzer is apparently unaware that in most sports today, high speed computers do the scoring. He's adamant Islam's imagined one god simply can't compete with the Christian real version which is a 'threefer' combing a father, his son and a holy ghost.

Theology aside, it's Lutzer's secular treatment of Muslims that truly offends. He starts off by essentially saying all Muslims aren't terrorists. In fact Christians don't view every Muslim they encounter with suspicion. Isn't that special? Lutzer even posits Christians can befriend Muslims so that "in god's good timing" they can share with them that their Muhammad is a fake prophet while the Christian Jesus is the real deal.

Wheaton College and their spiritual advisor Dr. Irwin W. Lutzer, may not be Islamophobes, but they sure aren't helping interfaith and human understanding critically needed today. They may as well stick to debating how may angels can dance on the head of a pin.