American Al-Qaeda

How close Islamic fundamentalists are to our own God-fearing, other-hating terrorists at home. Lest we forget.

``The fact that I have entered an agreement with the government is purely a tactical choice on my part and in no way legitimates the moral authority of the government to judge this matter or to impute guilt,'' Rudolph said.

Which means, sir, you're a fucking coward.

Thankfully they're keeping him alive. Death could have meant martyrdom.

"the new face of church"

Is 16,000 people in the Houston Rockets' former stadium.

It's Lakewood Church, the biggest in the country. The pastor, Joel Osteen, has a book with 2.8 million copies in print, a TV audience almost twice that large, and, you can be assured, tons of money.

I've actually seen his sermons [broadcast locally] and it's no wonder he's popular, he never talks about suffering or the trials of faith. He's more Tony Robbins than Jimmy Swaggert, more life coach than after-death coach.

So can you even call it church? Maybe.

Still, I'd rather have umpteen million people listening to spiritually innocuous psychobabble than tuning in to Jerry Falwell.

Maybe, in the end, the more venomous strains of evangelical may be done in by the free market, but don't hold your breath.