One person's radical is another's hero

Gee, sometimes I think I'm missing out by not watching television news or listening to talk radio.

Uh, not really.

A few years back, before I equipped my car with satellite radio, I used to listen to KFI/640 on my way to work. I told myself I needed to know what Rush LimbaughRush Limbaugh was saying so that I could argue against his lies.

After a while I realized that all I was doing was making sure I would arrive at work annoyed or angry. I switched to classical music -- I took a no-talk-radio vow -- and it was amazing how much better I felt.

I realized that about 90 percent of what we get from any talk-radio host was bombast, BS and showmanship and about 10 percent was fact -- if we were lucky.

So now I see -- I don't watch or listen, but I pick it up on the Internet -- where Fox News Channel and the Amen Chorus of Glenn, Sean and Rush is going after all the radical appointments Barack ObamaBarack Obama has made. I see some of them have said nice things about Mao ZedongMao Zedong and other evil godless communists, so talk radio is after their heads.

Great God Almighty, what sort of president would appoint people so far out of the American mainstream?

Uh, how about George W. BushGeorge W. Bush?

Dozens if not hundreds of appointments during the Bush administration came from Pat RobertsonPat Robertson's Regent University. Its law school didn't gain accreditation until 1996, maybe in part because of its mission statement.

Regent states that it seeks to admit "students who are serious about the critical roles they will assume as future counselors, for Christ. Regent Law seeks men and women who are dedicated to becoming Christian leaders who will change the world for Christ."

Now I'm sure some of you are asking what's wrong with that, but to folks on the left, that statement is every bit as radical as anything Chairman Mao ever said is to you on the right.

Just as Paul SimonPaul Simon once wrote that "one man's ceiling is another man's floor," and it has been said that one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter, maybe we just ought to agree that one person's radical is another person's hero.

We are horrified by Islamists who want to impose Sharia law on the rest of the world. Why aren't we equally horrified by fundamentalists who want us to live the law straight out of Leviticus?

Give it a rest, folks.

And remember, that friendly sounding guy on television or talk radio is not your friend, no matter how much he says he is.

He's only in it for the money.