10A021 The Brink by Jim Davies, 9/10/2010 Never again let it be said that one ordinary man cannot change (for good or ill) the course of world history. Among the dumpsters full of scorn, pressure, pleading and death threats that were dropped on the head of Terry Jones this week by Barry Sotero on down, none got it more grotesquely wrong than Katie Couric, for CBS (scroll down to "Where does the money go?") - that pretty but overpaid puppet for pro-government propaganda who wants us to suppose that his Dove World Outreach Center is not an authentic, normal, representative Christian church because a good part of its premises are used to sell furniture. (Yes, the link may be dead; it worked fine on Monday but I think the government destroyed it this week lest any should read Jones' point of view) In her deep ignorance Couric may be unaware that in the early Church it was very common for pastors to support themselves. Even the Apostle Paul, rather than financially burdening the congregations he visited, was a tentmaker and continued to earn his living that way. I wonder what the Imperial Revenue Service thought about that. Thus, Terry Jones actually stands more accurately in the Apostolic Succession than does, say, the Pope - with his abundance of thrones, palaces, crowns and bejewelled cathedrals. Yesterday, Jones signalled his willingness to cancel tomorrow's planned Koran bonfire in Gainesville, on the basis that Imam Rauf of NYC had offered not to build a mosque near Ground Zero. If that comes off (at this writing, it seems it may not) it will be a very fine deal: we'll not exercise our absolute right to burn your holy book, if you don't exercise your absolute right to build on our holy ground. Whoever thought that one up (Jones?) deserves a peace prize. If Rauf renages on the deal, the responsibility will be his for the religious war that's likely to follow; and it will be the first of its kind in recent history. Riots by fevered Q'ran wavers and Old Glory burners will sweep the world; the FedGov's current non-war on Islam may be upstaged, they may lose whatever control they still retain. Retaliative riots may take place here in the US against local Muslims however innocent... it will be a big mess. Not since the French Roman Catholics massacred tens of thousands of Protestants in 1572 has there been such chaos in the "West", nor since four million Hindus and Muslims slaughtered each other in 1948 during the partition of India. So I hope Pastor Jones can make the sale today. Stay tuned. Your feedback, please!