"The Lord Thunderin' Jesus Live-Fire Exercises"

Over and over again, I am told that Islam is a religion of compassion - Allah is hailed as the compassionate one. This sounds rather nice. So can somebody please tell me why there exists such an animal as Holy Prophet (PBUH) war games? Because today, during the Holy Prophet war games, Iran let rip what they purport to be the fastest underwater missile ever. I can't deal with the missile question - my head is still stuck on the Holy Prophet war games. Is it just me? Is this sending a mixed message of sorts - or is it sending the wrong message altogether?

I feel equally conflicted when I hear about Black achievement awards. If I were black, I'm not so certain how I would feel being deemed the best in my colour category. It's kind of like winning the swimsuit competition in a beauty contest. It's 2006: I would argue that racially-motivated awards have outlived their purpose, they smack (hard) of tokenism. I certainly wouldn't like there to be a series of achievement awards targeted towards whites - although the National Hockey League awards might come close. For the same reasons, I wouldn't want to see "The Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Kriegspiel" or "Laughing Buddha Simulated Military Operations". Some things don't (or shouldn't) mix - although a notable exception might be the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. But I digress .... back to the fun in the Gulf:

Some 17,000 combatants have taken part in the wargame, spokesman of the wargame Vice-Rear Admiral Mohammad Ibrahimi Dehghani said on Friday. One unit of Shahab 2 missile is to be launched to resemble peace and friendship among littoral states of the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, he said.

Cat in Rabat hits her head repeatedly on her desk in bewilderment. Peace & friendship .... Kapoweeeee!!!

If I were an immortal omniscient being watching over this fucked-up world (and as immortal, unable to take a gun to my head and blow my humungus brains out), I wouldn't want the great unwashed blowing things up (be they fish, other Believers or even infidels) in my name. I would probably consult a lawyer about copyright infringement, or the illegal use of my name (or My Name). Ahh, but you argue, the Prophet is not a god. Like hell he isn't. Can't his name be used for something decidedly more benign - like a spelling bee?