I am very glad to read that Gillian Gibbons has been released in Sudan over this whole teddy bear incident. I can’t remember whose journal initially linked to an article interviewing the seven-year-old boy who initially suggested the name but the outcry that resulted was ridiculous and yet another sign of the insanity of fundamentalism and its dangers. Read my lips: it wasn’t her suggestion. It was the kids.

If you don’t want your kids to think it’s okay to name someone or something after your prophet, then stop naming your children Mohammed. And even if you deem that someone insulted your religion, let’s get a handle on the punishment matching the crime. The actual 15-day sentence was crazy enough. The 40 lashes would have been nuts. The people in the street demanding she be shot are off their rockers.

Fundamentalism is bad, m’kay?