Divine retribution. Karma. Comeuppance. Call it what you will.

If you believe this is a strange question for a storyteller to ask, you may not have been paying attention. All stories, even fiction, deal with questions of morality. Indeed, westerns and science fiction are the paradigm of morality plays. So, let’s dive in and ask, do you believe in ultimate justice?

Muslims obviously don't like anyone else poking fun at them and their beliefs. We don't need to see any more blood spilled to understand that. However, I am wondering if they ever poke fun at themselves.

Self deprecating humor is a trait of those who are secure in themselves, and I've enjoyed laughing along with them. Lawyers in particular seem most comfortable with it. I've never met a lawyer who objected to lawyer jokes. Indeed, several I've known collect them and always welcomed any additions I could offer.

I wish I were a humorist like Mark Twain, someone who could help people laugh at our foibles and defuse the anger that pervades political discourse these days.

Anger in politics is nothing new, not in America. We the People have been persecuting each other since long before we even became a nation. The Sons and Daughters of Liberty frequently rallied to tar and feather Tories and then run them out of town on a rail. The end of the Revolution didn't end the acrimony. Legislators caned one another on the floor of Congress or retired to the edges of Washington to add orifices to each others' bodies with pistol and sword. Then came the Civil War, the biggest political brouhaha of all times.

Things didn't get any better in the Twentieth Century. Labor unionists and armed thugs hired by mine and mill owners regularly dented each others' craniums with brickbats and billy clubs. And, let's not forget General MacArthur leading the troops to disperse World War I veterans who wanted nothing more than their promised due. Need I mention the Civil Rights riots, KKK lynchings, and assassinations?