Papa Don't Preach

While  the current internet rumors that Terry Jones (the megalomaniac pastor who with fewer than 50 religious followers managed to get thousands of media followers by threatening to burn the Qur'an later today) was arrested for child pornography are not true, it is true he has special, if very different, relationships with his own son and daughter.

Luke, one of the religious of his father's Dove World, is a believer and defender of his dad's ways. Daughter Emma isn't. Still living in Germany — where she moved with her father years ago and stayed after he was kicked out of the church there — she told Der Spiegel of how she split from her father's ways.

Where she didn't part ways, from her father or the path of her brother, is in her love. She felt threatened when, "[my father] called me into his office and said he received a message from God for me: God would take my children and then kill me." Still, she claims that, "As his daughter, I can see the good-natured core deep inside him. But I think he needs help."

When asked what she would tell him if he would listen, she answered: "That he needs help. That he is on the wrong path. But that there are people who love him anyway. I sincerely hope that he comes to his senses."


For all the sins Jones may be ready to commit, there is at least some credit to be gained in noting that at least his kids still love him.

You Are So Grounded, Mister

How often it is that the story of a father and son is not completely told. Today's example comes from Mumbai, where an Emirates Air flight was grounded when Dubai-bound, alleged terrorist Shahbaz Khan and his wife Munira ended up just being bound up.

An anonymous call was credited with "foiling" Khan's plan. Suspicion points to son, Arif Kahn, as the likely tipster as he was the one who last year tried ratting out his father and his "criminal background" when the old man ran for the Assembly.

Did we mention father and son are fighting over real estate and the son had been locked up for stealing from their tenant? As mentioned above, there's a bit more for this family saga than has met the eye.

WBD?

It's that time again! What time? That time ....

Creating an instant tradition, the Dads-Space folks announced they are seeking The World's Best Dad in what sounds like a competition that has been around for a while. Surprisingly, some of the contest details are a bit fuzzy. For example, the standards for entry are unstated, prizes are undetermined, and ceremony date unstated. However, the general idea to create a real contest — rather than just pretend a celebrity represents something other than himself — out of what otherwise makes for a barroom argument (if among males) or coffee or cocktail klatsch (should the arbiters of best dad be female) is laudable.

So, what actually makes for the WBD? Could it be someone like Mike Mone, who dragged his lawyer son into some pro bono work fighting for the unwinnable situation of trying to unite an Uzbeki father with his son by bringing the two to Ireland? The father of a 6-year-old he hasn't seen thanks to his captivity, Oybek Jamoldinivich Jabbarov, was kept at Guantanamo first without strong evidence he had done something wrong and now because there is nowhere to send him since his home country is likely to torture him.

Jabbarov would be an unlikely WBD, but it is certain that he represents something about fatherhood.

Also unlikely is Thai Major General Khattiya, who has threatened to bomb his daughter if she is unlucky enough to end up among the wrong group protesting the government. Still, there is certainly something to be said for a father who worries about his daughter, warns his daughter, provides her with a loving home, but lets her stand for something he is opposed to. As Khattiya said, "I lit a joss stick and told my wife, who passed away four years ago, that the nation was more important than a daughter. I can reproduce another child but the country cannot be reproduced."

Mone, Jabbarov, Khattiya or maybe even Ludwig? Which one represents the best dadding the world can aspire to? Ludwig, of course, has proposed sick days for SAHDs based on recent experience tending to his two sick kids and then suffering through the sickness they passed on to him.

Each one an interesting choice. And there are others. With no rules or standards or surety about what it all means make sure to get your vote in now.