Yesterday’s courtroom confrontation between “shoe bomber” Richard Reid and Judge William Young was nothing short of epic, right up to its dramatic conclusion:

Judge Young: “See that flag, Mr. Reid? That’s the flag of the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag still stands for freedom. You know it always will.” (At this point, Reid stands up and shakes his fist at the judge. The judge orders him restrained and removed from the courtroom.) “Custody, Mr. Officer. Stand him down.”

Reid: (As he is being dragged out of the courtroom) “That flag will be brought down on the Day of Judgment and you will see in front of your Lord and my Lord and then we will know.”

No word on whether anyone in the courtroom burst into song when Judge Young said, “That flag still stands for freedom.” (”…and they can’t take that away! I’m proud to be an American…”)

But anyway… holy crap, dude! It got biblical in there. Who needs a Perry Mason moment when you have a clash of civilizations happening right in your own courtroom?

And what I quoted only scratches the surface. You gotta check out the transcript.

Speaking of biblical stuff, here’s a pleasant little excerpt from an Associated Press article about the potential consequences of a war in Iraq:

Saddam doesn’t have missiles that could reach the United States. But as he demonstrated in 1991 by firing 39 Scud missiles at Israel, he considers Israel a surrogate target. Those Scuds had only conventional warheads, and Washington managed to dissuade Israel from retaliating.

“It would shape the course of Mideast history for the rest of the millennium,” Pike said.

I was recounting this to a guy on the bus today while en route to work in Marina del Rey. He began explaining how such a scenario could very well lead to the Apocalpyse, as foretold by the Bible. Normally, I don’t lend any credence to such ravings. But, hmm…