Haute couture designer John Galliano has been sacked from his perch atop storied fashion house Christian Dior after a series of anti-Semitic tirades, including the videotaped bumper-sticker-worthy proclamation, “I love Hitler!” Though Galliano reflexively avowed, “my inspiration has been to unite people of every race, creed, religion and sexuality by celebrating their cultural and ethnic diversity through fashion,” clearly something stuck in his craw when it came to hook-nosed bagel eaters. Sartorial devotees needn’t worry, however, because JG is “seeking help” at Arizona’s Meadows rehab clinic. Unaware of any 12-Step programs for Jew-hating , I did a little research. It turns out that although this is a nascent branch of “the recovery industry”, there are high-profile celebrity graduates, like for example, Pope Benedict XVI, who ironically counts two Galliano albs and a beaded pallium within his array of papal vestments.

His Excellence, nee Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, has exhibited a momentous turn around since his early days as a member of Hitler Youth and the German Army. In the recently published “Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week,” His Eminence refutes claims, such as those preferred in “Vatican II”, that common Hebrews collaborated with Roman authorities in their crucifixion of Jesus. Thankfully, for less scholarly types, the revisionism doesn’t end there; this summer, Mel Gibson will release “Passion of the Christ 2: On the Other Hand…”

A stones throw form the Holy Land, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, tasked with training the Afghan military, ordered his information officers, in clear violation of military regulations, to target visiting U.S. politicians as a means of securing enhanced troop and funding levels. Psychological operations were allegedly conducted upon Sens. McCain and Lieberman, among others, to determine, “How do we get these guys to give us more people? What do I have to plant inside their heads?” During a CNN interview with the ever-corpulent Candy Crowley, McCain flatly denied the allegations, then nearly foamed over whilst slathering Caldwell with effusive praise. Lieberman, for his part, called the story “weird” and insisted his decision to unconditionally support the Army’s every request had nothing to do mind tinkering or promises of securing the services of Muammar Gaddafi’s Ukrainian wet nurse.

Yet there is growing evidence, here in America, that a perverse logic is infecting our collective consciousness. Charlie Sheen is suing CBS (not the other way around) for putting the hit show “Two and a Half Men” on hiatus, which, of course, the network was forced to do when the actor wildly oscillated among cocaine fuelled binges, in-patient detox programs and threatening to kill his now ex-wife. Other oddities:

Madoff trustee Irving Picard, hoping to recover $1.5 million in fictitious profits, is suing David Becker, who inherited the proceeds while serving as one of the SEC’s top attorneys. During his tenure at the agency, mounds of evidence exposing Madoff’s fraud were routinely overlooked.

Self-proclaimed “Christian patriot” pastor Grant Storms, who condemns homosexuality as “nasty” and “depraved,” has been arrested for allegedly masturbating in a park adjacent to a children’s playground.

Rep. Christopher Lee (R-NY) resigned his seat shortly after being elected on a family values platform when his shirtless photos and personal ads seeking transsexual encounters surfaced on Craigslist.

A Saudi national was arrested in Texas after obtaining chemicals and equipment consistent with bomb making. FBI agents recovered a notebook in which Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari wrote, “And now, after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad.” This last story is really bizarre in that, well, it’s not bizarre at all.

It is, rather, straightforward and what we’ve come to expect. Kind of like the Pakistani Taliban who gunned down Christian Minster for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti for his opposition to a pending law mandating death for insulting Islam. Keen observers might hazard that the law has already taken effect.

As has civil unrest across the mid-East and northern Africa. While some change has been relatively peaceful (Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon), all out civil war rages in Libya as mass protests in Iran and Iraq have been harshly quashed. Other countries (Oman, Bahrain, Yemen) remain on low boil. The Saudi royal family, given $100/bbl oil prices, will simply buy their way out of trouble. And though many attribute the copious spate of upheavals to the insurgency in Tunisia (a country so far ahead of the curve that the interim government has already folded), I wouldn’t be surprised if Bush, Rumsfeld, et al. claim their deposition of Saddam Hussein started the whole damn thing.

Point is, conversely, if you’re willing to look to 2003 to source the animus, why not instruct Sherman and Mr. Peabody to set the WABAC machine to the Iranian revolution of 1979. Which seems much more in keeping with today’s paradigm of the “street”, as opposed to foreign governments, tossing out a sitting dictator. Unfortunately, as well, the events of 1979 portend most accurately what inexorably follows – theological autocracy. Democracy, for us Westerners, forever remains the Holy Grail, yet ironically it was the CIA in 1953 that orchestrated the overthrow of Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. Would that this time we may, in contrast to M. Galliano, avoid being hoist by our own petard.