Sarah Palin's latest Facebook note has hit the Internet like an open palm against a slab of beef. She who has been the most vocal critic of the Ground Zero Mosque thinks Pastor Terry Jones shouldn't burn the Koran.

The post opens:

Book burning is antithetical to American ideals.

Good! Now, if she had just stopped right there, this would be an excellent argument against Florida Pastor Terry Jones' planned 9/11 Flamin' Koran BBQ. (More of a status update, really.) Alas, she kept typing:

People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation – much like building a mosque at Ground Zero.

This would make sense only if it was immediately followed by the clause, "both consume precious natural resources and contribute to global warming by producing carbon dioxide."

As it is, comparing burning a religion's most sacred book to building an Islamic-themed community center in a Burlington Coat factory near Ground Zero is like comparing an apple placed on a table next to someone slightly allergic to apples with Daisuke Matsuzaka pitching an orange in the face of a person just released from the hospital with a broken nose. But, oh well, I guess we should just be thankful Sarah Palin isn't the Koran-burning's keynote speaker.

Here's the rest of her post:

Book burning is antithetical to American ideals. People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation – much like building a mosque at Ground Zero.

I would hope that Pastor Terry Jones and his supporters will consider the ramifications of their planned book-burning event. It will feed the fire of caustic rhetoric and appear as nothing more than mean-spirited religious intolerance. Don't feed that fire. If your ultimate point is to prove that the Christian teachings of mercy, justice, freedom, and equality provide the foundation on which our country stands, then your tactic to prove this point is totally counter-productive.

Our nation was founded in part by those fleeing religious persecution. Freedom of religion is integral to our charters of liberty. We don't need to agree with each other on theological matters, but tolerating each other without unnecessarily provoking strife is how we ensure a civil society. In this as in all things, we should remember the Golden Rule. Isn't that what the Ground Zero mosque debate has been about?