There are many roads to Damascus

When I was much younger and far more callow -- I believe it was during the Nixon administration -- a friend and I shared a common hobby.

We made up lists of people who would be taken out and shot if we ruled the world, which is a pretty ridiculous hobby. Our lists weren't based on political opposition or good and evil, but mostly on people who offended our sensibilities. For example, we thought the Osmond Brothers were a pale imitation of the Jackson Five, so Donny and his siblings would have been on the list..

Ditto for people who brought 11 items into the 10-item line at the supermarket or folks who parked their cars across two spaces at the mall.

At any rate, with sunshine coming to Washington in the form of the Obama administration, I've heard people reviving my old game -- but with lesser penalties. Rush Limbaugh seems to be on a lot of those lists, and I can certainly understand why. The Fat Man has been a thorn in the side of decency for a long time now, and there are few messages more downright tacky than his unrestricted free-market drivel.

But as a Christian and an optimist, I'd rather see Rush change.

Not that it wouldn't sort of a hoot to hear one morning that Rush had slipped and fallen into the rhino cage at the zoo, leading to an amorous rhino deciding that the corpulent Mr. L looked like a pretty attractive mate.

"Limbaugh sodomized by amorous rhino"

Yes, there's a definite beauty to that headline, especially if we were to learn that he was with child, er, rhino. But I would be the first to admit how callow those thoughts are. I would much rather see Rush really read the Bible and realize there are few things Christ cared more about than doing right by the poor.

Imagine Rush telling his audience they ought to be contributing both time and money to help reduce poverty in America.

Now you and I both know that's never going to happen. Limbaugh isn't making $35-40 million a year to do anything other than stir up the yokels so that they don't realize how badly they're being sodomized by the rich.

But we can hope, and we can certainly try to change hearts and minds as we finally approach the end of the Bush years in Washington.

It's worth the effort.