You read this, and realize once again that the Israelis are doing largely what the settlers did to the native Americans in the United States a few hundred years ago: ethnic cleansing. Why my tax dollars must go to support this repeat of one of the tragedies of modern history is beyond me; that the world largely accepts it, condones it, watches it unfold, without doing much at all is incomprehensible.

Why is it that we are all so eager to scramble to offer any and all support when Haiti is struck by a disaster, while we do nothing to prevent a similarly tragic disaster -- one that could have been stopped decades ago -- from unfolding in slow motion before our very eyes? Think about it.

(Yeah, that's my photo, taken in Jerusalem in 1994 while I worked as a stringer for the AP. More here)

I recently shuffled stuff in my home office, and the other day I got around to hanging my big, huge, oversize whiteboard on the wall again.

So, we'd had a really rough day -- hectic, busy, crazy schedule kinda thing; mom was away at some work thing, and so I decided to make a very concerted effort to hang with the kids all evening and make the most of it. It was a blast -- we had a great time, they had a great time, we did stuff together, they did stuff together (my goodness, at one point they were playing a board game -- with each other -- without fighting or accusing each other of cheating). Bedtime rolled around, we headed upstairs and while they got themselves ready I took a second to check email. While I was working they came in to tell me they were ready, and then they discovered the whiteboard. Oh, what fun. Big, virgin surface.

Now, normally, it would have ended up with another shoving match, or a fight over the red marker, or a "hey, you erased my bit, so now I get to punch you in the side" kind of thing, but tonight was just special. They stood side by side and doodled a bit, Lea wrote down the names of all her favorite horses, Lucas wrote down the names of his favorite cars... and then the most amazing thing happened: they spontaneously started writing nice things about each other. Now, understand: we haven't yet made it to that part of our family meetings yet, so this is really uncharted territory. But as I turn around now, I have: "Lucas is awesome and really great at Monopoly hes the best brother you could ever have" over on one side of my whiteboard, and "Lea is really cool she is fun to play with and is nice to me she is the best" on the other. And I'm not sure what to do, because on the one hand I need my whiteboard, on the other hand I don't want to erase this, ever.

I even got my very own shout-out: "Dad is awesome he lets me do stuff some parents wouldn't and he left me make choices that some parents wouldn't make the kids do so he is is AWESOME". Okay, so he spelled it ASWOME, which really is just even cooler. I like being an aswome Dad. Sure beats being a grumpy old nagging nay-sayer. And from a kid who has been giving me the eye-roll and the heart-felt "whatevah" for months, it's pretty big stuff. I'll eat it right up, and ask for more.

So why doesn't the stupid bitch find some nice dominatrix with a studded collar and velvet handcuffs, already? Seriously, while she's running around with a burr up her ass claiming that gay teachers and women in the military will be the end of civilization as we know it, the rest of the world -- including most sane members of the military -- have moved on, already.

Once you break down discipline, good order and discipline and morale, everything that’s required for unit cohesion, you undermine the culture and the strength of the armed forces

Elaine likes her forces strong. Strong and Cohesive. Now, if Sir Change-a-Lot could finish up with the speechifying and get around to some actual, you know, doing, maybe he would care to deliver on his campaign promise to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell. It would be the right thing to do, and who knows -- it might be just what it takes to push Elaine Donnelly over the edge and bursting out of the closet at long last, wielding vibrators of mass destruction.

Ezekiel 23:20:

There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.

MENIFEE, CA (Press-Enterprise) -- After a parent complained about an elementary school student stumbling across "donkey genitals" in a classroom Bible, Menifee Union School District officials decided to pull The Bible from all school shelves earlier this week.

School officials will review The Bible to decide if it should be permanently banned because of the "sexually graphic" entry, said district spokeswoman Betti Cadmus. The Bibles were initially purchased a few years ago for fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms districtwide, according to a memo to the superintendent.

"It's just not age appropriate," said Cadmus, adding that this is the first time a book has been removed from classrooms throughout the district.

"It's hard to sit and read The Bible, but we'll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature," Cadmus said. She explained that other Bible verses defining human anatomy would probably not be cause for alarm.

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Oh, stop, wait. Sorry, I got that all wrong. This is America, after all -- no one would ever get to ban The Bible, no matter how offensive. After all, it's the Word of God. 'Struth, it really is. He says so Himself. Right there in The Bible. QED.

No, actually, the story is about dictionaries being removed from class rooms in this enlightened part of Southern California (Menifee -- Population: Dumb), because some kid apparently stumbled over a definition of "oral sex." No, seriously. They removed the dictionaries, not because an entry was wrong or offensive (it's not like it says, "she lusted after oral sex with her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses."-- it's an objective definition, which is what dictionaries are supposed to offer), but because it was there at all.

Also: in Texas, they can't even get the author right before they ban him. Maybe those Marxist bears were secretly encouraging 3rd graders to have oral sex; but with only their Bibles to check, they'd have to assume that bears have emissions like horses. I dunno -- it's all so confusing. 

But thank goodness we're safe now that they've banned all those bad, bad books. I personally think they should burn them, though, you really can't be too safe.

(Top picture just random; second one from here)

Update: The Lord be praised, common sense won out over the armies of ignorance and their minions. And thank you, AP, for that memorable headline: "Oral Sex Flap" -- it could get you banned, you know. (ht: LaFiga over at FDL)

Also: Hey, Virginia: Vagina. Vagina Vagina Vagina.

Yes, that sounds about right. Especially on a day like today when I'm feeling old, beat up and ready to throw in the towel.

(Click here or on the thumbnail to embigify).