I have no idea what’s going on in Little Rock, Arkansas, but whatever it is, underwear did not fix it.

In August 2013, the district announced — to the great dismay of the teachers union — a dress code that would require teachers to wear underwear. Every single day. Female teachers would have to wear bras, too. And the very worst of all: No spandex.

There ya go – fixed.  No more problems with education.  Teachers are now in underwear and all is well.

Wait.  Maybe not.

Now, a mere 18 months later, the Arkansas Department of Education has voted to assume control over management of the school district, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

The narrow 5-4 vote on Wednesday by the state school board effectively wrests control of the district from the local school board (but keeps Superintendent Dexter Suggs on the job on an interim basis).

I wonder if Dexter wears underwear?

Well, so much for the magic of underwear.  And, come to think of it, so much for the magic of local control.

Thanks to Scott for the heads up.

Governor Greg Abbott, a man who has not even two shades of gray because everything is just black or white, has decided that the arguing over whether Chris Kyle is a hero needs to stop.

Texas will officially celebrate 2 February as “Chris Kyle Day”, in honour of the Navy Seal whose portrayal in the movie American Sniper has caused intense controversy while breaking box-office records.

Greg Abbott, the new Republican governor of Texas, announced the creation of Chris Kyle Day in a speech at a veterans event in Austin on Friday. According to a statement from the governor’s office, Abbott said his decision had been taken “in honour of a Texas son, a Navy Seal and an American hero – a man who defended his brothers and sisters in arms on and off the battlefield”.

That settles it.

Not surprisingly, Greg Abbott never served his country in the military.

I am here to tell you that sometimes the ignorance in Texas is shoulder deep.

Aiden Steward is nine years old and seems to be constantly in trouble at Kermit Elementary School out in West Texas.  If I had been suspended from elementary school for the things that Aiden has been suspended for, I’d still be in elementary school.

Aiden once brought his favorite book to school to impress his teacher, but school officials freaked out because “The Big Book of Knowledge” had a section about pregnancy and included an illustration of a pregnant woman. In another innocuous incident, Aiden referred to a black student as black, which drew yet another suspension from the school.

But last week, Aiden did the unspeakable.  His family watched The Hobbit.  Aiden went to school with a “magic ring.”  Yes, he did.

So, Aiden brought a ring of his own to Kermit Elementary School and told his friends that they, too, could become invisible by using his ring.

Apparently, the teachers and principal believed him and they weren’t having any of this magical invisible crap going on at school.  What was next?  Children thinking they could fly with a cape?

So they suspended him for a terrorist threat.

Kermit’s dad was kinda stumped.

“I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend’s existence,” he added. “If he did, I’m sure he’d bring him right back.”

But the principal didn’t see it that way.  She refused to comment on the incident.

Kermit Elementary Principal Roxanne Greer told the Odessa American that she could not comment on the suspension, because “all student stuff is confidential,” but Steward said that she told him that any and all threats to a child’s safety — including magical ones — would be taken seriously by the school.

So I guess Light sabers, Where the Wild Things Are, and Little Red Riding Hood are not welcome at Kermit Elementary School, which, you’ll note, shares a name with an imaginary frog, dammit.

Principal Greer, I have a voodoo doll with your name on it.

Thanks to everybody for the heads up.

“Now we know what the Bush family means by ‘no child left behind.’”
-Sen. Dianne Feinstein, referring to Jeb.

I have to admit that during the Terri Schiavo fiasco my attention was on Tom DeLay, who was having his first appearance on Dancing with the Stars.  Tom was sashaying all around government intervening in people’s lives.  He was leading a battle to override the wishes of a brain dead young woman’s family and the courts.

I forgot that newly Catholic Jeb Bush was playing God, too.

Michael Schiavo is trying to warn America about a man who does not need to be President.  You need to take time to read this story.  Especially if, like me, you weren’t paying attention to Jeb.

Nothing funny here, and I apologize about that.  But, I needed to say something.

Y’all remember the Texas state representative who decided that Muslims are not welcome in the office that the citizens of Texas provide for her?

Well, even some of her Republican colleagues disagreed with both her motives and her methods.

So Molly decided to dig in.

She held a press conference to call the reaction to her statements,“blown out of proportion.”

Seriously.

In an interview with KWTX, White said “I always treat everybody with respect and listen, but if we have some things that are diabolically different then I need to let them know where I stand and they let me know where they stand.”

Diabolically?  She does know what that means, right?  Yeah, well, that doesn’t answer the question of who is the devil.  Yes, Molly, I am looking at you.

So, she’s drawing a line in the sand and that line is at the door to the office that the damn citizens of the State of Texas provide for her.

It also appears that she had doubled down.  Her Facebook —

In June of last year, she shared a photo of two Texas men arrested on terrorism charges, with a call to root out homegrown jihadists and terrorist training camps.

A Temple man commented on the post and said the Muslim community in Bell County appeared peaceful.

“Read what I said,” White replied, referring to the original post. “Then again, Muslims cannot be trusted no matter how peaceful they appear.”

“If they come here and convert to the American way of life I may be more willing to trust,” her reply continues. “When they come here to advance their way of life, Islam, then no trust there.”

I just want to say one little thing to Miss Molly.  Honey, that picture of you that you use everywhere is 20 years and 40 pounds ago.

Yes, this is what happens to you if you’re mean and hateful.

Let that be a lesson.

Rick Perry is having some difficulty getting people to believe he’s actually a viable candidate for President.

You’re shocked, right?

Rick has been spectacularly unsuccessful in raising money for his Presidential campaign.  This reporting period he raised a grand total of $103,537.00.  That would be okay if he were running for a safe Republican House seat in Nebraska.  Which, come to think of it, is something he ought to consider doing.

Here’s the paperwork.  Click the little one to see the big one.

By the way, in case you’re wondering – only 8 contributions came from outside of Texas.  And seven of those came from the Wildwood Mental Health Facility in Greensboro, Georgia.  Okay, so I made that last part up.  So sue me.

Thanks to Alfredo over at the Dairy Queen for the heads up.