I’m sure General (if he still remains a general today) Stanley McChrystal ;could have used that advice several months ago. Just sayin’. Welcome to the civilian world, mister.

Oh, and President Obama did the only thing he could do given the circumstances. You don’t bitch-slap your superiors in the military and expect to keep your job. No matter who your superiors might be.

For those of you were were, um, taking a break from life with a refreshing beverage and/or other things this weekend, an Israeli Army special forces unit stormed a boat carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza yesterday, killing 10 people on board. Other than that, the facts aren’t really clear as to what happened. There’s a emergency meeting at the UN today, and we’ll see what comes of that.

Amnesty International’s interim Secretary General issued a statement today calling for an international inquiry and an end to the blockade in Gaza.

On Friday the TX State Board of Education approved sweeping changes to their social studies/history curriculum. Among the changes, approved by a 9-5 vote, are eliminating mentions of slavery…pretty much anywhere (the “slave trade” will now be referred to as the “triangular trade”), and almost complete elimination of one of our founding fathers from history texts among other changes:

The new standards say that the McCarthyism of the 1950s was later vindicated — something most historians deny — draw an equivalency between Jefferson Davis’s and Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural addresses, say that international institutions such as the United Nations imperil American sovereignty, and include a long list of Confederate officials about whom students must learn.

Who gives a damn about what Texas children learn, you might ask? It matters because the state of TX is the second largest textbook market in the US. TX standards are the de facto standards of the US. No mention of slavery? Most likely no mention of what happened to all of the people who were here when the Mayflower landed either. Best of all, the propagation of the fantasy by Christian Dominionists that the US is a Christian nation founded on “Christian principles”.

California, the largest textbook market in the US, is taking action with a newly introduced bill to define their own history and social studies standards

Does anybody know of a decent US history book geared toward grades 4-6? School Girl won’t be in 4th grade yet, but she’s reading at a 5-6th grade level and I figure the options will be more varied. Hit me up with some suggestions in the comments if you wouldn’t mind. Good luck to our children. They’ll need it.

Dr. Reker’s story looks like just another self-hating closeted gay man who’s been outed. But he’s not just any closet case. Nope. Dr. Rekers is one of the co-founders, along with James Dobson, of the Family Research Council. Amusingly enough, Tony Perkins and the FRC are doing everything they can to distance themselves from this guy. But no matter.

Rekers is also a Baptist minister who has preached hatred and intolerance from his pulpit, much like another self-hating closeted bigot I remember by the name of Ted “I only do it when I’m high” Haggard. Incidentally, Haggard ad some words to say on the subject of Dr. Rekers in an interview with the Advocate this week (this courtesy of The Bilerico Project):

“I know exactly what it feels like to have both sides hating you bitterly,” Haggard said. “Some Christians will throw him away. Some gays will crusade against him.”

Oh Ted. If only you had practiced a little more of that Christian tolerance and love none of that would have happened to you. But anyway. That’s what made me write about this. When Susie Bright started “Bet on Ted”, her pool to see how long it would take before Haggard finally came out, I wrote about my feelings about Ted at the time.

Why would any of this be important to me as an adoptive parent? It’s because Rekers and people like him would rather see children age out of foster care, carrying their belongings in a Hefty bag from foster placement to foster placement, rather than being a part of a loving, stable, two parent home – if those two parents happen to be a same-sex couple. This is the man who is responsible for the bans on same-sex adoption in both Florida and Arkansaas. This is the “expert witness” Florida’s Attorney General used to defend the legal challenge against FL’s adoption ban (only one of two people he could find willing to testify in court, by the way). He was the expert witness picked by the Arkansas attorney general to defend Arkansas’ same-sex adoption ban, which was finally overturned last month.

This is merely my opinion, but Rekers is deserving of just as much love and compassion as he has shown to others. Especially to potential adoptive families.

On the bright side, all this has gotten me reading an awesome blog more regularly, Joe.My.God. He’s done some terrific reporting on this story, and is trying to make certain that Lucien is ok.

*Yes, I realize that Lucien is not his real name. Yes, I realize that he’s already dealing with way more shit than he bargained for. But none of this is his fault – he had no idea that Rekers wasn’t who he said he was until the story broke.

Sandra Bullock adopted a baby boy. Good luck to her, especially since it looks like she’ll be raising him as a single parent.

Apparently Jillian Michaels is every bit as sensitive and caring a human being as you’d expect. Rescuing babies FTW! And you won’t have to be all pregnant and ugly! Whoo! I especially like how she’s blaming us mean mommy bloggers for hurting her widdle feewings.

Yep, I can feel the head-exploding starting as I’m writing this. I need to stop now.