Here's a couple more in a long series of things that bug me.

Well, maybe they don't really bug me, they just don't seem to make a whole lot of sense.

Claypool

I see now where Warsaw Community School Corp. is thinking of re-opening Claypool Elementary School.

That's "re-open" because they closed it at the end of the 2003-04 school year.

When the school board closed it, it was reallyÊa contentious decision. Lots of people in Claypool thought it was a dumb idea.

I wasn't too crazy about it myself.

Here's what I wrote in August 2003, before the board voted to close elementaries Claypool, Atwood and Silver Lake.

The reason was to save money.

"... There really do seem to be some drawbacks to the current plan.

"I think closing schools in Atwood, Silver Lake and Claypool will really hurt what is left of those towns. You can't hang a price tag on something like that.

"You need look no further than any other small town that lost its school to see the result. It's predictable. It's inevitable.

"The town loses its school and inherits a big empty building for its trouble.

"Some 450 students will be displaced through redistricting and have long bus rides every day.

"I am fairly confident that the level of parent participation in elementary school activities will decline for those kids. It's easy for mom and dad to run to parents' night when the school is right around the corner.

"The use of portable classrooms, which will likely be necessitated by this plan, also doesn't sit well with lots of parents.

"... And while I am familiar with how school funding works and realize there are different funds for operations and construction, I am sure it is difficult for some taxpayers to rationalize a $7-million athletic complex on the one hand and elementary kids placed in portable classrooms on the other.

"Or a $30-million, largely non-educational building program on the one hand and the need to save (money) by closing elementary schools on the other."

So I suppose it came as no great shock to me to hear the school board talking about re-opening Claypool because of overcrowding and portable classrooms.

And, of course, there will be costs associated with the re-opening.

Just seems to me they never should never have closed it in the first place.

Middle East

I hear W and Rumsfeld, et. al., talk about Iraq and how Democracy can flourish there.

And you know, that certainly is a worthy goal.

I would like nothing more than for Iraq to become a model of democracy that would spread throughout the Middle East.

That would be awesome.

But frankly, ever since this war in Iraq started, it seems less and less likely that democracy - in any form - is going to take hold in the Middle East.

Look no further than Palestine.

If this is an argument for democracy in the Middle East, I'm more than a little concerned.

Just this past week, the Hamas party cabinet was sworn in. You may remember Hamas, the militant anti-Israel group that was duly elected to power recently by the Palestinian people.

It's the same Hamas that has been sponsoring terrorist attacks against Israel.

In fact, according to the Associated Press, 14 of the 24 ministers sworn in have actually served time in Israeli prisons because of terrorist activities.

Israel already has pulled out of Gaza and will likely continue the policy of disengagement by pulling out of the occupied West Bank.

The current boycott against Gaza likely will be expanded.

And no matter how painful the boycott, Hamas refuses to negotiate. Basically, they just keep listing demands.

Couple this with Iran, whose government is seeking nuclear capability and has stated they want to annihilate Israel.

I guess the people of the Middle East are quite passionate about politics and religion.

OK, that's a ridiculous understatement. Honestly, they've been disagreeing about politics and religion in the Middle East for, oh, I don't know, 2,500 years now.

Which begs the question: How in the world did we ever think that we could get anybody in the Middle East to change their politics to even remotely match ours? [[In-content Ad]]