Apparently, kids across the country have recently developed a tendency to go down on one another in the backs of school buses. Here are a rabbi’s personal reflections on bringing Judaic principles to bear on the sexuality of young people, who view oral sex as a safe and consequence-free way of blowing off some steam (apologies for the half-pun.) Rabbi Gellman makes some interesting distinctions between what is unsafe and what is immoral, and some even more interesting distinctions between what is immoral and what is profane.

The article was posted on a humor list that I lurk, but I found it more poignant than anything else. Here, for example, is the passage of the Talmud that the piece ends with:

“Be very careful if you make a woman cry, because God counts her tears. The woman came out of a man’s rib: Not from his feet to be walked on. Not from his head to be superior, but from the side to be equal. Under the arm to be protected, and next to the heart to be loved.”

This is a lovely interpretation of the Old Testament; the scriptural origins of Eve are some of the most patriarchical in the Bible. It’s nice to know that even some early Judaic teachings had moved beyond the intent of those stories.

Remember those dirty deals to get ANWR on the chopping block? From this morning’s marketwatch:

House Republican leaders jettisoned a proposal to open Alaska’s Arctic wildlife refuge to oil and gas exploration in hopes that the move will ensure passage Thursday of a plan to trim spending on a range of federal benefits programs by $54 billion over five years. GOP leaders also agreed on Wednesday night to drop language lifting a moratorium on oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

The Grand Ol’ Pimps have been taking bitchslap after bitchslap lately. Often there is grandstanding leading up to an intense showdown, with the Rebiblicans backing off at the last minute due to a key defection or a lack of unity. This one may be a serious watershed, however, because it appears to have been a pre-emptory conciliatory move:

Democrats appear almost unanimously united against the plan, but Republican leaders hope that the decision to remove the oil provisions will ensure support by moderate members of their own party.

One year ago, could you have imagined that sentence? I’ll never cease to be amazed at the intangible tides in politics. Though they still have a strong majority in both houses, it is very clear that much of the GOP are lame ducks, and they even seem to be aware of it themselves.

The bloomberg version has an even more choice tidbit:

“Rather then reversing decades of protection for this publicly held land, focusing greater attention on renewable energy sources, alternate fuels, and more efficient systems and appliances would yield more net energy savings,” Bass said in the letter to House Republican leaders.

That’s Rep. Charlie Bass, NH (R).

Viva la revolution de Reid!

Daily Kos: Melting the Skin Off of Children [GRAPHIC]

In short, an Italian report details the use of White Phosphorous weaponry to flush out “suspected insurgent strongholds” (read: entire cities) in Iraq. Hunter gives three fairly respectable arguments for not using such ‘incendiaries’ against civilians.

# First, because the insurgency will inevitably be hardened by tales of American forces melting the skin off of children. # Second, because the civilian population will harbor considerable resentment towards Americans for melting the skin off of their children. # Third, BECAUSE IT FUCKING MELTS THE SKIN OFF OF CHILDREN.

So, yes, ‘we’ are launching chemical weapons against the people who we saved from the man who launched chemical weapons against them. I suppose this would be ironic, if it weren’t completely fucking awful.