Today was the day that dads get to go to school with their kids to eat donuts with them before class. It’s not a bad thing, and I think donuts kick the shit out of the muffins moms get to eat in the fall.

Last year what pissed me off about dads donuts day was how the school and PTA did its best to de-emphasize the “dads” part and acted like any ol’ fella with a schlong will do for a kid (or no schlong for Heather and her two mommies). This year they did a pretty good job keeping the dads in dads donuts day, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing for me to bitch about.

This year it is the book fair. These PTA people got the kids so fuckin brainwashed to get the dads to buy shit it was ridiculous. There were no fewer than FIVE notices and THREE wish lists sent home with the kids over the last two weeks. In only one of them — the last one — did the PTA bother to put in the disclaimer that there was no obligation to purchase books from the book fair. Of course, that’s bullshit because they made the kids so goddamn rabid to sell their parents on books they can get cheaper anywhere else it was insane.

Case in point: my kid loved a book called Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Its sequel was just published. It was available at the book fair for full retail price of $12.95. It’s on Amazon.com for $7.77. I purchased it for him at Wal-Mart the other day for about $7.00.

I get that the PTA needs money to pay for these donut and muffin days and what not, and I get that participation is severely lacking in my kid’s school, but to be honest I’d be a lot happier to not have a donut day than I was to be made to feel like a jackass for not paying almost double the price for books than I needed to and I’d really be happier if they didn’t brainwash my kid so much to buy an assload of books when he was really only interested in one.

To make matters worse, they set the book fair up so that you had to walk through it to get to the donuts and to leave. WTF. I’m not going to join the PTA now just out of spite for that hateful shit.

So I’m surfing the internet at blinding speed when I hit up Drudge and come across a link to a story about George Bush’s visit to Africa. In the article, it details the praise being heaped upon him for helping Tanzania and the entire continent. Apparently, some american programs have borne fruit to very successfully attack the presence of malaria and AIDS on the continent. In one instance, the number of people being tested and found to have malaria in Zanzibar has dropped from 40% to 5%.

Then there’s this:

Bush’s legacy in Africa would be saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of mothers and children who would otherwise have died from malaria or AIDS and enabling millions of people to get an education, [Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete] said.

Not too shabby.

Additionally, other american programs that set benchmarks for democratic governance, anti-corruption and free-market economic policies have been met so Bush dropped $700 million on Tanzania for not acting like the more ridiculous countries over there led by tribal bushmen or whatever.

Under George Bush, more money has been spent on programs trying to build Africa up than had been under his predecessors.

But wait, I thought George Bush didn’t care about Africa because there’s no oil to be squeezed out from there or cash his buddies can steal. And most of all, there are people who know more than everyone just because of who they are. We call them entertainers, and one spoke thusly:

For not caring about black people, George Bush has a funny of showing it in relation to how he’s treated Africa.

George Bush has had his problems as president. There’s no getting around that. However, I have a feeling that history is going to be much kinder to him than most people can imagine. Hell, Jimmy Carter went from being a miserable failure as president to a Nobel laureate, so anything’s possible.

Today is primary day in Maryland. As a registered republican, I’m sitting this one out. But if you’re a democrat and your candidate is Hillary Clinton, you’re backing a losing horse in this state. Yesterday, Barack Obama gave a speech to 20,000 people at the University of MD and another 10,000 at the Baltimore Arena (where, coincidentally, I was last week to see Finding Nemo on Ice). People waited outside in the cold and in their seats for hours just to listen to him and to catch a glimpse and maybe get a handshake.

Hillary also came to town, where she toured a plant that makes hybrid transmissions and had a sit-down with a dozen or so plant employees. The difference in their appearances is striking. To wit:

Here you have Hillary, the O’Governor, Lt. Gov, our lesbo midget shrew of a U.S. Senator and some plant guy looking dour and serious as Hillary gets a carefully orchestrated tour that looks like it’s no fun for anyone involved…

…While Obama speaks in front of thousands and everyone looks like they wouldn’t want to be anywhere else at that moment.

I’m not sold on Obama. The word “change” isn’t enough for me. He’s promising everything to everyone without any specific ideas or plans on how to do anything just like every other politician who ever walked the earth. His voting record isn’t all that different from Hillary’s either. And, truthfully, if he wasn’t black and if he wasn’t able to speak like Martin Luther King without the southern accent he wouldn’t have ever been taken seriously as presidential material. But those who are easily led by looks and rhetoric are completely sold on him — in Maryland, at least — and if it’s like this in other places then Hillary is in deep, deep trouble.

Though for as power hungry and polarizing and insincere as she is, I don’t think her problems could be happening to a nicer guy. She did think the Oval Office was hers for the taking so I’m glad to see her get beat back some.

And she’s definitely been pimping Chelsea out. Let’s call a spade a spade. Or a trick a trick.