Smooth Chi

My chi is in good shape today and there have been none of those pesky mishaps (knock on a BIG piece of wood) which preclude a decent day.

This item from the news makes my little problems pale in comparison and, in fact, reads like a modern-day horror story. What am I saying? It is a horror story. Stuff like this makes me angry. It should make all sentient beings angry.

Acting on a tip this past Friday -- one wonders why the hell the tipster didn't ACT SOONER -- police found two young girls in a Wichita, Kansas, basement suffering from long-term malnutrition, near-starvation, dehydration, and horrible emaciation.

According to the children, ages 6 and 7, they were kept in the basement and allowed by their stepmother to eat only when their father was home -- which was apparently only some weekends. One of the police officers said these children looked like concentration camp survivors. Meanwhile, the stepmother's own two children, ages 4 and 8, lived upstairs and were well fed and otherwise cared for. The house was, in fact, amply stocked with food.

The two little girls were taken to a hospital and placed in an Intensive Care Unit. A doctor told police that it looked like the children hadn't eaten in six days and, during a triple-digit heat wave, hadn't drunk anything in possibly three days.

The stepmother's two children were placed in protective custody and the woman was "taken in for questioning." I sincerely hope they do more than "question" her. As for the father, it was reported that he, too, would be "questioned" when he returned to Wichita. Unless he's blind, mute, and deaf, how on earth could he not have noticed the deplorable condition his daughters were in?

I say they both deserve to have the book thrown at them and prohibited from further contact with any child in the future.

There is no excuse for this. None.

The Word Posse rode out this afternoon and came back with these idiomatic desperados:

We've seen this repeat offender before, but it's worth profiling again. I mean, seriously, how seriously can you take a "serious writers' site" which advertises itself as sponsered by something or other? This is not a typo; this is a consistent spelling from this literary wannabe.

I beleive -- I believe grownups should know better.

seperated -- You see this common mistake rather often among the unlettered; however, shouldn't a "writer" who proffers advice and presumes to teach other writers know how to spell such a simple word?

luducrous -- A crusty Luddite, no doubt.

reservor -- We "think" that, given the context in which it was used, this refers to a reservoir of some sort, but it could just as well be some tennis malapropism. Or, considering the source, au revoir.

preverted justice -- We just adore it when preverts get theirs.

vise versa -- We're guessing this is some new-fangled gadget found in the Renaissance man's tool shop. It is perhaps a trendy, must-have item on the Versailles of workbenches.