It’s been so long since I’ve done one of these.  Let’s get right into it, shall we?

A coup in the north African country of Mauritania has effectively managed to bring democracy in the Arab world to an end. President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, who was elected in free and fair elections two years ago, was arguably the only democratically elected leader in the entire Arab world, of which Mauritania was only considered part so that it could be said that there was at least one Arab democracy.  Now that he’s been overthrown, it’s likely that honor will go back to  … well, no one.

So much for democracy being on the march in the Middle East.  It’s gone back to goose-stepping.

A three-year-old girl was found wandering the duty free shop at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport on Monday after her parents boarded their flight to Paris with her four siblings, but apparently forgot her. While one would think that the empty seat would have been a tip-off, apparently the parents were so distracted/clueless that they didn’t realize that they’d forgotten their daughter until the pilot informed them after take-off.

Similarly, El Al Israel Airlines is apparently trying to determine how it was that the family of six managed to board the plane while handing over seven boarding passes without the gate agent noticing that someone was missing, either.

The good news is that the daughter probably got all the Toblerone she could stomach and will now have the ultimate guilt trip to lay on her Orthodox Jewish parents: “You left me in an airport when I was three and flew to France without me.”  It’s got to be worth at least a car.

A California woman sold her house to finance the cloning of her late dog, which has successfully resulted in the birth of five puppies, all genetic clones of the original. This would be unremarkable if not for this little tidbit: the dog’s name was Booger.

Seriously.  If you were going to go through all that trouble, wouldn’t you make up a more dignified sounding name?  I mean, if I had the wherewithall to clone my dog when she passes, I’d consider it.  I’d also consider renaming her if her name was, say, Poopy.  I’m just saying.

“I miss my dog!  He’s named for dried snot!”

Archaeologists are doing DNA tests on two mummified fetuses found in King Tut’s tomb to determine if they were his offspring.  As far as I know, no paternity suit against Tut has been filed on behalf of his wife, Ankhesenamun, for three thousand years worth of child support, raising the question: and this is important because … ?  Also, don’t the inscriptions on their coffins tell us who they are?  I mean, the ancient Egyptians could read and write.  They’re kind of known for it, actually.

Calvin Klein weighs in: it is apparently now necessary for CK underwear models to actually be wearing CK underwear in their ad campaigns.  The below photo of model Garrett Neff was rejected as being too hot, too racy, and … well, he’s technically not actually wearing the underwear, he’s just holding it in place.

I think this is an issue that requires further study.

Next time: we’ll raise the following question for debate: Is John McCain smarter than Paris Hilton?  Are either of them smarter than a fifth grader?