There is a fine line between being clueless and being just plain stupid. The difference can be calculated based on several criteria, usually subjective but also a mathematical sliding scale I call “The Clueless Quotient.”

For instance, Air Force football coach Fisher DeBerry exhibited unbelievable stupidity this past week when he said during an interview that the school needed to recruit more speedy players and that there was a dearth of minority athletes in the football program. When asked what relevance that had to football, DeBerry said “”African-American kids can run very well. That doesn’t mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can’t run, but it’s very obvious to me that they run extremely well.” (HT: Steve Anastasoff )

Forget for a moment that what DeBerry said was true statistically. Forget that what he said is true by observation. Forget that what he said is true according to the record books. DeBerry exhibited incredible stupidity because he forgot that the racialists and their PC allies in the media would give him such a hard time because in their cuckoo la la land, there might be a way the statement could be twisted to mean that the only thing black kids can do is run or some such nonsense.

So DeBerry being stupid rather than clueless gets a Clueless Quotient (CQ) of 2 out of a possible 10. On the other hand, our Cluebat of the Week is given collectively to the Toronto School Board who banned Halloween celebrations in classrooms because they may offend Wiccans:

“Many recently arrived students in our schools share absolutely none of the background cultural knowledge that is necessary to view ‘trick or treating,’ the commercialization of death, the Christian sexist demonization of pagan religious beliefs, as ‘fun,’ ” says the memo.

It gets better:

The memo goes on to remind teachers that, “Halloween is a religious day of significance for Wiccans and therefore should be treated respectfully.”

For other students, “food products that are marketed heavily during the Halloween period” may conflict with dietary habits that children know from home. An alternative to eating sweets in class would be to “write health warnings for all Halloween candies.”

The memo also warns teachers that “some students have had first-hand traumatic experiences of violence that make talking about death, ghosts, etc. extremely alienating.”

I’m sure you can tell the difference between the stupidity exhibited by Coach DeBerry and the total cluelessness exhibited by the Toronto School Board. I’d give them a CQ of 10 but that just wouldn’t do justice to the utter inanity of not only writing the memo but also discussing the idea in the first place. True, total cluelessness.

Why not play along and assign your own CQ to the fantastic posts below that make up this week’s Carnival? Perhaps some of you that are more scientifically inclined could improve upon the CQ by adding gradations and subtleties so that we can all get a truly accurate picture of cluelessness from each and every cluebat out there.

“There are only two ways by which to rise in this world, either by one’s own industry or by the stupidity of others.”
(Jean de la Bruyere )

Hey Jean! I see you’ve met Bill Clinton.
(Me)

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Pat Curley smacks Mama Sheehan around for her continuing efforts to extend her moment in the sun. This time she’s protesting the 2,000 American death in Iraq. Pat has pictures that show exactly what 2000 dead Americans look like.

Orac is spanking a young lady who wrote a most clueless screed about how classroom education is bunkum. Would it surprise you to learn that the young lady is a Journalism student who wants to learn “the journalistic writing style…??”

Kender (Posting at The Wide Awakes) shows how the European Union’s claims to be so generous with foreign development aid are a crock.

Van Helsing ventures into cluebat Transylvania (San Francisco) and flashes a crucifix at Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle who exhibits the kind of bigoted cluelessness only a liberal could.

Here’s some great satire by Mr. Right: “A Halloween Calvacade of Horrors.”

Those preternatural pachyderms at Elephants in Academia have the absolute latest on Cluebat Hall of Famer Ted Kennedy and his asinine reaction to the Libby indictment.

Don Surber is talking about er…sex. Metrosexuals that is. And a new animal called “ubersexuals.” Oooh…gimmie some!

The last I heard, our intrepid Carnival Pin-Up Girl Pamela was in the Bahamas watching as hurricane Wilma started to make her life interesting. But she found time to post about the cluelessness of the MSM and their miasma regarding the 2,000 casualty of the Iraq war.

I love it when people are politically incorrect. And Fred Fry gets about as un-PC as you can get with his post on poverty and the fallacy that poor people can’t afford a picture ID so that voter fraud can be prevented.

The Palmetto Pundit alerts us to a change of schedule for Mother Sheehan and her “die in” that at one time was a “tie in.” Sure sign of moonbattiness is an inability to make up one’s mind.

Random 10 is keeping track of the latest idiocy from John Edwards. This time, the coiffed one is at Madison Square Garden talking about “the poor.”

Iris Blog brings us some jaw dropping stuff from the AP in a post that says it all: “AP Sets Record for Most Bias Crammed into Smallest Space.” Tough record to break.

The Nose on Your Face actually gives us a real story this week. It’s about the most clueless criminal in history whose love for NBA great Larry Byrd knows no bounds. Of course, they give the story that special spin that only the guys at TNYF can give it.

More fun at a new Carnival entrant “The Peace Moonbeam Chronicles.” Great stuff!

Jimmie K has a Michael Totten piece about banning piggybanks in Great Britain. Says Jimmie; “...stop condescending to minorities, and put the piggy banks back.” Yes please.

Two Dogs tears apart my home state moonbat Senator Barak Obama so you don’t have to. And this guy is the future of the Democratic Party? Yikes!

AJ at The Strata-Sphere has more school board tomfoolery this time from Florida and how one school district dealt with a request from terrorist supporting CAIR regarding including a Moslem religious holiday.

Justin of the blog The View from the Cheap Seats has the story of some cluelessness of a local politician and an accusation of conflict of interest…that isn’t.

You’ve heard of liberal guilt? Well Ze’ev of Israel Perspectives has “The Misplaced Jewish Guilt Syndrome.”

Adams Blog has a bizarre bit of cluelessness on the part of an auto dealer who apparently doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone.

Finally, I take the UN to task for burying an important piece of evidence in the Hariri assassination investigation that implicates the Palestinians in the murder.

NOTE: My email has been kind of screwy this week for some reason. If you sent me an entry and it’s not included, send it to me again and I’ll put it in.