Eek! Nerf!

Chalk up "Nerfophobia" as another strange fear harbored by America's rightist educrats.

At Northland High School in Columbus, Ohio, a 14-year-old student has been suspended for playing with a toy Nerf foam dart gun. He may face expulsion.

The school district's excuse for possibly expelling him is that a federal law mandates expulsion even for look-alike weapons.

Fine. But a Nerf gun isn't a look-alike. Nobody would mistake it for a real gun.

Does it look like a real gun to you?

The school district also says it's allowed to use discretion in deciding what the punishment shall be. Yet it doesn't use discretion.

I thought I was weird for being afraid of headless mannequins when I was 2 years old - yet the Columbus school system is run by adults who are afraid of Nerf! I almost feel sorry for them for having to live with such an irrational fear of foam toys.

On second thought, I don't.

(Source: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/02/19/nerfgun_0219.ART_ART_02-19-09_B4_N3CVEHK.html)