Worst parent nominee: waterboarding a 4-year-old for not knowing the alphabet.

I saw this at Andrew Sullivan's. An American soldier in Tacoma, WA, has been charged with submerging his 4-year-old daughter's face several times in water because she couldn't recite the alphabet. He said he did it because he was angry. He chose this particular punishment because she was terrified of water. He had been awarded custody of his daughter 4 weeks before.

[T]he terrified girl was found hiding in a closet, with bruising on her back and scratch marks on her neck and throat. Asked how she got the bruises, the girl is said to have replied: 'Daddy did it.'

Part of his punishment should be a vasectomy. With a hammer.

But afterward, the Army has to do a better job with its soldiers who get weird after a few tours of duty where people are trying to kill them.