var Class = {
  create: function() {
    return function() { 
      this.initialize.apply(this, arguments);
    }
  }
}

Object.extend = function(destination, source) {
  for (property in source) {
    destination[property] = source[property];
  }
  return destination;
}

Function.prototype.bind = function(object) {
  var __method = this;
  return function() {
    return __method.apply(object, arguments);
  }
}

function $() {
  var elements = new Array();

  for (var i = 0; i < arguments.length; i++) {
    var element = arguments[i];
    if (typeof element == 'string')
      element = document.getElementById(element);

    if (arguments.length == 1) 
      return element;

    elements.push(element);
  }

  return elements;
}

//-------------------------


//-------------------------

if (!window.Element) {
  var Element = new Object();
}

Object.extend(Element, {
  remove: function(element) {
    element = $(element);
    element.parentNode.removeChild(element);
  },

  hasClassName: function(element, className) {
    element = $(element);
    if (!element)
      return;
    var a = element.className.split(' ');
    for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
      if (a[i] == className)
        return true;
    }
    return false;
  },

 
  // removes whitespace-only text node children
  cleanWhitespace: function(element) {
    element = $(element);
    for (var i = 0; i < element.childNodes.length; i++) {
      var node = element.childNodes[i];
      if (node.nodeType == 3 && !/\S/.test(node.nodeValue)) 
        Element.remove(node);
    }
  }
});