Starry Starry Tuesday

I took off work yesterday so that today is Tuesday is taking a bit of getting used to. I had a post ready to go but then, it was Tuesday and...I wanted to do my 10 Things. At this juncture it's always good to have a starred file. Let's see what mine has in it.

1. In the wake of all these hate killings it's nice to know that some old folks in Wisconsin are sticking to good old fashioned censorship by book burning. Someone please explain to me why they aren't immediately laughed out of court when their suit says this, "the plaintiffs, all of whom are elderly, claim their mental and emotional well-being was damaged by this book at the library," and that it contains derogatory language that could "put one's life in possible jeopardy, adults and children alike." about a young adult novel. (Hat tip to Gaiman.)

2. An anti-choice blogger made up a pregnancy and a terminally ill fetus to, I don't know, illustrate her anti-choice point, I guess. That's super respectful of all parents with challenging pregnancies, terminally ill fetuses and dying children, don't you think? (Feministing, of course.)

3. People on both sides of the proverbial political fence are making really shitty jokes lately. Per Aaryn Belfer a GOP activist in SC joked about our First Lady, genetics and gorillas. Meanwhile, per Gothamist, here in NYC David Letterman joked about Alaska's First Daughters, A-Rod and rape. And to think Comedy Central has to bleep out half the Friars' Roasts because they're unfit for public consumption.

4. On a more upbeat note, a friend and colleague of Dr. Tiller is planning to step in and continue some of the services that Tiller can no longer offer. Which is good news on its own but great news given that Operation Rescue is making noise about buying Tiller's clinic for their own purposes. (Also Feministing.)

5. Over at the Women's Colony the Minnesota Matron posted just a short piece about a student's reaction to Shakespeare. The time consuming thing was not reading it but the laughing I did afterward. And then the crying.

6. Dude! There's a bowling alley in the basement of my favorite museum! Not open to the public but there must be some way I can work around that, mustn't there? (NY Times, give them some love or they'll sell your home town newspaper, too.)

7. Jail House Bar Mitzvah. I don't know what else to say about that. (Also Gothamist.)

8. This doesn't necessarily have to be a link (though here's one from Feministing) but I wonder about the 88-year-old perpetrator of the Holocaust Museum shooting. Did he act on his own or was he put forth as the point man for a group? Did he just build up all this resentment and, finally, at 88 he just couldn't hold it in anymore or was he the oldest member of a group so they sent him in since he'd do less jail time?

9. Apparently radical pro-lifers are feeling powerless (and thus feel it's OK to call for the death of their opposers and other elected officials). This baffles. I mean, I get feeling powerless, I spent the Bush years (father and son) and, frankly, some of the Clinton years feeling absolutely powerless and not a little angry about it. I wonder, as I did about the Holocaust Museum shooting, about the correlation between the rise in high profile hate crime (I don't know if overall there's a rise but certainly the level of the crimes is escalating, I think) and a perceived powerlessness by certain ideological groups. I said to a friend (a middle class white collar caucasian straight man) the other day "They're all middle class, or better, white, big, swinging dicks, how powerless can they possibly be?!" Fortunately my friend laughed and did not feel the need to swing his dick in a threatening manner. What I said was flip, certainly, and played for laughs but there's a kernel in there that isn't untrue. Just because we've got one non-white person in the presidency and one non-white woman in line to be part of the higher judiciary does not mean that the white, middle class and be-penised are now oppressed. But they feel that way, certain segments really seem to feel that way and I think that fear is what's fueling a boat load of hate and it's making me kind of angry. Even if you were being oppressed (and I don't think that word means what you think it means) TAKE YOUR FUCKING TURN! Ideally, it'll be a turn taking thing as we work toward full equality, don't you think? Anyway...

10. And, since I'm still putting off a gyn and a dentist appointment because the health care system gives me the vapors, I'll close with health care. Did you know that a small border town in TX has the highest health care costs in the country? Do you know why? (Hint: It's not due to illegal immigration.) [New Yorker via Open Wallet.]

What are you learning this week? Teach me, please.