This is just plain nuts . . .

Filed under: "hmmmmm . . ", Things that make me say — Badrose at 8:26 am on February 22, 2007

The censorship police are live and well and at it again:

“The Higher Power of Lucky” by Susan Patron, winner of this year’s prestigious Newbery Medal for children’s literature, has been removed from several libraries and schools because some parents and librarians were alarmed to find that its text includes the word “scrotum.”

The “Lucky” book has hit the shelves in Gloucester, where so far, there have been no complaints

“At least they’re using the biologically correct word,” said Mary Rainier, librarian at T.C. Walker Elementary School in Gloucester, where the book was just catalogued last week. “I don’t take a book out because it has a word. I would take it out if it has objectionable or age-inappropriate content.”

“Seldom is a book challenged on content,” she said. “It’s almost always challenged on a single word.”

Once again I pause to pose the question: Why do we give certain words so much power?  I hope our good neighbors to the East will keep their heads and let their children read this book.  I might buy it for my kids as I find the plot intriguing: seems a dog (NOT lucky) gets bitten by a rattlesnake . . . on the scrotum.

4 Comments

51

Comment by Percy Walker

February 23, 2007 @ 1:49 pm

Good title to this post: “This is just plain nuts . . .”
Better title: “This is just plain nuts (sack) . . .”

53

Comment by Badrose

February 23, 2007 @ 10:59 pm

I’m flattered that you’ve taken time off from running your empire to come micromanage my blog. You just got my vote in ‘08 . . .

When you have a sec, would you be a little lamb and shoot me a list of the top ten radical Muslim hedge fund managers and their returns? (1, 5 & 10 year avgs. if you don’t mind.)

Thanks, sweetie.

56

Comment by Percy Walker

February 24, 2007 @ 1:22 pm

It’s hard to be a good hedge fund manager and be Sharia compliant, which I assume a radical Muslim would want to be. You wouldn’t be able to leverage investments conventionally, invest in conventional fixed income products, engage in conventional short selling or invest in securities of companies engaged in forbidden business activities. Islamic hedge funds exist due to the fact that there are investors who want to invest in a Sharia compliant way, but I’m not sure these funds are necessarily run by Muslims, let alone radical Muslims.

Anyway, I’m not sure I could name one, let alone ten, radical Muslim hedge fund managers, but I do know some very good Muslim hedge fund managers.

61

Comment by Badrose

February 26, 2007 @ 11:34 am

I suppose you’re right . . . it’s probably their whole anti-capitalism thingy that trips them up. It’s really too bad, too, because studies have shown that if you can channel negative behavior (such as beheadings, flying planes into buildings, etc.) into positive directions (hedge fund managing) it will benefit their self-esteem and thus society.

This could be a worthy cause for you to champion, you know.

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