Utah state senator to lose his committee chairmanship after homophobic diatribe.

However, despite the calls for his complete ouster, it's doubtful he'll be removed, because the majority of expressed public opinion is "So what? They are." We've got a loud and active gay minority here in Utah, but the silent majority stares at them with disgust and tries to keep them from getting anything done.

There were several Common Ground bills proposed this session to try and get basic parity for gay civil rights. They were often framed in terms of recognition for non-gays being considered a civil unit, such as unmrried people raising kids etc., in an effort to make it more palatable, but eery bill was shot down with "it's a step towards gay marriage, and no one wants that."

The upsurge in gay activism that was giving me hope has been met with the upsurge in the majority who thought they didn't have to worry about those icky gays taking strength in their numbers and saying exactly what they think.

It isn't a matter of uneasy "we know this isn't in the best of taste and we suspect we're wrong about what we're doing," it's "why on earth do we have to have this disgusting stuff shoved in our face, why are you here in our perfect state anyway?"

That linked article about the school that banned Grease is great. I especially liked that, because of the controversy over Grease, the principal canceled the planned spring play, The Crucible, and replaced it with Midsummer Nights Dream. Because Shakespeare is wholesome!

Because Shakespeare is wholesome!

He is! There was nothing naughty going on back when he wrote plays....

That is exactly the swap that happened at my highschool. Headmaster said no to Grease because it talks about pregnancy and then we put on MSND. Same Headmaster who showed up TRASHED to a performance of PiratesoP starring as the ModernMG.

the principal canceled the planned spring play, The Crucible, and replaced it with Midsummer Nights Dream.

Wasn't there a Porky's movie about people getting all up in arms about the Highlights from Shakespeare play they were putting on? I remember a quote-off between the principal and the preacher, with the principal quoting the salacious bits out of the Bible and the preacher coming back with nauty bits out of Shakespeare.

Porkeys had a message about censorship?

Sorry. Haven't seen that since it came out. I vaguely remember bits of it - someone had his headlight smashed, and some kids were chased out of some whorehouse....

Ah, the things that make me feel better. From today's Pundit Kitchen:

[link]

And my favorite comment:

When a daddy M1A2 and a Mommy M1A2 love each other very much, expensive military hardware is needlessly destroyed. Ahh the miracle of life done by machines of death.

This should go on the Fail blog: “Extinct” Bird Seen, Eaten

An extremely rare bird was photographed by a TV crew in the Philippines in January, just before it was sold at a poultry market.

Found only on the island of Luzon, Worcester’s buttonquail was known solely through drawings based on dated museum specimens collected several decades ago.

Scientists had suspected the species—listed as “data deficient” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s 2008 Red List—was extinct.

I read somewhere else that it was the TV crew that sold it to be eaten, after they were done shooting their report.

Reminds me how the first coelacanth to be found was also sold and eaten....

For librarians and their groupies:

It's over!

This year's Pimp my Bookcart contest had nearly a hundred submissions from all around the world. They came from schools, libraries, a book store, and a jail. There were carts made by kids, teenagers, and adults. They were higher-quality than ever, which made judging extremely difficult. We're not exaggerating when we say that our shortlist was in the dozens. We finally hunkered down in an undisclosed location in Indianapolis and argued well into the night. In the end we followed our hearts.

eta: This is my fave: The Cat in the Hat Reshelving and Cleaning Machine by UCSD Libraries

Tommy, I suspect you and I troll through very similar websites.