I’m so disappointed in people today.

Apparently Susan Patron’s Newbery Award-winning book, The Higher Power of Lucky, is being kept off the shelves of school libraries because the word “scrotum” appears on the first page.
Details:  NPR, Publisher’s Weekly, NYTimes, and the LA Times.

I just heard something on the radio so outlandish and infuriating I think I must have misunderstood. I’m hoping, anyway:

Apparently, rape victims in Missouri are billed for their rape kits. They have to pay for their evidence collection.

Could this be true…?

THIRD EDIT: From Senator Michael Gibbons’ website:

“Imagine how you would feel if your home were burglarized and you were told you would have to pay for the evidence collection necessary to identify, arrest, and prosecute the burglar. That’s what happens to rape victims,” Bennett [Barbara Bennett, Executive Director of Women’s Support and Community Services in St. Louis] said. “I am very grateful to Sen. Gibbons for sponsoring this important legislation. I hope people will pick up their phones today and call their State Senators and Representatives to urge them to vote for this bill.”

SECOND EDIT: Warren Ellis passed along this link and message from Steven Perez:

Yep, Kelly Sue is right. In fact, there’s a bill up in the state senate right now concerning this: http://www.senate.mo.gov/07info/bills/sb429.htm

EDITED TO ADD: I haven’t found a definitive answer to my question yet, but I did find this bit, which appears to be from a Truman State University newspaper in 2003:

An added challenge is that rape
victims have to pay for the evidence
to be collected when they report the
crime, LeBaron said.

“I don’t know how this crime got
to be treated so differently from
other crimes,” LeBaron said. “When
rape victims go to the hospital, they
are billed for that. State programs
can help pay for the testing, but only
as long as the victim agrees to pros-
ecute.”

I feel the need for confetti.

Pro-choice Voter’s Guide

League of Women Voters

Project Vote Smart

…Early and often, kids. Early and often.

I’m not much for reggae (okay, I kind of hate reggae… sorry) but I heard this on The Fish Fry and I’ve pretty much been humming it ever since.

It’s catchy.  Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday.  (Please.)

(As long as I’m confessing, I kind of hate Pink Floyd, too.  …Okay, I really hate Pink Floyd.)