Mississippi Book Burning

As LilRed notes in Lip Schtick, a couple of Mississippi libraries have banned copies of the Jon Stewart bestseller, "America (the Book)," because of its infamous illustrations of nekkid Supreme Court justices. Lil Red, knowing me to be a fan of Mr. Stewart -- we diminutive Jews must stick together -- was curious about my thoughts on the subject.

And so here they are.

First thought: There are books in Mississippi?

Second thought: Seriously. There are books in Mississippi?

I kid because I love. In all honesty, it doesn't bother me one iota. I will concede that it's the prerogative of libraries -- even those in Mississippi -- to ban what they want, especially since I can't argue that Stewart, while funny as hell, is anywhere in the sane league as Twain, Camus, Henry Miller or any of a number of other once-banned writers.

And as Stewart himself pointed out in response to the controversy, the pictures of the au naturale jurists are among the least objectionable things in the book.