In a message dated 10/18/99 2:26:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time, stray4f@prodigy.net writes: << There's a difference between not stocking certain books in grade school libraries and actually "banning" them, and your misconceptions of the South are just as ill-informed and obnoxious as you accuse them of being. >> I must agree. I had to do a paper for this in college and books aren't really banned anymore in the conventional method. Granted, taking a book out of the curriculum is relatively "banning" it to that segment of the population at that time, which still sucks (plus, this happens most often in high schools not grade schools, providing an interesting entendre: you can operate a two ton motor vehicle but you can't choose what to put in your head). Ulysees, by James Joyce, was actually BANNED, in that the possession of it constituted a crime, but that was before 1920 no that doesn't really apply. The last book that really got the shit end of the stick (and still does) is our beloved Catcher in the Rye, which is prohitibited in more schools based on religious objections than any other. Of course, its never been outlawed like Ulysees and I had to read it and dissect it in AP English in high school two years ago. And as far as the South goes, Brandt has a point that southern states ban alot of books (not to mention start a furor over the things they can't ban), but then again Ohio, Pennsylvania and California take the most books out of curriculums and libraries out of any states in the Union. Two are above the Mason Dixon line, and California might as well be its own nation. Yes, Pat Robertson does suck and so does the Christian Coalition, although I'm not saying Christianity itself sucks because...well...I'm a Christian. Its just sad that people have co-opted an entire religion to enfore their moral codes. Parasites always kill their host and sadly Mr. Robertson is headed down this same path. Not like he's a big believer in things natural anyway... Adios Steve C. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+