Every Year from the 21st to the 27th of September is BANNED BOOKS WEEK! Celebrate Your Right to Read! Fight For Your Right To Read!

ATTENTION!!! EVERY YEAR FROM SEPTEMBER 21st TO THE 27th IS BANNED BOOKS WEEK! SO, LET US ALL CELEBRATE AND FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHT TO READ! JUST SAY NO TO CENSORSHIP! JUST SAY NO TO RIGHT-WING FASCISM!

There appears to be very little difference between the book burnings in Nazi Germany and the USA

I just got to say, book censorship is a real HOT-BUTTON issue for me! Every time I hear of any attempt to censor books, or any kind of media, whether it be print, or movies, or any kind of music, it really gets my jimmies up! It pisses me off!

Also, I was hoping to get this article finished before the 21st of September, but I have had to dredge up some very painful memories of my own experiences with book censorship.

OK, before I continue on with my article, I have a question for some of my readers . . .

Before we continue . . . . .

Are you a Christian Fundamentalist or a right-wing CONservative Republican?

If so . . . then beat it! Get the fuck outta here! This is not for you!

Oh! Wait a minute! On second thought . . . that would be censorship! Right?

OK! Please do stay, because . . . if you are one of those right-wing retards who believes that a lot books should be censored, Then . . . you seriously need to sit through this article, and be torn a new one, and if you think you're butt-hurt now, I guarantee, you're really going to be in for a verbal ass kicking, a good reaming. Like up the gigi with a wha wha brush!!! 

Now then . . . allow me to talk about my own experiences concerning book censorship and my experiences with people in my past who have tried to control what I could or could not read. 

Oh! Wait a minute! Did I say, allow me? 

Fuck that! I don't need to kiss anybody's ass requesting that I be allowed! 

Yeah! Fuck that shit! I'm gonna talk about it anyway! Don't like it? Then fuck off and hit the road! But I would much rather you stay so I can give you right-wing retards a verbal ass-reaming that you so richly deserve!

Anyway . . . . .

As of this publication, I'm 62 years old, born on September 30,1951 in Cloquet, Minnesota. So I'm about to turn 63 this year.

When I was a kid living in a small town up in northern Minnesota back in the early 1960s, I had the misfortune to attend some really lousy schools, and I had some really crummy teachers.

Yeah! It was back in the 1950s when "under God" was inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance to The Flag, which was not originally there to begin with, and the IN GOD WE TRUST was put on our paper currency.

That is when we Americans decided to start trusting God more, while trusting our children even less, or not not trusting them at all.

We even had teacher lead prayers in the classroom, until sometime in 1964 it was finally ruled unconstitutional. You were still allowed to pray in school, and you're still allowed. That's OK. You can say grace over your meals in the school cafeteria, nobody is going to stop you. But . . . teacher lead prayers are NOT allowed in the classrooms, and that is the way it should be. 

Anyway . . .

Getting back to books and censorship . . .

My dear mother had taught me how to read and write before I even started school. We were a poor family, but our house was a virtual treasure trove of books. When I was a kid, I actually thought we were rich because we had so many books. So, by the time I was only in the third grade, at home I was already reading books at high school and adult level, and during the summer months I hung out in the public library. 

Also, when we were living up in Minnesota, my mother was taking classes in First Aid, and she brought her textbooks home. There was a dark green book of First Aid, and it had pictures of human anatomy, and she also had a great big red medical encyclopedia. When any of us kids had any questions about human reproduction, she would get out the big red book. After awhile she just left the big red book on the coffee table in the living room. 

No, during summer vacations, when school was out, I didn't go out an play ball like the other kids, because I didn't like sports anyway, and besides, I was lousy at sports because of a crippled up left knee, due to an accident from when I was about 4 years old. We had a 1948 Chrysler four-door car, and one of the back doors had a faulty latch. I was sitting in the back seat when the door popped open and I fell out of the car, and my left knee hit the pavement. We were on the bridge crossing the St. Louis River, when the door popped open, and I fell out.

The photo below is a screenshot I took from my Google Earth. This is the bridge on Sunnyside Drive in Cloquet, Minnesota, crossing the St. Louis River.

Bridge over the St. Louis River, Sunnyside Drive, Cloquet, Minnesota

Yeah, this is the bridge that we were crossing where I had fallen out of the car, my lift knee striking the pavement. I was about 4 years old at the time. After that incident , we got rid of the old 1948 Chrysler and traded it for another used car that was a 2 door instead of a 4 door. This was back in the 1950s before cars had seat belts. So, as a result, my left knee was crippled up, and I always walked with a limp and I was unable to run as fast as the other kids in my school, and I was lousy at sports, and I was often harassed in school because of it. My left knee was in constant pain.

Ah! Don't ya just love Google Earth!!! 

You can stroll down Memory Lane and check out your old home turf, and see what has changed, or perhaps, not changed, since the last time you were there.

Yeah! Here is a Google Earth screenshot photo of the small house on Granite Street in Cloquet where I lived after I was born back in September 30,1951.

Small house on Granite Street. This is where I lived when I was born in Cloquet, Minnesota.

WOW! Un-fucking-believable!!! This is a fairly recent picture. I could tell by the 2014 watermark that one sees on the Google Earth street level views. Un-fucking-believable!!! That little house hasn't changed since I was only 5 or 6 years old! Our family eventually moved out, and we moved to Carlton, Minnesota, about 7 miles south of Cloquet, and 20 miles west of Duluth. Yeah! The old homestead still looks the same, even after all these fucking decades! Un-fucking-believable!!! 

The only changes I can see is that a railing has been added to the front steps and a small dish antenna, and that's it!!! When we lived there, we had a tall 50 foot TV antenna and we only got 2 channels! That's been taken down. The house has a basement, and the furnace was in the basement. My parents installed the heating ducts from the basement furnace up to the living room and to a room that we had added to the back of the house. Look at that garage! The doors on it were even too small to back a car into, and the car you see in this photo is not any bigger than our 4 door 1948 Chrysler was.

Yeah! A very small house. It was, and apparently still is, the smallest house in that neighborhood, possibly the smallest house in all of Cloquet, as far as I can tell.

Anyway . . . . .

It was in that little house, starting at the age of 3 or 4 when my mother began teaching me the alphabet and how to read and write. Now, you're probably wondering why my mother started teaching me so young.

OK, I had some brain damage when I was born. I was a breech-birth, and I came out with the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck. I was blue from lack of oxygen. I didn't have to be swatted on the butt to get me to start breathing. So, I came into this world struggling to breath, and gasping for air. The doctors and the nursing staff told my mother that there was a fair probability that I might be retarded, and they suggested that I be institutionalized. I was her first born child, and she refused to give me up.

Yeah! I came into this world gasping for air, struggling to breath, and from then on, and for the rest of my life, it seems that I would encounter more nosy busy-bodies who would not allow me room to breath! As you read on, you will know what I mean. OK?

Well, I did start developing normally, and I was beginning to talk when I was about 2 years old. My brother was born over a year later, in January 2,1953. Anyway . . . I was just over 2 years old when my father died, and then, I clammed up and stopped talking. I loved my father. I was too young to understand what was going on. My father was always there, and then, one day . . . he was gone.

And YES!!! I absolutely CAN REMEMBER back when I was only 2 years old. In the past, I've been told that I was either crazy or lying. Well, I'll admit to being crazy sometimes, but I'm not a liar! The reason why I remember is because of the many train trips I took from Duluth, Minnesota to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to visit my grandma. I would be sitting on my father's knee, and he would bounce me up and down on his knee, singing to me. I can remember the gentle swaying of the train, and the rumbling and grumbling of the wheels underneath the passenger coach. That's how I can remember back to when I was only 2 years old, all those train rides and sitting on my daddy's knee.  

Then, one day, my daddy was gone! He died when I was 2 years old, and he was gone! I was too young to understand. I was starting to talk, but after my father died, I simply clammed up, and stop talking. Not entirely, but very seldom saying anything. I just went silent most of the time and became withdrawn.   

My mother eventually got remarried and my sister was born in November of 1955. 

Anyway . . . . .

I was at the age, when I should have started talking more, and I was starting, and then, after my father died, I simply stopped. Well . . . my mother was very concerned, and started taking me to child psychologists at the University Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota and naturally of course, they kept suggesting that I be institutionalized. But, my mother still refused!!!

OK, I was about 3 years old, almost 4 when one day we were in the grocery store, and I was sitting in the kid's seat in the shopping cart. My mother noticed that I was pointing at the various items on the shelves and naming them, like . . . that's Oxyidal, That's tide, that's Ajax, That's Blue Cheer, etc. etc. ya know, just naming stuff I had seen on the shelves. So, I was talking just a little, but not very much, and not having conversations, just 2 or 3 word phrases. My mother thought that it was because I was just naming things seen on the TV commercials, and then remembering what the products looked like. But we only had a Black and White Motorola TV, and the products seen on the store shelves are in color. Could it be that I was recognizing the letters in the brand names?

So, after we came home from shopping, my mother started testing me, holding household items up seeing if I could name each one. That's when my mother started teaching me the alphabet, and she started teaching me how to spell words, and every day, I learned how to spell some more new words. I had this fascination with letters, numbers, and different symbols, and logos. My mother would give me the empty boxes of laundry detergents, or boxes from other products, and I would take a pair of scissors to cut out the letters. I would take pieces of stiff wire and bend them into the shapes of letters and numbers.

Even though, at 3 or 4 years old, and not talking much, I was learning to read and spell words, and learning numbers. My mother was also good at art and began teaching me how to draw. My mother then got a large blackboard and colored chalks, and the blackboard was set up in the kitchen. 

Oh! I also enjoyed taking things apart, and putting them back together again. I would fix old wind-up alarm clocks that weren't working anymore. Yeah! Just give me a bunch of old alarm clocks, and a screw-driver, and watch me go to work! When I was a kid, I didn't play with balls and bats. NO! I had construction sets, a Gilbert Erector Set with an electric motor that you plug into a wall outlet. Now Erector Sets only have battery powered motors that are less powerful. I had toys that would be considered too dangerous by today's Nanny State standards!

OK, after being tested by my mother, we had another appointment with the child psychologist at the University Hospital in Minneapolis, and I was tested again.

While we were sitting in the waiting room, there were other kids there, and there were a lot of toys. I saw this set of Lincoln Logs, and I built a long 2 story ranch house. Those were the kind of toys I had. No baseballs, no basketballs and no footballs. Mostly construction sets, and models to glue together, and toys with a lot of moving parts. Balls are for RETARDS!!! I actually thought that it was boring and stupid to go out and bounce a ball, or chase a ball. I can teach a dog to chase a ball.

Anyway . . . . . getting back to the child shrinkologist! OK, psychologist!!!

Yeah! I think there is a good reason why a psychologist is called a head shrinker, or a shrink! Sometimes a shrink just prescribes a lot of pills that make you feel dopey and drowsy all the time. No, I think a psychologist or psychologist should perform the role of a mind expander and NOT a shrink!

I'll have more to say on that later!

Anyway . . . . .

In one test, the shrink asked me to draw a square, a circle, and a triangle. But of course, he actually said, a box, a ball, and a triangle. So, I did, drawing a cube instead of a square because he said box not a square, and when I drew the circle, I shaded it on one side and drew a shadow under it because he said a ball and not a circle, and when I drew the triangle it had a loop on the top corner because it was a musical triangle that hangs on a string that you strike with a little metal rod. DING!!! Yeah, we kids had musical instruments. So, the triangle I drew looked like the musical triangle I had. DING!!! And then, as I drew them, I said, There! Box, Ball, and music triangle! That's all I said! Yeah, I still didn't talk much.

Well, the doc . . . his lower jaw dropped! Like, HUH? Then, he said to my mother . . . . . your boy is not retarded. He'll start talking more someday. Take him and GO HOME!!!    

By the way . . . . . that reminds me of a joke I herd once. 

These parents had a boy about 10 years old who never talked. Naturally the parents were very concerned, wondering what could possibly be wrong with their son. They had taken him to many doctors and many child psychologists, but to no avail. Then one evening during supper, their son took a few bites of the food from his plate. He spit the food out of his mouth, picked up the plate of food, and threw it against the kitchen wall, and said . . . GOD DAMN IT! THIS MEAL FUCKING SUCKS! I'M NOT EATING THIS CRAP!!! To which his mother exclaimed . . . Oh! My dear son! You can talk!!! You can really talk!!! I'm so happy! I'm so thrilled! Why have you never spoken before? To which the kid replied . . . BECAUSE UP TO NOW, EVERYTHING HAD BEEN FINE, UNTIL NOW, GOD DAMN IT!!!

Well, it was almost the same way with me, only I didn't start cussing and swearing. 

When ever we went to Minneapolis, my mother and I would take the Greyhound bus. I forget how many times we had been there. But it was during our last trip down to Minneapolis, and for some reason, I had sort of come out of my shell, euphemistically speaking, and started talking, walking up and down the isle in the bus, and just talking to the other passengers. Yeah! I remember holding a long candy stick in my hand, pretending it was a microphone, and pretending like I was Art Linkletter as seen on TV when he would talk to people in his audience. 

Yeah! I had quite an imagination when I was a kid, I must have been 4 years old at the time. 

Back home, I once set up a large cardboard box and had a large white bucket next to it tipped over on it's side, sitting in the box, holding a pie-plate in my hands, like a steering wheel, and pretending that I was driving one of those big cement mixer trucks that you see when a new sidewalk was being laid. I was inspired by watching the construction workers putting down a new sidewalk in our neighborhood. 

Yeah! I admit! I was a weird kid! Of course, I was only about 5 years old at the time. So, what can you expect? Eh? 

Anyway . . . . .

Getting back on topic again . . . . .

There I was, getting a first grade education at home, learning to read and write, before I even started kindergarten! As I had mentioned previously, we had a large blackboard set up on the kitchen wall. So, naturally, I was getting a head start. My mother had always encouraged us kids to read, and she made us do our homework after we had started school.  

Anyway . . . as I had mentioned earlier, we eventually moved out of that little house on Granite Street in Cloquet because it was too small for a family, my mother, stepfather, and three of us kids. So we moved into a much bigger house, a big old 2 story house in Carlton, Minnesota. 

OK, you're about to see some Google Earth screenshots of Carlton, Minnesota.

Carlton County Court House in Carlton, Minnesota

Carlton is a kind of pretty little town in some ways. It had a population of about 800. Here is the Carlton County Court House. In October, we kids use to go there at night to pick plumbs off the trees. Nobody ever stopped us. The plumbs would have fallen from the trees when ripe and rotted on the ground anyway. So, we picked them before that would happen. The court house was a 3 story building, and it had elevators. Yeah, Carlton didn't have any stop lights on the intersections at the time, but the court house did have elevators, I guess that's something for a small town to brag about.

Carlton seems to have changed somewhat since the last time I was ever there. My family moved out back in April of 1965 down to Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico when I was 13 years old, and the last time we had ever been back to Carlton was during the summer of 1971 and I haven't been back there since.

Here are some more screenshots from my Google Earth.

Carlton County Jail

I didn't know Carlton had a new jail, not until I had recently check out my old home town using my Google Earth. Now I can see that the old jail, which was once a red brick building, was torn down to make room for the new jail. Also, when I lived there, we had a Sheriff, a deputy, but only one cop, a BAD cop! He had been kicked off the police force in St Cloud, Minnesota, after he had beaten and raped a 12 year old girl. Oh! But he was able to get a job as a cop in my home town! Really nice! Eh?

Here is an aerial view of that part of town.

Carlton High School

When I was still living there, the high school had a three-story red brick building. Actually, the high school and the elementary grades were both in the same school. The high school classes were in the three-story red brick building while the elementary grades were in the ground-level wing. Then, back in the school year of 1962-1963 when I was 11 years old and  in the 5th grade, we finally had a new elementary and Junior High school built at South Terrace just a couple of miles south of Carlton. So, during the autumn semester, I went to the 5th grade in the old school, and after Christmas vacation, I went to the new school, and I was there until the 6th grade. Yeah, I remember,  I was 12 years old in the 6th grade. That was when President Kennedy was assassinated. Then, when I was 13 years old and in the 7th grade, starting in the autumn semester of 1964, I went back to the old school again.

Now, I can see that the old three-story red brick building has been torn down, and some new ground level wings have been added, and it has a new football field. Whoopee!!! 

Well, actually . . . it's in the same place, but now, it is oriented north/south instead of east/west, and still no bleachers to sit on. People still have to stand up on the edge of the field through out the entire game. 

Also, there is no playground there anymore. All the swings and slides have been taken away. So now, no playground for the kids in the neighborhood anymore.

Before the old red brick three-story building was torn down, the school had two gymnasiums! Most schools only have one gymnasium, but my school had two gymnasiums! Whoopee!!!

Now I guess it only has one gymnasium. So, BOO BOO for them! Eh? Like I give a shit! 

And by the way . . . the high school football team is the Carlton Bulldogs, and the high school football team in Cloquet is the Lumberjacks.

Yes! It appears on my Google Earth, that Carlton has made some significant changes since the last time I was there back in the summer of 1971. My favorite railroad track has been torn up. It once ran parallel to my old neighborhood, past my back yard. I use to walk along that track picking wild raspberries and going into the woods to pick wild blueberries and wild red rhubarb. Ever had rhubarb pie? Anyway . . . my favorite railroad track is gone now.

Here is an areal view of my old neighborhood.

My Neighborhood in Carlton, Minnesota

Notice to the left, the track-bed from where my favorite railroad track has been torn up, and the lower right corner is the roof of the County Court House. So, I lived within walking distance from my school, only a few blocks away from my home.

Oh! And another significant change Carlton has made. A new Lutheran church! The old one was torn down to make room for a newer and bigger church. Whoopee!!!

I'm not even going to bother showing the churches. You can explore my old home town using Google Earth. OK?

Yeah! Carlton had no movie theater, and no museums, no social activities at all, except for high school football games and church picnics. Yeah! We had three churches, one Lutheran, one Catholic, and one Presbyterian church, which I went to when I was a kid in grade school. That's about it. Carlton was one dead-ass little town! 

So, that's about it, for Carlton. A new jail, a new church, and a new football field. Oh, and I did mention earlier, that when I was living there, our only cop was a rapist who beat up and raped a 12 year old girl down in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and in addition to all that, my 5th grade teacher was an arsonist. Yeah! Real nice little town! Eh? It was a rather creepy little town, like something out of a Stephen King novel, a dirty little Payton Place, worse than Harper Valley! Yeah! As my mother use to say, a dirty little town run by dirty little people with a job too big to handle!!!

In case you're interested . . . the exact location of the center of the Court House roof is . . .

46° 39' 54.22" North latitude by 92° 25' 27.45" West longitude 

Yeah! Google Earth is the bomb!!! I love it! 

An excellent tool for exploring our planet, but also, for dredging up some really bad memories!

Anyway . . . . .

From the 1st grade to the 4th grade, those teachers were OK. They were fairly good teachers. They noticed that when it came to reading, I was ahead of most of the other students, especially when I was in the third grade, and checking out books from the school library that were at high school level, and from the public library at adult level.

So, when ever one of these teachers told me to stay after school, it was not because I was in any kind of trouble. No, it was because she had a manila folder with some articles she had clipped out of science magazines that she wanted to give me.

Yeah, the first few years in school were OK. Yes, I got teased and harassed a lot by some of the other kids because I could not run to keep up with them physically because of my crippled left knee, and I just wasn't interested in ball games. But, my teachers from grades 1 to 4 were nice enough.

It was in the 5th grade, when I had my first male teacher, a sports obsessed tyrant, and  that's when  my troubles in school really began! He liked to humiliate me in the gymnasium in front of all the other students. We were playing basketball, and during the game, the ball slipped out of my hands. My teacher, he picked up the ball, and punched me in the stomach with it as hard as he could. I was doubled over in pain, and it seemed like an eternity before I could start breathing again. When I came home, my ribs were sore, and it would hurt when I took too deep of a breath. I had throbbing pains in my ribs for about a week. I'm just damn lucky that he didn't fracture any of my ribs.

Oh! But it gets even better!!! NOT!!!

One day, our class was checking out books from the school library. All the other kids were allowed to check out any book they wanted. But, I was NOT! I saw this Astronomy book that I wanted, and my teacher would not allow me to check it out. We got into an argument over it, and he dragged me out into the hallway, grabbed me by the shoulders, pushed me back, bashing the back of my head against the corner of the concrete block wall. I felt really dizzy and I think I blacked out, or something. Because the next thing I knew, when my lights came on again, I was sitting in the principal's office, not knowing how I got there. 

Yeah! THAT GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCKER BASHED MY HEAD AGAINST A GOD DAMN FUCKING BRICK WALL, just in a argument over an Astronomy book that he would not allow me to check out from the school library!!! 

Well . . . the following year, that teacher was fired, and after that incident, he could never get another teaching job anywhere. No school would hire him after that. 

 But, for me, the damage was done.

I had a severe head concussion. From that day on, from the age of 11 and through out my teenage years, I had dizzy spells and headaches. When I came home from school, Alka Seltzer on the rocks with a twist of lemon became my favorite drink. 

My favorite drink when I came home from school

Also, when I was only 12 years old, one day, while coming home from school, I felt sick to my stomach, and I belched a little, and then, I had the worse burning sensation in my throat. It was a cold winter day, and I grabbed some clean snow of the top of a fence and ate it, but the burning I had in my throat would not go away. Yeah! I was only 11 years old when I had my first case of heartburn or acid reflux, which usually doesn't happen in kids, but, mostly in adults. Even Alka Seltzer would not take it away. But, good old Arm and Hammer Baking Soda would fix that problem.

Well, I still like that good old Alka Seltzer, and now, I like it in Canada Dry Seltzer, either Lemon Lime or Mandarin Orange, my old time favorite stand by.

Alka Seltzer in Canada Dry Seltzer Water

Anyway . . . . .

As I got older, the headaches and dizzy spells became less intense and when I was in my early 20s I didn't have those dizzy spells and headaches anymore. But, I will have to live with the memory of it for the rest of my life, GOD DAMN IT!!!

 

Yeah! When I was in school, I always thought that only football was supposed to cause severe head injuries. It never NEVER occurred to me that a desire to read a book would result in a head injury! It NEVER occurred to me, that someday, I would get punished just for wanting to read a book. 

The very idea of censorship has always been a real HOT-BUTTON issue for me ever since. Every time I hear of any attempts to censor books, or see any scenes of book burnings, my mind flashes back to the day when I got my head bashed against a concrete block wall in an argument over an Astronomy book that I was not allowed to check out from the school library.

THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPEN! But it did. And of course, rape even happens in our schools, and yet, the jocks responsible are almost never held accountable. 

OK, when my family was living up in Carlton, Minnesota, my parents, my mother and stepfather, they paid property taxes, and school taxes. Yeah! My parents school taxes paid for books I was NOT allowed to read, and paid the salary of the teacher who bashed my head against the God damn fucking brick wall. Although I came from a poor family, we were NOT a welfare family. My parents were retired factory workers. My father, before he was married to my mother he had been a Merchant Marine, working on those big ships in Lake Superior that carried iron ore. 

Then, when he was married to my mother, both of my parents worked in the wood conversion factory in Cloquet, Minnesota. Here are some photos of the factory.

Diamond Match Division, the Diamond National Corp in Cloquet, Minnesota

Description:

The largest wood stick match manufacturing plant in North America. This modern factory produces many millions of "lights" daily, using native Minnesota aspen for the basic raw materials.

Yeah! This is where my mother and father worked, side by side, then when my mother got pregnant, she retired to stay home before I was born, while my father continued to work there until he died. As I have mentioned before, I was just over 2 years old when he died. He had rheumatic fever when he was a kid, and it did some damage to his heart. 

When I was 9 years old, I had scarlet fever, and it affected my eyesight. So, I had to start wearing eyeglasses when I was 9 years old. Before that, I had almost perfect vision. But I became near-sighted. So, I had to start wearing glasses so I could see what was on the blackboard.

Anyway . . . . .

Here's another photo of the factory in Cloquet. 

Northwest Paper Company

Description:

The Northwest Paper Company, founded in 1898, manufactures high quality printing, writing and converting papers, available through leading paper merchants nationwide. This modern plant consist of four high speed paper machines and two chemical pulp mills. The pulpwood timber required is grown and cut from private and public lands in northern Minnesota.

These are the latest photos. But way back then, when I live in Minnesota, you should have seen the thick clouds of smoke billowing out of those smokestacks. And the St. Louis River was polluted as a result, and it stank for miles around. But now, the river has been cleaned up, and the smokestacks no longer put out as much smoke as they did way back then. Of course, it looks like more needs to be done to further reduce the amount of smoke.

Anyway . . . . .

After my father died, as I had mentioned before, my mother eventually got remarried. My stepfather was a steel worker. He worked in the big steel factory in Duluth, Minnesota. He was second helper on the open hearth furnace, which was just one step below foremen. My mother was 39 years old when I was born. So, she had us kids late, and my stepfather was in his 60s. It was after he retired at age 65 when we moved from Cloquet to Carlton, Minnesota.

So, my parents were retired factory workers. We owned our house up in Carlton. We were not renting, but were making mortgage payments on the house. and they paid property taxes on the house, and also, paid school taxes on the property.

Yeah! My parents, my retired factory worker parents paid SCHOOL TAXES!!!

And those SCHOOL TAXES paid for the school library books that I was NOT allowed to read, and paid the salary of the teacher who BASHED MY HEAD UP AGAINST THE GOD DAMN FUCKING CONCRETE BLOCK WALL!!! 

Yeah! My parents unwittingly and unknowingly paid off a hit-man with their SCHOOL TAXES!!! 

I was being punished just for wanting to read a book! 

Oh! Here is another example of someone getting punished for reading the "wrong" kind of books!

WARNING! 

THE IMAGE YOU'RE ABOUT TO SEE IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC!!!

Here it is! Don't say I didn't warn you! OK???

A lady's hand, mutilated as punishment, for reading books other than the Qur'an

This is what happened to a lady living in some Islamic country. As punishment, for reading books, other than the Qur'an, her hand was horribly mutilated, probably with a razor blade.

Yeah! I imagine that here in the USA, our own right-wing Republican Christian Fundamentalist extremists would dearly love to do this to anyone caught reading any books, other than the Bible!!!

If an 11 year old kid in the 5th grade, here in America, can get his head BASHED AGAINST A GOD DAMN FUCKING BRICK WALL, by a teacher who's a sports obsessed tyrant, just for wanting to read an Astronomy book, then . . .  the kind of punishment as depicted in the photo above is not too far down the road in the future.

Or . . . . . am I just being a little bit too cynical, or paranoid? Who knows?

This world is so fucked up, just about anything is possible!

On another website forum, about a few weeks ago,  I got suspended, or banned for about a week after I had posted the above image. 

But, since this is my own web blog, I can post it here. This is my own web blog, and I can post anything I bloody well please! GOD DAMN IT!!!

Anyway . . . . .

It was back in April of 1965, when we moved down from Minnesota to New Mexico. My mother had asthma, so moving south was better for her health. We had to get away from those long cold winters. Every winter, my mother spent a week in the hospital because of her asthma. Her doctor suggested that we move out of Minnesota to a better climate down south, either Arizona or New Mexico. We chose New Mexico.

So, we had moved down to Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico, population around 5,000 back in April of 1965. I was 13 years old and in the 7th grade.  When we had moved down from Minnesota, we lived in a small trailer, a 21 foot long Trailblazer. Then, about a month after we were in Truth Or Consequences, we traded the Trailblazer for a down payment on a brand new mobile home, that was a 12 ft. x 50 ft. 1964 Rembrandt. It was when the very first 12 foot wide mobile homes came out. Before 1964 only 10 foot wide trailer homes were available, then in 1964 the first 12 foot wide mobile homes appeared.

Anyway . . . Truth Or Consequences turned out to be another crummy little town, with some really lousy schools. But, my troubles really began in the Gymnasium. No surprise there!

One day, in the gym, the coach was about to teach us wrestling techniques. So, we had the wrestling mats spread out on the floor. Well . . . before instructions were about to start, this one kid, who was much taller and stronger that I was, he jumped me from behind and pinned me down on the mat, and he had both of my arms held behind my back and refused to let go. 

Finally the gym coach told him . . . OK, you can get off if him now, he's had enough! But then, the coach got on top of me. At the time, at 13 years old, I was about 5 ft. 6 in. and only weighed 135 pounds and the coach was about 6 feet and a good 250 pounds. He pinched the nerves in the back of my neck and I felt tingly all over. I don't know how I managed to break away from him, but I did, and I took off across the gym, and he told me to get back. Yeah! So he could finish working me over some more? Really???

No way! I told him to GO TO HELL!!! He then ran after me, and knocked me down, then he dragged me to the principal's office. OK, I explained to the principal what had happen, that I did not start the incident, that this other kid came up behind me and knocked me down.

Well, since he was the one who had started it, at first, the principal was going to suspend him for a couple of days. Oh! But then . . . the coach sucked up to the principal, saying that this kid was one of his best athletes, the school's best track runner, the best pole vaulter, basketball player, etc. etc. etc. and was going to try out for the football team.

So, I got the ax instead! A GOD DAMN THREE YEARS SUSPENSION  from school, because I told the coach to go to Hell. Me, I was a nobody, a nothing, just some kid who was lousy at sports and walked with a limp because of a crippled up left knee. 

Yeah, that was back in December of 1965 when I got suspended from Junior High School in Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico.

So, it was in April of 1966 when we moved down to Las Cruces, New Mexcio. During my GOD DAM FUCKING THREE YEAR SUSPENSION . . . and . . . I was required to go for psychological counseling at the Doña Ana Mental Health Center. 

Oh! By the way, when we were still living in Truth Or Consequences, I was given a psychological evaluation and I had scored about 150 points on a standard IQ test!Yeah! I score 150 points on an IQ test, but I was not allowed to attend school. No, they just wanted good athletes to win games for Home Town High, even if they couldn't read above 2ed or 3rd grade level.

Anyway . . . . . for the next two years, from September of 1966 to September of 1968, instead of going to a regular school, I was taking classes from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM at this stupid day center.

OK, here is a screen shot of the day center in Las Cruces, New Mexiuco,  from my Google Earth. Yeah! Thank you Google Earth for helping me to dredge up some more painful memories! Kudos to
you my dear Google Earth!!!  

The First Christian Church, the day center which was 
my "school" from September 1966 to September 1968

This was the day center, the First Christian Church, where I had classes from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM from September 1966 to September 1968. Yeah! Notice the tall white cross. I was 14 years old when I started going there until I turned 17 which was almost three wasted years. I was suppose to be in the 7th grade to the 9th grade. But my so called classroom  courses were at the God damn fucking 3rd grade level!!!

I only had about one lousy hour of classes! Then the rest of the time, I was handed a basketball to bounce around outside for an hour, then we had lunch which consisted of Oreo Cookies and Kool Aid!!! Then we played more childish kid's games for another hour before it was time for me to get on my bicycle to ride back home. Since I wasn't in a regular school, I felt ashamed to be out during the day. So, I spent most of my afternoons inside the house, in my bed room. Then after 4:00 PM in the afternoon, I would go out when all the other "normal" kids were coming home from school. Yeah! I felt like I was sub-normal.

OK, since I was being held back a few grades in my so-called day classes, I decided to ride my bicycle to the public library, the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, and I got myself a library card. Then I also rode my bicycle to the University Library at NMSU, New Mexico State University, and got another library card. So, I had two library cards. 

At the University Library, since I wasn't a student there at the time, I was only allowed to check out a maximum of three books on each subject. Well . . . that was OK, I didn't mind. So, I would check out three books on Astronomy, three books on Geology, and three books on Physics, etc. etc. But at least, I was able to get adult level reading material. Of course, at the Thomas Branigan Library, I was able to check out more than three books on each different subject. And so, I was very happy, and elated about that!!!

Well . . . . . guess what!!!

When my case worker from the Doña Ana Mental Health Center found out that I had gotten myself two library cards, the bitch dropped by and she told my mother that I was to turn my cards in. For some reason, my idiot counselors at the Doña Ana Mental Health Center didn't want me to have any library cards. She felt that, instead of my being in the house all the time just reading, that I should be out getting some exercise, like bouncing a ball, because I was becoming overweight.

SAY WHAT??? 

Gee! I always thought that I was getting enough exercise riding all over town on my bicycle. Las Cruces wasn't exactly a small town. It had a population of about 50,000 back then, and it covered a fairly large area. Both libraries were about three miles from where I lived. 

Oh wait! I guess riding a bicycle is not exercise. You're not getting any exercise unless you're out bouncing a basketball. OK! I get it now! Stupid me! DUH!!!

Well . . . my mother stood for me up in my defense, and refused to turn my two library cards over to them. She thought that I was being held back, and that I had a right to read adult level books to get a better education at home than I was getting at their crummy day center.

Yeah! MORE CENSORSHIP!!!

So, after about an hour of arguing with the bitch from the day center, she finally relented, and I was very very very grudgingly allowed to keep my two library cards. 

JUST WHO THE GOD DAMN FUCKING HELL DO THESE PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE ANYWAY??? LIKE, WHO DIED AND MADE THEM GOD!!!

Anyway . . . . .

It was in September on 1968 when I was finally allowed to return back to school again. I was 17 years old and in the 10th grade. Yeah! Finally!!! I was beginning to feel like a "normal" human being again.

Oh! You're gonna love this!!!

In high school, my so-called "science" teacher was also the school's football coach, and during football season, he was too God damn fucking busy, coaching his team of pre-frontally lobotomized baboons to teach in the class room!

Sooooooo . . . instead, he would set up the movie projector, then turn off the lights, and go out the door, leaving us all sitting in the dark, watching a bunch of stupid cartoons!!!

Yeah! That was my SCIENCE class!!!

Oh! That should make all those right-wing Republican Christian Fundamentalist very very very happy! Yeah! It meant that we would not be taught anything about EVOLUTION!!!

Yeah! Uh huh! Another form of book censorship!

Then, in English Literature, we played Charades! Whoop de fucking doo!!!

The only thing we learned was how to fold paper footballs!!!

Some high school! Eh? It was like being back in Kindergarten again!!! 

The school had old textbooks with copyright dates back in the early 1950s and this was 1968, God damn it!

OK, at 5 ft 7 in I weighed about 230 pounds when I was 17 in the 10th grade. So, I was being pressured to get on the school's football team! NO FUCKING WAY! I HATE FOOTBALL! I HATE SPORTS!

Then, there was per-group pressure to do drugs. A couple of guys wanted to push some dope on me, and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with the drug scene. I was being constantly harassed.

So, I decided to see my student councilor. That was the biggest and the stupidest mistake I had ever made in my life. The pushers were questioned by the police, and when a rumor went around the school that I was the one who turned them in, the harassment I got became even worse. I was even getting death threats!

I had been working on some oil paintings in my art class. One day, as I entered the classroom I saw right away that my oil paintings had brown paint smeared all over them. Then, as I turned around, someone was ripping the pages out of my notebooks. I lost it! I jumped on the guy who had been ripping up my notebooks and I had my hands around his throat, and it took almost everybody in the classroom to pull me off of him.

Well, once again, I was kicked out of school. That happened in January of 1969. So, after being out of school again, with no future to look forward to, in April of 1969, I had an emotional breakdown. I spent three weeks in the state mental hospital in northern New Mexico. Yeah! The state loony bin, the nut-house, the Ha Ha Hotel, the basket factory, the cracker factory. They had me doped up on Thorazine, and a cocktail of seven other different pills. Back in the 1960s experimental drugs were often used on patients. Those mental hospitals were actually worse than many prisons back then. I had seen other patients getting beaten by the ward attendants, and it even happened to me a couple of times. Then, one night, I was sexually molested by an older man. After that, I was transferred to another ward, which was only slightly better.

After three weeks, when I finally came home, I was an even worse emotional wreck than I was going in! I needed desperately to talk to a psychologist about it. But, back in the 1960s and 1970s nobody believed that a guy could be raped. Nobody there at  Doña Ana Mental Health Center would listen to me. No, the shrink just prescribed tranquilizers, Valium, and sent me home! I was an emotional basket case!

When I came home from the state mental hospital, my dear sweet younger brother and my dear sweet younger sister wanted nothing to do with me. Only my mother stood beside me. It was worse than being an ex-con! I didn't feel like going out anymore, so I just stayed in my room, only coming out to eat or use the bathroom.

OK, back in 1970 the mobile home park we were living in was going to be torn up to make room for a new freeway. The highway department covered everyone's moving expenses to resettle elsewhere. We bought two acres of land in a residential area outside of town on the high desert named, Moon Gate, and we had our 12 x 10 foot Rembrandt moved out there. 

The reason why the residential area was name Moon Gate was because, from where we were living, at night we could see the distant lights of one of the NASA space facilities out there. They had a large vacuum chamber for testing some of the components that went into the Apollo moon rocket. 

I was much happier out there. I started going outside more often and  I wanted to start a cactus garden. So, I would go out into the desert to bring back cactus for my desert garden. My brother hated my cactus garden! He believed that all cactus and thorny plants were a curse that God put on the earth after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. Yeah! REALLY!!!

Yes, I loved it out there, living on the high desert. It was about 10 degrees cooler than Las Cruces was down in the Mesilla Valley, and I loved the Organ Mountains which rose to over 9,000 feet above sea level. Oh, how I love the Organ Mountains!

The Organ Mountains rises to over 9,000 feet above sea level.

Sometimes, during sunset, the Organ Mountains would turn shocking pink!!! At night, I would sit on the front steps watching a full moon rising over the Organ Mountains. I liked to sit outside smoking my pipe while sitting out on the front steps. I was about 19 years old when I started smoking a pipe. It helped me to relax. 

HEY! I have read somewhere, that patients in mental hospitals who smoke, recover much faster than nonsmoking patients. I guess there is something in nicotine that is good for the brain. I don't know. I'll have to look that up somewhere. Of course, when I was in the state hospital, I was 17 and I didn't smoke yet. But the patients were allowed to smoke.

Anyway . . . . .

Before we moved out to Moon Gate, when we were still living in Las Cruces, I was feeling really depressed, not wanting to get out of the house, and staying in my room most of the time. But, after we moved out there on the high desert, I wanted to get out and explore.

OK, when we were living out there at Moon Gate, this was back during all those Apollo moon landings. I would stay up all night watching the astronauts walking on the moon on TV. There was one report on the NEWS broadcast that one of the astronauts was feeling nauseous from the zero gravity environment. My brother said that it was the weight of God's finger on them. 

REALLY!!! He actually believed that stupid shit!

Then, in the TV NEWS, it was later mentioned that the astronaut was feeling much better, and then, I said to my brother, well . . . . . I guess God must had taken the weight of his finger off of him! To which my bother said, FUCK YOU, to which I replied . . . you would look awfully funny trying, so, go fuck yourself instead!!! OK???

Anyway . . . . .

I wanted to build a telescope, an 8 inch Newtonian reflector. So, I ordered a kit from the Edmond Scientific Company which cost me about $25 dollars at the time. I turned the bedroom into my workshop. Yes, my brother and I shared the same bedroom. To grind and polish a Pyrex concave mirror meant keeping the bedroom as clean as possible, especially during the polishing phase.

Well, back in the 1970s, I was a hippy and my brother was a stomp, a goat roper, a Rexall Ranger in cowboy boots listening to some really crappy redneck Boo Hoo Cry In Your Beer Music. He hated my rock music and my classical music. He would hang his dirty dusty western jacket on the curtain rod, and we would get into an argument over that.

OK, I got nothing against REAL cowboys. I actually think real cowboys are kind of cool. We were living on the high desert. So, we did have some cowboys out there, and occasionally, somebody's horse would wander across our property. But my brother was just being a stomper, another words, all hat and no cattle!!!

So, he would hang his dirty dusty western jacked on the curtain rod while I was trying to polish my concave Pyrex mirror blank for the telescope I wanted to build. When working with precision optics, you need a clean environment. 

Anyway . . . . . one day, my dear sweet brother tried to steal a shotgun from a neighbor! But, the neighbor saw him coming out his house and took the shotgun away from him. The reason why my dear sweet brother wanted to blow me away with a shotgun was because, he felt that my wanting to build a telescope was being disruptive of our family!   

That lousy ingrate!!! He was still in high school, he played the trumpet and he was in the high school marching band, and our mother worked her butt off for him, making sure his marching uniform was fitting properly. We had money invested in him. There were times when I needed new shoes or new pants, and we couldn't always afford it. My brother had a trumpet that was worth over $150 dollars. My kit to build a telescope was only about $25 dollars. So, my mother thought that I was entitled to finally have a little something of my own.

Well, needless to say, I was not able to finish my project. The concave Pyrex mirror blank got badly scratched during the polishing phase, and I would have to go back to the #600 grade abrasive and start over again before I could re-coat the polishing tool with Burgundy pitch. And I had to order more Burgundy pitch because the old batch was contaminated. 

Then, in September 23,1971 our stepfather died about a month before his 80th birthday. We could not afford to keep up on the payments on the land we bought, and we had to move back to Las Cruces. We abandoned the 12 x 50 foot Rembrandt and moved into a smaller 1942 Schiltz trailer about 8 feet wide and 30 feet long. It really sucked!!! Also, my brother and I shared a much smaller bedroom, and there was no room for me to finish working on my telescope. So, that was just one more thing I had to give up!

Then a year later, we traded the 1942 Schiltz trailer for a down payment on a 1950 Cameo trailer that was 10 feet wide and 40 feet long, which was much better than the old Schiltz.

Well, to make a log story short, in 1974 my brother joined the Army and then my sister joined the Army about a year later, so my mother and I had the Cameo trailer for ourselves.

Oh! My brother eventually became a Catholic. So now, every Sunday, he stands in line, and he gets to eat God! My sister got married to a Mormon and became a Mormon (a moron) herself, and she probably wears Mormon magic underwear! 

AND THEY THOUGHT I WAS NUTS???

Anyway . . . . . my mother and I, we eventually applied for low income housing, and got a two bedroom apartment in 1975 at the Doña Ana Park Apartments. Also, from September of 1975 to May of 1978, I had attended college at NMSU, New Mexico State University. I majored in physics, and took two courses in astronomy, a physic course, chemistry, and also sociology and psychology. I passed all those courses. But I had to take remedial math courses in algebra and geometry which I passed with a B+ before I could take trigonometry, which I eventually took and passed with a B+. Yeah! I had to take remedial courses in math because I didn't learn shit in that crummy high school.

I was not able to finish my degree. But at least I did have three years of college under my belt.

OK, now lets skip on ahead to the 1980s. Yeah! I'm gonna show this picture again!

There appears to be very little difference between the book burnings in Nazi Germany and the USA

Ah yes! The good ol' 1980s which was more like a repeat or a rehash of the 1950s!

OK, the only thing good about the 1980s was that it was in 1980 when COSMOS by Carl Sagan came out on the PBS network. I dearly loved watching all those 13 episodes of COSMOS and I also have the book COSMOS by Carl Sagan. Yeah! That was the only good thing about 1980. Carl Sagan's COSMOS!

But it was also the year that good ol' Ronald Bedtime For Bonzo Reagan was elected President on the Republican ticket. I remember the Reverend Jerry Falwell of the so-called Moral Majority (Moron Minority) saying . . . At long last, we now have a Christian President!

HUH? SAY WHAT???

Wasn't Jimmy Carter a Baptist? I mean, like, seriously! The last time I check, the Baptists church is also a Christian denomination, if I'm not mistaken!

Oh! The stupid! It burns!!!

And then, I remember watching the NEWS on TV and seeing scenes of book burnings reminiscent of the old Black and White scenes of the Nazi book burnings back in the 1930's, only the book burning scenes of the 1980s were in glorious living color! Otherwise, not much difference.

I remember having nightmares during the 1980s. 

Then, sometime back in 1983 or 1984, don't remember exactly when, but 
on the TV NEWS I heard about . . . . . . .

OK, allow me to introduce you to this Fascist Nazi scum-bag piece of dog-shit!!! 

Meet  Arthur Rudolph!!!

Arthur Rudolph showing a model of the Saturn V

Here is a brief quote from a Wikipedia article.

Arthur Rudolph
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arthur Louis Hugo Rudolph (November 9,1906 – January 1,1996 Hamburg) was a rocket engineer who played a key role in the development of the V-2 rocket and a former high-level Nazi given sanctuary by the US government following World War II. He was brought to the United States by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), subsequently becoming a pioneer of the United States space program. He worked for the US Army and NASA where he managed the development of several important systems including the Pershing missile and the Saturn V Moon rocket. In 1984 he was investigated for possible war crimes, and he agreed to leave the United States and renounce his US citizenship in return for not being prosecuted in the United States.

To read the rest of the article, just go to . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rudolph

So, it was back in the 1960s when this Fascist Nazi piece of human garbage was working for NASA on the Saturn V rocket that would eventually boost American astronauts on their way to the moon. Yeah! A fascinating career in science and space exploration.

But, in the meantime . . . . .

Up in northern Minnesota, in a small town, a corrupt little fiefdom, an innocent 11 year old boy was getting his head bashed against a brick wall by a lousy teacher, a sports obsessed tyrant, in an argument over an Astronomy book he was not even allowed to check out from the school library!

Yeah! Some Fascist Nazi piece of dog-shit was working on rockets for NASA while an innocent 11 year old boy up in northern Minnesota wasn't even allowed to read about what is up in the sky!!!

That 11 year old boy was ME, back in the early 1960s! I was getting pushed down to the ground and my face rubbed in the dirt!!!

Turns out, that the only reason . . . the USA managed to beat the former Soviet Union to the moon was because . . . . . NASA had THE REICH STUFF!!!

Well . . . . . that's understandable. America was saving money, cutting back expenses toward education. Why spend money to equip school science labs, such as Chemistry, Physics, and Biology labs. It's much cheaper to put up new basketball hoops and buy new football jerseys and new helmets than it is to equip all those high school science labs. Right? RIGHT!!!

And as for those students who are not good at sports . . . well . . . they can just get a job flipping burgers or mopping floor at minimum wage (or less) for the rest of their lives. And of course, the Republican party wants to save even more money, by outsourcing American jobs overseas!

Too bad we're running out of Nazis to help us with our space programs because all the Nazis are getting old and starting to croak off now.

Ah! But not to worry . . . we can still save money by importing well educated science nerds and techno-geeks from overseas! Right? RIGHT!!!

No, we just want our American kids to play sports and study the Bible, and those who are not good at sports can just flip burgers and mop floors, and pray to Jesus Fucking Christ for their daily bread dipped in thin broth.

Yeah! That's the ticket!

Now, I want to introduce you to another, more contemporary, scum-bag piece of pig excrement!

None other than Don McLeroy!!!

Check out this video which I had downloaded to my computer, and re-uploaded to my own YouTube channel. The video was uploaded back in 2010, so it's old news, but still relevant.

Don McLeroy - The Creationist 

in Charge of Education in Texas

  

Description:

March 11, 2010 on ABC Nightline:

Fundamentalist Christian dentist (hey! That rhymes!) Don McLeory, promotes drastic curriculum change for school textbooks in the state of Texas.

Among some of the proposed changes would be to remove any mention of Thomas Jefferson from the history textbooks and replace him with John Calvin, a raving maniac who a few centuries ago had people tortured in the name of his religion.

This, of course, is not mentioned in the NEWS clipping on the video above, but many other purposed changes are mentioned.

Don McLeroy was eventually voted out of the Texas State Board of Education, but it's too late, because the board has selected the Textbooks that will be used for the next 10 years, so we're all, like, royally screwed!

Don McLeroy makes me ashamed to admit that I live in Texas! He is another one of those history revisionists, like Glen Beck, and David Barton. He believes that ALL the founding fathers of America were Christians. NO! They were not. Only 2 or 3 of the signers of the Deceleration of Independence were Christians, and even they thought that America should be a secular nation, and NOT a God damn theocracy!

Most of our founding fathers were either deists or agnostic, and some were openly atheists. Thomas Jefferson thought there should be a wall of separation between church and state. He even smoked marijuana, which he grew himself!!! Oh! But, Don McLeroy also wanted to have any reference to Thomas Jefferson removed from public school history books, to be replaced with John Calvin (1509-1564 CE) who advocated the use of torture in the name of God!

This Don McLeroy bears a very close resemblance to the teacher I had when I was in the 5th grade, the teacher who BASHED MY HEAD AGAINST THE CONCRETE BLOCK WALL. 

When I see him on any videos, I get flashbacks of the time when I was 11 years old in the 5th grade. I can never get over that, because I had a severe head concussion, and I had dizzy spells and headaches for years afterward from the age of 11 and through out my teenage years.

Don McLeroy had better not ever come to El Paso, Texas, where I'm presently residing, because I just might do something that might land me in jail. 

Also, Republican are against teaching critical thinking or Higher Order Thinking Skills, or what they call HOTS, because they believe it undermines parental authority.

OK, here is a brief quote from a NEWS article from back in 2012.

In the you-can’t-make-up-this-stuff department, here’s what the Republican Party of Texas wrote into its 2012 platform as part of the section on education:

Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority. 

Yes, you read that right. The party opposes the teaching of “higher order thinking skills” because it believes the purpose is to challenge a student’s “fixed beliefs” and undermine “parental authority.”

It opposes, among other things, early childhood education, sex education, and multicultural education, but supports “school subjects with emphasis on the Judeo-Christian principles upon which America was founded.”
  
Yeah! Some more CENSORSHIP!!!

To read the rest of the article, just go to this website at . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/texas-gop-rejects-critical-thinking-skills-really/2012/07/08/gJQAHNpFXW_blog.html 
 
Oh, and here is a really good one for ya!!!

In algebra, we are taught about the associative and distributive properties of numbers and equations. Those are actually fun to work with once you know how.

But recently, right-wing conservative fuck-tards have come out against teaching the distributive properties of numbers in algebra! I kid you not!!!

OK, here is another YouTube video, this one is by TYT, The Young Turks.

Fox News: Algebra is Liberal Agenda!

Published on Jan 11, 2013
 
Fox News host Eric Bolling on Wednesday accused some schools of "pushing the liberal agenda" for teaching an algebra lesson about the distributive property.

During a segment about "indoctrination in schools," Bolling reminded viewers of a 2009 video of children chanting, "Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Barack Hussein Obama," which outraged conservatives at the time.

Distributive property- do you know what it is? It's a normal part of learning algebra in school, but Fox News' Eric Bolling says its obviously to indoctrinate kids with liberal agenda, and Greg Gutfeld has some more ludicrous evidence to support that. Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian, and Ben Manckiewicz (Host, Turner Classic Movies) discuss.  

And here is another article from The Raw Story at . . .

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/eric-bolling-schools-pushing-the-liberal-agenda-by-teaching-algebra/ 

==============================

 

POLITICS, U.S. News

Eric Bolling: Schools ‘pushing the liberal agenda’ by 

teaching algebra

David Edwards
10 Jan 2013

Fox News host Eric Bolling on Wednesday accused some schools of “pushing the liberal agenda” for teaching an algebra lesson about the distributive property.

During a segment about “indoctrination in schools,” Bolling reminded viewers of a 2009 video of children chanting, “Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Barack Hussein Obama,” which outraged conservatives at the time.

“But even worse is the way some textbooks are pushing the liberal agenda,” the Fox News host explained, pointing to an algebra worksheet that Scholastic says gives students “insight into the distributive property as it applies to multiplication.”    

“Distribute the wealth!” Bolling exclaimed, reading the worksheet. “Distribute the wealth with the lovely rich girl with a big ole bag of money, handing some money out.”

Co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle explained that the algebra worksheet had put her on “high alert” for the liberal agenda in her 6-year-old son’s curriculum.

“Barack Hussein Obama. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm,” Guilfoyle added to mock the so-called indoctrination video.

Co-host Dana Perino also expressed concern over an effort to stop children from role playing “cowboys and Indians” at Thanksgiving because experts say that “the historic enemy of Indians was not cowboys, but the U.S. government.”

“So it starts in third grade and guess what happens?” Bolling remarked. “Through their whole educational experience, they continually get indoctrinated, even through college.”

“Everybody has anecdotal evidence of this,” co-host Greg Gutfeld agreed. “I think the only way leftism can survive is through indoctrination because its number one adversary is reality. So you got to get them young and it’s perfect for kids. Paul Krugman’s logic is child’s play: Share your stuff . . . A lot of this comes from the teachers. They get their news from The Huffington Post and their antiperspirant from a health food store. This is the way they live.”

Bolling advised parents to read their children’s history books because his son’s textbook addressed the Iraq war “and they were very, very liberally biased, saying George Bush went in there because he heard there were weapons of mass destruction and they were never found. It was a very liberal bias to the history books.”

“There are science teachers that if they hear that if a student is questioning, like, any kind of climate change thing, they just, like, think you’re an idiot,” Gutfeld observed.

“You guys just gave two examples of things that are right,” left-leaning co-host Bob Beckel quipped.               

============================== 

Oh! So the only way leftism can survive is through indoctrination because its number one adversary is reality? REALLY??? Gee! I always thought that reality was the number one enemy of right-wing conservationism and Christian Fundamentalism!!! Aren't they the ones who believe in fairy tales? Ya know! Like the talking snake the tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? 

WOW! Talk about a disconnect from reality!!! Eh?

Sorry, ye moronic right-wing Christian fuck-tards! But SCIENCE and REALITY just so happens to have a left-leaning bias, as opposed to your right-wing  infantile ga ga goo goo Creationist fairy tales in the BUY-BULL!!!

OK, I have taken courses in algebra, and geometry, and trigonometry and physics. Also doing balanced equations in chemistry. There are many math formulas that are based on the associative and distributive properties of numbers in such equations.

Without an understanding of that, if working with chemistry, for example: one could make some really fatal mistakes if you don't know how to work the chemical equations. Like, KABOOM!!!

I suggest that these moronic right-wing fuck-tards try combining Clorox Bleach with household Ammonia, and take a deep breath and see what happens! Eh?

Also, I work on my own computer. When something goes wrong, I fix it myself. I have books on electronics, and I have a multi-meter to measure voltage, amps, watts, and ohms, and I have a collection of electronic parts, such as transistors, capacitors, coils, diodes, light emitting diodes, and resistors. I also have a soldering iron, and I have a peg-board (called a breadboard) for assembling electronic circuits. For example: if you want to put together a voltage divider with series circuits and parallel circuits, you have to know algebra, and the calculations are based on algebraic formulas having associative and distributive properties to show how the voltages are distributed across the resistors in an electronic circuit.

Therefore, the distributive properties in numbers in Algebra is NOT just about the distribution of dollars and cents or wealth. NO! In electronics, it's also about the distribution of volts, amps, watts, and ohms in the wiring on a circuit board. 

And, if you can't understand the associative and distributive properties of algebraic formulas, then you can't do shit! Oh! But trying to explain that to a right-wing moronic fuck-tard would be like explaining the principles of a TV tube to a cave man!!! UGGA UGGA OOGA BOOGA!!!

So now, these right wing FOX tards think that some aspects of algebra should be censored! 

Actually, many right-wing fuck-tards think that algebra is un-American because algebra was invented by the Arabs over 2000 years ago.

Oh! I know! Lets just drop all the science and math in our schools, and just teach football and childish fables from the Bible!

To me, the Bible is just a book of fairy tales and their song, or Hymn books are just Nursery Rhymes!

No wait! Don't let kids read the Bible from cover to cove either, because they might discover that it's all BULLSHIT and reject it entirely. Uh, no! Kids should just sit down, shut the fuck up, and listen, while the pedophile pastor reads select passages to them! Yeah! That's the ticket!

Oh, and the gym coaches are there to beat the crap outta physically handicapped kids and toss them out into the streets to eat out of dumpsters when they can't find any decent jobs, due to a complete lack of education. 

Yeah! that's the ticket!

That's what Jesus fucking Christ would do! Right? RIGHT!!!

OK, I think I'm gonna up-chuck now!!! PUKE, COUGH, GAG, CHOKE, PUKE!!!

Oh yes indeed! It just keeps on getting better!

And, getting back to more book censorship again . . . as I had mentioned in one of my previous topics, which bears repeating again . . .

When Sarah Palin was once the Mayor of  Wasilla, Alaska, there was a rumor going around that Sarah Palin wanted to have some books banned from the public library.

OK, here is a list of books that Sarah Palin had allegedly tried to have banned. As many of you will notice this the great big hit parade for book burners.  

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Blubber by Judy Blume
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Christine by Stephen King
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Cujo by Stephen King
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Decameron by Boccaccio
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Forever by Judy Blume
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Impressions edited by Jack Booth
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
It’s Okay if You Don’t Love Me by Norma Klein
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
My House by Nikki Giovanni
My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women’s Health Collective
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Separate Peace by John Knowles
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Bastard by John Jakes
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Devil’s Alternative by Frederick Forsyth
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Living Bible by William C. Bower
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders
The Shining by Stephen King
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
Then Again, Maybe I Won’t by Judy Blume
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth 

The above information was taken from the official minutes of the Wasilla Library Board. When the librarian refused to ban any books, Sarah Palin tried to have her fired!

Well, actually . . . Sarah Palin didn't really try get all those books banned, but that, she merely inquired if any of those books could get banned. But, that's bad enough! Any duly elected official who merely advocates book censorship, or anything that violates the First Amendment of The Constitution of The United State, that official ought to be impeached and be removed from office. To me, it's bordering on treason!!!

Oh! But it gets even better!!!

You might be a Republican if . . . . .

You supported Governor Sarah Palin, partly because you believed she kept a good Christian home. This, despite the fact that her seventeen year old unmarried daughter was knocked up, her son was accused of vandalizing 44 school buses (cutting the brake lines of school buses – HELLO!!!) and was given the choice of going to jail or join the military, and Palin herself was found guilty of abusing the power of her office. But Barack Obama can’t possibly be a true Christian, because his father was a Muslim, and his middle name is Hussein. (Besides, he’s black, and everybody knows that Jesus was a blond haired blue eyed white man.

WOW! Just . . . WOW!!!

I never knew this before . . . that Sarah Palin's son, had vandalized 44 school buses, by cutting all the break lines! Does this suck, or what???

Yeah! It sucks, alright!

Well . . . . . I guess, like a typical Republican son-of-a-bitch (Republican bitch, that is) he is also against education. Not at all surprising, when I remember that While Sarah Palin was Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she tried to fire a highly respected City Librarian, because the Librarian had refused to consider removing from the library, some books that Sarah Palin wanted to have banned.

Yeah! More censorship!!!

Failing that, I guess her son thought he could stop kids from going to school and getting an education, by cutting the break lines on 44 school buses.

Yeah! They would much rather that innocent kids get killed, to die while still in a state of innocence (i.e. ignorance) so that they will go to Jesus to become little soldiers in the Lord's Army. Then, after the Rapture, they'll come back with flaming swords to kill all of us rotten sinners who are educated too much in science during the Apocalypse, or some crazy retarded shit like that!

Oh gee! Am I being too cynical???

Bottom line!

Republican are the absolute scum of the earth!!!

Well . . . that is a pretty good way to impose censorship! 

Just cut the brake lines on all the school buses so kids can't go to school and get an education! 

Yeah! That's the ticket! Doesn't get any better than that! Eh?

Way to go! Yeah! Way to go!

Oh! And it keeps on getting better all the time! NOT!!!

Here is an article concerning the new COSMOS - Space Time Odyssey by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Yeah! This is from some stupid right-wing publication.

http://nationalreport.net/kansas-black-cosmos-show-controversies/ 

==============================
NATIONAL REPORT

Kansas to Black Out “Cosmos” Show 
Over Controversies 
Posted about 6 months ago

The Fox television show COSMOS: A Spacetime Odyssey has attracted its fair share of detractors since the docudrama first aired on March 9th.  But soon, the controversy revolving around the show might reach climactic new heights, as several State senators in Kansas will propose a bill on Thursday that would force Fox affiliates in their state to black out the science show completely.

The bill, which many are expecting will pass, would force local Kansas television stations affiliated with Fox to pay steep fines for airing the program.  Should any network continue to air all thirteen episodes of the show’s first season, the State would move to revoke their broadcasting privileges completely, driving those networks off the air.

Conservative lawmakers in Kansas are, however, offering Fox a back door through which they could skirt the new law: they won’t press this law into effect if Fox will agree to immediately develop a new show, hosted by young-Earth creationist Ken Ham, which pushes the theories of so-called “intelligent design.”  This new show would need to be aired on Sunday evenings, before Cosmos, in order for the small-time Fox affiliates to avoid Kansas’ legislative wrath.

The new bill is the brainchild of an ironically-named Kansas State Senator: Tom Edison (R).  “Cosmos is a liberal brainwashing program, designed to force our children into questioning the existence of our lord and savior Jesus Christ,” Edison said during a recent interview on one of the Fox affiliates under the gun.  “It’s a keystone of the liberal agenda that America’s youth be converted into following their so-called `logic,’ so conservatism dies out in a generation or two.  Well, we aren’t going to stand for this.  We aren’t going to let this TV show ruin our children.”

Edison went on to explain all the reasons why he “hates” the TV show.  “This show has no basis in reality whatsoever.  The host goes on and on about science and scientific method, but never once does he say anything positive about Jesus.  He claims evolution and global warming are facts, not the opinions we all know them to really be.  And he very proudly tells viewers that he wants our children to question authority, question religion and faith.  This show won’t rest until all of our children are godless heathen liberals.”

His problems with Cosmos didn’t end there, either.  “I’ve been watching this show since the first episode.  They’ve gone to great lengths to claim Christianity has been terrible for science, and oppressive toward scientists.  But then, last night [April 6th], the host goes on a huge tirade about how awesome Islam is and how the Arabs were all pro-science!  So let me make sure I understand this… Christianity is evil, God doesn’t exist, and Muslims are the kindest people on Earth?  This show is a scourge, and our black out bill is the cure.”

Opponents of the bill note that it’s a clear violation of the first amendment, and the federal government may intervene with legal actions of their own should the law pass.  “This law clearly violates free speech, as well as the separation of church and state,” said a statement issued by the Justice Department.  “If we need to take this fight all the way to the Supreme Court, we’re prepared to do so.”

But Edison claims he isn’t worried about any legal action taken against the bill by the Federal government.  “Jesus will protect this bill and ensure its safe passage.  These liberal science-lovers might question the power of the almighty, but real believers in Christ know that soon, these people are going to see real evidence of the existence of God, when he delivers us from this television show.”
==============================
  
Yeah! Talk about blackmail and extortion! 

Legislators in Kansas were threatening to revoke the broadcast license of any FOX affiliate if they continued to show the new COSMOS. But they're offering a way out . . . that if they would also carry a show by Creationist, Ken Ham, an hour before the new COSMOS, then the FOX affiliates won't have to worry about losing their broadcast licenses.

But there is a problem. . . as far as I know, Ken Ham has nothing in the works to produce a new show on Creationism. OK, if Ken Ham does decide to produce a show of his own, I have nothing against that. He does have the right. But . . . the continued showing of COSMOS should not have to be contingent on that.

Again, that is blackmail and extortion!

OK, if Ken Ham does finally decide to produce a show of his own, I just might watch it for laughs! Yeah! I enjoy a good clown show now and then. I could stand a hail and hardy big fat belly laugh!!!

Well, I'm so glad that here in El Paso, Texas, our local FOX affiliate did show the new COSMOS Space Time Odyssey by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Of course, I don't have Cable TV anymore, because Time Warner kept raising the cost every month. So, I shit-canned my Cable TV. But, I can go to HULU on the Internet to watch all 13 episodes of the new COSMOS.

But . . . if my local FOX affiliate had decided not to show the new COSMOS, then I would be out there protesting, even if it meant getting arrested. I would put on my Go To Jail clothes and pack myself a great big Go To Jail sandwich and a Thermos of Go To Jail Coffee!

OK, I really hope there will be a second season. Of course, all the right-wing retards got their collective panties in a bunch. Some are saying that they might allow a second season, but only if someone else hosts the show instead of Neil deGrasse Tyson.

I say . . . NO! ABSOLUTELY NO! 

The new COSMOS belongs to Neil deGrasse Tyson. It's his baby, so only he should be doing COSMOS for the new season, assuming there is a second season, which I'm beginning to doubt. No, all you right-wing retards are crapping in your diapers because America has black President, and now, a black astrophysicist doing a show called COSMOS, and talking about the earth being 4.6 billion years old, EVOLUTION, and the universe being 13.8 billion years old.

GET OVER IT!!!

OK, perhaps another 20 or 30 years from now, there might be another new version of COSMOS which will be done by somebody else. But for the time being, I think Neil deGrasse Tyson should carry the second season. So, once again . . . GET OVER IT!!!

And now . . . . .

I have a special treat for my more mature viewers. 

Of course you little right-wing retards may stick around because I'm still not finished giving you your verbal ass-reaming. So, bend over! This is really gonna hurt!

But, just as I have promised, here's a special treat for my more mature viewers.

If you like to read some excellent works of fiction, depicting the future, then you might want to check out this series of 6 beautifully illustrated comic books, AFTER TWILIGHT, which takes place in the future, in the year 2022 when the state of Texas had succeeded from the Union, and became a bloody theocracy!

A word of warning! 

I suggest you not read these alone at night, because it might give you nightmares! That's only a suggestion. Notice that I don't say, DO NOT read, but merely suggest that you might not want to read these all alone late at night. Only a suggestion. 

Of course, if you like a real thrill, and like having the bee-jee-bers scared outta you, then just think of this as a literary roller coaster ride through an exciting adventure with lots of intrigue. In which case, go ahead and read these alone late at night. If you dare! 

MMMMMMMUUUUUUUUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

OK, this might appears as though I'm advertising a product. Well, maybe this is a sort of advertisement.

But know this . . . when I do advertise something on my web blog, I don't get one red cent, but people do get some free advertising here for their products. But I make no money off of it, because I have chosen to NOT monetize my web blog. 

Anyway, please do check out the following website AFTER TWILIGHT at . . . . .

 http://www.aftertwilightcomics.com/
 

IT'S 2022 AND TEXAS IS AT WAR WITH 
THE US TO BECOME A SEPARATE  
THEOCRATIC NATION.  

HOW DO YOU FIGHT A STATE WITH 
GOD ON ITS SIDE?

Voters in the Lone Star State have elected a fanatical theocratic government that has replaced Democracy with oppressive biblical laws and punishments. The borders are closed and the sinister religious police enforce the law with fear and violence. Young librarian Jen Frazier is thrown into the struggle between the theocracy and the underground resistance that is fighting to expose the atrocities committed by the government in God's name.

This is the dark world of AFTER TWILIGHT, an indie comic book series that describes a society where reason is outlawed and blind faith rules.


WHAT REVIEWERS ARE SAYING ABOUT AFTER TWILIGHT

"The team of writers that came together to build this terrifying world did their job well in these books . . . The art throughout these books truly succeeds in helping the reader experience the anxiety of living in the Lone Star State." 
Katrina Roets, Geek-O-Rama Blog

"Rating: 10 of 10 -- Best Comics in September (2012)" - Jef With One F, Houston Press 
(Review of Issue #6)

"A sense of dread and foreboding throughout the six-book series . . . the main characters are very well developed . . . above all, it makes you stop and think."
Old Man and Bitter Girl (podcast) (Review of Issue #6 and series)

". . . ends on a high note with Issue #6, which doesn't waste a frame . . . a thoughtful, engaging series for older teens and adult readers . . . It is a satisfying read that utilizes images to share in the storytelling in the manner of great comics." - - Hip Mama Jenn (blog) (Review of Issue #6)

". . . leaves readers breathless for the series finale . . . This is a satisfying installment in the series . . . makes us anxious to see how all the threads will be tied together in the final issue . . ."
Hip Mama Jenn (livejournal blog) (Review of Issue #5)

". . . the AT team cranked up to a level as yet unseen in this series . . . I'm telling you, this is intense! . . . AT nearly never lets their foot off the gas . . ." - Tommy Hancock, Fanboy Buzz (blog) (Review of Issue #5)

"Recommended . . . it's a cautionary tale of what could happen if we let things get out of control . . ."
R-Squared Comicz, The intersection of Christian faith and cool comics (blog)

"The flow of the story is still virtually seamless and the art team is still knocking it out of the park . . . A very strong sense of storytelling by all involved and a very unique story for the comics medium makes this series one you don't want to miss." (Review of Issue #4)

"Issue 3 was far better than I thought possible . . . a fast-paced page turner of epic proportions." (Review of Issue #3)

"Well written, well-paced, just fine storytelling . . . insanely suspenseful . . . If you're in the market for deep, dark storytelling and a commentary on society (and a well-delivered one at that) you'll want to check out this series."(Review of Issue #2)

"There's a message within which speaks of moving forward instead of backwards. A message that isn't new, but has never been portrayed so clearly before without coming off as offensive . . . Not to mention one of the coolest looking villains I've ever seen! . . . This is a good comic. You should really check it out." (Review of Issue #1) - - Tommy Hancock, Fanboy Buzz

". . . a well-crafted engaging story that eerily portrays a society overrun by self-righteous religious powerhouses who misinterpret the bible to suit their personal agenda. It's a scary, thrilling, politically charged story that is both timely and timeless."  - - Hip Mama Jenn livejournal, (Review of Issue #3)

"The religious symbols hint at a more complicated view of Christianity in this alternate, independent Texas, which parallels real life." - - Suzette Chan, Sequential Tart (Review of Issue #3)

". . . uncanny in its political relevance and impressive for pulling off a cliffhanger ending that depends on successfully dramatizing the ideas that inspired the story."

"Waiting for the trade paperback would deprive you of the fun of reading After Twilight and its shocking developments as you read about shocking developments in this very scary U.S. election year." - - Suzette Chan, Sequential Tart (two reviews)

". . . Watson has created a story with classic elements which is fresh frightening and compelling. The characters are passionate and troubled . . ." - - Hip Mama Jenn livejournal

"Douglas Brown's art remains reason alone to pick up the book, with his ability to capture barely repressed sexuality and oppressive brutality in perfect measure." - - Jef With One 
F, HOUSTON PRESS

"AFTER TWILIGHT makes for a startlingly scary, interesting and brave comic." 
girlsreadcomics.com

". . . the story flies off the pages with a frenzy . . . an urgent sense of repressed carnality" 
Jef With One F, HOUSTON PRESS 

To order this fantastic series of  the 6 comic books
AFTER TWILIGHT just click on this link below.

COMIXOLOGY

THERE IS A TWILIGHT . . .

"As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in this twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air - - however slight - - lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." 
- - Justice William O. Douglas, United States Supreme Court










A YOUNG LIBRARIAN STRIKES DEEP IN THE 
HEART OF THE TEXAS THEOCRACY
 
A senseless act of terrorism has galvanized the population of Texas, leading to the rise of a fanatical religious government. The powerful new regime establishes a one-faith theocracy and begins a reign of terror against everyone and everything deemed unholy by the state. Texas seals its borders and wages a bloody war against the United States to become a separate, extremist Christian nation. Democracy is replaced with oppressive biblical laws and unspeakable punishments. Reason is outlawed - - blind faith rules.

Jen Frazier, a young librarian, tries to stay out of trouble, hoping to remain invisible to the theocracy. All that ends after the arrest of her sister by Sgt. Streetman, the sinister head of the brutal religious police. Despite her fears, Jen joins The Underground; but her first mission is a disaster and she becomes a hunted fugitive with nowhere to turn, no one to trust. Sgt. Streetman has her in his sights and within his grasp.

But The Underground's mysterious leader has other plans for Jen to expose the atrocities committed by the theocracy in God's name. It's a dangerous and pivotal task that takes Jen deep inside Camp Purity, a hellhole of Old Testament punishments where sinners are taken for redemption . . . . . if they survive.

In a fierce, face-to-face battle, Jen finds out just how dangerous it is to fight a state with God on its side.

AFTER TWILIGHT is not an anti-faith story nor is it an anti-Christian story. It shines a spotlight on a disturbing extremism and intolerance that is growing today in our society. When church and state are combined, both are corrupted and neither fulfills its purpose. - - Gary Watso

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 ISSUE #1

Violence begets violence. There's no good end when extremism overrules reason.

In 2022, Texas is at war with the US to become a separate theocratic nation and a young librarian learns the consequences of fighting a state with God on its side.











ISSUE #2

Overcome with guilt after ignoring her kid sister's call for help, Jen Frazier joins The Underground. She defies the brutal religious police and takes on dangerous assignments. But something goes horribly wrong, and she finds out how dangerous it is to fight a state where reason is outlawed and blind faith rules.






 






 ISSUE #3

After witnessing the murderous actions of the Apparitors, Jen resolves to carry out her dangerous mission for the resistance. She's a hunted fugitive, with nowhere to turn, no one to trust. The Theocracy has Jen in its sights and within its grasp. But The Underground has other plans for her . . . is it a devil's bargain?













ISSUE #4

Welcome to Camp Purity, Jen! Leave your hopes and dreams for the future at the front door.

This is the theocracy's little secret and The Underground would like nothing more than to shine the light of truth on it. But at what cost? And who has to pay?














ISSUE #5

Is Jen on a fool's errand? She's all alone deep in the heart of Texas' sinister Camp Purity with no help in sight.

It's her walk through the valley of the shadow of death - - who's going to deliver her from evil?












ISSUE #6

It's Judgment Day, and it all comes down to a fierce face-to-face confrontation that threatens the very foundation of the brutal Texas theocracy - - and the lives of those who are courageous enough to oppose it. All eyes are on Camp Purity and this desperate battle for survival waged in the depths of hell.



  

Comics     Nu-Classic Publishing    After Twilight

After Twilight

It's 2022 and Texas is at war with the US to become a separate nation. Voters in the Lone Star State have elected a fanatical theocratic government that has replaced democracy with oppressive biblical laws and punishments. The borders are closed and the sinister religious police enforce the law with fear and violence. Young librarian Jen Frazier is thrown into the struggle between the theocracy and the underground resistance that is fighting to expose the atrocities committed by the government in God's name. This is the dark world of AFTER TWILIGHT, an indie comic book series that describes a society where reason is outlawed and blind faith rules.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




So, once again, if you would like to order these comic books AFTER TWILIGHT then just
click on the link below.

http://www.aftertwilightcomics.com/Store.html 

The price is $3.99 each. Last year, back in October of 2012, I had ordered all 6 comic books.

An excellent read!!!

Let us all just hope that nothing that was depicted in this story ever comes true. Of course all those right-wing Republican Christard Funny-mentalist would love if Texas succeeded from the Union and became a bloody theocracy where all books are banned, except the Bible.

Oh! Yes indeed! When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross!!!

The above graphic is one of my own special creations!

Ya all remember the old Betty Boop cartoons? Originally they were in Black and White from way back in the 1930s. But I decided to colorize the characters for this more modern futuristic version.

I remember how the old man, Grampy, when he had a difficult problem to solve, he would put on his old thinking cap, and sit there and concentrate. And when he finally had a good idea, coming up with a solution, the bulb on top of his thinking cap would flash. Ah! I got it!!!

Well . . . anyway . . . . . . .

I have read all 6 comics in the series of AFTER TWILIGHT and it was an excellent read and very artistically illustrated and quite surrealistic, and really creepy. It's all well worth reading.

But, I most sincerely hope that none of it ever comes to pass. It should serve as a warning as to what could very well happen. Right now, the state of Texas is in the earliest stage of the coming twilight. But, we can take steps now to prevent the twilight from coming. The comic books series only depicts a possible future, but it doesn't have to be.

But, if in the event that it does happen, I shall start making preparations.

So, what will I do, if there is a prohibition against books, not approved by Republican right-wing Christian Fundamentalists? What will I do? 

Well, I think I will become a moonshiner and a bootlegger! I would actually be carrying out an old family tradition of moon-shining and bootlegging.

OK, let me explain what I mean. 

First a little background on my family, on my father's side and my mother's side.

I will start with my mother's side first.

On my mother's side, I am German, Polish, and English, or rather, Pennsylvania Dutch English. My grandmother's maiden name was Bell. She was Pennsylvania Dutch English. My great grandfather was William S Bell who fought in the civil war, for the north. Of course he was not an officer, just an ordinary soldier. So, no big deal there. My grandmother mentioned that Alexander Graham Bell was a distant cousin. Well, to be honest, I really don't know about that. And she often bragged that her ancestors came over on the Mayflower, to which, my mother, being a teenager at the time, once said, well, it had to have been one Hell of a big boat! For which she got here face slapped! 

My grandfather on my mother side immigrated in from Germany, and he stayed at Alice Island for a few months, learning to speak English, and learning American history before he got his American citizenship. He became a railroad engineer. During the Great Depression, he was blackballed, or blacklisted  because of his involvement in Union activities in Moline, Illinois. So, he moved his family to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Oh! When my mother was in high school, she was left-handed, and she had this teacher who was a real douche-bag! He whacked the back of her left-hand with the hard edge of a wooden ruler. I'm also left-handed, but fortunately, I wasn't punished for being left-handed. No, I only got the back of my head bashed against the corner of a concrete block wall by my 5th grade teacher, a sports obsessed tyrant, in an argument over an Astronomy book I wasn't allowed to check out from the school library!

Yeah! I just gotta keep going back to that! Eh? 

Anyway, my mother voted for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, three times. The first time he ran, my mother wasn't old enough to vote yet.

So, that was my mother's side of the family.

Now, for my father's side on the family.

On my father's side, I'm French Canadian, or a Chinook, so I'm about 1/5th Iroquois Indian. My grandmother was part Iroquois. The Iroquois were not just a single tribe, but rather, a confederation of six different tribes. And they really kicked ass! All the other Canadian tribes feared them!

My grandfather and grandmother immigrated down from Canada into the USA before my father was born. So, on my father's side of the family, during the Prohibition, enacted by the 18th Amendment, when alcoholic beverages, like whiskey and beer and wine were illegal in the USA, I had moonshiners and bootleggers in my father's side of the family. My relatives up in Canada would smuggle in bootleg whiskey across the Canadian border down into the USA. My brother managed to trace our ancestry on our father's side back to the 1500's. He could afford to do the research, while I could not afford to do it myself.

So, now you know a little bit more of my family background.

Eventually the 18th Amendment was repealed, and alcohol became legal in the USA again.

Yeah! I'm actually proud to know that I have moonshiners and bootleggers in my father's side of the family! I actually think that is pretty cool!!! Don't you?

Yes! My family was very much against the Prohibition. We rebelled against the system! 

Now, getting back to AFTER TWILIGHT again . . . . . . .

If in the future, America becomes anything like, what is depicted in AFTER TWILIGHT there would be a Prohibition against any kind of books, movies, or music that is NOT approved by all the right-wing Christian Fundamentalists. All kinds of books would be outlawed.

And if that ever happens . . . I will become an outlaw!

When books are outlawed, only outlaws will read books! I will become an outlaw!

Yeah! I will wanna be a gangsta! A fat, cigar smoking, bald-headed gangsta, wearing a nice white shirt, a blue necktie, a dark blue pinstripe suit, and a really cool looking hat like the gangsters or mobsters wore back in the 1920s or 1930s. Yeah! I will wanna be a gangsta!

I will sell bootleg books, and bootleg DVDs and  bootleg CD music discs that right-wing Christian Fundamentalist don't approve of! 

I will go underground!

I'll get friends who will help me in this racket! 

Yeah! I'll be a racketeer! I will want to set up an underground printing press, or copy books to CD ROM discs. I'll give a whole new meaning to making book! A whole new meaning to being a bookie!

Then, me and the boys, (and gals too) we will travel all over the USA, slipping CD ROM and DVD discs into mail boxes in residential areas, everywhere we go!

Yeah! Uh huh! That's what I'll do! And you can make book on that!

So, are any of ya mugs out there readin' all this? Are ya with me, or not?

HEY! How do ya like my gangsta lingo!!!

I think I got it down pat. 

We will be known as The Orion Gang, or The Orion Mob!

Yeah! I wanna be a gangsta!

I wanna be a gangsta!

I wanna be a gangsta!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ENDS VILLE ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

   

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