The Supremes Rule!

Does Justice Scalia read my blog? (See my comments concerning Grimm's Fairy Tales and Grand Theft auto on June 14). 

I doubt it. But in the 6/27/2011 opinion of the Supreme Court, striking down California's law against  'the sale or rental of “violent video games” to minors', the good Justice sites similar concerns... and comparisons.

From the opinion....................
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California’s argument would fare better if there were a longstanding tradition in this country of specially restricting children’s access to depictions of violence, but there is none. Certainly the books we give children to read—or read to them when they are younger—contain no shortage of gore. Grimm’s Fairy Tales, for example, are grim indeed. As her just deserts for trying to poison Snow White, the wicked queen is made to dance in red hot slippers “till she fell dead on the floor, a sad example of envy and jealousy.” The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales 198 (2006 ed.). Cinderella’s evil stepsisters have their eyes pecked out by doves. Id. , at 95. And Hansel and Gretel (children!) kill their captor by baking her in an oven. Id. , at 54.
High-school reading lists are full of similar fare. Homer’s Odysseus blinds Polyphemus the Cyclops by grinding out his eye with a heated stake. The Odyssey of Homer, Book IX, p. 125 (S. Butcher & A. Lang transls. 1909) (“Even so did we seize the fiery-pointed brand and whirled it round in his eye, and the blood flowed about the heated bar. And the breath of the flame singed his eyelids and brows all about, as the ball of the eye burnt away, and the roots thereof crackled in the flame”). In the Inferno, Dante and Virgil watch corrupt politicians struggle to stay submerged beneath a lake of boiling pitch, lest they be skewered by devils above the surface. Canto XXI, pp. 187–189 (A. Mandelbaum transl. Bantam Classic ed. 1982). And Golding’s Lord of the Flies recounts how a schoolboy called Piggy is savagely murdered by other children while marooned on an island. W. Golding, Lord of the Flies 208–209 (1997 ed.).

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So... Mastercard/Visa desire not 'sully' their reputation by abetting the sale 'non consensual' material. Well, it seems much adolescent fare can be subject to their rather broad net.

The Irony

Lulu is where my most extreme stuff is offered. Stories which do not meet the criteria of Pink Flamingo.

So the irony is rather amusing... that the Lulu books remain readily available and the prudes of MC/Visa have vanquished the more mainstream acceptable material.

Sites still offering my stuff

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'Ship of Remorse' passes muster

In viewing the Pink Flamingo site, it seems all my books (some 34? not sure of the number) do not pass the Mastercard Visa criteria except for 'Ship of Remorse', a Fem/fem forced lactation story (hope the MC/Visa reviewers enjoy THAT theme).

So, whereas I have endeavored to write and entertain readers over the many years it seems I must now write for MC and Visa.

But why should I be upset? I can read my stuff any time. It's you readers who are out. No more freedom of choice. You can buy anything you want as long as MC/Visa approves.

Not sure how MC/Visa are going to approach the likes of Lulu. Probably over 1,000,0000 publications listed there, mainly bad poetry as the founder of Lulu has suggested. So start your search MC/Visa...

And why are the main stream websites excluded from this mandate? Does Amazon have a little too much putdown power to be toyed with in this manner?

Have to make a decision on 'Tagged'. It was due to be published beginning of July.

More absurdity

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Mastercard/Visa influencing your taste in reading

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