Self-censorship is the only, barely acceptable kind. And even then…

Fear. They're afraid of the consequences and ramifications of the masses being privy to something indicting.

Definitely. The most glaring example is Green Party senatorial candidate Aaron Dixon. In the fall of 2006, Seattle's NBC affiliate, KING-5 insisted that every senatorial candidate who wished to participate in its televised debate on October 17th have received at least $1-million dollars in donations. Dixon couldn't afford such an amount and as a result he was arrested when he tried to attend anyway! De facto censorship like this is not supposed to happen in "the land of the free"!

We don't have free speech, we have expensive speech and grasping that is the key to understanding American-style censorship -- as opposed to the archetypal censorship of Stalin.

An example of corporate style censorship would be the "Health Care Olympics". Michael Moore produced an episode of "TV Nation" where the care of a broken limb was timed and tracked like an Olympic event. Between Cuba, Canada, and America, Cuba came in first and Canada second. But NBC gave Moore the following choice: censor the fact that Cuba won or the episode will never air. In the episode that did air, Canada won. I love the irony. Supposedly, America is so superior to Cuba and yet an American station acts as Stalinistic as Castro.

It depends on the situation. Children see their parents drive cars all the time, but they know better than to get behind the wheel. Children hear grownups curse, but know better than to repeat those words out loud. I'm not a parent, but if I was I'd probably take a "do as I say, not as I do" approach. Does that make sense?

That's a grey area. What's considered dangerous? As a feminist, I personally find it very dangerous that Britney Spears and Hanna Montana are the new bread and circuses. I know where you're going with this and here's my official policy: the Terminator films and video games like Grand Theft Auto should be off-limits to anyone under the age of eighteen just like any love scene. Ban them both.

Chalk it up to America's puritanical, witch-burning beginnings. I think the operative word is "curse," as in being cursed and damned to Hell -- the most powerful fear there is. Except, to my knowledge, the Bible doesn't say anything about curse words one way or the other. "Don't take the Lord's name in vain," is about as close as you're going to get.

Yoda once said the Dark Side is quicker, easier and more seductive. It's quicker, easier and more seductive for today's so-called Christians to be petty and pick on something ultimately trivial like a curse word -- as opposed to taking on real [problems] like poverty, which kills thousands of people everyday.

I wish I was bigger! Cindy Sheehan quit and yet she's an icon. I've been at this for over two decades and yet I'm still obscure! Goes to show white women are more powerful than black men. But this ain't ego talking...if I were to somehow circumvent all this corporate censorship which has plagued my career for years and became a really successful author, I'd give three-fourths of what I make to charity. My role model is the late, great Marlon Brando.

I read in a eulogy about how Brando donated money to First Nations after the Wounded Knee incident. Brando donated money to the Black Panther Party. And the only way Brando could afford to do that is because he was famous.

There have only been three conflicts worth fighting and dying for in the past hundred years: The Spanish Civil War, the Cuban Revolution, and the battle of Cuito Cuanavale.

In 1988 the battle at Cuito Cuanavale (Angola) was fought so the South African apartheid system could be weakened enough for Mandela's movement to thrive. Castro provided assistance, even though it was risky for Cuba to send military forces overseas. After he was freed, Mandela traveled to Cuba and paid homage.

That having been said, this current Iraqi invasion/occupation is a lie. And then there's Abu Ghraib and the use of white phosphorus on civilians in Fallujah. The list of sins goes on and on and on.

Immediately withdraw all military personnel and especially the contractors like Halliburton. Maintain no permanent bases. Replace soliders with volunteers -- pacifists whose sole function would be to do humanitarian work. Imagine thousands of Mother Teresa clones scouring the countryside looking for good deeds to do. Pay reparations by allowing the Iraqi people -- and only the Iraqi people -- to own their own oil to do as they see fit with it under the condition that they unite as a single, nationalistic entity. No Shiite vs. Sunni, Blood vs. Crip.

A wide variety of genres and disciplines, but a better question would be why I write. I write because I'm too wimpy and cowardly to follow the path of John Brown, Che Guevara, and the Black Panthers. I come across the way I do because I'm overcompensating since I seriously doubt the pen is actually mightier than the sword. I suspect that when I die, Che will be waiting for me outside the gates of Paradise lookin' ta beat my ass silly like a bully on the playground for deluding myself into thinking that cartoons and science fiction could ever take the place of revolution.