Happy banned books week! Now is the time to stick up for your right to do whatever the heck you want to do and read a banned book. I am currently reading 'Crime and Punishment' (just could not read Ulysses on trains) and while I am not sure if it was ever banned I would bet plenty of people have challenged it as public reading.

A few quotes I found about banned books:

"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it."- Mark Twain

Zing.

"Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people."-German poet Heinrich Heine

This was written in 1821 and is creepy because, well, it is just what the Nazis did decades later.

I am no longer a football fan. This is a hard decision for me because I played football, and quite well, for a large part of my life. Michael Vick put me over the edge, or should I say all the hoopla surrounding him here in Philly. I do believe in second chances for most things but Michael Vick was malicious. If dog fighting is what a certain group of people do for fun with dogs that have been trained to fight, then fine, I get it. It is probably done all over the world and we murder animals for meat and eat the meat and life goes on. This guy admits to getting off from hanging dogs over tree branches and electrocuting and torturing them. Again, malicious, and cannot be forgiven.

I also think the NFL is so over the top on advertising and on trying to make us think these players are so great and should be idolized, only to drain money from our pockets. I can't stand the touchdown...commerical...kick off...commercial, and sometimes one or two plays then another commercial. I can not waist 4 hours of my week sitting there anymore. I am done.

To be positive, after the Phillies won their forth straight division title last night Ryan Howard told everyone to hold up so that Halladay, Sweeney, and Schiender, three players who have never had the chance to celebrate like that before, could be the first to pop the champagne and start the party. This is classy. Go Phils.