{"id":369,"date":"2011-01-06T05:00:13","date_gmt":"2011-01-06T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=369"},"modified":"2011-12-12T09:45:47","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T16:45:47","slug":"is-presenting-freeing-jeffersons-slaves-for-banned-book-week-a-fair-housing-violation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/369\/is-presenting-freeing-jeffersons-slaves-for-banned-book-week-a-fair-housing-violation\/","title":{"rendered":"Freeing Jefferson’s slaves"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story<\/i><\/p>\n

“Mark Twain said, ‘In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards.'” There was a smattering of uncomfortable laughter throughout the school gymnasium, accompanied by pained looks from the dais, where the school board sat. “I’m not here to talk to practiced idiots. I am<\/i> here, though, to stand up for Huck Finn.”<\/p>\n

And yes, Uncle Willie was giving a speech. Wearing a jacket and tie, no less — finest quality thrift shop haberdashery. I was shuffling through Jefferson, Oregon, shuffling my way to somewhere less moist, when that gray and soggy city was struck by the national craze to ban Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” for using the N-word.<\/p>\n

The N-word, in case you were wondering, is “nigger”. Not “north”. Not “nitrogen”. Not even “nebulous nincompoop non-communication”. It’s “nigger”. I think it says something rather profound about the life of the mind in latter-day America that we have become used to conversing in meaningless euphemisms. “Intestinally deficient,” to say the least of it.<\/p>\n

Anyway, you know the story; it shows up in the papers five or six times a year. Some snotty little proto-teen decided that blowing off her homework was a human rights issue, and some sleazy little ‘educator’ made a media circus out of it. It is a testament to the progress of the Politically Correct “idea” that it is now possible to be a jackass by proxy. I showed up just as the school board members, hand-crafted idiots made with pride by a skilled and practiced god, were gearing themselves up for the predictable denouement.<\/p>\n

“And why wouldn’t<\/i> I stand up for Huck?” I asked. “In some ways I am<\/i> Huckleberry Finn. In some ways we all are. And, like Twain, ‘I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.'” More laughter, maybe a little better humored.<\/p>\n

I had a copy of “Huckleberry Finn” in my hand and I was gesturing with it like a TV preacher with his bible. I said, “You can ban this book if you want to. You’ve got the power and I can’t stop you from using Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story “Mark Twain said, ‘In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards.’” There was a smattering of uncomfortable laughter throughout the school gymnasium, accompanied by pained looks from the dais, where the school board sat. “I’m not here to talk to practiced idiots. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-casual-friday","7":"category-egoism-in-action","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2798,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2798\/memo-to-eperkscom-you-idiots-shooting-yourself-in-the-foot-in-public-is-a-poor-way-to-defend-your-reputation-such-as-it-is\/","url_meta":{"origin":369,"position":0},"title":"Memo to ePerks.com: You idiots! Trying to censor a real estate weblogger is a poor way to defend your reputation — such as it is…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"[I'm kicking this back up to the top. At the time I wrote this, I thought it might be enough to make the jackasses at ePerks.com come to their senses. Apparently not. If you are a real estate weblogger, and if you don't want some sleazoid attorney pulling these stunts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.paypal.com\/en_US\/i\/scr\/pixel.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18590,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18590\/overnight-news-gaming-artificial-intelligence-is-as-easy-as-selling-your-white-elephant-to-an-ibuyer\/","url_meta":{"origin":369,"position":1},"title":"Overnight News: Gaming \u201cArtificial Intelligence\u201d is as easy as selling your white elephant to an\u00a0iBuyer.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a true fact about iBuying: The sellers are gonophs. Home-sellers are often gonophs, of course, and, even if not, the information asymmetry runs all their way: Neither your Buyer's Agent nor your home inspector is likely to identify that semi-annual drainage problem. But many of the sellers who turn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18559,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18559\/overnight-news-platos-kitchen\/","url_meta":{"origin":369,"position":2},"title":"Overnight News: Plato\u2019s Kitchen.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We move officially, residence and office, on Friday. Miss Chioux is with us all week to help push the process along, and I'm delighted to have her spending time in both places, to get her acclimated to the new house. I am amazed at my own consideration. I am good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15353,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15353\/an-open-letter-to-el-queso-grande-if-you-lay-down-with-dogs-you-wake-up-with-fleas-which-is-news-to-no-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":369,"position":3},"title":"An open letter to El Queso Grande: If you lay down with dogs, you wake up with fleas — which is news to no one.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: \"Oh, dear! An NAR committee I am very proud to brag about belonging to is composed of clueless idiots. Whatever shall I do?\" A: Ahem. I swear I'm not making this shit up. Witness:\"It\u2019s time to do something different.\"Jeesh... \u00a0(H\/T Linda Davis.)","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15452,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15452\/ramblin-gamblin-willie-goes-straight-to-jail-meanwhile-he-has-a-new-book-of-short-stories-out-for-christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":369,"position":4},"title":"Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie goes straight — to jail. Meanwhile, he has a new book of short stories out for Christmas.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"William F.X. O'Connell -- that's Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie to you -- has been making a game effort to go straight over the past few years. This paid off in abundance this morning, when he finally managed to get himself arrested. Meanwhile, just yesterday Willie published a collection of his outrageously\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Casual Friday"","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8912,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/8912\/the-case-for-twitter-really-fast\/","url_meta":{"origin":369,"position":5},"title":"The Case For Twitter, Really Fast","author":"Chris Johnson","date":"June 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"House Hunting? in Ohio? or maybe LandLord Problems In Pittsburgh? What if your: \"Rate Went Up\" maybe you want to \"Look At Another House\" Whatever you do, don't be a \"Stupid Realtor\" These people are BEGGING for some help.\u00a0 They are SCREAMING for it. And you can fish though and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15451,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions\/15451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}