Another example that Waco is Wacko.

Texas: The State of Willful Ignorance.

Films such as Fahrenheit 9/11, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Shut Up and Sing are informally but effectively banned from all theaters, video rental stores and most retail outlets. As apparently are new ideas, scientific information inconsistent with doctrine, and you know, "gays and stuff."

The only bastion, embattled though it may be, is the library. Thank God for libraries and librarians.

A writer for the Waco Tribune-Herald writes about his efforts to find a viewing copy of Shut Up and Sing, and his appreciation of the liberty libraries afford the citizenry.

I kept waiting for "Shut Up and Sing" to pop up on the "new releases" marquee at the video rental I patronize. When I asked, an employee told me that the store had abstained because of the film's controversial theme.

I tried to confirm this assertion with a regional manager. I found that getting ahold of someone who would confirm or deny this assertion was like asking to interview Dick Cheney without Fox News credentials.

It seems that in Texas, or at least in Waco, the tag line for Shut Up and Sing is official policy: Freedom of speech is fine, as long as you don't do it in public.

I'm guessing the reason they say "don't mess with Texas" is that Texas can be like the giant retard Lenny in Of Mice and Men. He's kindly stupid, but big and dangerous. On in this case, willfully ignorant and heavily armed.

Or maybe it was the only thing the Chamber of Commerce could come up with that rhymed. We should have named the territory Orange.

Of course, the more open-minded and edumacated citizens excepted. And good luck.