Free Republic

After giving a keynote speech this week at the American Library Association's annual convention, science fiction author Ray Bradbury joined a growing list of international writers and human rights activists in condemning the persecution of Cuba's Independent Library Project. The American Library Association, or ALA, has ignored a request by imprisoned Cuban counterparts to demand leader Fidel Castro release them, but the author of "Fahrenheit 451" responded after viewing evidence of court-ordered book burning. "I stand against any library or any librarian anywhere in the world being imprisoned or punished in any way for the books they circulate," Bradbury said....

PHILADELPHIA -- In a county where a courthouse plaque of the Ten Commandments led to a long battle in the federal courts, a new summer reading program is causing a controversy over the role of religion in secular life. Critics contend that "Missing Heaven," the book chosen for the new Chester County reading program, has faith in God as a central theme. At least two groups have voiced concerns about the choice, and county commissioners -- who first endorsed the selection -- have apologized, saying they had not read it and were not fully versed on the story line. Opposition...

Why do we need Mother's Day anyway? Just kidding! I'm staying away from controversial topics for a while. For starters, I don't have time to read all the responses. In my last column, I questioned the need for taxpayer-funded libraries, considering that books are readily available at low prices from private sources such as Amazon.com. You could say the column did not receive overwhelming approval. In fact, for the next 2½ weeks, my computer continually flashed at me: "You have mail!" It might as well have said: "Another angry librarian!" Many of the replies were long and detailed. I almost...

Pasadena Independent School District superintendent Dr. Rick Schneider has banned the book "Forever" by popular children's author Judy Blume from the shelves of libraries within the district. The book had previously been found in the collections of one intermediate and three high schools. Advertisement "It is never an easy decision to pull a book from the shelves. The superintendent has the responsibility to put materials in the system that are educationally suitable and appropriate. In this particular case, after reading the book, he felt that, though the theme is not unsuitable certain passages are and decided to remove the book,"...

RICHMOND — Lawmakers in Virginia will consider legislation that would require all public libraries to install filters on computers that would screen out sexually explicit Web sites. "Protecting children from online predators must be a priority," said Delegate Samuel A. Nixon Jr., Chesterfield Republican, who authored the bill. "It's a sad fact that child exploitation is one of the fastest-growing threats. ... Something needs to be done." Mr. Nixon said Internet filters are inexpensive, easy to use, and do not violate constitutional rights. The bill is part of the Family Foundation's legislative agenda for this year's session, which begins tomorrow....

[What] prompted Fidel Castro to order the Christmas decorations dismantled... was the light display forming the number 75. That's how many political dissidents Castro rounded up in March 2003 and threw into Cuban jails. At their trials, these librarians, journalists and peaceful political activists received sentences of up to 28 years. Now a loosely connected international movement of librarians is refusing to forget their Cuban colleagues. One inspiring example comes from the town of Vermillion, South Dakota, whose public library is sponsoring the independent -- that is, not government-run -- Dulce Maria Loynaz Library in Havana. The Loynaz Library was...

NORTH BERWICK, Maine — Plans for freshman at Noble High School to read J.D. Salinger’s "The Catcher in the Rye" in January may be in jeopardy following Thursday night’s School Administrative District 60 Board of Directors meeting. Andrea B. Minnon, a Lebanon parent whose 14-year-old son, Spencer, is a freshman at the high school, demanded the book be pulled from the curriculum because of its content. She submitted a Citizen’s Challenge of Educational Media form to the board outlining her problems with the book’s place in public schools. Minnon explained she never read the book but scanned through it and...

The state Legislature has sent to the governor an Internet pornography bill.... The anti-pornography bill sponsored by former Rep. Allan Egolf, R-86, would withhold a portion of state funding from public schools or libraries that do not adopt policies to prevent students and employees from sending, receiving, viewing or downloading visual depictions of obscenity, child pornography or material harmful to minors, Egolf says in a written statement. Under the proposed law, library boards would be responsible for implementing and enforcing their policies with the use of access-blocking software, Egolf says. The bill passed the House in June by a vote...

At one time American libraries stood at the heart of community education, forming in a positive way the minds and character of our youth, changing lives for the better. But sadly, the traditional mission of these august institutions of learning for generations of Americans is disappearing as they gradually turn into indoctrination centers against the United States and Israel. One of the main reasons for this tragic and disturbing turn of events is the American Library Association, where a clique of leftists has taken over, dedicating itself to padding libraries across America with anti-Israel books, videos and other materials, excluding...

Statement from ALA President-Elect Michael Gorman on the destruction of Department of Justice documents CHICAGO -- The following statement has been issued by President-Elect Michael Gorman, representing President Carol Brey-Casiano, who is currently in Guatemala representing the Association: Last week, the American Library Association learned that the Department of Justice asked the Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents to instruct depository libraries to destroy five publications the Department has deemed not "appropriate for external use." The Department of Justice has called for these five public documents, two of which are texts of federal statutes, to be removed from depository libraries...

A few days ago my daughter related how she took my ten-year-old Grandson to the Eau Gallie, FL (near Melbourne) public library to check out some books. She turned him loose in the kids' section while she looked for some books for herself. A while later, they each took their stack of books to the counter, checked them out, and went home. My daughter didn't inspect his choices any farther than the covers - big mistake. This is one of the books he chose (cool cover, right?): Gunsmith Cats: Bonnie & Clyde by Kenichi Sonoda Published by Dark Horse Comics"Meet...

local6.com Clarke Calls Iraq War 'Enormous Mistake' POSTED: 10:12 PM EDT June 26, 2004 UPDATED: 10:25 PM EDT June 26, 2004 ORLANDO, Fla. -- The invasion of Iraq was an "enormous mistake," costing untold lives, strengthening al-Qaida and breeding a new generation of terrorists, former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke said Saturday. "We did exactly what al Qaida said we would do -- invade and occupy an oil-rich Arab country that wasn't threatening us in any way," Clarke said before giving the keynote address at the American Library Association's annual convention in Orlando. "The hatred that has been engendered...

Ann Sparanese, a member of the governing Council of the American Library Association, has written a letter to the Voice criticizing my columns about Fidel Castro's prison sentences of 20 and more years for 75 Cuban dissenters, including 10 independent librarians. To her credit, she says, "I don't have the right to speak for the entire American Library Association." She is exercising her First Amendment right to speak for herself—the basis for the intellectual freedom, including the freedom to read, that until now the ALA has considered fundamental to people everywhere. At an upcoming midwinter meeting in San Diego, from...

Contact: Larra Clark Press Officer 312-280-5043 For Immediate Release June 22, 2004 ALA hosts special screening of "Fahrenheit 9/11" for members, attendees at Annual Conference in Orlando Proceeds to benefit association's intellectual freedom, USA PATRIOT Act education efforts (CHICAGO) The American Library Association (ALA) will host a special benefit screening of "Fahrenheit 9/11" for members and attendees at the 2004 Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, 10 p.m. in the Orlando Convention Center Auditorium. The screening is an encore of sorts for Moore, who previewed "Bowling for Columbine" to a standing-room-only crowd two years ago and met Ann Sparanese...

Last June at their annual convention, the American Library Association was presented with two resolutions concerning the jailing of 14 private librarians in Castro’s Cuba. Because it “lacked sufficient information,” the ALA delayed its decision until January. And then it refused to act, even on its own toothless resolution which called on Castro to “respect human rights,” but did not demand that the jailed librarians be set free. These brave souls had been thrown into Castro’s prisons for the “crime” of collecting books and making them available free to the public. Of course their real crime was including such classic...

'What Does Hentoff Know of the Real Cuba?'The Cuban people are the freest people on Earth.—Ignacio González Planas, Cuban minister of information and communications, Juventud Rebelde, January 18 Years ago, at the Cuban mission to the United Nations, I asked the revolutionary Cuban icon Che Guevara, who professed not to understand English, "Can you conceive of any time in the future when there will be free elections in Cuba?" Not waiting for the translator, Guevara laughed heartily at my simplemindedness. "In Cuba?" He said, and moved on. All these years, there have been men and women in Fidel Castro's prisons...

Homeless man's pastor told police of assaultHours after police say he attacked an 8-year-old girl, Brian McCutcheon called his minister for guidance. Brian McCutcheon called his pastor Saturday night and told him that he had done something bad, something he was ashamed about. He needed to talk. Then the pastor saw news reports of the attack at a Center City library, in which an 8-year-old girl was beaten, sexually assaulted, and left unconscious behind a toilet. "My heart was just ripped out," said Richard Knox, who ministers to the homeless with Fellowship Tabernacle Community Church in North Philadelphia. "I knew...

<p>A 19-year-old Springfield man has confessed to setting the Jan. 19 fire that damaged computer equipment and thousands of books at the Library Center, police said Sunday.</p> <p>Jared Pearce Rupp was released from the Greene County Jail on $10,000 bond on Sunday after Springfield police arrested and questioned him on Saturday.</p>

The Abandoned Librarians Castro's Judges Burn Books 'Lacking Usefulness' January 29th, 2004 1:30 PM Carla Hayden, president of the American Library Association: "committed to intellectual freedom," with certain exceptions (Hilary Schwab Photography) s I've been reporting in this column, there has been a fierce civil war within the American Library Association as to whether that body—the largest organization of librarians in the world—will help free the 10 librarians locked up in Fidel Castro's gulag for the next 20 or more years for making available to Cubans such subversive documents as the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and George...

On January 14th, the American Library Association (ALA), which is the world's largest library union, tacitly approved of Fidel Castro's March 2003 arrests and persecution of dissidents when they brushed aside the fate of 14 jailed Cuban Independent Library members, who had copies of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights and George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm in their possession. Visiting the ALA's San Diego winter meeting was Cuban librarian Gisela Delgado Sablon, whose husband is one of the librarians jailed. Sablon begged the ALA to demand the dissidents' release from their 20-year prison terms and an amendment calling...

<p>Although Fidel Castro has imprisoned 10 independent librarians for such crimes against the state as circulating copies of the United Nations' International Declaration of Human Rights and George Orwell's "1984," the leadership of the American Library Association (ALA) — the world's largest organization of librarians — has been resisting calls by some ALA members to urge the Cuban dictator to let them out.</p>

A bitter, months-long dispute within the American Library Association — the largest nation-based organization of librarians in the world — continues as to whether to demand that Fidel Castro release 10 imprisoned independent librarians found guilty of making available to Cubans copies of George Orwell's 1984 and the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights. Along with 65 other Cuban dissenters, the ''subversive'' librarians were sentenced to 20 or more years in Castro's gulag. Some urgently need medical attention, which they're not receiving. At the ALA's annual midwinter meeting this month in San Diego, Karen Schneider, a member of the ALA's...

U.S. librarians are turning their backs on fellow librarians now suffering imprisonment in Castro's jails. At its national meeting in San Diego this week, the American Library Association,(ALA) the nation's largest organization of U.S. librarians, chose not to demand that Castro release Cuban librarians jailed by Cuba's communist government last spring despite their association's previous vote to support an investigation of the incarcerations by United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the Washington Times reported. Resorting to a technicality that the Cubans who operate private libraries consider themselves "political dissidents" and not librarians, the notoriously liberal ALA omitted language that would...

American association rejects request for condemnation of Castro The American Library Association refused to respond yesterday to a plea from independent book lenders imprisoned in Cuba to demand that dictator Fidel Castro release them and end a crackdown on free expression. As WorldNetDaily reported, 14 members of Cuba's Independent Library project were arrested last March on charges that included making available the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and books such as George Orwell's "Animal Farm." A joint task force of the American Library Association, which ended its mid-winter meetings in San Diego yesterday, refused to act on the plea from...

Printed below is a translation of a message to ALA Pres. Carla Hayden from Margarita Bellas, the president of ASCUBI, Cuba's official librarians' association. The original text was just published on a Spanish librarians' listserv. The worried tone of this message seems to offer evidence that the Cuban government is concerned about a possible turnaround in ALA policy toward Cuba, resulting in a condemnation of Cuba at the ALA conference in San Diego next week. [message from Margarita Bellas, President of ASCUBI] City of Havana, January 6, 2004 Year of the 45th Anniversary of the Triumph of the Revolution Ms....

In previous columns on the media's often belated and fragmentary coverage of the Bush-Ashcroft-Mueller-Rumsfeld war on the Bill of Rights, I've noted a weakening of the journalistic standard of following up on vital stories. Caught on the treadmill of the 24-hour news cycle, much of television, radio, and even the print press, tells us more about Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson than about the administration's expanding plans to shred our privacy, along with many other liberties, in the sanctified name of national security. The exceptions among journalists include Bill Moyers, whose weekly program, Now, on PBS (channel 13 in New...

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Martha Freeman got the bad news at lunch from her publisher and literary agent. Although "The Trouble With Babies" had received good reviews, the sales of her children's book about a young San Francisco girl were poor compared with the first title in her series, and the paperback rights would not be sold. But more stunning was the reason: A brief passage buried in the book about two gay fathers and their adopted son apparently had discouraged many librarians from buying the title. Although they had enthusiastically purchased Freeman's previous book, "The Trouble With Cats," the...

In the July 2003 issue of The Progressive, a monthly magazine for which I write, there was an ad: "Anti-War, Social Justice and Human Rights Advocates Oppose Repression in Cuba." The signers were a number of prominent, persistent critics of Bush, Ashcroft, and others in the government. Among them: Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Matt Rothschild (editor of The Progressive), the late Edward Said, and Cornel West. They oppose the Bush embargo and other economic sanctions on Cuba, but they condemn: "The arrests of scores of opponents of the Cuban government for their nonviolent political activities, and the shockingly long prison...

The nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization is blasting officials at a Connecticut public library for censoring Jesus. Artist Mary Morley was asked by officials at the Meriden Public Library to display an exhibit of artwork titled "Vision, Hopes, and Dreams." The exhibit included paintings of a Nativity scene, Jesus carrying the cross, His crucifixion and resurrection, and Christ with a halo. Portraits of Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Moses, and the prophet Elijah were also included. But library officials said the five images of Jesus were not permitted because they were "inappropriate" and "offensive." Louis Giovino with the...

<p>A Chantilly High School student says his English teacher instructed the class to repeat a common two-word profanity 10,000 times as a way of desensitizing them to its appearance in the novel "Catcher in the Rye."</p> <p>Jeff Daybell, 17, a senior at Chantilly, said he brought the incident to the attention of school administrators because he was shocked at the teacher's instructions.</p>

The head of the city schools librarians association told the Huntsville school board that requiring teachers to put a warning advisory on books would discourage reading and limit classroom discussion. School officials recently asked Huntsville teachers to examine novels and other reading assignments for controversial content. Teachers are supposed to mark the controversial books with an asterisk on the students' reading lists. Kimberley Jones, president of the librarians association, said the warning advisory conflicts with a school system policy that already allows parents to challenge a controversial book. The policy provides for a review process by a committee that usually...

<p>At last, the Archie McPhee novelty company in Seattle is about to start shipping to stores the latest addition to its eclectic roster of action figures. Soon to join Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein, Stainboy, the Albino Bowler and other toys not likely to be found in the collections of Incredible Hulk aficionados: the Librarian. Modeled after Nancy Pearl, the Seattle-area bibliothecary who in 1998 launched the popular "one city reads one book" campaign, the five-inch-tall Librarian wears a long skirt and sensible shoes. This being an action figure, she also -- if you press a button on her back -- swings a finger up to her lips in a shushing motion.</p>

<p>Tucked behind the circulation desk at the library on the campus of California State University, Sacramento, there is a simple red binder labeled "Search Warrant Procedures."</p> <p>Inside are copies detailing exactly how library workers are to respond if the FBI shows up asking for information about the reading habits of library patrons.</p>

<p>The Justice Department's claim that the Patriot Act has never been used to search public library records came as a surprise to the American Library Association, which says it runs contrary to previous reports.</p> <p>"After all of the allegations and all of the conversations with officials of the Justice Department that led us to believe there was a high level of activity, we wonder what this really means," said Emily Sheketoff, the association's executive director.</p>

<p>Attorney General John Ashcroft denounced as "hysteria" the contention by some librarians and civil liberties groups that the FBI can use a new anti-terror law to snoop into Americans' reading habits.</p> <p>In a speech Monday to an American Restaurant Association conference, Ashcroft said people are being wrongly led to believe that libraries have been "surrounded by the FBI," with agents "dressed in raincoats, dark suits and sunglasses. They stop everyone and interrogate everyone like Joe Friday.</p>

<p>It's "Back To School" time again, and here's the first pop quiz. No, it's not for the kids. It's for parents, and they have to answer only one question: Do you know what your children are learning in sex-education classes?</p>

Even as the leftist American Library Association continues to denounce anti-porn Internet filters, librarians in Minneapolis have settled their lawsuit over workplace exposure to Web smut for $435,000. "We believe the financial settlement in this case sends a strong message to libraries around the country that they must take the concerns of their employees seriously," the 12 librarians said in a joint statement. "The agreement includes changes or potential changes in several operating areas, chiefly the beefing up of penalties against Internet violators. A violator could be suspended from all city libraries for up to one year after repeated violations,...

NEWS For Immediate Release July 25, 2003 Contact: Mark Gould, PIO Director312-280-5042 CIPA Decision/Response: A statement from ALA President Carla D. Hayden and the ALA Executive Board July 25, 2003 The American Library Association (ALA) has a long-standing commitment to ensuring access to information for all. It advocates for a free and open information society and for equitable access to knowledge and information resources in all formats for all people. In December 2000, Congress passed an appropriations bill that included a requirement that any library receiving federal E-Rate or Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds would be required to...

Has the American Library Association (ALA) become Fidel Castro's latest "useful idiot"? On the surface, it seems implausible: Any organization dedicated to the uncensored dissemination of books, journals, and ideas would naturally be critical of a dictator who suppresses liberty with an iron fist. After all, a champion of open expression can't be indifferent to Castro's persecution of free thinkers, right? Well, according to several top members of the ALA, maybe not. A dispute at the association's annual conference in Toronto last month revealed a troubling obtuseness about the status of human rights in Cuba.The "controversial" issue at hand was...

Battle over library books brewing in Montgomery County ABC13 Eyewitness News (7/25/03 - MONTGOMERY COUNTY) — The Montgomery County Commissioners Court will answer questions over censorship Monday. They're voting on a new plan to limit what books go into the children's section at the library. Judge Alan Sadler wants to protect kids from what he calls objectionable material, so he is proposing the county start a system similar to that of the movie industry. Under the plan, kids would be able to check out books in the "G" section, but parents would have to check out books that are...

I just returned from a library in Pasco County, FLorida. My wife dragged me there to pick up several books for her to read on vacation. While she was searching for here Books I decided to search for Ann Coulter's Book "Treason" to check out for myself. The librarian told me that there were 2 copies of Ann's Book and I could sign up to get on a long waiting list. At that point I asked if they had Hillary's Book. She informed me that there were 35 copies there ready to be checked out. At that point, I have...

The American Library Association (ALA), the national body representing our many librarians, speaks for those who are entrusted with the books and reference materials chronicling the world's development. Basically, if you are a librarian you have seen it all. Unfortunately, the librarians want everyone else to also see it all, even our children.....

FULL MARX [Andrew Stuttaford] We should, I suppose, be grateful that the American Library Association does not actually support the burning of books, but, as Jay has written before now, its shilly-shallying over Cuba's independent libraries reveals a dismaying tendency amongst its members to put ideological affiliation before freedom of speech. The New York Times has more on this squalid little story today. Amongst the people interviewed are Mark Rosenzweig, the director of the Reference Center for Marxist Studies, something that is blandly described by the Times' reporter as a "research center in New York City". That's true so far...

As a graduate student in library science, I am constantly encouraged to join the America Library Association (ALA). Although the ALA is SUPPOSEDLY designed to help librarians network and to provide new sources of information, it is in actuality anything but. At the ALA's conference in Toronto this past week, guest speakers included Ralph Nader, Gloria Steinem, and Naomi Klein. While I disagree with everything these speakers stand for, I support their right to free speech. However, I do not support their right to speak at a convention designed for librarians. The current governing body of ALA consists of nothing...

The American Library Association (ALA), our librarians, are entrusted with the books and reference materials chronicling the world’s development. Basically, if you are a librarian you have seen it all. Unfortunately, the librarians want everyone else to see it all also, even our children. Libraries used to be thought of as safe-havens for our children. It is unlikely that most parents give a second thought about their children’s moral safety when they are dropped off at the library for an afternoon of study. However, just about every library nowadays has computer terminals, and internet connections. Also in this day and...

The American Library Association (ALA), our librarians, are entrusted with the books and reference materials chronicling the world’s development. Basically, if you are a librarian you have seen it all. Unfortunately, the librarians want everyone else to see it all also, even our children

Cuba's Jailed Librarians Get No Succor From the ALA By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY The Wall Street Journal / The Americas At the American Library Association annual meeting in Toronto this weekend there will be a Cuba program. But there won't be any panel debate about intellectual freedom in Fidel's tropical paradise. Efforts to include Cuba's independent librarians -- considered enemies of the Revolution -- on the ALA program have failed. That means that only employees of El Maximo Lider will be featured speakers. That should be downright riveting. The Toronto event might be a non-event if not for the fact...

Librarians unhappy with Court ruling on filters pioneer local, IlLocal librarians struggle with online filter ruling Maine Today.com, MEInternet filter not necessary, librarians say Leader Telegram, WILibrarians decry ruling requiring Internet filters berkshire eagle, MAMid-valley librarians react to ruling on Internet filters democrat herald, ORSome Librarians Won't Comply with Supreme Court Ruling Wish TV, INLibrarians speak ill of Internet content filters Texarkana Gazette, TX

Anti-pornography ruling affects local libraries PORTLAND - Today's US Supreme Court ruling upholding a law mandating the use of Internet filters in public libraries, is a bitter blow for Multnomah County. The county library was one of the main plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000, which requires libraries to install filters - or lose federal technology funding. The library and others argued that the law relied on imperfect technology to censor constitutionally protected speech. Now, libraries receiving federal support must use the blocking technology, and disable it for patrons who ask. Cindy Gibbon,...