Free Republic

The Library of Congress is dropping the terms “illegal alien” and “alien” from its subject headings after a group of college students and the American Library Association protested the words’ usage.

Panel dropped after invitation of Islam critic Three speakers pull out of ALA forum on Muslim religion By Shaun Waterman Monday, July 13, 2009 The American Library Association has canceled a panel discussion on Islam planned for its annual conference over the weekend, after three speakers withdrew in protest at the inclusion of the fourth, a controversial critic of the Muslim religion. The critic, Robert Spencer, who runs the blog site JihadWatch.org, told The Washington Times that he learned of the decision to cancel Sunday's panel - "Perspectives on Islam: Beyond the Stereotyping" - in an e-mail message Saturday morning...

What has particularly irritated the attorney general is the vigorous dissent of many American librarians to Section 215 of John Ashcroft's Patriot Act, which allows the FBI to match lists of certain books with their borrowers as part of investigations into terrorism. The attorney general finally declared he is not using that provision of the act, but librarians point out that he did not say he will never implement it in the future. Accordingly, more and more librarians are informing people who come to the libraries about that law, and suggest they urge the attorney general to protect their right...