Free Republic

Leftist Loonies like the UFW and CodePink miss no opportunity to insert themselves into the glory of media exposure. Now they, along with others of their species, are milking the threatened closure of the Salinas, California libraries to once again draw the attention on themselves. Traveling to our humble little city for a day of Loony revelry, under cover of assisting us in our hour of need, are activists, actors, and other propagandists attempting to carpe the diem. Please see the Monterey Herald article for details.

Better return those overdue library books — they could land you in jail. Jeremy Jones of Burlington, Wash., called police to his home on Feb. 22 about a case of mail theft. But the cops found Jones had a warrant out for "detaining city property" and missing a related court date. They promptly clapped the cuffs on the 20-year-old man. Turned out he had 18 books, worth a total of $268, long past due to the Burlington Public Library (search). "I told [the police], 'They're right on the table, take them,'" Jones told KOMO-TV of Seattle. "They said, 'No, we...

February 22, 2005 CITYWIDE A Cuban Revolution, in Reading By DAVID GONZALEZ http://graphics10.nytimes.com/images/2005/02/22/nyregion/wide.184.3.650.jpg A group that adopted a Cuban library includes, from left, Manuel Castedo, Rafael Pi Roman, Iraida Iturralde, Pablo Medina, Robert Kent and Paquito D'Rivera. With all the shirts adorned with the solemn face of the Argentine-born revolutionary Che Guevara being sold in the city's souvenir shops, one would think he had once adopted New York and not Cuba as his home. That thought - not to mention that face - puzzles some Latins in Manhattan whose families had no choice but to leave Havana after the Cuban...

PARIS (Reuters) - France's national library has raised a "warcry" over plans by Google to put books from some of the world's great libraries on the Internet and wants to ensure the project does not lead a domination of American ideas. Jean-Noel Jeanneney, who heads France's national library and is a noted historian, says Google's choice of works is likely to favour Anglo-Saxon ideas and the English language. He wants the European Union to balance this with its own programme and its own Internet search engines. "It is not a question of despising Anglo-Saxon views ... It is just that...

Government officials in Pasco County, Florida, were seeking legal advice in late January about the constitutionality of hanging “In God We Trust” banners throughout the county library system. The opinion was being requested because the county’s Republican Party chairman is pressing county commission members to hang the banners, saying some 30 “In God We Trust” plaques are already mounted in other public buildings there. “This country was founded on Judeo-Christian values,” said Bill Bunting in the January 22 Tampa Tribune, adding that atheists who disapprove of such a display “can put a banner over it and take [the banner] down...

The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com Prisoners of conscienceBy Nat HentoffPublished January 31, 2005          The public library in Vermillion, South Dakota, celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, and also exemplified the freedom to read in this country by being the only American public library to show concern for those independent Cuban librarians whom Fidel Castro sent to prison for 20 and more years in 2003 for daring to allow Cubans the freedom to read.     On Nov. 18, the Vermillion Public Library Board of Trustees voted to sponsor the Dulce Maria Loynaz Library in Havana, Cuba, which, like other imperiled independent...

Anniversary of Ronald Reagan's 94th Birthday: • To honor President Ronald Reagan on the anniversary of his birthday, President George W. Bush has designated United States Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton to place a wreath on President Reagan’s gravesite on his behalf. Major General Timothy E. Donovan, Commanding General at Camp Pendleton, will conduct the ceremony, which will commence at 11:00 a.m. and will include a 21-gun salute. Camp Pendleton’s brass quintet will play music beginning at 10:45 a.m. Following the ceremony, birthday cake will be served in the Library’s main lobby all day (while supplies last) and guests may...

New papers redefine Reagan By Eric Leach-- Staff Writer Sunday, January 23, 2005 - SIMI VALLEY -- Law school student Jason Ebin has already spent hundreds of hours poring over Ronald Reagan's official documents at the late president's hilltop library. But when curators released the largest collection of Reagan's pre-presidential papers earlier this month, Ebin and other researchers felt like a new treasure hunt had started. "You never know from day to day what you're going to find," said Ebin of Pacific Palisades, who is doing research for presidential historian Richard Reeves. "The Reagan Library is an invaluable resource. There...

Even in our age of hyperbole, it would be hard to exaggerate the significance of what is at stake here: nothing less than the lost intellectual inheritance of western civilisation Down a side street in the seedy Italian town of Ercolano, wafted by the scent of uncollected rubbish and the fumes of passing motor-scooters, lies a waterlogged hole. A track leads from it to a high fence and a locked gate. Dogs defecate in the undergrowth where addicts discard their needles. Peering into the dark, stagnant water it is hard to imagine that this was once one of the greatest...

When it opened two months ago, Bill Clinton's presidential library was supposed to draw so many visitors that the city of Little Rock would become a tourist mecca. However early reports claiming that over 100,000 had visited in just the first six weeks have turned out to be bogus. The National Archives and Records Administration, which operates the facility, tells U.S. News & World Report that only 42,054 paid to enter. The rest were guests of the former president and freebies to VIPs. Despite wall-to-wall television coverage of its opening, and a deluge of favorable press, attendance figures for the...

It is a book with graphic sexual references and descriptions of male anatomy, and an 11-year-old girl checked it out from a school library in McAllen, Texas. The title: "Lady: My Life as a Bitch" In the book, Sandra (a.k.a. Lady) is dismayed at first, but quickly discovers the pure joys of unfettered freedom to do whatever she wants and have sex with whomever she pleases--a seemingly perfect scenario for a devil-may-care young woman who would "have shagged [Wayne] up against the wall for a bag of jelly beans a month ago." (Amazon.com) The librarian offered these quotes (off-camera) as...

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....

Two works of Christian art predating the Holocaust raise questions about whether they intentionally contributed to anti-Semitism. NEW YORK AND BOSTON - At first glance, a 20th-century mural and a 12th-century altar cross have little in common. But the controversy each has provoked reaches back into old Christian dogma itself, casting light on the role such art may have played in fomenting anti-Jewish feeling. The issues mirror those being debated over the Ten Commandments - whether the US Constitution's First Amendment permits or prohibits the commandments from being displayed in public places such as courthouses - that will be taken...

Have you ever had the pleasure of reading Dr. Seuss' "The Foot Book"? I have. A couple of thousand times, actually. To help alleviate this intolerable cruelty, I occasionally head to the local library with my kids to take out books such as "Where Is Baby's Belly Button?" or "Everybody Poops" - basically anything that isn't titled "The Foot Book." It's on these visits that I typically spot an unfortunate soul in his mid-30s checking out a half-dozen episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," or some such thing, and instantly I question the function of the library system - and...

Q: I was disturbed to see a man looking at pornography on a New York Public Library computer. When two children sat down near him, I decided to take action, but he instantly switched to an inoffensive video game. A security guard told me they were keeping an eye on a couple of people acting similarly and would catch them in the act eventually. Should I have alerted someone as soon as I became aware of this man's activities? Anonymous, New YorkA: A guard monitoring someone's reading? That's not my idea of how a library operates. Libraries should provide for...

If you think Vancouver libraries took a hit this year, get this: The home town of the Nobel Prize-winning author of "Cannery Row" and "Of Mice and Men" is shutting down its libraries. And it isn't because no one lives there anymore. John Steinbeck's Salinas, Calif., near Monterey, has seen rapid growth and now boasts a population of 150,000. The city is experiencing many of the same budget woes as other city and state governments, including rising health care costs. Budget shortfalls and failed money requests in Salinas have brought $8 million in budget cuts this year and the city...

Cash-strapped hometown of Steinbeck plans to close libraries RACHEL KONRAD Associated Press SALINAS, Calif. - Mary Jean Gamble organized the John Steinbeck historical archives, supervised the Steinbeck literature collection and ranks as an authority on local history and genealogy. After nearly 23 years with the Salinas Public Library, she may know more about the "Grapes of Wrath" or "Cannery Row" than anyone else in the author's humble hometown. Gamble doesn't hesitate when asked how Steinbeck might react upon learning that the city's libraries are scheduled to close permanently next spring. Facing record deficits, the Salinas City Council voted Dec. 14...

Last week, Google announced an ambitious new plan to start converting millions of books into digital files in partnership with several major libraries, including the New York Public Library and the libraries at Harvard, Stanford and Oxford. This is a logical step for Google, which says its mission "is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." The idea of making books available online is not new, but this plan represents an enormous shift in scale, so enormous that if it is carried out successfully, it may redefine the nature of the Internet and the university....

A cooperative venture between Google, the internet search engine company, and several major universities promises to bring "the thrill of the public library" to home and office, making it easier for millions of ordinary people to access the contents of books that few want to read. "Studies show that 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year, and 58 percent of adults never read another book after high school," said a Google spokesman. "When this project is complete, we'll place tens of thousands of volumes of classic literature at their fingertips, where they can...

December 14, 2004 Edition > Section: New York > Printer-Friendly Version Red Tag Sale: Library Sells Che Timepiece BY MEGHAN CLYNE - Staff Reporter of the Sun December 14, 2004 URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/6237 The New York Public Library calls it a bit of "whimsical pop culture." But to some local Cuban-Americans, the Che Guevara watch sold in the library's gift shops is a symbol of evil. "Revolution is a permanent state with this clever watch, featuring the classic romantic image of Che Guevara," the library's Web site says. A red star, trailed by the word "revolution," measures seconds.