Public Service Annoucement; Reminder of What we are Fighting For During Banned Books Week

Read a banned book this week, and write a letter to the editor of a local paper reminding people about banned books week and the questions surrounding the RNC candidate for VP!

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A Salient Reminder; This Week We Celebrate Libraries, Books, and Access to Information

Put your opposition to Gov. Palin into action.

Volunteer for the American Library Association.

Support Banned Books Week and help spread the word.

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More on Banning Books and Intimidating Librarians

More links and back story on Palin's Librarian Scandal.

I want to do my best to keep this story front and center in people's minds. Reasons are too numerous to relate in full, but two words sum it up, "The Constitution."

Now, I know this "heart of our country" has been weakened over the last 8 years by attacks from the right and weak and pathetic non-defense-defenses from the left, but even the current Commander in Thief has not banned books, talked about banning books, or fired Librarians.

Bush's attacks on the library have been privacy related. And the ALA has fought back valiantly for each and every one of us since Sept. 11th. Bush wants to see what you check out and read. He wants libraries to spy on local citizens. I don't know if you know any librarians personally, I do. And it is not likely that they will stop fighting back. Ever.

But this new Palin-creature? She poses an clear and additional threat. If she has even thought about the process and merits of book banning we need to remember, discuss and remind anyone who might consider pulling the lever for McCain that this woman would have a serious chance of becoming the president. What right does she have to tell people what they can and can't read?

The Wasilla Library story also highlights a pattern of intimidating employees that disagree with her, and firing people who get in her way.

For some back story Batocchio at Vagabond Scholar has a comprehensive post with links upon links.

I found this section of that post about the incident particularly damning, it comes from the Frontiersman in 1996;

Emmons said in the first conversation, before being sworn in as mayor, Palin briefly touched on the subject of censorship.

But on Monday, Oct. 28, Emmons said Palin asked her outright if she could live with censorship of library books. This was during a weak when Palin was requesting resignations from all the city's department heads as a way of expressing loyalty.

“This is different than a normal book-selection procedure or a book-challenge policy,” Emmons stressed Saturday. “She was asking me how I would deal with her saying a book can't be in the library.

Thankfully the Librarian, with the confidence of ACLU (and I am sure ALA) support behind her, pushed back, hard.

She asked me if I would object to censorship, and I replied 'Yup',” Emmons recounted Saturday. “And I told her it would not be just me. This was a constitutional question, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would get involved, too.

Palin's lies are already becoming old news. She seems catagorically incapable of telling the truth, she's a bully who threatened or fired at least 3 employees that we know of so far, she is an extemist on religious and social issues, and she makes her decisions, "From the gut, without blinking an eye."

So, what are you doing today to make sure she does not become our VP and potential president? It's back to phone banking for me.

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Matt, I agree...

I'd add something but he pretty much covers it all.

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More on Sarah, Censorship, and The Librarian

-From ABC, Watch here. Not much else to say except I hope, somewhere some document comes to light about specific titles. But in the mean time... The Librarians don't trust her, and neither should anyone else. It's not just the censorship (though that is the worst for me.) It is the firing, intimidation, and now the lying.

Brian Ross reports that Sarah Palin asked about removing books from the library, then tried to fire the librarian

ROBIN ROBERTS: No doubt Sarah Palin has a huge following already. So many love her, but many want to know more about her resume. The details of her tenure as mayor and governor are still coming into focus. And this morning, we have new information on one battle she waged as mayor of Wasilla, a battle that brought her toe-to-toe with a local librarian over which books were appropriate and which were not; something her critics say crossed the line into censorship. Our chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross has the details. Good morning, Brian.

BRIAN ROSS: Good morning, Robin. As the mayor of the town Wasilla, Sarah Palin raised questions about removing books in the public library and then tried to fire the town librarian. She says the two were not connected. Sarah Palin was elected the mayor of Wasilla in 1996, with the strong backing of her church, the Wasilla Assembly of God.

REV. HOWARD BESS: It wasn't just simply a matter of her using the religious right to get elected. She was one of them.

ROSS: Palin has since changed churches. But Assembly of God ministers are well-known in Wasilla for taking strong positions on moral issues, including this recent sermon by the current pastor.

ED KALNIN: Everybody in the world has a guilty conscience. That's why homosexuals wants laws of the land to justify their sickness; they have a guilty conscience.

ROSS: Around the time Palin became mayor, the church and other conservative Christians began to focus on certain books available in local stores and in the town library, including one called "Go Ask Alice," and another one written by a local pastor, Howard Bess, called "Pastor, I am Gay."

BESS: This whole thing of controlling, you know, information, censorship, yeah. That's a part of the scene.

ROSS: Not long after taking office, Palin raised the issue at a city council meeting of how books might be banned according to news accounts and a local resident, a Democrat, who was there.

ANNE KILKENNY: Mayor Palin asked the librarian, what is your response if I ask you to remove some books from the collection of the Wasilla Public Library?

ROSS: The Wasilla librarian, Mary Ellen Edmonds, the then president of the Alaska Library Association, responded with only a short hesitation.

KILKENNY: The librarian took a deep breath and said, the books in the collection were purchased in accordance with national standards and professional guidelines, and I would absolutely not allow you to remove any books from the collection.

ROSS: A former town official and Palin ally says Palin's questions were only rhetorical.

JUDY PATRICK: There were no specific books that were ever banned from the city. Mayor Palin did enquire of the librarian about the policy of removing books from the library.

ROSS: A few weeks after the council meeting, the mayor fired the librarian, although she was reinstated after a community uproar.

JUNE PINNELL-STEPHENS: You'd like to hope that elected officials understand the role of the librarian in democracy; that is to provide access to information to everybody in the community.

ROSS: The Wasilla librarian, Mary Ellen Edmonds, left two years later, and according to friends, because it was just too hard working for Sarah Palin. In a conversation with me yesterday, the librarian said she could not recall Palin ever asking for specific book titles to be removed from the shelves, but she acknowledge her treatment by Palin had been very rough – "I just don't care to revisit that time of my life," she told me.

ROBERTS: I'm sure. Brian, you know there's so much out there on the internet. And much of the information is wrong. In fact, in response to your story right there, the McCain campaign sent out this three pages to us. And they're trying to shoot down as much as they can. In fact, there was on the internet about a list -- a long list of books. That just wasn't true.

ROSS: That not true, that long list of books that some may have seen on the internet, that's simply made up. That was not part of this discussion. The mayor did raise the question of how to get books off the shelf. If people were picketing the library, would you take books off the shelf? The librarian was offended by that, as were members of the Alaska Library Association, who to this day remain very wary of Sarah Palin.

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Banned Books Week 2008

Banned Books week is coming up soon. I think that we should make a concerted effort to talk about book banning, Palin and Library-gate every where we can that week. If you have a blog, post about it. If you have a mailing list send out the word and point to references and posts about the story. If you know a librarian tell them the story and ask them to spread the word.

I know this whole election isn't about the lipstick-pitbull, but she is a huge problem and things like her extremist views on censorship are the reason why.

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. This year, 2008, marks BBW's 27th anniversary (September 27 through October 4).

BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met. from the ALA

Join the Banned Books Week group on facebook.

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”- Justice William J. Brennan, Jr

UPDATE: One commentor suggests that we all contact Charlie Gibson and encourage him to ask Gov. Palin what books she wanted to ban in her local library when she was Mayor in 1996. I think that is an excellent idea. Please contact Charlie here.

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Clarifying and Correcting

Well- Seems that some readers may not have gotten the point in my Book Banning post below-- I stated that the list published was not confirmed.

Why did I post it then?

Normally I stay away from all rumor posts. ALL of them.

But in this case, I thought the relevant fact (proven) that Sarah Palin was pressuring and attempted to fire a librarian in Alaska for not giving in to her demand for a How-to on banning books was not getting the attention it needs.

The list itself doesn't matter. People who want to ban books have lists just like this one that are; horrifying, impossible to understand, and totally dangerous to a healthy democracy.

So we should ask ourselves just what did Sarah Palin want to take off the shelves? And do we want anyone who would publically and forcefully attempt banning books in libraries to be any where near the highest office in the land?

I think my tactics may have been over the top. But we did spend about 10 hours thinking and talking about books and how precious they are and how we need to make sure someone like Sarah Palin is not allowed to do what she tried to do, not in Alaska and certainly not for the rest of the country.

The list below is not Sarah Palin's. I was not 100% sure it was a fake when I posted, though I suspected it was. But the reason for posting it remains the same.

Full disclosure, I once ran a school library. And so this is a huge red flag for me.

Thanks for your comments, corrections and critique.

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Sarah Palin Wanted to Ban Books in Alaska

Sarah Palin's Book Club

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Blubber by Judy Blume
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Christine by Stephen King
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Cujo by Stephen King
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Decameron by Boccaccio
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Forever by Judy Blume
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter20and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Impressions edited by Jack Booth
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
It's Okay if You Don't Love Me by Norma Klein
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
My House by Nikki Giovanni
M y Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women's Health Collective
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Separate Peace by John Knowles
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Slaughte rhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Bastard by John Jakes
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Devil's Alternative by Frederick Forsyth
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
The Grapes of Wrath by John20Steinbeck
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Living Bible by William C. Bower
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders
The Shining by Stephen King
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster
Editorial Staff
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween
Symbols by Edna Barth

The story was reported in Time Magazine and the list comes from the librarian.net website. (This list has not been confirmed. But I would not be surprised to find out it was either 100% true or was even longer.) What HAS been confirmed is this...

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving “full support” to the mayor. from Time

Correction: Sep 7, 2008 6 pm.

The above list of books is a list of books commonly banned or attempted to be banned from libraries-- this particular list cannot be proven to be Palin's.

Point is though-- she wants to ban books and tried to abuse her power to get a Librarian fired for not agreeing to do it. The follow up on Mary Ellen Baker is that she later resigned. If there was any pressure brought for her to leave-- I pray that it can be exposed. Everyone loves the librarians.

Here is a list of books commonly attacked in the USA.

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