Time: Palin wanted to ban books in the Wasilla library

[Truth2Tell]

and she wanted to fire the librarian when she wouldn't go along.

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." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

More: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1837918,00.html

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Palin Is A Perpetual Christmas

The gifts just keep coming...

[wtmusic]

17. ROFL

If I were Christian, I'd almost feel guilty

:rofl:

[Blue_Tires]

2. oh please oh please let there be a list of the books

[kestrel91316]

11. Here's the list:

Everything in the library except the bible. And My Pet Goat.

[LynneSin]

3. Hope she banned the bible - there is some really illicit sex in the old testament

I mean jeez, Lot had incestuous sex with his daughters.

And Song of Solomon is like biblical porn

[peacetalksforall]

6. Yeah, the Bible. For one reason only. It is so vague that the sex obsessed,

the end of humanity obsessed, the politically obsessed use it to SCREW UP THE WORLD. If it gets banned, it should be because it causes people to lose their ability to reason.

I also want to see Palin's list.

[Mike Daniels]

12. Technically, Lot's daughters got Lot drunk and had sex with him.

Still incest but the devil's in the details.

[Bake]

19. Wasn't that Noah?

Been a while since I've read it, but wasn't it Noah that got drunk and etc.?

Bake

[Ashy Larry]

4. Holy crap.

This is a big deal I think. Even a lot of Republicans wouldn't support banning books (well, at least some). Some reporters need to ask her which books she wanted to ban and why. They need to ask her about her interpretation of the first amendment.

[Alter Ego]

5. #1 on the list: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone".

[KSDiva]

7. Did you confirm this or is it a guess?

Not that I doubt it. I left a church before I even read JK Rowling's brilliant series - because they burned - literally burned - the first book and others. I'd been there for 15 years.

This is America, not Nazi Germany. Geez.

[Alter Ego]

14. No, it's just a guess, but I'd bet a large sum of money it's somewhere

on that list.

[Sequoia]

18. Welcome to DU KSDiva!

I'll bet these are on the list:

To Kill a Mockingbird

Huckleberry Finn

Catcher in the Rye

The Handmaid's Tale

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Coming of Age in Somoa

Ramona (not the little girl series)

Any Judy Blume books

The Outsiders

[riverwalker]

8. any investigative reporter wannabes?

here is some contacts for ya

Friends of Wasilla Library
http://www.wasillafriends.org/board
Email us at [e-mail].

or
http://www.cityofwasilla.com/index.aspx?page=236

Contact the LibraryPrint
E-mail

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

Library Administration • KJ Martin-Albright • 907-376-5913 ext. 11 • [e-mail]

Youth Services • Karen Davis • 907-376-5913 ext 17 • [e-mail]

Adult Services • Jean Powell • 907-376-5913 ext 16 • [e-mail]

[Truth2Tell]

13. I'm a wannabe

I'll see what I can learn...

[wvbygod]

9. Can we take Stein's word as gospel? Befor jumping the shark that is.

the town's mayor John Stein;

Four years later, she took on her former workout buddy in a race that quickly became contentious. In Stein's view, Palin's main transgression was injecting big-time politics into a small-town local race. "It was always a nonpartisan job," he says. "But with her, the state GOP came in and started affecting the race." While Palin often describes that race as having been a fight against the old boys' club, Stein says she made sure the campaign hinged on issues like gun owners' rights and her opposition to abortion (Stein is pro-choice). "It got to the extent that — I don't remember who it was now — but some national antiabortion outfit sent little pink cards to voters in Wasilla endorsing her," he says.

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." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

St. George, however, points out that Palin couldn't have seen everything through an Evangelical lens. She did, he says, notably resist calls to restrict operating hours for the bars in town. And even if faith did play an unusually large role in her decision-making as mayor, it may have only reflected the continued rise of Evangelicalism in the valley, a growth that continues to this day.

--------

So, how credible is Stein and how much of this is party politics? It's only a gift if it
can be proven she was banning books I guess.

[jberryhill]

10. Don't confuse all Christian right-wingers as monolithic

They're not.

Keeping the bars open is fine with many.

Plus, that's business.

She is not an "Evangelical". She is Pentecostal. Big difference - especially to the Evangelicals.

[Bake]

20. That's because the bars were moneymakers.

The only thing that matters more to GOPhers than minding other peoples' business is MONEY.

Bake

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

22. *shrug* sounds to me like she's a calculative player,...just like the Rovians.

"Win at all costs" and manipulate with morals kind of player.

If so, her life circumstances atop her amoral character and personal ambition perfectly suits the power-mongers' requirements. Perfect!

[Truth2Tell]

15. New York Times has this now also...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/us/politics/03wasilla.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hp&oref=slogin
...

Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question.

Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.

The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her job and Wasilla a couple of years later, declined to comment for this article.

In 1996, Ms. Palin suggested to the local paper, The Frontiersman, that the conversations about banning books were “rhetorical.”

[Truth2Tell]

16. And on Politico...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12987.html
...

According to the Frontiersman newspaper, Wasilla’s library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, said that Palin asked her outright if she "could live with censorship of library books.” Palin later dismissed the conversation as a “rhetorical” exercise.

[Marr]

21. "Full support". How very Bush-like.

These people are authoritarians. They think that everyone must pledge total loyalty to the "leader", rather than the law.