The Book Banning Story...

[jpertello]

WASILLA -- Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so.

According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn't fully support her and had to go.


Emmons had been city librarian for seven years and was well liked. After a wave of public support for her, Palin relented and let Emmons keep her job.

It all happened 12 years ago and the controversy long ago disappeared into musty files. Until this week. Under intense national scrutiny, the issue has returned to dog her. It has been mentioned in news stories in Time Magazine and The New York Times and is spreading like a virus through the blogosphere.

The stories are all suggestive, but facts are hard to come by. Did Palin actually ban books at the Wasilla Public Library?


more:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/51821.html

[Orrex]

1. Since when does a librarian need to "fully support" a Mayor? WTF?!?

As far as I'm concerned, if the librarian can keep Dewey and the Libary of Congress straight, that's plenty good enough for me.

[Prefer]

2. Book Banning is a fundamentalist agenda

same as conflating anything they don't ordain as "witchcraft"
barbaric

[Norrin Radd]

14. Weird for someone with two daughters given names popularized by TV witches.

[intheflow]

3. The librarian who stood up for her retired right before Palin was sworn in

for a second term. So the question isn't, "What books/information did Palin ban?" as implied in the article. It's "What books/information went missing in Palin's second term, with the library headed by someone loyal to her?"

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Kick and rec for more attention to GOP fringe beliefs. n/t

[LWolf]

5. Librarians don't ban books.

At least, they don't if their MLS is worth the paper it's printed on.

I don't know anything about this story, but if it's true, it's a powerful tool for Democrats.

[wildbilln864]

6. k&r! nt

[jpertello]

8. Thanks!

Just so you all know, National Banned Books Week is coming up! If you care about your freedom to read whatever the hell you want, go to your local library/bookstores for the events in your area. Alaska residents can go to Anchorage to celebrate Banned Book Week.
AK
Anchorage
Title Wave Books
1360 W. Northern Lights Blvd.
Anchorage, AK 99503
Will have a Banned Books Week display
Will have a Banned Books Week event
Oct. 2, 2008
Angela Libal
907-278-9283 ext.111
[e-mail]
http://www.wavebooks.com



some good sites about Banned Books Week:
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/supportingbbw/supportingbbw.cfm


http://bannedbooksweek.org/events.php

[femmocrat]

7. Happy to be Rec #5!

We need to get these stories out there.

[jpertello]

9. I wonder if Ms Palin has a problem with any of these books?

Most Challenged Books of 21st Century (2000-2005)
In anticipation of the 25th anniversary of Banned Books Week (September 23-30, 2006), the American Library Association (ALA) compiled the top 10 most challenged books from 2000-2005, with the Harry Potter series of books leading the pack. The 10 most challenged books of the 21st Century (2000-2005) are:

1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

2. "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier

3. Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

4. "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck (why in hell would they ban THIS???)

5. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

6. "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers

7. "It's Perfectly Normal" by Robie Harris

8. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz

9. Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey

10. "Forever" by Judy Blume

[FatDave]

12. Captain Underpants?

They want to ban poop and fart jokes? For fuck's sake, what is with these assholes?

[AnotherMother4Peace]

10. What's wrong with you people. Would you please quit asking questions. Leave Palin alone!

:sarcasm:

[pokerfan]

11. nothing like a good ol' fashioned Nazi book burning

Let's take a vote. Who's for Eva Braun? Who wants to burn books? Who wants to spit on the Constitution of the United States of America? Anybody? All right. Now, who's for the Bill of Rights? Who thinks freedom is a pretty darn good thing? Come on! Let's see those hands! Who thinks we have to stand up to the kind of censorship they had under Stalin? All right. There you go. America, I love you. I'm proud of you.

[JBoy]

13. Holy shit, what a story! Sounds like something Cheney would do.

[krkaufman]

15. This story also needs to be pushed from another angle ...

... of Palin attempting to fire the town's librarian. People need to be asked whether their librarians should be political appointees, and how many other municipal jobs should be, as well?