Free Republic

“The whole apparatus for spreading knowledge, the schools and the press, wireless and cinema, will be used exclusively to spread those views which, whether true or false, will strengthen the belief in the rightness of the decisions taken by the authority; and all information that might cause doubt or hesitation will be withheld.”Friedrich Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (1944) I just received a remarkable invitation to an upcoming lecture series entitled, “Weeding out Neutrality,” the advertised speakers being “activist librarians” who aim to destroy “old myths about libraries and neutrality” so they can curate collections that are openly and...

Where can you find oral sex, drug use, a fondness for big government social programs and addictions to multiple sexual partners? If you immediately thought of the Clinton Presidential Library, you’re close, but it’s not the only library dedicated to debauchery. I have spent the last week reading books and magazines I randomly selected off the public library shelves. I literally closed my eyes and just started grabbing stuff, which makes what I found that much more disturbing. The results of this experiment are filled with leftist brainwashing, explicit sex, foul language, drug use, alcohol abuse, permissive parents, abusive parents...

USCIS National Children's Art Project- "We Are America": The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has commissioned an art project for children across the United States to create images depicting their interpretation of the theme, “We Are America.” This project asks children to draw pictures that answer the question “People have come from all over the world to become Americans. Why does that make us great?” USCIS will collaborate on this project with public libraries and other community-based organizations serving America’s immigrant communities this summer. USCIS will display submissions in offices across the country and will recognize participants during the...

The link will take you to a statement by Patricia Tumulty, the Executive Director of the New Jersey Library Association. Her remarks summarize how the budget cuts will affect libraries. While I support Christie's efforts to get the state budget under control, I think libraries are about to take a harder hit than other services (keep in mind, unlike teachers, firemenn, policemen and a host of other workers on local and state levels, public librarians are not protected by unions). The proposed budget cut is about $1.00 for each New Jersey resident. I'm not saying no cuts to libraries, but...

I have an open argument with a liberal acquaintance over whether liberals or conservatives value public libraries more and which group is more likely to pull the plug on public funding. Most public libraries are supported with tax dollars with some additional support from grants and private donations. Since freepers are a conservative crowd, I am seeking some feedback on which group is more appreciative of public libraries and which is more likely to close your local library.

There's a childhood epidemic sweeping Minnesota and the nation. Its warning signs aren't fever or skin rashes. The symptoms are behavioral -- and unmistakable. Consider a recent, particularly virulent outbreak of the affliction in Maplewood, N.J., as reported by the New York Times. In the last few years, out-of-control kids from the middle school have overrun the town's library after school. They routinely mouth off to librarians, disrupt common areas, leave restrooms a shambles and race about, sometimes almost knocking over elderly patrons

Zanesville “Library Rally” Friday, 6/15/07, 11am, John McIntire Library COPE is working with Citizens Against Sexually Oriented Offenders (CASOO) to present a “library rally” in Zanesville, Ohio. We will be at the John McIntire Library on June 15, 2007, at 11am, and we encourage others to join us. CASOO has been instrumental in getting ordinances passed in many towns/cities throughout Ohio that restrict registered offenders from living in certain areas where children frequent. CASOO has tracked and helped incarcerate offenders who neglect to register. COPE is proud to be standing with CASOO. Please join us.

In response to the Illinois House of Representatives passing House Bill 1727, the Illinois Library Association's Public Policy Committee met yesterday to determine the library community's response. .... The committee did, however, declare: Monday, 14 May 2007 is a day of unity for the Illinois library community to demonstrate our opposition to House Bill 1727, the mandatory public and school library Internet filter legislation. On Monday, 14 May, the committee recommends the following possible actions: .... 2. Turn off the Internet. If you proceed with this option, inform the public by posting signs in the library explaining why the Internet...

Government libraries can block religious groups from worshipping in public meeting rooms, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The decision overturns a lower court order allowing a Christian group to pray in a Contra Costa County library. The Faith Center Church Evangelistic Ministries, which initially was rejected from holding prayer services at the county's Antioch branch, had won a court order allowing them to pray in meeting rooms open to other groups. A federal judge said it had a First Amendment right of religion to use the public's facilities. But a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of...

While the debate rages over what to do with the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library and whether we need a new central library for the city, a larger concern is being ignored: Internet porn at the library. When I walked into the West End Branch Library on 24th Street NW last week, several men were sitting at the computers, looking at hard-core pornography on the Internet. Meanwhile, children on the other side of the room were also using computers. One child was running around behind the men, who were studiously observing the most intimate parts of a woman's body...

With the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act by Congress this past March, local libraries find themselves again confronted with having to balance the public’s privacy rights with the potential practice by federal authorities of section 215 of the anti-terrorism bill. Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, allows the FBI to obtain any tangible things such as records or books, and other relevant material, from any entity without having to show probable cause that the person whose records it seeks is engaged in criminal activity. Additionally, those served with Section 215 orders to turn over any relevant material are...

(AgapePress) - Parents in an Idaho city want their local public library to remove from the shelves several books containing graphic images of heterosexual and homosexual sex and place them out of the eyesight of children.At question are nine books in the non-fiction section of the Nampa Public Library, including titles such as The New Joy of Sex, The Joy of Sex Toys, and The Joy of Gay Sex. Nampa resident Randy Jackson filled out a complaint form at the library and even addressed the library's board of directors in January, but the board said the books would remain...

(AgapePress) - A proposed bill in the Oklahoma Legislature would require public libraries that receive state funds to remove materials containing sexually explicit content or homosexual themes from general reading areas.The proposed law easily passed a State House panel last week and now heads to the full House for a vote. The bill would withhold state funds from public libraries that do not put objectionable material in a special place. Steve Crampton, chief counsel with the American Family Association's Center for Law & Policy, says the bill is reasonable."All it does is remove [the material] from, basically, an accidental...

The state Legislature has sent to the governor an Internet pornography bill.... The anti-pornography bill sponsored by former Rep. Allan Egolf, R-86, would withhold a portion of state funding from public schools or libraries that do not adopt policies to prevent students and employees from sending, receiving, viewing or downloading visual depictions of obscenity, child pornography or material harmful to minors, Egolf says in a written statement. Under the proposed law, library boards would be responsible for implementing and enforcing their policies with the use of access-blocking software, Egolf says. The bill passed the House in June by a vote...

<p>WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court was taking another look Wednesday at the fundamental problem of how government can protect the public from the seamy side of the Internet without muzzling free speech.</p> <p>The question this time is whether Congress can require public libraries to install software to filter out pornography as a condition of receiving federal money.</p>

<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Public libraries can't be forced to use Internet filters designed to block pornography, three federal judges said Friday in overturning a new federal law. In a 195-page decision, the judges said the Children's Internet Protection Act went too far because the filters also can block access to sites that contain protected speech.</p>