Posted on 07/23/2007 7:55:19 AM PDT by rhema
The unassuming international champion of universal health care, Michael Moore, was asked (New York Sun, June 29) whether, while filming "Sicko," he inquired about the condition of Cuban journalist Normando Gonzalez, a political prisoner since 2003. He has contracted severe chronic illnesses while in a Castro gulag. Moore answered that he asked only about Cuba's health care system while he was there.
Among other suffering prisoners in Cuban cells who would have added further dimension to "Sicko" are independent librarians, put away for more than 20-year sentences for the crime of giving Cubans access to books and other publications forbidden in state libraries. Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, for example, director of a Las Tunas library, is not being treated meaningfully for intestinal problems, hypertension and other ailments.
The caged independent librarians were, however, at the center of a protest at an American Library Association conference in Washington in June. These protesters are themselves long-term members of the ALA and call themselves Freadomistas, in contrast with Fidelistas (Castro admirers) on the ALA's governing council. That council steadfastly refuses to demand the immediate release of Cuban freedom-to-read librarians, whom Amnesty International designates "prisoners of conscience." Indeed, the council voted down an amendment to release them.
Bearing such signs as "Book Burning Is NOT A solution to Cuba's Energy Problems" and "Ray Bradbury (author of 'Fahrenheit 451') Says: 'Free The Jailed Librarians,'" the Freadomistas also handed out flyers that quoted the core ALA policy: "The American Library Association believes that freedom of expression is an inalienable human right ... vital to the resistance of oppression ... and the principles of freedom of expression should be applied by libraries and librarians throughout the world." Another ALA policy cited on the flyers "deplores the destruction of libraries, library collections and property."
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Dewey Decimated System?........
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Yet the library associations of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have vigorously demanded their release. Those countries know what it is to live under communism.
Yet the library associations of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have vigorously demanded their release. Those countries know what it is to live under communism.
At the ALA conference, a Freadomista flyer ended with a reminder from Martin Luther King Jr., whose biography was burned by Castro judges: "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends."
If you wait for significant numbers of leftists to rise against a communist state in defense of your liberty, you’ll die disappointed in prison.
Nat Hentoff will be there, but he’ll probably be by himself.
Well they don’t have degrees in Library Science.
You don’t have to purge books that were never on your shelves to begin with.
Remember these are the people that choose which books to buy.
The ALA is dominated by fringe nutjobs who are ignored by 90% of librarians.
I hate hate hate the Dewey Decimal System.
On a serious note, I thought people loved Cuba for it’s free healthcare. Cuba isn’t a wonderful country? I thought different
One of the Lefts most important tools of propaganda is asking the correct questions of the correct people so as to get the correct answers.
It is just like being a good lawyer never ask a question you don’t know the answer to.
Of course Moore knows that if he asks the wrong questions in Cuba he never get invited back.
You can't make it much clearer than that. Hentoff is an old lefty who actually believes in the ideals that got him there and acts on them. This particular ALA cockroach believes in something that is incompatible with human freedom. Choose your side.
Some librarians swear by the Dewey.
Me, I prefer the Library of Congress system.
(I have yet to ascertain whether preference is guided by when the MLS degree was earned, or by what system one’s first job used.)
What is wrong with it? Are there any good alternatives?
I know nothing about the subject. All I know is that whenever I need a book at the library, I look it up in the catalog, then go find it in the stacks. Seems to work pretty well from my point of view.
I believe the reason you find so many petty and worthless librarians in the academic world is a totally undeserved inflated ego. I had the misfortune of working in the University of Kentucky’s library system, and your description is spot on. Fortunately, I’ve managed to move on.
Amazing how quickly librarians changed from nice little ladies with their hair in a bun, prim demeanor, and modest dresses, to a bunch of flaming leftists. Just like academia.
Makes me feel better that there are some sane librarians out there....other than me :)
The only other alternative we have is the Library of Congress system. The greatest evil in libraries is that Mevl Dewey refused to catalog the Library of Congress for them. Congress came up with the LC system. Enough said?
The Dewey Decimal system follows a logical pattern that flows from subject to subject in an understandable pattern. It’s very easy.
They do purge. They call it clearing the shelves for “new” books. Of course, there are donated conservative titles that never seem to make it to the shelves. They wind up in the same “used book sales” that the purged titles wind up in.
Even when books are gifted they aren’t always shelved.
Cuba is a fascist dictatorship of white people suppressing a population that is almost 3/4 black.
But the left is OK with that because Castro claims to be a communist.
Do you prefer the Library of Congress classification system?
I’m not familiar with it, but it’s probably better than having the DDS ingrained into you when you’re 8 years old.
When my computer broke down, I stopped at the library to read Free Republic. Couldn’t, as it was filtered out along with porn. I kicked and scratched for awhile and they finally made FR available.
“I do tech support for a university library and I have never seen a group of more conniving, plotting, scheming, petty, and vindictive set of people than librarians!”
I’ve had contact with several fantastic librarians in my day, but the library sounds like a great setup for a petty tyranny.
Most gifted books end up on the book sale tables (unless the library employees want them).
Most gifted books are not library quality (publishers print special books for libraries with special bindings and acid free paper. These books are more durable than the bookstore variety) and there for not considered appropriate for shelving in a library
Space at the library where I work, which opened in 1959, is limited, so we have to frequently “weed” the collection to make room for new books. Candidates for weeding include books that are worn, damaged, rarely circulate, or contain information that is out of date. Sadly, we have had to weed some conservative books, such as some of William F. Buckley’s works from the 1970’s, but the good news is that we now have room for Ann Coulter, Eric Shawn, and David Gelernter.
I am shocked that your library would filter porn. What kind of despotic place do you live in. (Sarcasm)
Really I thought the ALA was four square against blocking porn.
In the old days librarians saw themselves as servants to learning. Now they see themselves as one step removed from academia and have absorbed all the arrogance and pride that once was reserved exclusively for college professors.
A far cry from the days when librarians were nice ladies of all ages, with their hair in buns and wearing cardigan sweaters with pearl buttons. Now they are embittered feminists with agendas to promote.
Librarians of long ago:
Today's librarian:
American Library Association members calling anyone or anything “FreAdomistas” ? ? ? ?
Make ‘em write “The Spel checquer is my friend.” 100 times.
Apologies to Harry Potter, et al.
“Of course Moore knows that if he asks the wrong questions in Cuba he never get invited back.”
How about:
“Of course Moore knows that if he asks the wrong questions in Cuba he never comes back.”
Think “fREADomistas.”
Gee wouldn’t that be too cool.
Think “fREADomistas.”
I’d like to, but I’d think wrong.
Thanks to Liberals and Liberalism, all too many students are graduated (those that actually are graduated, that is) with reading skills far below the norm. Of those who can read, many are functional illiterates.
One can’t be a “fREADomista” when one can’t READ.
Hentoff is prolife based upon civil rights not religious beliefs. He left the ACLU over the issue.
“..I stopped at the library to read Free Republic. Couldn’t, as it was filtered out along with porn.”
I tried to read Free Republic in a number of countries in the UK. Normally, the computer would freeze up and the only way it would work again was for a cretin from the establishment to come and re-boot it. I tried at a couple of libraries, at a McDonald’s and at a few other places - no joy.
FR was on their banned list.
Back in the Dark Ages, in my college days, I spent a lot of time working in the university library. I was told then that the selection of LC vs Dewey Decimal was based on the number of books in the total catalogue. Makes sense, as LC is waaaay more granular. With it, you get a place for each individual book.
Keeping the books on the shelves in the right order with LC was bad enough. I couldn't have imagined the task with Dewey.
As far as I know, the only major academic library that still uses Dewey is at the University of Illinois.
When you find FR filted, see how they handle sites like DUh and DailyKaOS
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