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I really don’t think that Idaho’s arch-Conservatives will be happy until everything they deem unworthy can be purged from their make believe happy lands.
The Spokesman-Review:
Books have schools in a bind
Evaluation of required reading limits classroom options in CdA
Margie Wise’s son did not enjoy reading until his senior year at Coeur d’Alene High School, when he took a literature class that engrossed him in conversation about books like "Brave New World" and "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."
"He would come home and say, ‘I love my English class; we have the best discussions,’ " Wise said. "He would say, ‘It is the best way to end my day.’ From a kid who’s not academic and who is not a reader, that warms a mom’s heart."
Another Coeur d’Alene mother, however, said her ninth-grade daughter was uncomfortable reading two books she was assigned in English class. The books contain profanity and sexually explicit situations inappropriate for a minor, said the girl’s mother, Mary Jo Finney.
"I don’t think that’s necessary to teach minors," Finney said. "Their feeling is everything is acceptable, and it’s not."
[...]
"Please, give us back our books!" high school English teacher Paul W. Swartz lamented in a Sept. 5 letter to the editor. "As a junior and senior English teacher I have only five novels to choose from besides my textbook! We have removed 78 books from our high schools and 39 from our middle schools. How does this removal of books promote the district’s goal of literacy?"
These are the kind of people who would ban "Lord of the Flies" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" if they could.
I gotta say, the books noted in the article are both two excellent books — "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is one of those books that can change your life if you let it. In fact, "Zen" was never on any required book list when I was in school, one of my English teachers who I spent a great deal of time with recommended that I read it over a summer break.
"Paradise Lost", "Songs of the Doomed", "Meetings with Remarkable Men", "The Natural Mind" plus many, many others are all books that had a profound impact on my life as an adolescent because they made me think differently.
If you’re so interested here is a list of the "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books from 1990-2000".
As I said yesterday, the ACLU didn’t "unilaterally" inject themselves into the Nampa Public Library situation. They were approached by citizen(s) of Nampa to restore the books to the shelves.
Maybe Bryan Fischer should have looked into that before he fired off his email attacking the ACLU, the Nampa Public Library Board members, and the library director. Maybe if Fischer didn’t hold Democracy in such disdain he could study
up on how our system of government works. Same goes for the author of this letter in today’s IPT.
Idaho Press-Tribune:
ACLU: Nampan initiated action
Civil rights group says unnamed locals were willing to pursue injunction against library measure that restricted sex books
NAMPA — A Nampa resident approached the American Civic Liberties Union of Idaho with a complaint about the Nampa Library’s policy on two sex books, an ACLU spokeswoman said Wednesday.
“I know that we had received at least one complaint (about the policy) and there was more than one plaintiff lined up who was willing to (use) the ACLU’s legal services” to change the policy, ACLU of Idaho development director Fonda Portales said. The resident wasn’t identified.
Check out the whole story.
Interesting read.
One qualm I have with the piece is that he says that the ACLU "unilaterally" inserted themselves into this situation — from what I have heard that was not the case.
There was an AP story in the Times-News out of Magic Valley what did what the Treasure Valley media feared to do (‘cept for the one mention in the Idaho Press-Tribune); connect "concerned parent" Randy Jackson to "Youth 4 Revolution".
Lawsuit threat puts sex books back on shelves
NAMPA, Idaho - Public library leaders in Nampa, responding to a lawsuit threatened by the American Civil Liberties Union, have reversed a decision banning two sex education books.
In June, the library board voted 3-2 to permanently remove "The New Joy of Sex" and "The Joy of Gay Sex" from its public shelves, ending months of controversy and indecision. The board ordered the books be stored instead in the library director’s office, available only upon request.
[...]
The books, which contain drawings and photos of sexual activity, first drew criticism in 2005 from Randy Jackson, director of a Christian activist group called "Youth 4 Revolution," based in Nampa.
Board members in 2006 unanimously rejected Jackson’s request to remove the books from the shelves. But three new board members appointed by Nampa Mayor Tom Dale _ Bruce Skaug, Kim Keller and Sandy Levi _ voted in support of the ban this summer. Skaug later resigned from the board after being identified as an anonymous blogger who complained opponents of the ban had a "messed up view of sex."
[...]
I love the part in that last paragraph about Skaug, although he was identified as an anonymous "commenter" not "blogger". If you’re behind the times; the blog where Skaug left the comment is the one you’re reading right now.
This will get interesting.
Idaho Values Alliance:
Bryan Fischer, Executive Director
ACLU BULLIES NAMPA LIBRARY INTO RESTOCKING PORNOGRAPHIC BOOKS
As the press release I sent earlier indicates, the ACLU once again has used merely the threat of an expensive lawsuit to intimidate a community into cowering in meek submission to its bullying tactics.
The ACLU, of course, cites the First Amendment, as if the Founders intended to protect pornography rather than political speech.
Some things are worth fighting for, and one of them is protecting the sexual innocence of young children. It’s unfortunate that Nampa city officials apparently do not have the stomach for that fight, afraid that an activist judge will deprive them of their right to govern themselves. But by capitulating without firing a shot, they have already forfeited their right to govern themselves and have succumbed to a form of tyranny.
The policy enacted by the Nampa Library Board was a classic case of the republican form of government in action. Concerned citizen and father Randy Jackson worked diligently over the course of two years to persuade the board to remove pornographic books from library shelves in order to make the library a kid- and family- friendly place.
That all of it can be undone with just a letter and a 42 cent stamp is surely an indication of the way in which judicial activism is trashing liberty, community standards, and our democratic form of government.
According to a member of the IVA network, the Nampa librarian, who has resisted all efforts to remove these pornographic books from library shelves, is a member in good standing at College Church of the Nazarene in Nampa. Barry Myers, a Nampa Library Board member who has voted every time to keep these books within reach of young children, is on the faculty of Northwest Nazarene University.
Note the use of words, "bullies", "bullying", "intimidate", and my favorite; "tyranny". It was Jackson, Fischer and their ilk that were the ones "bullying" and "intimidating" the library and the library board members. Sending threatening emails, trying to get people to withhold donations for the new library, etc… etc.
And now… in his last paragraph, Fischer is clearly setting his sights on Nampa’s head librarian — which is extremely disturbing.
Good news.
I can only image that the fundie brigade will have something to say about this tomorrow. Turns out that there is this nifty thing called the "1st Amendment" and it outweighs the whines and moans of Randy Jackson and Bryan Fischer.
Idaho Statesman:
Lawsuit threat lands controversial books back on Nampa library shelves
Two books with graphic sexual illustrations have been restored to the shelves of the Nampa Public Library in an effort to avoid a potential lawsuit, library and American Civil Liberties Union officials announced Monday.
The library board voted unanimously Friday to rescind its June 2 policy decision “as a matter of fiscal responsibility,” board member Kim Keller said. The vote came after Nampa City Attorney Terry White told the board it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to litigate a First Amendment lawsuit.
The board voted 3 to 2 in June to permanently place “The Joy of Gay Sex” and “The New Joy of Sex” in the director’s office, available only to those who specifically asked for them. The board had earlier placed the books in the library director’s office on a temporary basis, responding to a request from Nampa Randy Jackson.
The ACLU challenged that policy, saying it violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The organization cites several cases establishing that a policy restricting or sequestering books violates the public’s right to open information.
“The ACLU of Idaho commends the Nampa Public Library Board of Trustees for making information freely accessible and for respecting the First Amendment rights of its patrons, ” said Lea Cooper, ACLU Staff Attorney.
Seeing how Bruce "I’m not quite sure how the ‘tubes work" Skaug’s sole mission was to ban these books as a member of the Nampa Public Library board; we can safely say that he’s failed. Maybe the ACLU of Idaho will give Randy Jackson and Bryan Fischer a pocket sized copy of the Constitution for future reference.
MEDIA: Idaho Press-Tribune, KBCI
Updated:
Well, that didn’t take long.
Melvin Dewey, I’m assuming brother to Melvil Dewey, the father of the Dewey Decimal Classification System, left a comment here earlier this week:
Unfortunately, the censorship does not stop with the Nampa library.
Now, a few certain staff members at the Meridian library (just a few
miles down the road) have begun to remove "unrated" DVDs and possibly
other "controversial" items from their shelves. This act of
self-censorship is troubling because no one from the public has
challenged these items. The Meridian library board may not even be
aware of the decision. Meridian has tried (and failed) many times to
pass a bond for a new building, so maybe this self-censorship is an
attempt to avoid public scrutiny before it begins.
Interesting.
Frankly I’m not sure what is worse… censorship, or the fear of censorship. If anyone knows anything more about this feel free to shot me an email.
Remember to not be fooled — the Randy Jackson and Nampa Public Library debacle is about more than just "The Joy of Gay Sex" and "The New Joy of Sex". The focus recently has only been on those two books, but Jackson and the Idaho Values Alliance have their minds set on nine total books — not two.
As the Idaho Statesman pointed out this morning it is a "slippery slope" indeed. And Jackson, Fischer, et al plan on lubing up that slope to make it as slippery as possible.
The number of books have been scaled back to make it seem that they are worried about sex books as a whole — when their real intentions are to get rid of all the books dealing with homosexual sexuality. Also it is important to note that the first two books named were "The Joy of Gay Sex" and the "The Joy of Sex Toys", not the "The New Joy of Sex" which deals with heterosexual sexuality. "The New Joy of Sex" was added later to provide cover — so that it wouldn’t seem they are just going after "The Joy of Gay Sex" or targeting homosexual books.
Idaho Values Alliance:
On Monday, May 15, at 7:00 p.m. I will be attending the Nampa City Council meeting to discuss with them some very controversial books found on the Library shelves. The book titles include “The New Joy of Sex”, “The Joy of Sex Toys”, and “The Joy of Gay Sex”. In total, there are 9 books we are taking to City Council.
All of these books have one common problem that we are bringing to their attention: They have several very detailed, graphic, sexually explicit drawings and some photographs all of which are people in sexual positions. I am not talking about a scientific “this is your body” thing; these images are very pornographic in nature. They are the type of books that most parents would be horrified if they found their children looking at them.
Also note that Randy signed his letter to Byran Fischer as:
Thanks,
Randy Jackson
Revolution Ministries
Jackson later said that his complaint about the books were not related to his fundamentalist youth group or his position in a fundamentalist church, but as his being a concerned parent — a meme that the media happily lapped up — and published, repeatedly. Signing your name as an official of "Revolution Ministries" (which is different than his youth group Youth 4 Revolution) pretty much makes that argument null and void. So thanks Idaho media for saying that Mr. Jackson’s relationship as the minister at a fundamentalist church has no bearing on the story. Way to do your homework — I will note that the Idaho Press-Tribune did note in one column Mr. Jackson’s affiliation with the fundamentalist group.
Rest assured if you give these people an inch they’re going to demand a mile. If these books are removed they’ll let the dust settle down, then they’ll be back.
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