I try to keep “who to vote for” politics pretty well off of this blog and prefer to discuss politics in general and better and worse strategies for promoting libraries in whatever political climate we happen to be in. People acutely interested in high level politics in the US who also work in libraries may be interested in this Time magazine article about Sarah Palin. I was very interested in this paragraph.
[Former Wasilla mayor] 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.” The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving “full support” to the mayor.
Usually I’m just happy to see libraries even mentioned in national level politics, but not like this. Mary Ellen Baker resigned from her library director job in 1999.
note: there’s some buzz being generated that says that this post contains a comment that lists the books that Palin supposedly wanted banned. The list is here, but there appears to be no truth to the claim made by the commenter, and no further documentation or support for this has turned up.
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What’s lousy about the list being inaccurate is that the conversation now becomes about that, instead of the real point that she did ask the library about banning some books. This sort of sloppiness just hands the opposition swords. The Republicans will now moan about the fake list (with some justification) while dodging the real issue.
People should source and check their facts, the list is an obvious one, it’s everywhere and to be honest, I get a little weary of it. It gets trotted out by bookstorees and libraries every year on banned book day. We all now what’s on it now.
Suffice to say, I don’t really care which book she wanted to ban. That she wanted to ban any book is enough for me to know I don’t want her in any public office.
I mean, has she even read One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich? Can she read?
I don’t agree in banning all books that people make objections about, but we should voluntarily keep certain books out of our libraries out of respect for our constituents. They, after all, are the ones who pay our salaries. Keeping them in our collections as a matter of pride in the fact that we CAN keep them is a snobbish attitude. Not all librarians are as liberal as those making comments here. Our country will continue to become better under the McCain / Palin administration.
(Can’t wait to read the replies on this one!)
When’s the last time any of you non-librarians went to the library? In its ideal form, it’s an endangered species! See the (substantiated & yet verging on the bigoted) tangle over Ann Miketa’s Library Diaries. That’s a poorly written but well-intended lambast of airhead library administrators, who inadvertently aid perves, pedophiles & the more dangerous brand of homeless person, to find a haven in your local library. Hey, perhaps libraries themselves should be banned, neatly resolving the brouhaha above.
I think it’s nice to see Palin supporters support rigorous scholarship in blogging. What a pity they don’t hold the same standard to the Federal government or to speakers at political conventions (…do you really need to have the Bush Administration’s anti-science policy reviewed? Huckabee’s outright lie about the number of votes Biden got? McCain’s rather silly claim that Palin had been fully vetter?)
As many have discussed above, no list of banned books should be circulated under Palin’s name (…or anyone’s name…) without solid documentation. It is unlikely that documentation exists so the matter must rest where it lies.
It is a very interesting problem what to do about links to the regrettably misleading posts in this blogs. As discussed above, it’s wrong to delete them, yet there’s a problem retaining them. Ideally, some sort of tagging via the semantic web would enable this blog’s host to identify content the host deems unreliable, but that may have to await Web 3.0
Oh, come on! Sara Palin is the best of the 4 candidates out there! “That she wanted to ban any book is enough for me to know I don’t want her in any public office.” Oh, now that’s real mature.
Dearest Beauceron, I have never felt that Republicans are dumb. I didn’t say it either. There’s no need for me to make up my mind. Maybe you’re talking to someone else who did say that. I’m quite certain that the leaders of the party are in fact quite brilliant manipulators who do and say what ever is necessary to get or keep power.
Todd, did something lead you to believe that liberals are not hard working people? I run my own business. I work hard. I don’t make much money and I’m good with that. Its a valid choice I’ve made to work less and spend time with my family more. I’m not wealthy, I’ll give you that, but I receive no government handouts. No one supports me except myself. I pay my taxes to support my community with pride. Then I go out of my way to donate more to worthy charities. Please don’t confuse compassion for laziness.
The MSM has barely mentioned Todd’s 7-year membership in the AIP, the Alaska Independence Party, or Sarah-Cuda’s speeches before the AIP conventioneers.
The AIP is a fringe group that advocates for a plebiscite on the question of Alaska seceding from the union of American states.
The GOP has played all this down, but it’s been a long time since a secessionist sympathizer ran for such a high office.
Hopefully, Sarah-Cuda will be quizzed on this AIP connection during the debates.
If Senator Obama had addressed a secessionist party’s convention, the GOP would certainly make a big fuss about it.
The US federal government purchased Alaska, on the cheap, from Russia, in 1867. I’m sure that today’s Russia would quickly recognize any American breakaway state, especially one on its eastern border and one with “Russian roots”.
Perhaps Palin, after her “rhetorical” conversations about banning books, found a better way: why bother banning books when you can fire the librarian? And this silence-by-firing seems to be a key tactic in Palin’s career. I wonder if Palin ever checked “The prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli out of the Wasilla Public Library? Because her methods seem quite Machiavellian! (“The Prince” is currently on the shelf at Wasilla PL. The audiobook is checked out currently. Hmmm.)
SJMeyer, My home and car run on oil also. Don’t you ever wish they didn’t? Don’t you ever wonder why the most technologically successful nation still uses 100 year-old technology to get anywhere? Boy, I do.
I come from a town about the size of Wasilla. Elected officials here have enough sophistication to answer questions about library censorship without even taking it as far as the librarian. Public policy here supports the independence of our libraries.
She apparently did not ban books, and without proof I would never claim that she had. But we are not talking anymore about the standards to which we hold small-town mayors. We are talking about a person who could end up being our president. For her to go even as far as to mention book-banning several times, to several people, and at official meetings makes me wonder about her fitness. She is no criminal, no Hitler, or any other of the ridiculous things that people tend to shout at times like these, but does she really understand constitutional freedoms? Does she get it? Good thing to discuss!
Get the full story here: http://www.adn.com/sarah-palin/story/515512.html
Todd,
I am a liberal Democrat. I usually do not go around bragging about how I love this country, but your e-mail seemed to imply that liberals do not. I truly believe I am very fortunate to have been born and raised in the USA. In some respects I must be a conservative for what I want is the government to get out of telling doctors what procedures are proper concerning abortion and for the government to get out of the religion business. I fear Gov. Palin does not want the government to get out of religion. (How can people who trust government the least want the government to say “Let us pray.”) I have no problem paying my taxes, and I do pay my share, to help the disadvantaged simply survive. And yes I do not want to spend money on a lazy SOB who will not work. But those truly are very very few.
I too do not like the deficit spending by either party. The worse mistake George Bush made, beside the “war”, was to never ask us to pay for the “war.” Six years of Republican majority in house and senate only increased the deficit. So, Todd, argue the issues with me. Tell me what you would do for the disabled in this country. What would you do about public education? How long should we continue to throw money at Iraq? What role should the government take concerning religion? But do not shout at me because I am a liberal. Try to out think me, not out shout me. And for my fellow liberals who have called you names – shame on them!! They should have more class. This is not about who can make the most outrageous statement, but who can actually propose a solution. We will probably agree on what the issue is, but just disagree on what the solution is. That is where the debate belongs. Unfortunately we all know that is not where the debate will be.
See http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate scroll down the main article to Anne Kilkenny’s response to the article.
As interesting as a list of the books Palin actually wished censored would undoubtedly be, there’s this somewhat more practical question:
Why did she attempt to dismiss this librarian in the first place? In fact, I should contend the matter perhaps more pertinent to Ms. Palin’s mindset, political tactics, and general governmental policy and cultural views than the list, not to mention whatever reasons the librarian eventually left the job, and the town, for.
Why did Ms. Palin want her out? Perhaps it was justified. Perhaps it wasn’t at all actually justified, and not whatsoever.
Why did she want her out to an extent where a citizen’s group needed to organize, even to a small degree, in order to prevent the dismissal?
Is Palin one to arbitrarily bully “intellectual types” simply as a general loyalty test/ strategy/ what-have-you? Or is this merely another smear job about a simple misunderstanding in a tiny U.S. hamlet by, for instance, Time magazine, as some of her supporters who take exception to the curiosity about her actual political and governing record have been so busily contending? She’s got a clear opportunity to obtain the United States Vice Presidential post, now.
It’s somewhat doubtful, given the town’s open rallying to the librarian’s defense, that Ms. Palin’s reasons for wishing the librarian fired were entirely justified. It is poetic, noble, and psychologically informative to contemplate what Mayor Palin may have wanted banned, of course, but those of us who see Palin’s acceptance speech as a clarion call to seriously resume and escalate the “culture wars” in the national political arena really ought to take some serious note of this matter of why the librarian was (temporarily) handed her hat by Ms. Palin– even if the librarian wishes now to be silent, and even if we’re just discussing, for the present, small-town Alaska.
The new mayor (Palin) asked the librarian if she (the librarian) would object to having questionable books removed from the library. Four days prior to this question, Sarah sent letters to the staff of the previous mayor asking for their resignation which is customary in a new administration. The librarian resigned in 1999. Happens a thousand times a year in towns and cities all over America.
Liberals just won’t quit.
I do not like hearing this; however, info given by another “former mayor”, possibly an opponent. With all I’ve been hearing about candidates’ supposed histories (both Obama & Palin) I’m very concerned about its accuracy. (The web stated Obama was Muslim, I mean please!)
Has it occurred to anyone that the person making most of these specious and spurious claims about the book banning is the man who was defeated by Palin for the post of Mayor of Wasilla? Wake up people and pay attention to the sources and their reasons for making the accusations.
Why did Mayor Palin wish to have the librarian dismissed, once Palin had made her “rhetorical” inquiry? This isn’t a “liberal” question, it’s a natural one. Perhaps this is part of the town’s charter, then, hm?
It does not happen thousands of times where all executives in a city are asked to resign when a new person is elected mayor. At least in my area of South Carolina it does not happen. I think she has an ego and simply wants to control things. If I am correct during the debates she will be confrontational with whoever is asking the questions.
Ms. Emmons,
You have a moral obligation to your fellow citizens to comment for the record to at least one reputable National News Source on the veracity of this allegation.
Reputable National News Sources,
Get off your asses. How many Mary Ellen Emmons former librarians can there be in Alaska?
Everyone else,
How many reputable National News Sources do you think there actually are?
Excuse me Kimberly?
The Republican machine has built entire careers and presidencies on questioning (and outright smearing) of “liberal” candidates. How about the shameless swift-boating of John Kerry, and even W’s 2000 primary campaign stating McCain had “illegitimate” children? (But somehow Palin’s pregnant daughter should be off the table?)
And as long as we’re on the subject: McCain left his first wife while she was fighting cancer and our potential next first lady was mistress. If Obama had done that how huge would it be in the news right now?
Don’t complain about sleazy tactics when your party has thrived on them for decades.
I was looking for factual information. Remember, a fact is a statement that can be proven to be true or false with the use of valid evidence. Most of what many of us write is simply opinion. For example, Todd claims Palin is “the greatest female politician.” This is a claim that simply cannot be proven. How do you define “greatest?” The word is an abtraction. How do you know Obama or anyone else is a “liar?” Are you a mind reader? Only God knows the human heart. When seeking for truth, point of view must be considered. Your perception of truth is your truth.
Let’s try to decide this election on the issues and not on name calling. Even the words liberal and conservative must be defined. They are also abstractions. I suggest that we all go to the public library and read American History and American Literature. I think you will find little has changed. Classism and racism are still alive and well. That is my opinion, but I know I could prove my case with facts. May God be merciful to us all.
Listen,
I know we all have strong opinions about the people running for office at the moment. That’s one of the things that makes America beautiful. I would please ask all of the readers, bloggers and voters to think about this; just because something is in print does not make it true. You must have a primary source. I studied History and Political Science — especially the news media’s effect on politics; I am ashamed at the way our major networks and major newspapers are behaving during this election season — what happened to point-counterpoint? Where is the balance? Where is the unbiased fair time on the networks? I suppose the pendulum must swing, are we back to the muckraking days of journalism? And yet, this is still America, a country of free speech, and what an exciting election this has become! Discover the TRUTH before deciding an opinion is fact.
Sincerely,
A Former Librarian
As expected, the rumor is false: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13084_Page2.html
From Politico:
‘In 1996, according to the Frontiersman, Wasilla’s library director Mary Ellen Emmons said Palin asked her outright if she could live with censorship of library books. Emmons said, “This is different than a normal book-selection procedure or a book-challenge policy. … She was asking me how I would deal with her saying a book can’t be in the library.†Palin said in response, “Many issues were discussed, both rhetorical and realistic in nature.†[Frontiersman, 12/18/96]’
There was no threat, there were no banned books. Constituents complained, she asked, and she was answered.
There’s a list circulating on the Internet claiming to be the list of books Palin asked to be banned. It’s a fake; some of the books on the list had not even been published in 1996 when this incident occurred. The list is from http://www.adlerbooks.com/banned.html, and is a list of all books that have ever been banned anywhere in America.
Long on accusation, but short on facts. I seem to recall something from the US Supreme Court relying on the application of “contemporary community standards” in determining what might be obscene. Who sets these standards? The members of the community! If an elected official is asked or petitioned by the voters to determine if and how certain objectionable materials be removed from a public facility, should that official research and respond, or ignore the request?
I think we’d all agree that there can be some standards applied when public funding is used in the purchase and distribution of items in a library. For instance, should the public library have an adult-video DVD for loan along-side mainstream Hollywood flicks? Should they offer Hustler and Penthouse? At some point, some members of a community will draw a line and say here, but no further. Different members of the community will draw the line in different places. So, argument will inevitably result when people differ on where this line is drawn.
Note that there is nothing in the Time, NYT, or Frontier piece that indicate that anything WAS banned; that this was anything other than follow up on a voter inquiry; or that this was Sarah Palin attempting to impose her views. But that hasn’t stopped any of the many partisans here from seeing what they want to see.
To the liberals here, now that you’ve established your free-speech bona-fides, tell me now how you feel about your party’s plans with the so-called “Fairness Doctrine”.
MV, I’m afraid you simply don’t know what you’re talking about here. Librarians are educated specifically to make those choices is a way the suits their community. Then the community is always invited to challenge the library’s selections if they should find something to be inappropriate. These challenges are a welcomed part of the process of making a library that works for the whole community. This is the way it’s done all over the country and it works. If anyone has a problem with an item in the library, the correct way to deal with it is to file a challenge. That goes for voters and mayors.
Or to refile it. ;)
Just one more thing to keep in mind when stepping into the booth on Nov. 4…
Jen, from everything I’ve read here and elsewhere regarding this issue, it seems like Palin was making inquiries on behalf of concerned citizens. Maybe she wasn’t following the appropriate process, but then she’s not a librarian so far as I know. How many members of the community actually know the process for filing a challenge to a book? Might they instead, upon hearing about a particular book, call the Mayor’s office, or a state representative? Yes, they might, and that’s probably what happened. Palin looked into it, but she never acted on it.
What bothers me especially is that REPORTERS, time and time again, have demonstrated that they are unwilling to take a little extra time to get their facts straight. Sarah Palin has also been accused of slashing funds for special needs programs; a minute or two of Googling provides the information to show that the whole story is hogwash:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/09/newest_palin_smear_she_cut_spe.asp
ZOMG it’s the Weekly Standard!! But hopefully those interested enough can set aside, for a moment, their disdain for all things conservative, and just read the article.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Bastard by John Jakes
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Living Bible by William C. Bower
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff
I HATE THIS BITCH! SPREAD THE LIST! EVERYONE COPY, PASTE AND REPOST!!!!!!!!
Let’s give it time. I really think we have much bigger issues in this country than a complete blog about book banning, which at this time, there is lots of speculation if and what of it is true. Let’s be mature about all the candidates and the real issues–education, homeland security, health insurance, crime, respect of life,huge financial burdens, from foreclosures, credit card debt to paying for everyday living expenses. You get the idea, don’t you???????
Gov Palin address the Wasilla AG Church in June 2008:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palins-church-may-have-sh_n_123205.html
This woman is tuly frightening!
Note that there are many, many references to Alaska, the wealth it has and the additional benefits that should come to Alaska, but the only reference to the entire United States is that Alaska will serve as a refuge for hundreds of thousands from the lower 48 “in the last days.”
Unfortunately, the link to Ed Kalnin’s hundreds of recorded sermons (since 1999) no longer works. It worked earlier this week, because I visited the page, but I did not listen to any of them (too many!)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palins-church-may-have-sh_n_123205.html
Paul? As the young folks say, RTFA. As the young folks also say, EPIC fail.
A couple of years ago in White Salmon Wa., our newly elected Mayor fired a recently hired chief of police, who subsequently sued for wrongful termination, and won a sum in excess of $1,000,000 . We can’t afford to repave our sorry streets, but our Librarian and library remain top frigging drawer, the true, and INCLUSIVE center of what is a very small town. Need to register to vote?
The list posted is garbage, they lifted it from here:
http://www.adlerbooks.com/banned.html
Actual list has leaked: Sarah Palin Banned Books List
Sloan,
“Jen, from everything I’ve read here and elsewhere regarding this issue, it seems like Palin was making inquiries on behalf of concerned citizens.”
This is just guesswork on your part. If that were true, why did Palin have her fired??
.
“How many members of the community actually know the process for filing a challenge to a book?”
So you actually support the banning of books, if done through the proper channels?
.
Palin is acting like a dictator in Wasilla. She has spread lies, tried to strongarm several people, and yet you defend her. Why is that? Why would you want a proven liar in the Whitehouse??
This is undoubtedly true since someone said so and it needs no further examination.
She also faked her latest birth to protect her daughter.
She was a Nazi sympathizer.
She was on the grassy knoll.
She had a broom in her house which she used to ride on a full moon.
It said that that six million women were burned over the centuries on the basis of similar charges. They know what they were doing in the old days. Otherwise women will get uppity.
As for men? Just because a politician gets a sweetheart discount on his property from a criminal, that’s nothing. Consorting with terrorists, it can happen to anyone. Voting against a bill to outlaw infanticide? That’s the way to control global warming, keep the population down.
Both sides can play this dirty, but only one side does. It won’t help. The people didn’t buy the smears against Reagan, that he molested his son at age 8. And they won’t buy these.