Palin Asked About Potentially Banning Books

Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question.

Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.

The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her job and Wasilla a couple of years later, declined to comment for this article.

In 1996, Ms. Palin suggested to the local paper, The Frontiersman, that the conversations about banning books were “rhetorical.”

www.nytimes.com...

As mayor of Wasilla, she tried to ban books and fired the librarian when she resisted. This is the type of person the Republicans want as VP, a book-banner? I thought the dark ages were over.

Does anyone know which books she wanted banned?



[edit on 3-9-2008 by TheComte]

[edit on 3-9-2008 by TheComte]




Edit to alter thread title to more accurately reflect the story.

[edit on 10-9-2008 by SkepticOverlord]

"Never followed through..." beautiful! A neocon the does not follow through. She seems ready to "govern" it seems. This is funny.

Well, I think she would have followed through had not the residents of the town stood up to her.

But banning books from a public library? I'm interested to know which books she wanted banned. If I were a betting man I'd guess it was the Harry Potters for their witchcraft and occultism. Or maybe Alice in Wonderland because of the perception of possible drug references.

Tell me how this is worse than the Obama campaign attempting to stifle free speech by what they did here?

Actually what the Obama campaign did is a lot worse, because rather than just talk about doing it, they actually tried to do it. They didn't like what was being said on a radio program about Obama so they employed their faithful Obama followers to call the radio station and demand the manager take the guest speaker off the air and never allow him back.

Team Obama has launched an offensive against WGN, the Chicago Tribune's radio station, for interviewing Stanley Kurtz. Mr. Kurtz is a conservative writer who this week forced the University of Illinois to finally open its records on Sen. Obama's association with William Ayers, the unrepentant 1970s Weather Underground terrorist.

An Obama campaign email to supporters called Mr. Kurtz a "slimy character assassin" whose "divisive, destructive ranting" should be confronted. WGN producer Zack Christenson says the outpouring of negative calls and emails is "unprecedented." He also notes that it is curious -- because "we wanted the Obama campaign's take" on Mr. Kurtz's findings, but the campaign declined to put anyone on air.

Source: online.wsj.com...

So tell me again, what's your point, sir?

reply to post by sos37


First of all, this thread is about Palin's attempt to ban books. Do you have an opinion on that either way? Are you all for it? Against?

As far as your example of the Obama campaign's transgressions, I don't agree with that either. However, the main difference is that at this time he is in the middle of a campaign to win the Presidency. We all know that both parties play dirty when so much is at stake.

With Palin, the spotlight wasn't on her, she was already mayor of a small community, zero media attention. And yet her beliefs caused her to think book banning was a good thing. She actually believed she was doing right. Kudos to the town for standing up to her.

reply to post by TheComte


According to that story, the town stood up to her for firing Ms. Emmons. It did say that Ms. Emmons vowed to fight censorship, but there are no hard conclusions drawn that say the town stood up to Palin for wanting to ban books, or even that Palin wanted to fire Ms. Emmons for resisting her on the book banning issue.

The NY Times introduces these things and wants the reader to draw these conclusions, which you did.

Now I do disagree with banning books, except in the cases of Elementary, Middle, Junior and High Schools. There are certain books I believe should not be available there, like "The Anarchist's Cookbook" and the like. Those types of books can be so easily had over the internet nowadays anyway.

On the Obama campaign, isn't the fact that they will do this in plain site, during a campaign an indicator that they would have no problems doing it behind closed doors, through legislation?

Originally posted by sos37
reply to post by TheComte

 

According to that story, the town stood up to her for firing Ms. Emmons. It did say that Ms. Emmons vowed to fight censorship, but there are no hard conclusions drawn that say the town stood up to Palin for wanting to ban books, or even that Palin wanted to fire Ms. Emmons for resisting her on the book banning issue.

The NY Times introduces these things and wants the reader to draw these conclusions, which you did.

Now I do disagree with banning books, except in the cases of Elementary, Middle, Junior and High Schools. There are certain books I believe should not be available there, like "The Anarchist's Cookbook" and the like. Those types of books can be so easily had over the internet nowadays anyway.

On the Obama campaign, isn't the fact that they will do this in plain site, during a campaign an indicator that they would have no problems doing it behind closed doors, through legislation?

They should both be flogged for their censorship, but they've done nothing different. Both cases are infringing upon the right to free speech/press etc, and IMO equally damning.

Censorship is first and foremost accorded by the bill of rights as the most offensive thing to any real American.

reply to post by sos37


OK, but can we not assume that if the town stood up for the librarian who did NOT want the censorship, that they also did NOT want the censorship. Seems like that is the only conclusion to draw.

And I also agree that some books should not be available to children and that is why I asked if anyone knew which books she wanted banned. I think it would reveal a lot of her character if we did know. It may not be possible to find out, however.

I do not think that Obama will do anything worse than what has already been done by the current administration or by McCain if he gets elected. I do think that Palin is too fundamentalist for office though.

Originally posted by TheComte
reply to post by sos37

 

OK, but can we not assume that if the town stood up for the librarian who did NOT want the censorship, that they also did NOT want the censorship. Seems like that is the only conclusion to draw.

That's a distinct possibility. Then again, maybe she's the 60 year old granny who knows everyone in town and the thought of her being fired outraged everyone who heard it. Personally though, I would stand up to city council if they decided to ban books from the public library. One way to find out would be for one of these reporters at rally or event to just come out and ask her which books she wanted to ban and why. So far she's been talking about giving straight answers, so it would be a good test of her straightforwardness and a willingness to discuss past issues.

That is a great suggestion and I hope that some reporter will have the balls to ask her this question.

Reporters, if you are reading this, you know what to do.

Wow. What's next? Didn't HITLER BAN BOOKS!

So, do we really want her in office? What's next, making the gays(todays Jews) wear pieces of flair so we can identify them?

I would love to find out what books were the ones in question and that deemed necessary to get them out of the eyes of the citizens.

What makes it more scary is the thought of people supporting this type of behavior.

Originally posted by TheComte
reply to post by sos37

 

First of all, this thread is about Palin's attempt to ban books. Do you have an opinion on that either way? Are you all for it? Against?

As far as your example of the Obama campaign's transgressions, I don't agree with that either. However, the main difference is that at this time he is in the middle of a campaign to win the Presidency. We all know that both parties play dirty when so much is at stake.

With Palin, the spotlight wasn't on her, she was already mayor of a small community, zero media attention. And yet her beliefs caused her to think book banning was a good thing. She actually believed she was doing right. Kudos to the town for standing up to her.

Well, first, I would like to know the full story behind the situation. Face it, the New York Times is NOT known for accuracy in its reporting anymore. What were the circumstances? Was it a rhetorical discussion? Or did the town librarian have Penthouse Letters on the shelf?

Both candidates are of an order of several degrees greater in terms of their character than their represented political parties. I can't express this enough. The party apparatus falls way below the levels of commitment, integrity and respect that each of these presidential candidates display. And this, I feel, is what is providing contention among the media, among bloggers and especially among the misinformed contributors of this forum. The party machines are creating so much meaningless propaganda. Of course, this is probably true of so many U.S. presidential elections. Though it is surprisingly rare that the candidates so greatly outshine the in-grained rhetoric inevitably engendered by the same party politics that they are so unfortunately associated with. In the cases of both nomination acceptance speeches the pulpit truly stood out from the crowd.

[edit on 5-9-2008 by cognoscente]

Here are the books:

For Inappropriate language

A Wrinkle in Time
Brave New World
Catch 22
Anything by Stephen King
Everything by JK Rowling
Most of Shakespeare
Webster’s 9th New Collegiate Dictionary.

This is according to a PODcast made by a woman who read the Time Magazine story. She says the librarian's name was Mary Ellen Baker, who was actually fired by Palin, but then was given her job back under public outcry.

What I take issue with is this isn't the first time that she has fired (or wanted to fire who she clashed with) this is actually the THIRD case of her abuse of power.

We have her trying to fire a librarian for refusing to ban books. Who cares what books they were. It doesn't matter. People have the right to read "Mein kamph" (spelling?) if they want to. That's what makes this a free society.

She also fired someone for not firing her sister's ex. No matter what he did it had nothing (I believe) to do with his work as an officer. Now I think the only thing regarding that would be the fact that he used a taser on an 11 year old. This is very very disturbing. But the whole story is also that the 11 year old asked him to do it. I'm not saying that makes it okay but I'm saying it's not like he did it to be an a-hole.

She then fired the ENTIRE board of agriculture because they refused to stop the shut down of a dairy plant because it was grossly under funded and even though it recieved money there was no way it would stay open. So she replaced the board with "yes" men and women who overturned the decision to shut it down and it wound up having to close down anyway.

Apparently, this woman is willing to use her power to get her way. it's not the way of the people, it's HER way or the highway.

This is the issue...

Good work BH. Star for you. I thought it was a sarcastic list at first but really!? Shakespeare? Catch 22?? There's no evidence of the correct titles as yet ayway but the fact she even inquired about banning books from what would be a publicly funded library?!

I may disagree with some books, but the golden rule is "your freedom is my freedom."

Palin makes me sick.

Originally posted by TheComte
That is a great suggestion and I hope that some reporter will have the balls to ask her this question.

Reporters, if you are reading this, you know what to do.

I doubt you will see her talking to any reporters. They will hide her away from any media until they get her trained. Yep, she is a good at reading speeches....but I am sure she will be weak in the debates and any one on one interviews....if she ever gives one.

DEBUNKED

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