Read a Good Book

Ok, so we know about The Good Book - and the American Library Association has compiled lists of other good books. So good these books are that some people are afraid of them!

1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling


2. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier


3. The Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor


4. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck


5. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou


6. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers


7. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
(ooohhhh... Kids might learn that it's not the stork!)

8. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz


9. Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey


10. Forever by Judy Blume

I get that some folks don't want their tax dollars going to fund filth, but one person's filth is another person's treasure. In our society, we must respect our diversity while simultaneously guarding our individual character, but we cannot impose our own individual character upon everyone.

Google has a great page on banned books, too.

Links: Under attack

• Free assembly & speech: Police break up anti-war meeting in Washington
• The American Dream: Forgotten man: Steve Tucker served a 10-year prison sentence for selling light bulbs. Is America's drug war worth it?
  
• The American Economy: Economy In Crisis

Where do you live?

I used to think I lived in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Now, I'm not so sure. The City of Washington, D.C. has taken action against ANSWER - fining them $10k for using an inappropriate adhesive on anti-war protest posters announcing the event planned for September 15, 2007. Selective enforcement?

And then there's the bit about search and seizure. Congress authorized the President to wiretap every man, woman, and child talking on the phone so long as the Attorney General "reasonably believes" that one end of the conversation is abroad. What happened to the FISA courts? What happened to the idea of having judicial oversight? Now, all of wiretapping is in the hands of the President. What if he doesn't like my political views? What if he doesn't like some reporter? What if someone can expose him for doing something he shouldn't have? Will he have blackmail material on hand? This lack of oversight cannot be a good thing.

Oh, and representation of the will of the people. Now they're going to build a MegaMall a mile from my house at an intersection ill-suited for the traffic and far from any suitable highways. The Town Council approved the zoning change in the face of scores of protesters, and after hundreds turned out for a Planning and Zoning meeting to protest. How many people need to protest something to get it to not happen?

Free speech salvo

On Friday, Arizona police arrested a 64-year-old man — a fugitive since 2001 in a bizarre war that mixes free speech, copyright law, and the Church of Scientology.

So this guy gets on a conversation group on the internet and acts like he wants to procure a "Tom Cruise Missile" in a verbal slight against the Church of Scientology. He's charged with interfering with a church. Excuse me? Maybe picketing the street in front of a church would be interfering, but online banter?

Funny - he did picket, and follow members. But still, where do you draw the line? "Odd behavior," as folks in that article keep harping on, must be tolerated until it infringes on the rights of others, otherwise we're legislating conformity.