A brief Chronological Compendium of a Few Banned or Challenged Works, and Censorship and Anti-Censorship Efforts 2001

I never came across anyone in whom the moral sense was dominant who was not heartless, cruel, vindictive, log-stupid and entirely lacking in the smallest sense of humanity. Moral people, as they are termed, are simply beasts. I would sooner have fifty unnatural vices than one unnatural virtue. --Oscar Wilde

Join the Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign!

2001: Book Review and a Discussion with Jane Yolen, Author

By RoseEtta Stone. In this piece, Ms. Yolen details the reasons why some of her books have been banned or challenged, or, in the case of Briar Rose, burned on the steps of a Board of Education building in the state of Missouri.

• Briar Rose: challenged for "vocabulary considerations" and banned for apparently "implicit" homosexuality;

• Commander Toad In Space: reasons unknown;

• Devil's Arithmetic: because of the word "Devil" in the title;

• Dragon's Blood: because a character "stole" a dragon's egg;

• The Stone Silenus: because the boy on the cover has his shirt off and was standing behind a rock; a librarian considered that indicative of nudity (it was not).

By Jonah Peretti. He asked for a pair of customized sneakers that would have cast Nike in a less than complimentary light. Nike refused to fill his order. The report was posted at the Urban Legends Reference Page in February, but it apparently began near the end of December 2000 and ran over into the new year.
(also see 18 Oct 2001)

2001, January: Top Ten challenged works of 2000

The American Library Association issued a release with the ten most challenged works for the year 2000. They reported that the number of challenges in the year 2000 also experienced a sharp increase over the number from 1999; up to 646 from 472. The 174 more challenges reflect a 36.86% jump.

The Kentucky Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned two decisions, one a conviction of misconduct brought against a woman for wearing a Marilyn Manson tee-shirt with the caption I am the God of fuck on it, and the other, the seizure of a yearbook by a university. The rulings are being called "significant decisions" in "a landmark case". The charge of misconduct rather than of obscenity, appears to have been an effort to get around First Amendment protections of speech.
(see the entry for 19 Mar 2001 for another Manson teeshirt case.)

By the Ku Klux Klan. Gary, Indianna Mayor, Scott King, was required by a federal court ruling in favor of free speech, to grant a permit for a branch of this hate-based organization. He had also tried some skullduggery to circumvent the First Amendment.

[However well intentioned, I cannot support or condone this attempt at censorship. Repeat after me, kiddies: Silencing the ravings of a fool with an axe to grind does not alter the opinions or the attitudes of the fool one jot, tittle, or iota. Contrarywise, one must study the fool's ravings to find out just how bankrupt they are. --MN]

The Canadian Chapter of international PEN, Poets, Essayists, Novelists, released a statement concerning the arrest of a Stormont, Ontario, high school student.

[The young man cannot be identified under Canada's Young Offender's Act. --MN]
(see 08 Dec 2000)

A nudity ban in Boise, Idaho, was overturned by a District Court judge. This ban was, in part, so sweeping that it would also have been illegal to wear some kinds of clothing.
(see 02 Jul 2001)

By Trey Parker and Matt Stone. When network flacks caved in to public outcry yet again. The material in question would have featured the 19 year old twin girls of President Dubya as lesbian lovers in this new show. As is frequently the case, the situation was mishandled.

[Hmmmm-mmmm! -- Boy howdy! Lesbian twin sister lovers and a name like "That's My Bush"? Nah. I'm reading too much into it; right? --MN]
(see27 Jan 2001; 07 Aug 2001)

The newly installed U.S. President began to force the removal of sex education material in overseas organizations.
(See 29 Aug 2003)

They launched another hate-speech based site; this one targetting children, and which is sure to cause a large number of people to squawk about how "we must protect the children." Unfortunately, increased measures to censor hate-speech will do nothing to teach those children how to identify hate-speech for themselves. Leaving them open to seduction by it.

Joe Carson, age 20, was sitting minding his own business and reading High Times magazine when it was summarily confiscated as illegal drug paraphernalia by a fifteen month veteran of the police in Smith Falls, Ontario. The article I read does not say if Constable Howard Huggard was on a municipal police force or the Ontario Provincial Police.

[Off hand, I'd have to chalk this up to just a silly-ass mistake. Still, why the hell didn't he think to check before making the bust, and why the hell did he think some kinds of magazines had been outlawed in the first place? A more disturbing question is: didn't this officer's training include lectures on civil rights? --MN]

2001, January 24: "Big brother is not just the gubmint, he is the people too." --Rachel Veraa

Which is proven by the people of Spain.

Frederic Faure, a confectioner, has been put under police protection after making a chocolate figure of Luis Figo, a footballer from Portugal who plays in Spain. The problem? The figure is based on a traditional character known as "the crapper".

Faure has refused to be intimidated by the threats he has received from fans keen to preserve the Portugal footballer's dignity.

The footballer had left Barcelona in the summer of 1999 for that team's arch rivals, Real Madrid.

Mr. Faure says that he is not ready to take the chocolate figure out of his shop window. Figo is depicted crouching in a pose similar to the Spanish character known as "caganer" - the crapper - which adorns crib scenes across Catalonia at Christmas.

The Gerona confectioner has expressed surprise. He said, "I have already carved politicians like the Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, as 'caganer' figures and there have never been any problems."

By Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The South Park creators have said they won't use the Bush twins. According to the network flacks and Prez. Dubya, there was some question as to the status of the girls as public figures.

[Personally, I don't think there is any question that they are not public figures. Their old man got elected to the oval orifice (sic), but they hadn't done anything newsworthy up until this time except to be the subjects of an accident of birth. Which is, in my not so humble opinion, not reason enough to declare them public figures to take pot-shots at them or their old man. What makes me chalk this incident up to censorship is that this rationale seems to have been applied after the fact and in light of the public hysteria over the issue. Not to mention that the Bush family has taken it upon themselves to decide what can and cannot be published about them. --MN]
(see 19 Jan 2001; 07 Aug 2001)

A group of writers including Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje staged an anti-censorship rally for a high school student apparently jailed for his writing.

The German government has presented its application for a ban on the extreme-right National Democratic Party. This application should be before the Federal Constitutional Court in Frankfurt for about a year before they rule on it.

Judge Alfredo Marquez of the U.S. District Court in Arizona, issued a temporary injunction, staying enforcement of the Arizona Internet harmful to minors law, pending his ruling on the application for a permanent injunction. The challenge was launched in August 2000.
(see 07 Feb 2001 for another challege filed in Vermont by the ABFFE under the Commerce Clause. Read the full report on both cases at the American Booksellers Association web site)

In the latest round of the fight against Bible Belt mentality in government, the biblical literalists suffered a setback when evolution was restored to the science curriculum after having been censored since 1999.

In an effort to protect us all from spam, Hotmail and other services took it upon themselves to decide to whom we would be allowed to write. What they didn't explain is how it would discourage spamming by barring traffic to sites that oppose wholesale spam filtering.

By Glenn Given. In the first of two incidents -- of which this one seems to border on censorship -- in Spring, 2001. Given is the managing editor for the Stony Brook Press, a satirical newspaper on the campus at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. In a satirical article about Geedubya, he asked God to "smite" the president. He was subsequently questioned by Secret Service agents who were worried that the article might be viewed by some as a divine call to assassinate Bush. Apparently the investigation went no further than that.

[What brings this action to the edge of censorship is that such an incident could create a chilling effect on those who might otherwise criticize the president. However, this chilling affect must be considered to be a latent function (an unintended and undesired side affect) to the manifest function (the main goal) of protecting the president from immediate threat of harm. I would chalk up as censorship only those actions deliberately and specifically implemented to have a chilling affect. Aside from which, there was no mention made of pulling that issue of the paper. --MN]
(see Apr 2001)

In which it is alleged this law violated federal statutes protecting commerce. The law came into affect in July, 2000 and criminalizes any nudity or sexual content that is transmitted via the internet and which is accessible to Vermonters, as long as someone finds the material to be harmful to minors. Michael A. Bamberger, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, stated, "[This law] restricts speech by and to the adult population in the guise of protecting minors."

The suit was brought by:

• Northshire Bookstores (in Manchester, Vermont);
• American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE);
• American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont;
• Association of American Publishers;
• Freedom to Read Foundation;
• National Association of Recording Merchandisers;
• PSINet, Inc.;
• Recording Industry Association of America, Inc.;
• Sexual Health Network, Inc.; and
• a number of unidentified individuals.

[Actually, such a law is meaningless, because there is no valid scientific evidence from a reliable source that proves any kind of material is "harmful to minors." Unfortunately, all it would really take is for one person to express the opinion that any given material is harmful; however innocuous the material might be. --MN]
(see 30 Jan 2001 for another challege filed in Arizona by the ABFFE under the Commerce Clause. Read the full report on both cases at the American Booksellers Association web site)

By Herbert Robertson, of his wife Tammy. Some photos of her naked corpus were posted online, generating criminal charges under the rubric "community standards." The Robertsons were effectively run out of town.

According to a news report for 22 Mar 2001, President Bush will be asked to demand the immediate release of Chinese-born sociologist, Gao Zhan. His arbitrary arrest makes the third case of Chinese-born researchers being arrested in three years.

For more details on the "Fatwah" see Appendix A.

By tattoo artists in Cleveland, Ohio this time.
(see 23 Oct 2000)

By Morgan Llywelyn. It was challenged in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) on the grounds of graphic descriptions of sex, oral sex, "sex magic", and the main character wanting to rape. On this day FCPS Board voted to allow this book to continue to be used in all grades of high school.

This independent consumer advocacy magazine found serious flaws with filtering software. Especially that the software blocked access to 63% of legitimate sites.
(see 07 Mar 2001, 04 Apr 2001)

By the Brooklyn Museum of Art, for offending Mayor Rudolf Guiliani. Once again Mr. Giuliani got on his high horse and charged madly off in all directions. He reprised his anti-art ignorance of autumn 1999 by once again threatening an art-work of which he utterly failed to get the point -- because he hadn't seen it.

By Keith Beidler of Washinton State, this time. The Judge's decision on the settlement puts paid to this case.
(see 21 Nov 2000; 05 Dec 2000)

Terence Hunter was jailed for -- well, basically: for being an uppity nigger and daring to criticize the Staten Island Borough President.

[Addendum 12 Jul 2002: On or about 13 Apr the Thomas Jefferson Center issued its annual Thomas Jefferson Muzzles awards to the 2001 top first amendment violators. The New York Police Department Intelligence Division Threat Assessment Unit received one for their abusive treatment of Mr. Hunter, for mishandling his case, and for the subsequent effort to cover its own ass. To say the NYPD treated Terence Hunter as an uppity nigger is not an overstatement of the case; if anything, it falls far short of the reality.

They filed one suit and one appeal to a court ruling, in two cases in which private citizens had posted e-mail under pseudonyms. The appeal was for Melvin vs: Doe
(see 15 Nov 2000, and 14 Dec 2000)

By everybody, infidel and muslim alike.

CBC News Online and the Ananova news site report plans by the extremist Taliban to destroy all statuary in Afghanistan. Including a couple of two thousand year old statues of Buddha that were carved into the face of a cliff.

[For all their much vaunted posturing about how the Middle East and the Orient are so much more civilized than the West, you'd think they keep those statues and compare them to Mount Rushmore as proof of their superiority. Instead they are going to prove that they are a bunch of ignorant philistines who have no respect for the cultural legacy of their country. Go figure. --MN]

By eight-year old Ms. Thielen of Boulder, Colorado. It was reported that the third-grader's sociology survey was banned in a fit of anti-racist hysteria; despite the fact that the survey conformed scrupulously to the norms of scientific method, and that it had no real racist overtones.

[Proving once again that anti-racism speech laws and policies are far too prone to misapplication by well-intentioned ignoramuses. --MN]

Australian priest Paul Collins, who posed questions about Pontifical authority, resigned from the Catholic Church after being investigated by church authorities for his book Papal Power.

Mr. Collins said that although the Catholic Church defends human rights, it is not tolerant of dissent or debate within its own ranks.

"If you look at the church's internal human rights record you'd have to say it was very bad -- not least the way it deals with people whose books are being examined," he said, then added, "Human rights just don't exist once you start dealing with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith."

Mr Collins said once the church began investigating the book it became increasingly dogged and persistent. Even going so far, he claimed, as to monitor his public appearances and radio broadcasts. "Once the Vatican gets hold of something it's like a dog with a bone, it just keeps going at it," he said.

Church authorities were unavailable for comment.

The third SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Writers Conference opened in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with a call for fighting religious fanaticism, ethnic violence, repression on women, and terrorism in the region.

About 100 poets and writers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and host Bangladesh are attending the conference.

Opening the two-day conference at Begum Sufia Kamal auditorium in Dhaka, Professor Kabir Chowdhury said the writers have a moral responsibility to fight these evils through their writings.

Kabir Chowdhury expressed the hope that the conference will help the writers of this region get a better position to pursue their creative endeavors more effectively both from the perspective of art and of society at large.

The delegates from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan echoed the sentiment that the conference, besides helping forge yet better relations among the writers of the region, will greatly contribute to further cement the people-to-people bonds of friendship in the region.

After the inauguration, Bangladeshi poet Shmsur Rahman was awarded the first "SAARC Writers Award for Life-time Excellence." The award carries a citation and cash amounting to 223,000 taka (US$4,100).

By the ancient peoples of Afghanistan. Troops were apparently deployed to begin the destruction of Afghanistan history.

By David Carson, Edward H Powers jr, and Oberver Publications; one newspaper. They were subjected to criminal defamation charges instead of a civil libel suit. The trial was set for 10 Apr 2001. The story was reported on 04 March by the Associated Press wire service and carried at The Freedom Forum Online.
(see 1735; 25 Jul 2001)

It involved 250 [out of I don't know how many --MN] students at Penn High School, Indiana. Any and all music appreciation, whether on the bus, between class, or during an aerobics work out, had been disallowed. A parent had complained about graphic lyrics in a song that had played over the radio on the bus, so the school district banned all music from every district controlled lieux

As if it were something to be proud of. Dolts.

Dolls of Woody's girlfriend in Toy Story 2, Jessie, is supposed to say critters. It seems she might being saying "clitoris" instead.

There have been complaints from parents saying the doll causes offence and embarrassment.

[Personally, I think those parents who are complaining about offence and embarrassment are hypersensitive. Six will get you one that any kid who says clitoris will do it because his parent will freak out when he does it.

Aside from that, I would say at first blush (pardon the pun), that this is another case of raving sexualphobics going gunning for the Disney Corporation with another trumped up excuse to accuse Disney Corp of rampaging sex on the brain. For more on that, check the entries on file at The Urban Legends Reference Page about a number of animated Disney films.

Lastly: Why, oh why! -- do these language prudes insist that clitoris is obscene or offensive when it is the correct latin, anatomical terminology for that particular body part? It is no more dirty than words such as spleen, liver, kidney, heart, or brain. After all, why shouldn't kidney be offensive? You talk about kidneys and you're talking about the body's urine factory. Doesn't that make it toilet talk? --MN]

2001, March 07: A California Court ruled against censorware.

The ruling stated that a parent does not have the right to force libraries to use filtering software because of what her child accessed on the Internet.
(see 14 Feb 2001; 04 Apr 2001)

A Florida police officer was given a three-day suspension for conduct unbecoming a police officer because of something his wife did.

Daniel Lake, from North Port, Florida, U.S.A., was suspended after his wife posted pornographic pictures of herself on the internet. Officer Lake was charged with misconduct. Internal investigators claim the actions of his wife embarrassed the police.

Dawn Lake, who had posed in different sexual positions, posted the photographs as a surprise for him. Daniel claims he did not know about the seductive photos.

The Sun-Herald quoted City Commissioner Tom Williamson as saying, "What happened to this family, even if it was in their own home, makes us a mockery."

[What a bunch of snivelling, hypersensitive prudes; and what a perfect excuse for Big Brother to willfully invade people's privacy. Not to mention the politically correct stupidity of punishing someone for something someone else did.

Embarrassed the police? -- HA! What'chya wanna bet they were drooling over the pictures? --MN]
(see 14 Feb 2002; 19 Feb 2002)

In an act of fundamental insecurity rather than belief, the Taliban extremists finished destroying a legacy of all mankind.

LAHORE -- Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf declared on Monday that stringent measures would be taken to control religious fanaticism as it had brought no credit to Islam or the country.

He was addressing 16th annual lunch meeting of the Council of Pakistan Editors here at a local hotel. "These outfits have harmed the country internally and distorted its image externally. I don't want to go into the details of the steps being envisaged by the government, but some tough measures are certainly on the cards during the next cabinet meeting on [March?]14th. [...]

[...]

Earlier, Mr Arif Nizami, president of the CPNE, praised the government for its healthy attitude towards the press freedom, although one would not expect this kind of behaviour from a military government. He also narrated problems being faced by the newspaper industry due to rising cost of newsprint. He regretted the government's failure to fulfil its promises to help the industry to stabilize economically. The freedom given by the government made it necessary for the press to act with a sense of responsibility in playing its role.

Once again in an attempt to protect the flag from being burned at protests.

[An attempt which I see as misguided. I do agree that extremists should not be permitted to burn flags as I do not consider flag burning to be a legitimate form of protest in such cases, but rather to be an expression of intolerance during hate rallies. An example of this can be found in the anti-American "protests" by Iranian nationals who were studying at U.S. universities during the Teheran hostage taking.

However, such incidents should not be allowed to obviate a flag burning at a legitimate protest by the truly disaffected who are expressing discontent with government action, inaction, or policies.

Unfortunately, what is really required is a standard by which a flag can be burned while still maintaining the dignity of the flag. Throwing a burning flag onto the ground and stomping on it hysterically while the surrounding crowd screams its vitriol and blood lust certainly ain't it. Of course, then people will say, "But what about Freedom of Expression?" --MN]

For information about the history of the flag       amendment and the veterans who oppose it       see the ACLU site:

2001, March 13: Not a case of censorship but of human and civil rights support.

The ACLU joined with the leader of mainstream religious groups to oppose the trend toward State sanctioned religion. They also opened a new website which will serve as a clearinghouse for issues raised by the President's initiative.

[This action is obliquely related to censorship since Bush's re-imposition of the Global Gag Rule stems from his "religious" initiatives.

Aside from which, there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that it is a foregone conclusion that numerous religious groups will use that money to fund their censorship drives. --MN]

FAIR is dedicated to blowing the whistle on biased and unfair reporting; in this case on the Global Gag Rule. An executive from this organization and a representative from the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy held a lecture on the facts the Bush gubmint wouldn't divulge.

This time in the state of Georgia of the former Soviet Union.

On or about 16 March, Vasily Mkalavishvili, a Georgian Orthodox priest who had been defrocked in 1995, led a break-in into a printing house and the subsequent burning of five thousand copies of a book for a Jehovah's Witness community.

The copies of the book were burned outside the Margalita printing house by Mkalavishvili and several dozen followers.

In an interview on the independent Georgian television Rustavi-2 on Friday, March 16th, Mkalavishvili said that he would continue to burn the literature of Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists and other religious minorities.

The week before, in the town of Mtskheta, the former Father Vasily and his followers had burned several tons of Baptist literature.

In Georgia, Jehovah's Witnesses are seeking recognition as an official religious denomination. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on their status shortly.

The court issued a statement after the book burning saying it "condemns such actions and other manifestations of religious extremism and intolerance".

Mkalavishvili had been stripped of his church post in 1995 by Georgia's Orthodox Patriarchate, which had accused him of pursuing an anti-Christian policy through his efforts to introduce ecumenism.
(see 28 March 2001)

By high school students. The oppressor in this case? -- The Supreme Court of the United States of America. Which ruled in favor of a school's ban on Manson teeshirts.

This link will take you to a commentary by Michael Xavier Maelstrom; television, music, and video game reviewer, which includes a copy of the AP article in which the ruling was reported.

This link will take you to a commentary by The Freedom Forum Online.

[Unfortunately, due to Millennium Copyright Act constraints, I am unable to include or even to link to an excellent analysis by Benjamin Dowling-Sendor that was posted at the American School Board Journal site. I'll be damned if I'm going to ask anybody for permission to put a link on my website because he says I have to. You, of course, have my most magnanimous permission to look them up on your own. But you'll have to do a keyword search. God only knows, the bunch of snobs would probably shower shit and derision if I even included the full URL for the site. --MN]
(see 05 Jan 2001)

Representative J.C. Watts was expected to table a bill to legislate Bush's iniative for government-sanctioned, tax-payer funded, religious discrimination.

In keeping with its long tradition of attempting to silence dissent, the Government of Canada gave official sanction to its Thought Police in Canada Customs. These officials are now not only turning back written material deemed to be objectionable, but people who hold opinions to which they object as well. Some of the people wishing to come to Canada to exercise their legislated privilege of speech over dissatisfaction with the Summit of the Americas were turned back at the border.

by Daniel R. Williams. A federal judge ruled that this publication did not violate attorney-client privilege and that Mr. Abu-Jamal had failed to demonstrate that his proposed lawsuit would be successful.

The one that had been re-introduced on 13th March in an annual rite. You can open a separate window for an excellent assessment of the political issues involved, at: Freedom Forum Online.

For information about the history of the flag       amendment and the veterans who oppose it       see the ACLU site:

By Reverend George Bender; who seems to consider himself on a mission from God to protect us all from ourselves by destroying "ungodly" material. Also as per censorship advocates, he doesn't stop -- or perhaps start -- with burning books. His "ceremonial burning" of "ungodly" videotapes, music CDs and books included just a few volumes. The burning was held in the parking lot of the Pentocostal church.

Only a few Harry Potter books were among the trunk load of articles fed to the flames. Here is a fairly comprehensive list of the material in question:

• Videos:
  • Pinnochio,
  • Hercules,
  • Aladdin,
  • The Phenomenon,
  • The Rock,
  • Ace Ventura,
  • The Lost World,
  • The Dragonslayer,
  • Jurassic Park II;

• CDs and vinyl albums:
  • Pearl Jam,
  • AC/DC,
  • Black Sabbath,
  • REM,
  • Bruce Springsteen CDs;
  • 1970s albums by Joe Walsh,
  • Foreigner, and
  • a series of audiotapes entitled The Road to Good Fortune;

• Books and written material:
  • Harry Potter books,
  • The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway,
  • The Prophet, and
  • several other Kahil Gilbran books,
  • Touched By An Angel - Stories from the TV Show,
  • Defending Pornography [by Nadine Strossen, no doubt --MN],
  • Books by actress Shirley MacLaine,
  • psychic Edgar Cayce, and
  • one about Leonardo DiCaprio;
  • The Scripture of God - The Third Testament,
  • a brochure on witchcraft and voodoo,
  • pamphlets from Jehovah's Witnesses, and
  • material on Mormonism;

• miscellaneous:
  • a baby doll,
  • carved wooden containers,
  • a small, black and beige stuffed dragon,
  • a coconut carved with the face of a pink pig.

Bender, who called the books "supernatural", says of the Harry Potter series that the books hold special status because local schools distribute workbooks featuring the young Hogwart's School wizard, but that church members are forbidden to hand out Bibles.

The Harvest Assembly of God Church in rural western Pennsylvania, some sixty kilometers North of Pittsburgh, has a congregation of some ninety-five members; approximately a third showed up. Despite the smallness of the congregation, the incident is having a large impact. News reporters flooded the church with calls once word got out about the book burning. Bender admitted that he didn't think his event would get so much publicity. The sixty-year-old religionist was quoted as saying, "We got a lot more attention than we were planning on. I've been getting calls all morning from all around the country We were only out to make a little noise in the local community."

The church modeled their book burning on a passage from the bible's Book of Acts from the New Testament. The passage describes how former practitioners of magic would burn their books in public. According to Bender, "When they did this, they did it before all so it would provoke the question, 'What are you doing?"'

When asked why he held a book burning, Bender replied, "There is one God and he has set his standards through the Commandments, and Jesus Christ is our lord and savior. Things that misrepresent or cause us to pull away from him, we should cleanse from our lives."

He also commented, "We got some people mad at us. But it's good to have publicity. It's good"

[Uh-huh, except there is two kinds of publicity, good and bad, and it is not good to get bad publicity.

Of some small note, I wonder why only some 33 percent of the congregation turned out for this book burning. You'd think that a church with pro-anti-satanism views would have a larger attendance than that. Perhaps the other 66 percent have community standards that don't entirely match Mr. Bender's.

Bender described the Potter books specifically and the Disney productions in general as containing sorcery and witchcraft. He contended that the materials from the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons was included because they were not truly Christian but promoted several gods. He also stated that the materials being burned were the private property of the participants. Even so, this incident tends to elicit a strong knee-jerk reaction. Possibly because: they burned books, they burned people for witchcraft; they burned books, they burned Jews for enemies of the State. As far as I'm concerned, quite apart from the deep love and respect I have for the printed word, anybody who would burn a book would burn a human being; or those who won't. See the Harry Potter censorship timeline. --MN]

By Pacifica staff and anchors. Pacifica Network had adopted a policy of only airing stories about itself that present it in a good light. Those who were openly critical of the newly entrenched policy of biased reporting at Pacifica were consistently silenced, censored, and fired. Pacifica has apparently also threatened SLAPPs against three websites which reported the unbalanced "journalism" and called for boycotts against Pacifica Network sponsors.

[Come and get me, suckers! --MN]
(see 29 May 2001)

Again in the former Soviet state of Georgia, but near the market town of Rustavi, this time; about 50 kilometers west of Tblisi; where the last one was held on March 16th. The books were stolen from an apartment building where Witnesses gathered to pray. Local police watched but did nothing to interfere with the three hour long incident.

This book burning was held by a group called Christian Society. So-called Christian countries from the former USSR have been actively opposing an influx of "foreign" religions since the USSR fell in 1991.
(see 16 March 2001)

The Governor of Florida signed a law into effect limiting what newspapers are allowed to print. The law is designed to exempt autopsy photographs from the public records law.

[Frankly, anyone who wants to make a buck off of autopsy photographs or who would enjoy viewing them in his morning paper over a second cup of coffee has got to be one sick puppy in my books. Nonetheless, the decision to publish or not should be left up to the discretion -- and, one hopes, the good taste -- of the editor. Not some stuffed-shirt, pompous ass too lazy to get an honest job. --MN]
(see 05 Apr 2001; 11 Dec 2002)

Bell ExpressVu stopped carrying two pornography channels when the CBC ran a preview about the story on them. One of the issues involved is that the government continues to take it upon itself to decide what legal adults are allowed to watch in the privacy of their own homes.

Crowds of people took to the streets to denounce a government plan to re-take total control of the Russian news.
(see 15 Apr 2001)

By Pokemon. Malaysia became the latest country to investigate Pokemon on the grounds that it is un-Islamic. Pokemon was already under a total ban in Saudi Arabia; ostentibly because it causes the demonic possession of children's minds and carries non-Islamic symbology such as the Star of David.

The head of the Malaysian government department which regulates Islamic laws, Mustapha Abdul Rahman, said, "If it is true that there are elements contrary to Islam, this will be brought up to the Syariah division." All aspects of Pokemon will be subjected to review in Malaysia because of the ban in Saudi Arabia.

[This does not speak well of Malaysia or of Islam. How weak Islam must be to be unable to stand against the presence of a different religion. And how weak Malaysia must be to simply toe the party line of fanatics. --MN]
(see Aug 1999; 06 Dec 2000; 03 Apr 2001)

By Nathaniel Pincus-Roth. This work was censored by Betty Trachtenberg, the dean of student affairs at Yale University, who ordered it removed from the web site of the campus humor magazine Rumpus. The piece detailed the difficulty the Secret Service was having on keeping tabs on the president's older daughter, Barbara.

As a result, the paper's April issue was removed from its web site. Neither the author or the editor, Jared LeBoff, would comment on the situation, except that Leboff said the request was reasonable.

[Something is not kosher, here. Trachtenberg was reported as calling the piece, "the most irresponsible kind of press that could possibly happen." In light of that, I can only conclude that Leboff and Pincus-Roth are afraid to speak out against this censorship, and that it is in fact a censorship issue and not an issue of security. If Barbara Bush was ducking her security detail, then she was the one being irresponsible, not the press for reporting on it. Why this story should be an issue at all is that: in the realm of intelligence gathering, every piece of information, however small and insignificant seeming, is part of a puzzle showing an overall picture; and which picture is used to circumvent a target's defenses. In short: knowing that Barbara Bush is prone to ducking her detail makes it easier for an assassin to plan a hit on her. The answer, however, is not to muzzle the press; the answer is to tighten the leash on Ms. Bush. --MN]
(see Feb 2001)

By George Washington High School students. The April edition of this magazine came under attack from the principal and the Danville School Board. That edition contained articles dealing with sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, oral sex, interracial dating, and homosexuality. The principal sent copies to the local superintendent who ordered that the magazine was not to be printed until the school board had reviewed the articles. The board then discussed the material in a closed door session and decided that they would insert a letter into the magazine, but that the editors of the magazine would not be allowed to see that letter before publication. The editors, Beth Covington, Thomas Silvers, Erin Grantier, and Rachel Johnson, contacted the Student Press Law Center, and subsequently advised the board that: their actions were illegal; the letter could be printed only with the approval of the editors, and that; the editors reserved the right to insert a disclaimer. They also took the issue to the public, gathering a great deal of support that was voiced at the next school board meeting. The magazine was finally published, a month late, with both the school board's insert and the disclaimer.
(see Feb 2001)

A new history textbook has South Koreans up in arms because it does not mention Japan's World War II war crimes. During World War II, Japan, which ruled South Korea as a colony from 1910 - '45, used South Korean women as sex slaves. One atrocity among others. These "workers" were euphemistically referred to as "comfort women". Their purpose was to comfort the troops. Problem was they were press-ganged into the bordellos.

Over the weekend of 31 Mar - 01 Apr, the Education Ministry website drew heavy traffic because of the omissions, after calls for an online protest by South Korean activists. This history textbook is under review for approval in schools by the ministry.

Although the protest created internet congestion, it failed to shut the site down completely. The police in Seoul said they were made aware of the protest when messages appeared on South Korean bulletin boards urging people to "click-in".
(see 27 Mar 2005)

The makers of Pokemon announced that they will investigate whether the game is offensive to Islamic culture. Malaysian clerics were investigating whether the cards are in violation of Islamic law, whereas Saudi Arabian clerics had already issued a fatwa against the cards; banning them completely.

A Pokemon spokesman denied that the cards are disrespectful of religion or that they encourage gambling, but also said that the claims would be investigated. He added: "The purpose and foundations of Pokemon -- collecting, nurturing, trading, friendship and goodwill -- are consistently positive and have been universally embraced by both children and their parents around the world."
(see Aug 1999; 06 Dec 2000; 31 Mar 2001)

The ACLU testified before a Congressional subcommittee on the effectiveness and probable ramifications of censorware, on the poor.
(see 14 Feb 2001; 07 Mar 2001)

The textbook, slated for use in schools, generated controversy when it was revealed that certain facts about Japanese atrocities during WWII were not included. The government of Japan has apparently sanctioned the revisionism by admitting that the book does not represent its official view, but that it had been screened and endorsed for use in schools.

China and Korea had both objected to previous editions of the book on the grounds that the occupation of Korea and the Rape of Nanking in 1937 were glossed over. That edition: including the fact that Koreans were forced to use the Japanese language and pledge loyalty to its emperor, and: that the occupation was in line with international law, and that the massacre in 1937, in which China claims 300,000 civilians died, was nothing on the scale of the holocaust.

Yohei Kono, Japan's foreign minister, is reported to have said, "The screening procedures were completed, and therefore there will be no change to the content. There is no possibility whatsoever the Foreign Ministry will intervene."

[This is a good news/bad news type of thing. On the one hand it's a good thing they won't censor the book, on the other hand it's a bad thing that the book is an expurgated or censored version of the previous edition. And a second bad thing is: that edition contained propaganda.

The efforts to enforce Japanese culture on occupied South Korea seem to be pretty standard fare for imperialistic activity. What should be objectionable is the methods by which Japanese governors might have attempted to enforce imperialism. The dismissal of the Rape Of Nanking as being nothing on the scale of the holocaust is just a case of high-handed ducking of responsibility in this editor's opinion; easily compared to how holocaust deniers say how the holocaust wasn't so bad because the nazis didn't really kill all that many Jews. What makes this revisionism so hypocritical, is that the details of the incidents were removed from the textbook altogether because they were wrong in the earlier edition. They should have been corrected to reflect the real state of affairs. Not cut out. --MN]

Over access to autopsy photographs. This whole mess got started when Dale Earnhardt was killed when he piled into a wall with his Formula-1 car. A newspaper, the Orlando Sentinel, wanted to have the autopsy photographs evaluated by their own expert, but Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, objected. She didn't want her husband subjected to the indignity of having photographs of his fatal injuries spread around the place for ghouls to drool over. Which sounds fair to me. However, the paper didn't want to publish the photographs, just have their expert look at them. Both sides got shirty about the issue and Teresa went so far as to seek new legislation. Which Jeb Bush was happy to give her.

The Sentinel finally reached a settlement with Teresa in which they consented to allow the photographs to be sealed (in legal parlance), in exchange for doing their own evaluation.

In stepped the University of Florida student newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator. These young civil libertarians didn't like the smell of this deal on a number of levels and filed a suit to have that agreement set aside so they could gain access to the photographs, as well as a suit challenging the constitutionality of the exemption Jeb Bush signed into law; which, they say, violates the constitution of Florida.

Not out of any journalistic need, but on a matter of First Amendment Rights principles.

These suits are based on the following points:

• The photographs are public-records;

• The Sentinel caved in to censorship demands vis a vis public and financial pressure from Earnhardt fans and NASCAR, which demands, the 'Gator crew says, pose no threat or concern to them;

• exemptions to the public-records law must state specifically what public necessity justifies creating an exemption;

• and such an exemption must be no more broad than necessary; of which two issues Trey Csar, The Alligator's managing editor, said, "I don't think this law meets either of those criteria.";

• the implications of the law are even broader, according to Tom Julin, the Alligator's attorney, who said, "It potentially is a very important case because what Teresa Earnhardt is claiming in the case is that she has a constitutional right to stop a public official from complying with the public-records law. She's saying that 'I can come in and stop the medical examiner from complying with the requirements of the statute, and the basis of doing that is not that I have a personal privacy interest in those records myself, but that the disclosure of those records to journalists -- simply making them available for viewing or copying -- upsets me.'"

No dates had been set for subsequent hearings, but they were expected to begin in May.

This case reported by: Student Press Law Center
(see 29 Mar 2001; 11 Dec 2002)

This case of reputed censorship centers on an advertisement critical of corporate greed by Forest Ethics. This group of activists attempted to take out a paid advertisement in the Boston Globe and the newspaper refused to sell them the space. This, despite an editorial it had printed on March 20th condemning this same kind of censorship.
(see 05 Jun 2001, 11 Jun 2001)

By the only independent Russian television network. In a repudiation of perestroika and a return to pravda, the government took over NTV, the only independent source of news in Russia.
(see 31 Mar 2001, and the Gusinsky Affair from June and Jul 2000 in Chronology III.)

Used in "literary classics." An Ontario student took it upon herself to protect people she percieved as "vulnerable". Specifically, immigrant students.
(see 24 Apr 2001)

The object of the censorship in this case is: Any kind of public opinion on any kind of subject by anyone; in Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta, Georgia. All activities are disallowed that have as their express purpose the intent of drawing a crowd to disseminate any kinds of ideas.

[Lessee, now. That leaves sports events. . . .

Kite flying. . . .

. . . Uhm-m-m-m-m? . . . --MN]

By a twelve-year old. Although a silent form of communication, signing was declared disruptive by a school official, and Danica Lesko was told to stop signing on the school bus because it posed a safety problem. The New Jersey schoolgirl has a hearing impairment due to a sophomoric prank where a student set off a rocket in a school hall in November of 2000; for which her parents sued the school

[A very literal violation of Free Speech, eh, wot? Or perhaps one should say Freedom of Expression. One wonders what measures the school board has taken to silence students who speak out loud on the bus. Or if they have, or whether this is simply a case of harassment by hypersentitive twits whose poor little feelings were hurt when they were sued. Or maybe this is just was another case of tyranny by pompous asses over the young people in their charge, under the attitude, "since we're adults we obviously know what is good for them better than they do." More likely it is just the result of butt-head human stupidity. Whatever it is, it really stinks. --MN]
(see 26 Apr 2001)

The Federal Communications Commission relaxed rules of ownership of differing press media, which will allow greater monopolistic control, most probably through a shared monopoly, a greater degree of corporate control over stories that cast sponsors in an unfavorable light, and probably less diversity in what and how stories are presented overall.
(see 13 Sep 2001)

By Alice Randall. The estate of Margaret Mitchell suppressed publication of this book when a federal judge ruled that it violates copyright.

[NB: at first glance this appeared to be a copyright issue rather than a censorship issue. As the matter developed, however, an appeal court overturned the injunction against publication on First Amendment grounds. --MN]
(see 25 May 2001)

A school board in Cambridge, Ontario, refused to implement a ban on the reading of swear words in literary classics, but did not disallow schools from doing so.
(see 17 Apr 2001)

By Micheangelo, originally, but this one was a copy in concrete. Still a full, glorious nude, however. Once again Floridians reacted with less than good sense in the face of nudity. And this time it wasn't even a living corpus.

[Pardon me. "Some" Floridians. --MN]

As long the 12 year old student doesn't smack the driver while waving her arms, it appears.

Danica Lesko was under threat of suspension by her New Jersey head teacher for using sign language. The teacher claimed that her signing was "disruptive". Danica will now be allowed to sign, as long as she obeys safety rules.

Officials for the Branchburg school district were bombarded with calls over the ban.

Lois Capabianco, the New Jersey school Superintendent, said the Branchburg district's attorney had sent a letter to her parents that clarifies the policy on signing. The Leskos, however, are seeking an apology.

[Personally, I'd still like to know what measures have been taken as regards students who speak out loud. You'd think that a bus driver would rather have all the students on his bus signing silently instead of talking over each other the way kids often do. --MN]
(see 19 Apr 2001)

The exercise of free speech by racists, mind you, but that is no excuse. Oppression is oppression however holy your motives.

Jack Straw [the Lord High Thug of All British Thought Police --MN], announced a ban on all political marches in Oldham when the Greater Manchester Police and council leaders went whining to the Home Office.

Racial tensions had developed when Asian youths set up no-go zones where whites were prohibited, and those tensions escalated during confrontations before and after a football (rugby) match between Stoke City and Oldham Athletic.

[After all, any excuse will do for a tyrant; nay? --MN]

By Warner Bros. and Mel Blanc. Bugs Bunny was declared to have a shameful past and was censored as a racist.

A U.S. television company pulled some cartoons it had planned to air in a retrospective. These cartoons showed Bugs making racist jokes about Amerindians, black people, and Eskimos.

The plans were originally for the American Cartoon Network channel to show these and other "offensive" episodes late at night; with a disclaimer warning that, "Cartoon Network does not endorse the use of racial slurs."

Bosses at AOL Time Warner, however, worried that Bugs's racist remarks might affect the sales of merchandise. As a result, approximately a dozen cartoons were banned.

Warner Bros began pulling cartoons that lampoon minorities in the late 1960s.

[Which makes sense, seeing as to how that was the height of the Civil Rights movement. To refuse to air them at all as part of a historical examination of cartoons, however, is knee-jerk reactionary hypersensitivity. And in this case, crass commercialism. I say: boycott AOL/Time Warner. By the way, for a time, Eskimo was considered an impolite term, the preferred word being Inuit {pronounced Ee-noo-eet}, although the word Eskimo is now coming back into vogue for non-Inuit northern aboriginals. --MN]

City of Medina, Washinton State, was barred from enforcing an unconstitutional law requiring all pamphleteers of any stripe to beg permission to distribute their fliers.

By Superior Court Judge Stephen Fortunato Jr., in a ruling against the Providence School Board. He issued a permanent injuction against the policy, holding it in violation of First Amendment rights. Said Amy Tabor, the volunteer ACLU attorney who argued the case, "I hope that this will be one more reminder to government officials that the First Amendment does not permit gag orders of this sort, and that to the contrary, it permits vigorous, even contentious debate on all matters of public concern."

The suit was brought by Steven Fischbach, a civil rights lawyer whose children were in the second- and sixth-grades at the time, and who frequently goes to school board meetings. He said of the 23 July 2000 incident, "I was surprised on one level that they would do something so stupid, but on the other hand, I was surprised the school board was trying to shield itself from criticism of the superintendent and of itself for that matter."

The school board did not contest the suit and agreed to not attempt to implement such policies in the future.
(see 25 Apr 2000; 05 May 2000)

A government censor put hate into anti-Israeli pop music.

An Egyptian music censor is claiming credit for a song's topping the charts because he said the lyrics should be changed from I Don't Like Israel to I Hate Israel.

Arts Censorship Bureau official Madkour Thabet, who has power to ban material which is deemed politically or morally offensive, said the original lyrics were changed on his recommendation.

He is reported as saying, "We didn't actually order that the lyrics be changed or provide the exact words, but we recommended that they be changed to better express the common feeling of the Arabic people."

According to The Daily Telegraph the song has proven popular because of its unusual mix of popular music and politics. It repeats the line "I hate Israel, Shimon and Sharon".

A spokesman for the singer did not comment on the censor's claims.

[Sweet Jesus Christ in Heaven. He banned song lyrics which were politically or morally offensive because they didn't promote hatred enough and then went and bragged about it? Try to tell me that censors like that aren't freaking nuts. --MN]

By folks who just want to have fun. Ian Paisley, the Democratic Unionist Party leader from Northern Ireland, has branded line dancing 'sinful'. He has denounced line-dancing as a sinful pastime which incites lust, claiming the dance craze has sexual gestures which wage war on the soul.

He is quoted as saying, "Line dancing is as sinful as any other type of dancing, with its sexual gestures and touching. It is sensual, and not a crucifying of lust but an incitement to lust." These remarks were made to the congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church.

[I wouldn't worry too much about what Paisley says, however. In 1988 Pope John Paul was addressing the European Parliament when Paisley interrupted him, shouting, "Antichrist! I renounce you and all your cults and creeds."

Further, Paisley's brand of religious bigotry is such that he has an honorary doctorate from Bob Jones University, South Carolina; which college also considers the Catholic Church a cult. They also, until recently, banned interracial dating. After all, it wouldn't do to taint the Pure Blood of the Holy White Race by allowing it to mingle with the cursed seed of Ham, now, would it? --MN]

An Atlanta U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed the ban against this book. The judges said of the injunction that it is an, "extraordinary and drastic remedy" that "amounts to an unlawful prior restraint in violation of the First Amendment."

[The Mitchell estate continues to cry copyright violation, but for the life of me I can't understand why a copyright violation is grounds for banning the work. I think they should sue for the proceeds from sales, not try to get it burned. The rationale the estate trustees offer is that the copyright issues have been obscured by racial issues. --MN]
(see 21 Apr 2001)

The scholar was alleged to have been "collecting information that endangered state security". Wu, a former teacher at a Communist Party school and journalist for a state newspaper in southern China, is suspected of having contributed to The Tiananmen Papers, a book purporting to reveal internal debates leading up to the bloody massacre of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

By staff members. FAIR reported that Pacifica Radio was continuing its pogrom against staff members who were deemed "insufficiently loyal" to the managment.
(see 28 Mar 2001)

On the grounds that the police department's policy of arresting demonstrators for minor offenses is unconstitutional.

Said Donna Lieberman, interim executive director of the NYCLU, "Once again the Giuliani administration has demonstrated to us that it cannot be accused of being soft on freedom of speech."

This makes twenty-nine First Amendment lawsuits the NYCLU has brought against the City of New York during Guiliani's tenure. They had won twenty-three, as of 31 May 2001, with three, including this one, pending.

This story was reported at The Freedom Forum Online.

At least if the Mitchell estate has anything to say about it.

[In this continuing saga of the Wind Has Blown, today we heard lawyers for the Mitchell estate say, "we filed for an appeal on their appeal." Stay tuned tomorrow when we will hear Marsha say, . . . --MN]

By Granite State Outdoor Advertising. This company wished to erect two ten story tall towers (90 feet/28 meters), upon which to place larger than normal billboards measuring 48-by-14-feet. This along Interstate 95, within the jurisdiction of the town of Stamford, Connecticut. The municipal government shot down their application citing zoning regulations. GSOA filed a lawsuit free speech violations. U.S. District Court Judge Alan Nevas against GSOA. The kicker is, however, that Judge Nevas ruled the question was moot. Stamford had since updated its sign regulations and the current request for an injunction was made under those no longer existing regulations and could not be granted.
(see 26 Jun 2002; an indepth analysis by myself)

Wilson County, Tenn., students Cory Vinson, and Kista Vinson and Christina Witt, were suspended in October, 1999 from Mt. Juliet High School and Mt. Juliet Junior High School respectively for wearing tee shirts with logos protesting the dress codes at those schools. The wording of the logos were: "I miss my real clothes," in Cory's case, and "The board voted and all I got was this lousy uniform," in Kista's.

It took the filing of a federal lawsuit by the ACLU of Tennessee in the year 2000 to bring the school board to this settlement. The suit alleged a First Amendment rights violation. The new dress policy allows 4 X 3 inch logos that are not "vulgar, obscene, disruptive of the school environment, or derogatory to individuals."

[Of interesting note: as soon as the new policy went into affect, the number of protest logos worn this year dropped to none; and there were fewer dress code violations. The Director of Schools attributed this second affect to the calming affect of they're not fighting the issue. It could as easily be attributed, in my not so humble opinion, to the fact that the dress code is now less restrictive so there are fewer subjects to find objectionable. --MN]

In it FAIR complained that hundreds of queries concerning the April 09 Action Alert had generated a thunderous silence, while the Boston Globe apparently practiced hypocrisy. It had published another editorial about free speech on campus.
(see 09 Apr 2001; 11 Jun 2001)

For writing Children of Abraham, a religious primer on Islam. A Jordanian radical Muslim cleric, Sheik Abdel Moneim Abu Zant, called Khalid an apostate, a statement tantamount to issuing a death sentence against him.

The book was commissioned by the American Jewish Committee. It is part of a project to promote better understanding between Jews and Muslims. Children of Abraham is an introductory primer to Islam.

The edict was reported on June 06 in the weekly Arabic newspaper Al-Shahed, or The Observer, which is aligned with the the Islamic Action Front; of which Abu Zant is a member. The Islamic Action Front is the party of the Muslim Brotherhood, a fanatical Islamist organization active throughout much of the world.

Mr. Duran has received a number of death threats over the years because of his criticisms of extremist Islamic groups, however, this is the first time he has been the target of a religious edict. He was surprised that the work drew this reaction as it was written without a specific point of view in mind; rather, it was written to present a number of viewpoints.

The cleric Abu Zant, who is a former member of the Jordanian parliament, was jailed in 1999 for denouncing his government's decision to close the Amman office of the militant Islamic movement Hamas. In 2000, he issued a religious threat against a Jordanian poet. He has denounced the Japanese Anime Pokemon as a Jewish plot against Islam, joining other clerics who have done so.

[That the edict amounts to a death sentence is denied by a spokesman for CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. This is an advocacy group based in Washington. It often sides with Islamic extremists on Middle East issues. However, Reuven Paz, the academic director of the International Policy Institute for Counterterrorism, countered that Abu Zant's words are a death sentence as rendered in Arabic. Paz said that there is no real English equivalent for the cleric's statement.

American Jewish Committee officials said that attacks by CAIR most likely generated the edict. --MN]

By Queers. The mayor of Anchorage, Alaska, refused to allow a gay pride exhibit to be reinstalled at the main library; which exhibit he had ordered removed a few days earlier on June 05. The reasons he gave don't seem to hold water with me. He decided it was promotional and church-sponsored, and therefore violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

The exhibit was sponsored by the Metropolitan Community Church and the group Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
(see 03 Jul 2001)

2001, June 11: Anti-censorship concerns by FAIR supporters were discounted

The Boston Globe Ombudsman had an editorial printed in which he misrepresented hundreds of citizens as Forest Ethics activists.
(see 09 Apr 2001, 05 Jun 2001)

By Danny Stillman. Unlike The Puzzle Palace, this book is being suppressed out of knee-jerk reactionary, cold-war paranoia. The Defense Department, Energy Department, Defense Intelligence Agency, and the CIA have been holding up the book for eighteen months. Their excuse is that they are doing a careful job of evaluating the book. However, this kind of falls flat in light of the fact that they had a Los Alamos scientist locked up in solitary confinement for nine months for no real reason the judge could later see.

[The case of Dr. Lee is highly indicative of intelligence community paranoia, and as near as I can tell this case stems from racial profiling. For more about this class of human rights violations, check out:

The ACLU's End Racial Profiling Campaign

Also read about the Congressman who was denied entrance to a nuclear power plant where he was scheduled to give a talk because of his ethnicity. --MN]
(see 1982; 10 Jun 2002)

By Marian Rubin; grandmother and some fifty years a photographer. She was turned in by another photography-technician-cum-Thought-Police. U.S. District Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise ruled that the photos cannot be construed as child-pornography and must be returned, but he also ruled that prosecutors acted in good faith. Judge Debevoise wrote in his opnion, "The photographs have been reviewed and it cannot be concluded that they were taken by plaintiff for the purpose of sexual stimulation or gratification."
(see Dec 1999)

By Sarah Jones. The FCC has dubbed this song's feminist lyrics to be "patently offensive", even though it makes a powerful statement against indecency; especially about the exploitation of women in rap and hip-hop. Originally a poem, this song is a hard line critique of works by the likes of LL Cool J and Notorious B.I.G. It quotes and denounces some of the macho lyrics found in their music.

As a result, the Federal Communications Commission has censored Sarah Jones -- along with Eminem -- by issuing 7,000 dollar indecency fines against radio stations that had aired the songs.

Explains Deena Barnwell, a volunteer DJ at KBOO-FM radio in Portland, "The hip-hop game is very misogynistic. I've been totally disrespected as a woman in this game. Jones's song is inspirational. It says it's cool, you can be in the hip-hop game, but you don't have to be no 'ho. There's nothing else out there besides this song that tells girls that. I feel like it's a personal responsibility for me as a B-girl to get it out there."

So Barnwell aired the track on 20 October 1999, and according to the FCC a listener was offended.

[A single listener. I'd rather think that it is statistically impossible that only one person was offended by the song. However, it seems an absolute certainty that only one got off his or her ass and whined about it. So, on the basis of one complaint, these incipient nazi assholes showered shit and derision over an artistic social comment on the misogyny endeminc to the rap and hip-hop music industry. Proving once again that censorship movements will only persecute the putative victims they are supposed to be meant to protect. --MN]
(see 29 Jan 2002; 20 Feb 2003)

Henry Kissinger is becoming an increasingly sought after speaker, but elements of the international community are wanting him to speak about his connections to crimes against humanity. When Kissinger appeared to speak about other matters before the National Press Club in Washington, DC, the Master of Ceremonies continued the traditional U.S. press medium conspiracy of silence surrounding Kissinger by selecting only neutral questions to pose to the guest of [dis]honor. It seems that Kissinger had arranged an understanding with the Press Club where he wouldn't be asked about the allegations of war crimes.

For more on this issue, read this FAIR Action Alert which was posted on June 29.

By Abercrombie & Fitch. Detractors of this edition maintain that it is soft core porn targeted at their children. A&F says that the catalogue has a wholesome sexiness. "Norman Rockwell of 2001." The critics, who are organizing a boycott, are headed by Illinois Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood. A Republican, she announced the boycott in Chicago during the previous week. Her allies include:

• Concerned Christian Americans, headed by Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch,
• the Chicago chapter of the National Organization for Women, Michelle Dewlen, president,
• the Minnesota-based group Dads and Daughters, Joe Kelly, founder.

In a statement this editor finds reminiscent of McDworkinism, Bosch said of the catalogue that it is "atrocious" and "a psychological molestation of their teen-age customers."

Lt. Gov. Wood has been attacking the Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue since 1999, when the Michigan attorney general's office accused the Christmas catalogue of being sexually explicit and wanted sales to minors to be curtailed. Because of this, the catalogue is now sold the same way many real pornography magazines are: tightly wrapped in plastic and available only to those at least 18 years old.

[Hmmmm. Censorship or a valid complaint? For my money, it's at least a knee-jerk reaction. The article in which I first saw this information contained a negative affective connotation. It alleged that the catalogue contained photos of "young, unclad males and females." The article also stated that A&F had targetted the 18 to 22 age group a few years ago. Now, this intially raised two issues. First: are the models really unclad or merely wearing swimming trunks and bikinis; such as is common to beaches and backyard or public pools? -- after all, why would a clothing chain show nude models in a catalogue in which they are supposed to be promoting their line of summer clothing? Second: if A&F has targetted the 18 - 22 group, then shouldn't one expect the models to likewise be 18 - 22?

In a subsequent article elsewhere, I saw it reported that a number of the models were in fact nude and posed in a manner no way indicative of fashions or marketing. Abercromie & Fitch says that it is merely keeping up with the times, but at first glance at this whole issue, I'd say they are going overboard on that score. If they want to sell a porn magazine then they should at least be honest about it. --MN]

By himself. [Inadvertently almost getting it right. --MN]

The mayor of Manila, Phillipines, Lito Atienza, was engulfed in flames on setting fire to a stack of material -- which seemed to be being destroyed in support of censorship.

The burning was a publicity stunt to highlight a crackdown on crime. The pile of material was comprised of video gambling machines, porn magazines and compact discs. [The contents of the CDs and what magazines exactly was not reported where I saw the article. --MN] The ceremony was attended by the mayor, city police chiefs and press.

Too much gasoline [or maybe kerosene?] had been poured on the huge pile of goods; material which had been seized by police during raids. As a result, two press photographers and two others also caught fire and had to be rushed to hospital suffering from second- and third-degree burns.

The Philippines Star reported that the mayor's hair and pants briefly caught fire. "The mayor had just dropped a piece of burning paper on the machines when it suddenly blew," said their photographer Edd Gumban; whose pants caught fire. He immediately extinguished the flames by rolling on the damp pavement. The mayor was attended to by his aides, who quickly doused the flames.

[All of which seems to prove that politicians shouldn't be allowed to play with matches.

Mind you, this certainly raises the question of procedure for bookburning events. Perhaps a mayor or guest dignitary should be burned at the stake to open every such ceremony. Personally, I propose we start with Rudolf Guiliani. That's sure to be a crowd pleaser. --MN]

Because they censured him for saying he is a redneck. Sypniewski wore a tee shirt to school in March that had some of Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck if" humour on it. The school suspended him for three days for a dress code violation. To whit, a ban on clothing that portrays "racial, ethnic or religious stereotyping." His case is being handled by the Center for Individual Rights, a non-profit law firm in Washington D.C. Mr Sypniewski also has some suppport in the person of Jeff Foxworthy himself. Jeff wrote to the Center expressing surprise at the school's action, also saying, "My definition of being a redneck has always been 'a glorious absence of sophistication' or in simpler terms -- it is an attitude. Geographic, racial or economic grounds do not bind being a redneck."

The government of The People's Democratic Republic of China. Jiang Weiping was arrested in late-2000 for writing two articles about corruption in northeast China. He was sentenced to four years in jail "for leaking state secrets", He actually alleged that an official had helped to cover up the corruption of other officials. Jiang was arrested on 12 Dec 2000 and only indicted in Jun 2001.

China's government has iniated a crackdown on corruption, executing those found guilty of taking bribes and graft, but locks up independent whistleblowers because they fear that exposure will loosen the Communist Party's grip on power.

[Yeah, I can kind'a see how chinese government officials would want to keep their corruption secret; that sort of thing is a capital crime there. Still, somebody kindly explain to me how a gubmint that locks people up for reporting the facts about it can be a) The People's, and; b) Democratic. --MN]
(see 08 Aug 2001)

By fags and lezzies. The Bronx Lesbian and Gay Health Resource Consortium had paid for an advertisement for a health phone line for homosexuals which appeared on the sides of bus shelters. The ads were pulled when "people" [an undisclosed number of --MN] complained about them. Even though there was nothing offensive in the ad, which you can see for yourself.

The ads were posted, then pulled, by Infinity Outdoors, which has the contract to rent out space on the shelters, which are owned by the Department of Transportation. Ostentibly, they were pulled because of the reference to having sex. This argument falls flat to Lisa Winters, the founder of the Consortium, who was quoted in the New York Times as saying, "It's not at all an offensive ad. There are ads for 'Sex and the City' up all over the place. What's wrong with these posters?"

The city's transportation commissioner, Iris Weinshall, was quoted as saying, "This poster was totally inappropriate, and we applaud the contractor for taking it down. We feel that good taste can supersede the First Amendment."

A spokesman for Infinity Outdoor, Dana McClintock, commented, "It's obviously on a case-by-case basis that we make these decisions. We do our best to strike a balance between First Amendment rights and community concerns."

State Senator Tom Duane also waded into the controversy, saying, "It is outrageous that when new HIV infection rates are soaring, especially among men of color, that a responsible ad like this, intended to confront this health crisis, is censored by the city and by Infinity Outdoor. It is the height of irresponsibility on the city's part and the height of hypocrisy on the part of Outdoor, the company behind the Howard Stern show, to call this ad inappropriate or indecent."

Said Catherine A Hanssens, the Lambda AIDS Project Director, "These ads provided critical information to a community too often ignored. At a time when the incidence of HIV infection among men of color who have sex with men is rising dramatically, it's up to all of us to support increased outreach and awareness."

Lambda and the community organizations launched their action with a joint statement.

[It seems clear to this editor that what was offensive was any expression of homosexuality where a hypersensitive, politically correct sniveller could clap her eyes on it. Especially in light of the fact that two previous ads for the health line had attracted no attention at all because they had not depicted men in a semi-sexual embrace. And I reject Ms. McClintock's specious argument in light of the fact that the ads were simply pulled without polling community members; it is obvious that no effort was made to determine what the standards of the community are. I really wish these ass-kissing appeasers would get it through their heads that one loud mouth with a bitch does not constitute a representative sample of community standards. --MN]
(see 28 Jun 2001; 17 Dec 2001)

On behalf of Grady Roper, arts and journalism teacher at Katherine Anne Porter School, Wimberly. Roper was fired for defending student artwork against censorship. The art in question was 30 X 10 foot mural (300 sq ft), in a school corridor. The students were invited to paint it, but as the mural was filled in, someone, an undisclosed artist, put in a 2 X 2 (4 sq ft), section depicting two men kissing.

A TCLP press release describing the picture said it, "was not erotic or provocative and merely depicted two men with their lips touching."

Despite a delegation of 18 faculty members standing behind the work, the school board had the artwork whitewashed over that weekend, without telling Roper or his class about their decision. According to the report, Roper was subsequently fired for "not being a team player"; because he had threatened to take the issue to the media.

[The report does not say whether the school board had the entire work whitewashed or just the four square feet to which they objected, but somehow I get the feeling it was the whole 300 sq ft. The report on this was posted on 20 September at The Student Press Law Center. Oh, and by the way, you'll have noticed that the issue got media coverage in spite of Roper being fired; or perhaps because of it. --MN]
(see 27 Jun 2001; 17 Dec 2001)

In an apparently shameless display of corporate favoritism Stossel seems to have suppressed a number of facts while blatantly misrepresenting legitimate concerns of private citizens. FAIR reported this incident in a release dated 17 July.

By life-drawing amateur artists. In Boise, Idaho, this time. At least they were supposed to have been suppressed under a local ordinance, but the law was not enforced and the three day exhibit of nude art, a test of Boise's recent prohibition on public nudity, closed without incident.

Marcus Pierce, president of Northwestern Liberal Arts Association, isn't expecting any citations to be issued soon. He believes that if a citation is issued it will happen quietly because of pressure by the community against the enforcement of an "outlandish" law.

[Once again a censorship law falls prey to the "community standards" it was purported to uphold. Ha! --MN]
(see 19 Jan 2001)

The Attorney General's office and members of the Wyoming Press Association got together to work out the language in a proposed revision of the Public Records Act for the state. The difficulty was in allowing access to computerized records while leaving room for reasonable grounds to deny access due to a request being "unduly burdensome". State departments will be permitted, but not required, to digitize public information. The downside is that a request for complicated and lengthy data could tak e employees away from other tasks for an inordinate amount of time.

This initiative is the result of a decision by Attorney General emeritus Gay Woodhouse, although she had originally been opposed any input from the press. The new Attorney General, Hoke MacMillan, declined to take a position on the bill until he had heard from both sides.

[And chalk one up for the good guys. --MN]

U.S. District Judge James K. Singleton, ruled that Mayor George Wuerch went too far in ordering the removal of the exhibit. Judge Singleton didn't buy the mayor's arguments any more than I did when I first heard about this case.

In his preliminary injunction he ruled that although the city has the right to limit certain forms. of speech at the library, those guidelines were not explicit enough to prevent prejudicial exploitation by administrators.
(see 08 Jun 2001)

2001, July 05: Corpus Christi, the play

By students at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. The lawsuit will allege that taxpayer funds are being used to attack religion in that in the play, Christ is portrayed as a purple-dress-wearing, homosexual liar and blasphemer.

The play tells the story of thirteen gay men in Corpus Christi, Texas. Christ's life is portrayed through the life of a modern American homosexual, Joshua, and most of the other 12 men bear the names of Christ's disciples.

Of the 32 plaintiffs in the suit, 21 are legislators. Only one of which is a democrat; the remaining 20 being republicans. The names of the [elected officious] are:

Representatives:

• James Atterholt, R-Indianapolis;
• Jim Buck, R-Kokomo;
• Woody Burton, R-Greenwood;
• Robert Cherry, R-Greenfield;
• Jerry Denbo, D-French Lick;
• Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale;
• Ralph Foley, R-Martinsville;
• David Frizzell, R-Indianapolis;
• Dean Mock, R-Elkhart;
• Brent Steele, R-Bedford;
• Jeffrey Thompson, R-Lizton;
• Jerry Torr, R-Carmel;
• Matt Whetstone, R-Brownsburg;
• David Wolkins, R-Winona Lake

Senators:

• Kent Adams, R-Warsaw;
• David Ford, R-Hartford City;
• Steve Johnson, R-Kokomo;
• Johnny Nugent, R-Lawrenceburg;
• John Waterman, R-Shelburn;
• Potch Wheeler, R-Larwill;
• R. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis

[The whining twit who is sniveling the loudest in this case seems to be Espich. At least he got the most quotes in the article I read. As usual, these dozy bastards are bitching that tax dollars are funding art they are afraid of and demanding that public funding for (ir)religious art be cut 100%. What they are obviously too stupid to work out for themselves is that easily offended "christians" are not the only ones who pay taxes.

Aside from which, I wonder how many of these guys pay taxes and how many of them are in that group of privileged rich who can afford accountants who will make sure they pay no taxes. --MN]
(see 18 Jul 2001)

In Provincetown, Mass.; at the arts colony that has become a haven for freedom of a wide range of expressions. However, there is some question as to what issue exactly is at stake.

Officials say the problem isn't with the show as much as the nudity being displayed in violation of zoning laws. These laws requires a 500-foot buffer between churches, municipal buildings, schools, and adult entertainment establishments. Not all of the Provincetown officials are bothered by the nudity issue, however. The show has been introduced twice by Selectman David Atkinson -- who did the honors in the nude.

Said the Selectman, "It's much ado about nothing. People come to Provincetown to see something new. We talk in this town about celebrating diversity and tolerance. It seems like maybe we really don't."

Officials said any place that serves liquor must be licensed for adult entertainment, despite the argument over whether the show is art or erotica. Selectman Mary-Jo Avellar commented on the issue, "I don't necessarily have a problem with (nudity). My problem is it may not be properly licensed. I'm really more concerned with making sure our bylaws are enforced equally among all businesses."

The producer of the show, Adam Weinstock of Creative Concept Productions, said, "The problem is nudity but I can't figure what's the problem with that. This is not like we're doing lap dancing. This is a beautifully crafted show. I took my mom to the New York show."

The town's licensing agent, Greta Holman, said, "People who have gone in to see it have told us there's nudity. We met with (the owners) and discussed the show, discussed the options, which are to end the show or cover up. . . . Their intent is to contest the constitutionality of the zoning bylaw."

This issue arose when a visitor from Pennsylvania complained to town officials the previous week. He became alarmed when the six-member troupe performed a full frontal nude kick line. The licensing board has issued a cease and desist order; as well as levying $100 in daily fines for zoning and licensing violations.

[Hmmmmmm. Now there's a slippery slope. Regulate artistic expression by passing a law that says there is no difference between nudity in a Broadway play and adult entertainment. --MN]
(See 01 Aug 2001; 09 Sep 2001; 11 Aug 2003)

The University of South Florida, in Tampa, payed twenty-five thousand dollars to a student who didn't know enough to walk out of class; even though the teacher, Derek Washington, had warned students before-hand that they might find the photographs offensive, and were permitted to miss the class or leave it. Nicole Ferry used the currently most common of politically correct, specious arguments in her complaint: that she had been sexually harassed. The school decided to settle out of court.

[Idiots. --MN]

The photos showed Mr. Washington's back, a pair of hands clutching his buttocks, and with a pair of legs, feet raised in the air. The topic under discussion was, specifically, controversial art. The sex depicted by the photographs was simulated.

Washington was himself rather annoyed with the university for having settled. He commented, "This came down to a business issue. I don't think money should supercede ethics."

The same one they already expurgated. Which, interestingly enough, was written by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform.

Some changes were made, however; the publisher had made some voluntary revisions. Japan's ministry of education also allowed as to how they would order the correction of two factual errors. No further changes will be forthcoming, however. This decision seems to be based on having had eighteen history experts go over the book and these people decided that the points causing the controversy were not necessarily incorrect, just subject to interpretation and differing theories.

[Hmph; this whole thing reminds me of The Dead Parrot Sketch by Monty Python's Flying Circus. --MN]

Because this second law Indiana enacted is even more restrictive than the first one; which the ICLU was instrumental in having struck down as unconstitutional.

[Man, this report reads like a British sitcom farce. Rep. Duane Cheney, D-Portage, chairman of the House committee at the time the bill was passed, believes the revised legislation is constitutional and a valuable tool for law enforcement, even though it has fewer provisions for First Amendment Rights than the first one. He even went so far as to say, "It certainly was not my intent to purposely pass an unconstitutional bill."

Sen. Rose Ann Antich, D-Merrillville, of the senate Juvenile Justice Subcommittee, said she was not aware the new curfew contained no exceptions.

What? She didn't know what she was voting for? Or against? --MN]

Afghanistani rulers are reported to have banned the use of the internet in that country. Ostentibly to prevent the broadcast of obscene or un-Islamic material.

[Foreign Minister Maulvi Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil was quoted as saying, "We are not against the use of the internet but we are against the broadcast of obscene and immoral material, and material on the internet that is against Islam." Problem is: everything is offensive to the extremists. This site, for instance, would be considered un-Islamic because I dare to criticize the policies of the Muslim priests, the imams, here and in the quotations file section with the material by Jan Goodwin.

The real reason, however, was revealed in a paragraph wherein Muttawakil was reported to have said that the Taliban wants to establish a system for controlling incoming and outgoing information -- inadvertently telling the truth. --MN]

Says the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in upholding the August 1999 ruling of U.S. District Judge Philip Pro. Las Vegas Sands Inc., parent company of The Venetian, a Las Vegas strip casino, had tried to have the sidewalk declared off limits to public speech when it was used by striking union members.

The opinion of the 2-1 decision was written by Judge Procter Hug Jr., and in which he described sidewalk as, "a public forum subject to the protections of the First Amendment." In reaching that conclusion, the court considered "the historically public character" of the sidewalk and the fact that it is connected to public sidewalks to its north and south.

Chief Judge Mary Schroeder sided with Hug, and Judge Melvin Brunetti wrote a dissenting opinion.
(see 13 Sep 2002; 24 Jan 2003; 08 Jun 2003; 16 Jun 2003)

Among them two comics. The comedy team known as the Moustache Brothers, composed of Pa Pa Lay and his cousin Lu Zaw, were imprisoned in 1996 for poking fun at the generals and for describing government co-operatives as thieves.

Some several political detainees were released out of eighteen hundred.

[Well, . . . it's a start. --MN]

Synopsis: "We the people" can get screwed.

Beaver College, which opened in 1853 as a women's college in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, has decided to change its name in the face of the snickering of ignoramuses rather than carry on a proud tradition. Too many people, who had never heard of the college, would laugh at the name, thinking it was the slang term for pudenda.

Although some eight hundred graduates had applied for replacement degrees under the new name, not all grads think well of the move. Graduate Melissa Greco (age 22 in 2001), for instance, said many of her friends think the change stinks.

To give the school some credit, the change is not a summary one. They held a number of surveys prior to making the decision.

The Federal Way Public Schools board held its second censorship vote in five years. Several parents had complained about vulgar language and sexual and violent scenes in the works which were being used in an International Baccalaureate program.

School officials and other parents, however, said the books are great literature and believe they are appropriate for teenagers in an advanced English class.

The six books at Thomas Jefferson High School that were targeted for removal are:

• The Catcher in the Rye: by J.D. Salinger
• The Color Purple: by Alice Walker
• Love Medicine: by Louise Erdrich
• The Bluest Eye: by Toni Morrison
• Chronicle of a Death Foretold: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Woman at Point Zero: by Nawal el-Saadawi

Which list, if you have been studying this chronology out of a profound interest, you might recognize as containing three of the top ten challenged works for the last dozen or so years. Ms. Nawal el-Saadawi is under sentence of death by Islamic extremists in Saudi Arabia.

The Federal Way Public School board's last challenge was in 1996, against Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on the old excuse that it is racist.
(see the section on Ms. el-Saadawi in the quotations files; 01 Nov 2001)

Albeit by an ever decreasing margin.

For information about the history of the flag       amendment and the veterans who oppose it       see the ACLU site:

By director Jonathan Gilbert, 20, a senior at Indiana University-Purdue University at Ft. Wayne. Hearings began on this day to seek a court injunction against this play. The case is being heard by U.S. District Judge William Lee.

Shortly before the hearings began, the censorship advocates tried an end run around the university, offering to drop the suit if the play were to be moved off campus. The university rejected the offer, however, because the two sides could not arrive at a settlement. Both sides have already made it clear that a ruling not in their favour will be appealed before the 7th District Court of Appeals in Chicago.

The chairman and artistic director of the university's theater department, Larry Life, testified for the defense at the hearing. He said that he has been receiving death threats. He believes the core issue isn't legal: "It's total homophobia,"

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights reached a deal with IPFW officials. The league doesn't like the play, but it is opposed to censorship and recognizes the university's right to stage it. The deal is: members of the New York-based league will be allowed to distribute leaflets protesting the play's content to audience members.

[Now that's the way it ought to be done! --MN]
(see 05 Jul 2001)

By Stephen Chbosky, 1999. This book, targeting the young-adults audience, is a coming-of-age story as told through letters written by a 15-year-old boy, and which includes some passages, graphicly written, of a date rape, two teenage boys kissing, and other situations of a sexual nature.

The banning of this book was based on the complaint of parent Mary A. Clossey, whose son brought home the 213-page book, and when she read portions she was stunned. Clossey plans to file a criminal complaint in Newton District Court, against the course teacher. On what charges she was not sure, but state law prohibits dissemination of "matter harmful to minors."

The book was assigned in one class in Newton's "Summer Success" program, the purpose of which is helping students at-risk of failing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam. The program is for ninth and tenth grade students.

[Note to the reader: you'll have noticed, I'm sure, that Ms. Clossey read only portions of a 213 page work. Yet, she condemned the whole work, saying, "This book here to me is absolutely gross. There's no theme behind it. What is the theme? The theme is we're going through horrible teenage years?" As I have pointed out elsewhere, this is typical of censorship advocates: she could hardly know enough to say there is no theme to the story if she hadn't read all of it. However, yes, the theme of the book is: this one character is going through horrible teenage years. --MN

PS: Amusingly enough, this story was reported in the Boston Globe, of the Forest Ethics Ad fiasco.]

By Susan Narduli this time, and in California rather than Florida. Ms. Narduli was commissioned to produce a design for the floor of the the Los Angeles International Airport. So she did a design of stylized men poised as if for flight. The figures, however, are nude, and even though there is no depiction of genitalia, those parts being artisticly obscured by shading, some of the airline employees complained that the figures might offend visitors.

The figures were subsequently covered up with brown paper while airport and city officials try to decide what to do with the scene.

[The figures, according to Ms. Narduli, are meant to evoke mankind's "yearning to transcend earthly bounds and soar toward the heavens"; to slip the surly bonds of Earth, in other words.

What makes this a certain case of political-correctness-censorship, in my never-ever-humble opinion, is that the empolyees didn't want these inoffensive figures removed because they were offended, but because others might be.

Times like this I agree with George Clemenceau when he said, "America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration, without the usual interval of civilization." --MN]
(see 02 Aug 2001)

Ms. Leggett was writing a book on a murder and interviewed the alleged killer in jail before he killed himself. Despite her general cooperation with federal prosecutors it was decided to get her to appear before a Grand Jury, and she was subsequently supoenaed to produce all of the research material she had collected. [More on that in my linked opinion. --MN] She refused to do that on the grounds that this would violate the confidentiality of her sources and she was jailed for contempt of court. The excuse used was that she is not a journalist because she is a freelancer and unpublished, hence: uncredentialed.

Ms. Leggett would go on to gain the dubious distinction of holding the record for being the longest jailed journalist in the history of the United States.
(see similar cases: 18 Oct 2001; 29 Oct 2001; 18 Jun 2002; 20 Feb 2003; and for follow ups on the Leggett Affair: 21 Nov 2001; 02 Jan 2002; 04 Jan 2002; and my opinion on this sorry mess;

This local chapter of the national white supremacist group has been trying for years to get credit in the U.S. Adopt-A-Highway program, in which groups, corporate or non-profit, can clean up a section of interstate highway and the effort will be recognized with a billboard identifying the group. Free -- or at least cheap -- advertizing.

The State of Missouri has been less than enthusiastic about the idea of supporting the KKK and has been deliberately obstructionist about allowing them to participate in the program.

[How droll. Poor, little white supremacists who advocate The Day of the Rope and slavery and concentration camps whining about how their civil rights are being abrogated. It's this kind of hypocrisy that truly turns my stomach. What's equally irritating is: by abrogating or derogating from their civil rights, Missouri is playing the very game the KKK wants to impose on everyone; thereby giving the KKK ammunition and free publicity. Smarten up, Missouri. --MN]
(See 10 Sep 2003; 10 Jan 2005)

By reading the news on television. Manija Rasooly, a 30-year-old newsreader who graduated from Kabul University's journalism faculty in 1993, has become a cult figure in Faizabad, a territory not yet under control, as of Jul 2001, of the Taliban.

These religious extremists govern some 90 or 95 percent of Afghanistan. They have banned music, cinema, television, religious iconography, the internet, and paper bags. And have ordered women to remain indoors barred from work and education; not to mention that women must not expose the slightest amount of bare skin to sight. If the Taliban captures Ms. Rasooly she could be executed.

[Could be?! Count on it. --MN]

Russell Simmons exercised his right to petition his government for a redress of a grievance -- by force.

Senator Joseph Lieberman had denied Simmons permission to speak before Senate Government Affairs Committee, of which Lieberman is the chairman, ostentibly because his request had come in too late and there were already numerous witnesses. Simmons, who founded Def Jam, Records, interrupted a question and answer period between senators and witnesses to let them know that he was there.

What's the big deal? Some witnesses complained that hip-hop and rap artists had never testified at such hearings, this one on the issue of "voluntary" labeling, even though these artistic branches of the music industry have been frequently targetted by Lieberman et al. Simmons was allowed to speak at the end of the hearing.

The community doesn't want Big Brother's V-chip. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey indicates that over half of parents use TV ratings to determine what to watch, whereas 40 percent of family owned televisions now carry the V-chip, and which is used by only 17 percent of parents. Resulting in its use by only 7 percent of American parents.

[I'd like to say that means that approximately 93 percent of American parents prefer to continue thinking for themselves, however, it is more likely that the greater proportion just doesn't give a damn. Unfortunately, those ratios are likely to change as succeeding generations grow up with the V-chip and get used to gubmint doing their thinking for them. --MN]

For telling the truth about the president of Zambia. It seems that in Zambia it is a crime to report on allegations of crime by the president.
(see 1735 and 01 Mar 2001 for more about criminal defamation against journalism)

By Johnathon Coy, age 15. The Ohio chapter of the ACLU filed a suit against his school for having suspended him for operating an off-campus web site that had no obscene content and did not, generally, mention school, and apparently did not mention school officials at all. Despite that, North Canton Middle School supspended him for five days in April, and placed him on expulsion until November.

The Student Press Law Center also has a report on this case with more details.

By a bus station rent-a-cop against a foreign visitor. Sebastian Schmidt was on his way from Cleveland to Detroit by Greyhound bus when it made a stop in Toledo. As he was getting off the bus, he dropped some pages of an issue of Esquire Magazine that he had ripped out to carry with him. The security agent, Arrow Osborne, demanded to see them once Sebastian had picked them up, and summarily declared them to be "borderline pornographic." He warned the twenty-year old from what was once West Germany, where the Stasi secret police spied on everyone before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, that he could be arrested for reading such material and he better not read anything like that again.

[The report said that the article in question was entitled "How a Woman Ages," and that there were no pictures of buttocks or breasts. The woman featured in the photos had covered herself up with her arms in one or two of the photographs, done in black-and-white. Just imagine the perspicacious faculty of a person who can discern these types of innocuous photographs as "borderline pornography" from full-blown porn when there isn't even any hard and fast distincion of real porn. Ted Gup, who wrote the report, had phoned the security agent in question who stated that he was certain of the rightness of what he had done and that he stopped many people, in part because Greyhound encouraged him to. At the time of the report, Ted Gup had taken three years of law school. --MN]

This time in Anchorage, Alaska, where Mayor George Weurch summarily declared a gay-themed exhibit to be inappropriate to a municipal library because it was sponsored by a church; thereby violating the separation of Church and State. As per previous polls of the community to determine what the standards were, the overwhelming majority saw nothing wrong with the exhibit; in a ratio as of July 30, of 372 to 94 (3.95 to 1; which rounds up to 4 to 1, or an 80% approval rating). In fact, an undisclosed number of comments said that the exhibit was rather tame, and some said that it was too tame.

A small sampling of some of the comments reported By Lisa Demer in the Anchorage Daily News

Pro:

• "Holy Smokes -- what was all the noise about? It's a great display. Thought provoking and heart felt."
• "A fine show -- so much sound and fury -- and cost -- for this? I'm so sorry!"
• "What a waste of misspent energy & resources -- Mayor Wuerch -- LIGHTEN UP!! This is not offensive, it is rather innocuous! I am now convinced that gays (and) Lesbians ARE discriminated against because the MOA demonstrated such by their actions."
• "What was Wuerch afraid of?"

Con:

• One woman wrote that her father drank himself to death. "I love him, but found his choices personally destructive. I believe the same to be true of this lifestyle." (...)
• Calling people "hatemongers for not desiring to celebrate something against their ethical or moral code is in itself discriminatory." [see footnote --MN]
• One visitor included a tract called "The Story of Sodom: Doom Town."
• "A better place for this exhibit would be directly over the porcelain in the far-end stall of the men's restroom."

[While it is true that calling people hatemongers for not desiring to celebrate something against their ethical or moral code is in itself discriminatory, banning an exhibit of homosexuality is not an expression of lack of desire to celebrate homosexuality; personally boycotting the exhibit is. Weurch did not criticize or boycott the exhibit, he tried to ban it so no one could see it. --MN]

By denying a mining accident had ever happened. In mid-July, workers in a tin mine drilled through the wall of a disused, water-filled shaft, unleashing a deadly torrent of water, and which the government of China did not at first admit happened. This appears to be standard procedure in China: 5,800 miners apparently died in mining accidents in the year 2000. The story on the deaths in the tin mine only broke because chinese reporters struggled to overcome efforts to cover-up the incident.

Due to legalistic razzle-dazzle, however. The lawyer for the defense, Kenneth Tatarian , asked for files dating back 30 years, for the purpose of detailing entertainment licensing requirements, decisions, and enforcement, according to a report in The Cape Cod Times. He wants the records to show that at one time the town required license applicants to indicate there was nudity in a show, but later omitted the request.

The board cannot yet make a decision because it will take about a month to get all the records Tartarian asked for.
(See 05 Jul 2001; 09 Sep 2001; 11 Aug 2003)

By ruling that Susan Narduli's sandblasted nudes on the floor of the Los Angeles International Airport terminal are to remain as they are and left uncovered. They had been hidden by brown paper when the complaint was made, but the commission ordered the paper removed on July 19th pending their decision.

Another aspect of this case is that suddenly no one will admit to having ordered the nudes covered in the first place, nor will anyone identify the person or persons who actually complained about the work.

However, it was reported that one official worried openly that someone might be offended. What about an Amish couple arriving in the airport? Wouldn't they be alarmed by the images of naked bodies, leaping as if in flight?

[What? The Amish are actually that stupid? Personally, I don't think so, and how many Amish travel by jet plane, anyway? This argument is redolent of bullshit. --MN]
(see 20 Jul 2001)

It detailed that China had arrested 14 people so far this year for having political material gotten from the internet, and that China had issued, to date, more than sixty sets of regulations about internet content.

By Harper Lee. In Muskogee, Oklahoma, this time. The novel was pulled from the required reading list for freshmen at Muskogee High School. Once again in the name of "protecting children".

[And knee-jerk, reactionary, hypersensitive snivellers, it seems. The specious argument used by Principal Terry Saul is that it contains words that are racially charged and innuendoes to which school teachers and administrators should be sensitive. Uh-huh. Nevermind that racial profiling is still very much a fact of life in the arrest, trying, and conviction of a disproportionate number of suspects in the U.S. For more on that see:

ACLU End Racial Profiling Campaign

Even though this book was removed as inappropriate by a review process, it was done for issues of racism rather than literay or artistic merit, and although the book remains on the shelves in the library for students to read independently, I still feel that the review board made a bad choice and deselected the work for the wrong reasons. --MN]
(see 09 Oct 2001)

By Joy Crane. Actually, the end of a ban against the work. The National Coalition Against Censorship reported that this piece would be returned to the Brookings Arts Council 25th Annual Juried Art Exhibit. The work was originally rejected in part because it was "not appropriate" for the exhibit, but also because it was "potentially too controversial for Brookings, SD".

The piece is a beaded chastity belt bolted to what looks like a brick wall and including words and phrases such as "Bush vs. Roe Wade," "Right to Life," "Abuse," "Equal Pay," "Chauvinism," "Rape," and "Genital Mutilation".

[It is a powerful piece of social commentary in this editor's less than humble opinion. See for yourself. --MN]
(see 07 Feb 2003)

By order of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chigago. This court denied a request by some Fort Wayne residents and a number of elected [officious --MN] to overrule a lower-court ruling allowing Corpus Christi to be performed on campus beginning Friday, 10 Aug 2001.

GeeDubya's administration has served notice that they will not cooperate with any journalist writing for Talk magazine.See the anti-Bush sentiment suppression timeline.

By Stephen Moldow. A resident of Emerson, New Jersey, Mr. Moldow opened a political web site to disseminate information about the Bergen County borough. For the first eighteen months or so, he mostly posted material about budgets and the minutes of meetings, but his site includes a message board. When some posters put up uncomplimentary messages of some of the officials, those officials sued, seeking a court order requiring that Moldow identify those posters. He refused.

The officials allege that the messages, statements about off-duty transgressions, are personal attacks rather than political speech.

[I can't say for sure whether this is an attack on free speech or an attack on the irresponsible exercise of free speech. Certainly a person is responsible for what he says, and libel laws do not allow total and unlimited right to say anything false, however, there is also a question of intent. For a libel suit to succeed, the plaintiff must show malicious intent on the part of the defendant. Those messages could be just private citizens expressing frustration and dissatisfaction. --MN]
(See 02 Jan 2002; 03 Jul 2003; 01 Feb 2005)

In China. The "People's Democratic Republic" officially announced and launched its Seven No's policy. Categories closed to any reporting. In short, journalists are not allowed to write about anything that will:

• Negate the guiding role of Marxism, Mao Zedong Thought, or Deng Xiaoping Theory.
• Oppose the guiding principles, official line, or policies of the Communist Party.
• Reveal state secrets, damage national security, or harm national interests.
• Oppose official policies regarding minority nationalities and religion, or harm national unity and affect social stability.
• Advocate murder, violence, obscenity, superstition, or pseudo-science.
• Spread rumors or falsified news, or interfere in the work of the party and government.
• Violate party propaganda discipline, or national publishing and advertising regulations.

[In plain English:

• Say nothing to criticize communism.
• Say nothing to criticize elected officials of the communist party.
• Say nothing to criticize the corruption of these officials.
• Say nothing to criticize government conspiracies of silence or efforts to silence.
• Say nothing to report criminal activities or victimless crimes.
• Say nothing to report allegations against elected officials.
• Say nothing that violates any of the other censorship policies.

So? . . . what's left they can write about? --MN]
(see 27 Jun 2001)

By anti-abortion rights protesters. The images were banned by an order from the City of Great Falls, Montana, in the person of Assistant City Attorney Kory Larsen and two police officers. This was a temporary ban, enacted originally for only one week, but it was quickly rescinded in the face of public opposition to it. The anti-abortion protesters decided that this rescission wasn't enough, however, because they had failed to get assurances from the city that it would not interfere with future protests "in any way." They filed a lawsuit in federal court on 23 Aug.

[Golly-gee, 'noid. Imagine that. An iron-clad guarantee that local safety bylaws and statutes won't apply to you, and that you can get away with any kind of violation you can commit while advocating the recission of the human rights of others. --MN]
(see 03 Sep 2001; 09 Nov 2001; 21 Dec 2001; 15 Feb 2002; 25 Jun 2002; 30 Jun 2002< /a>; 30 Sep 2002; 14 May 2003)

By J.D. Salinger, but that was just for starters. This time at the Glynn County school district, Georgia. The school board had discussed banning the book from the high school's curriculum at the suggestion of a school board member, but then expanded the idea to a comprehensive anti-profanity policy that would have banned just about anything that contains "bad words". On August 13th, some 150 parents, students, and teachers showed up at the school board meeting to oppose the move.

Brunswick High School teacher Ingrid Metz was quoted as asking, "Who can judge what is profanity? Who will decide and how will they decide? The Bible, Shakespeare and the dictionary all have profanity. Are we going to ban them?"

The book is part of the Grade 11 curriculum, but students already have the option of selecting an alternative work.
(see 05 Sep 2001)

To whit: that the police took part in racial attacks against white farm owners.

By Daria Fand. Her painting, one with a para-religious theme, was rejected from an exhibit for no good reason. The ACLU filed a suit on her behalf on this day.
(see 06 Mar 2002)

In the state of California. The state liquor licensing body had ruled that topless dancers weren't allowed to touch; not customers, but themselves. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board ruled that this violated their constitutional rights.

This case arose when Renee Vicary, who owns the Angels Sports Bar in Corona, CA, lost her license to serve alcohol because her topless dances were caressing and fondling themselves.

Peter Eliasberg, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Los Angeles, commented, "The ABC should be in the business of regulating alcohol. They shouldn't go beyond that."

By Pro-Life Wisconsin; in the town of Janesville. This group was dropped from the Janesville Labor Day parade -- in which it had previously participated for three years running. The excuse was that the literature was "offensive". A charge which Pro-Life Wisconsin Director Peggy Hamill denied.

[Very amusing, Janesville; telling those who tend to advocate censorship that they can't distribute their material under the same rubric they use to deny that right to others. Now take your head out of your ass and look a little more closely at that Bill of Rights thingy. --MN]
(see 10 Aug 2001; 09 Nov 2001; 21 Dec 2001; 15 Feb 2002; 25 Jun 2002; 30 Jun 2002; 30 Sep 2002; 14 May 2003)

One which it claims is defamatory. In the documentary, Councilor Phillip Castora alleged a conspiracy by the city and a bank to take the property of Dorothy Lafortune's mother. Lafortune is the producer of the show, which is being banned from rebroadcast.

The mayor of Biddeford, Donna Dion, had previously reserved the right to preview the tapes of the show, but Lafortune continued with the original airing by broadcasting live. Subsequently, the mayor maintained that she could pull other questionable tapes from rebroadcast, and the town council voted to do so six to three.

As a result, the town now faces a First Amendment lawsuit by the Maine Civil Liberties Union.

[What a bunch of dolts. Instead of suing Lafortune for libel, they censored her and left themselves open to a lawsuit for civil rights violations. Yeah, real smart. --MN]

Which policy this time persecuted Alex Smith, an A-student on the honor roll at Mount Pleasant High School, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, for his personal opinion about a school policy. An opinion in which he dared to mock the school's tardiness policy and some of the officials charged with its enforcement.

In an action by the Glynn County school board. At this time the board was seeking to ban any and all works that contain "profanity" for any reason; regardless of the context of the profanity. Under such a sweeping ban, even the dictionary would not be allowed in the schools.

Ralph Neas, president of People For the American Way, objected to the proposal in a two page letter.
(see 13 Aug 2001)

In Monroe, Wisconsin. Federal judge Barbara Crabb ruled that the city could not stop Pastor Ralph Ovadal from passing out his literature, but that they could restrict the size of the signs carried by the picketers in the interest of public safety. Ovadal wasn't entirely satisified with that ruling and plans to appeal the restriction on the size of signs, which limits picketers to three square feet of sign (20.4 by 20.4 inches).

[Near as I can tell being allowed his rights isn't good enough for Pastor Ovadal. He seems to maintain that he has the right to carry any size of sign he wants until somebody does get hurt, since he argued that they have been using larger signs for sometime and no one has had an accident yet. He is also reported as saying that the law favours commercial signs over political speech because businesses are allowed to install signs up to three by five feet. What he obviously hasn't taken into consideration is that 1: any sign that has to be installed is stationary and is, thereby, subject to building codes in the interest of public safety; 2: any church or organization is allowed to install a three by five foot sign on their own property, and; 3: if that isn't good enough for them they have a constitutionally guaranteed right to rent a billboard located anywhere in the city, if they can pay for it. --MN]

By J.D. Salinger. Again. This time in Dorchester District 2, Charleston, South Carolina. It is being challenged and vilified by school board member Howard Bagwell for the second time in less than ten years. He also challenged it in 1993.

This time, he signed two copies out of two separate high school libraries with the intent of keeping them; although he intends to pay for them. He is quoted as saying of the book, "It is a filthy, filthy book. It has 269 some odd pages or so, and if you took out all the (profanity), the sarcasm, the mockery of old people, the mockery of women and decent people, you would get to read about 10 minutes' worth. I can't figure out for the life of me why it is considered an important book."

[And just because you're too thick-headed to figure out why it's an important book that means no one more intelligent than you should be allowed to read it so they can decide for themselves whether it is or isn't? --MN]

Contact: International Reading Association
800 Barksdale Road
Newark, DE 19714-8139
Telephone: 302/731-1600
http://www.reading.org

After the Provincetown, Massachussetts, town council voted to not take any action against the inn hosting the show. The decision stems from the fact that the application form the inn filled out did not contain a box asking about nudity. That provision was provided only after the complaint was lodged against the inn.

[It is unconstitutional even here in Canada to lay charges against someone for something they did that was legislated into criminality after they committed the action. A measure, such as double jeopardy, meant to protect citizens from gubmint. --MN]
(See 05 Jul 2001; 01 Aug 2001; 11 Aug 2003)

By Zoran Vlahovic. This Yugoslav-born apprentice crane operator was working at Toronto airport, for All Canada Crane Corp., at the time of the World Trade Center tragedy. His co-workers overheard him say, "Americans got what they deserved." They complained to their boss, Bob Hanna, who spoke to Mr. Vlahovic twice. First on 11 Sep, and the second time on 12 Sep. Mr. Vlahovic refused to apolize both times, instead showing Mr. Hanna photographs of Kosovo after the NATO bombing. As a result he was fired.

In Aug 2002, the Ontario Labour Board ruled that the company had a right to discipline him, but not to fire him. Mary Ellen Cummings, chairperson of the Ontario Labour Board, said that Mr. Vlahovic's comments "were harsh, discriminatory, and insensitive," but that the firing was "disproportionate."

FAIR posted an action alert on October 26 detailing how the FCC started removing the last vestiges of the right of the people to divergent news sources.

[Why do we bother worrying about what terrorists are doing when we will only tear down our free society for them? --MN]
(see 19 Apr 2001)

In the wake of the World Trade Center attack, Clear Channel Inc., owner of numerous radio stations throughout the U.S., allegedly sent to its stations a list of songs that should not be played in light of the catastrophe. On 18 Sep, Clear Channel published a statement denying the existence of a playlist of "banned songs", even as the playlist itself was being reported as fact in that day's issue of the L.A. Times. It seems the songs were designated as "questionable," but there was apparently no real effort made to ban them.

By Darin Bell, and printed in The Daily Californian, the student newspaper at UC Berkeley. This cartoon depicted two Islamist terrorists arriving in Hell, one of them exulting prematurely to the other that they had made it to Paradise, only to realize that they were standing in a monstrously large hand and surrounded by flames and a lake of liquid sulfur. Politically correct whiners called it racist.

[Debra Saunders of the San Francisco Chronicle said of it in her October 11th column, "The cartoon clearly lampoons a vicious fanatical mind-set that equates slaughtering innocents with martyrdom and eternal reward." An assesment with which this editor agrees fully. I personally saw nothing about the cartoon which could be interpreted as bashing either all of Islam or Arabs or Afghanis. --MN]
(see 27 Sep 1999; 10 Oct 2001; 24 Oct 2001)

By Michael McNeilly. The mural was erected on the side of a building in Westwood, Los Angeles, CA, with the caption "God Bless America"; with the owner's permission. The city issued an order asking McNeilly to remove it. He refused and sought the assistance of the ACLU; which filed a suit on October 23rd.
(To view an image of the mural click this link)

Check out the ALA 2001 banned books week info: http://www.ala.org/news/v7n10/banned_books.html

Banned Book Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Library Association (ALA), the American Society of Journalists, and Authors and the Association of American Publishers, and is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

The ALA has reported that there have been over 6,000 challenges since 1990 and estimate that only 25% of such challenges are reported. They report, as well, that the number of challenges in the year 2000 experienced a sharp increase over the number of challenges to books from 1999; up to 646 from 472. The 174 more challenges to books reflects a 36.86% jump.

The increase in challenges -- by issues -- from 1999 to 2000 breaks down as follows:

• challenges to "sexually explicit" material: up 161,
• material considered to use "offensive language": up 165,
• material considered "unsuited to age group": up 89,
• material with an "occult theme or promoting the occult or Satanism,": up 69,
• material considered to be "violent": up 107,
• material with a homosexual theme or "promoting homosexuality,": up 18,
• material "promoting a religious viewpoint." up 22,
• material including "nudity": up 20,
• material considered to be "racism": up 22,
• material considered "sex education": up 7,
• material considered "anti-family": up 9.

For a total of 689 more issue-based challenges over 1999.

If you are interested, you can also check out their Literacy Calendar at: http://www.ala.org/pio/literacycalendar.html

[Caveat Lector: that jump might not necessarily reflect an increase in censorship attempts. It might only reflect an increase in the number of reported challenges, or it might be -- as I think it is -- the result of a mix of both factors.

Plus, I'm not sure I read it right. These numbers not only reflect a jump in the number of challenges to books, but also the number of challenges per book, at four (4) issues per volume of the 174 extra works alone. Beverly Becker, the Office for Intellectual Freedom associate director states that the spike is due to the numerous challenges against the Harry Potter series. My thought is that this increase indicates a climb to a new plateau, whereas if it is a spike, the number of challenges will drop off again in subsequent years.

For a countervailing viewpoint see the opinion of Banned Book Week written by Steve McKinzie. --MN]

By Voice of America. Omar is the leader of the Taliban. VOA was asked by the U.S. State Department to kill the broadcast of the interview. As the VOA is a government supported over-seas broadcaster, the Board of Governors includes one member from the State Department. That person lobbied the others to kill the broadcast of the interview. The interview, however, was not to be presented as a stand-alone piece, but as part of a larger report, which the government didn't seem to understand. Richard Boucher, State Department spokesman, was quoted as saying in a news briefing, "We didn't think it was right. We didn't think that the American taxpayer, the Voice of America, should be broadcasting the voice of the Taliban."

[Oh, yeah, they're only allowed to broadcast the voice of the U.S. regime, right? And, of course, the American people must not be allowed to think for themselves on issues such as this, but must blindly accept the party line; which, amusingly enough, is exactly what the Taliban expects of it religious slaves. The banned interview was aired on September 25th after VOA kicked up a stink and refused to be the government's propaganda mouthpiece. It was reported that minor revisions were made; which still stinks of censorship because they could only have been made to get Big Brother's approval. --MN]

By academics and students alike. The Freedom Forum began tracking civil rights violations and chilling effect generated by the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. Some of the things said were simply stupid and in bad judgement, others were political speech. Many generated threats.

[Civil libertarians in a number of groups would become concerned over the chilling effect against voicing dissenting opinions to American anti-terrorism policies, particularly in elementary, middle, and high schools. However, according to Thor Halvorssen, head of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, these incidents merely highlight a pre-existing, ongoing erosion of free academic expression. I do not concur with that assessment off the top of my head, but as of 24 Oct 2001, I had not considered this particular issue sufficiently. There certainly were pre-existing, ongoing erosions of freedom in academia, but I can't say whether the current chilling effect is a new factor to be taken into account, or merely a shifting of focus that does not involve a higher incidence rate of censorship. --MN]

By Walt Whitman High School newspaper and broadcast news. Austin Lavin was caught cheating on an exam the previous June, and for which he was subjected to an impeachment trial by the Student Government Association, of which he is president (and is still as the impeachment failed.) His father, Carl Lavin, a New York Times Washington bureau editor, sent a letter to Frank Stetson, the Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent, demanding that student journalists turn over copies of the news paper and the broadcast accounts of the impeachment trial. Ostentibly over the issue of student privacy rights. According to an SPLC news release on 09 Oct 2001, Stetson said of the letter, "Mr. Lavin demanded that the papers be retrieved and that a letter to the editor by a teacher (Russ Rushton) be blackened -- essentially to have the newspaper censored."

Some copies of the newspaper were locked up briefly, but all copies were distributed in less than a day. About the newscast, SPLC executive director Mark Goodman commented, "In fact, the TV students told me that their program first aired [04 Oct] with a note that it had been censored by the administration. However, as the school started getting pressure from others and calls from our reporter, they began to back down and by 05 Oct said that they would allow the TV program to run whatever they wanted."

School officials finally came down firmly on the side of press freedom, end the censorship on 05 Oct and prompting from Goodwin the comment, "The good news is that Walt Whitman High School, which has a long history of great, uncensored student media, says it is still firmly behind an uncensored student press. They may have only temporarily slipped in this situation, and I hope that they mean what they're saying now. The school officials seem to appreciate the importance of allowing the students to make their own content decisions and have allowed them to do so."

[The news broadcasts are carried on the school district's cable network, and in-house on closed-circuit television. --MN]

By J.K. Rowling. See the Harry Potter censorship timeline.

By a student living in the dormitory. Matt Pitts is displaying a confederate flag in the window of his room and some students are upset by it. Several complaints have been lodged, and one student has started a petition. The school refuses to act against Pitt, however, because his opinion and expression thereof do not violate the university's speech codes. Pitts's expression is neither dangerous, lewd, indecent, or obscene.

Says Residential Life Director Frankie Minor, "While it is understandable that Confederate flags, swastikas, etc., may be deemed offensive by some individuals or groups, they likely do not fall under the category of 'lewd, indecent, or obscene'. We try to respect students' expectation of privacy and ability to display their personal opinions in their rooms as best as we can. We also encourage dialogue between individuals with differing opinions to see if acceptable compromises or common ground can be identified."

[Obviously, this isn't good enough for some students. Pitts has apparently been taunted by shouts outside his window that he is a racist. Aside from the political incorrectness of hurting his feelings, how come none of these snivelers has realized the absurdity of upholding rights and freedoms by requiring that non-conformists be assimilated into the hive? --MN]

In San Francisco. The Board of Supervisors rejected a federal requirement for internet filters on the computers in city libraries, although they left it up to the Library Commission to decide whether or not to install such software on computers in children's areas. Allowing even one computer to go unfiltered means that a library is to lose all federal funding. In this case, it will cost the San Francisco libraries a twenty thousand dollar budget cut. The total annual budget, however, is fifty million dollars.

[Dear, Georgy-porgy-pudding-and-Bush. SCREW OFF! --MN]
(see 20 Apr 2000; 25 Mar 2002; 26 Mar 2002; 05 Apr 2002; 20 May 2002; 31 May 2002)

By Robert Cormier -- was deemed appropriate. A seven member panel at Dunedin Highland Middle School, in St. Petersburgh, Florida, unanimously decided so after Chuck Fonshell challenged the work due to its sexual content and profanity. The book will continue to be read by the advanced, eighth grade class.

Fonshell brought the challenge when his 13 year old daughter brought home a permission slip for the book in which it was allowed the book contained "some mature subject matter and language." He refused to sign the slip until he had read the book. His daughter, the only student in that class not reading The Chocolate War, is currently reading an alternative title: The Outsiders. Fonshell was reported as saying that he would continue the challenge up the chain of appeals to the school board. His rationale for doing so was that some parents are too busy to read what their child is reading in class and don't know what the book contains.

[Okay. Point the first: If I remember correctly The Outsiders is by Susie E. Hinton and has also been subjected to censorship challenges {yes, it is and has and one of the 100 most challenged books of the 1990s at that}. Secondly, his daughter does not have to read The Chocolate Wars because he doesn't like it, and that is as far as this issue should go. However, point the third, Fonshell isn't satisfied with that and is attempting to take it upon himself to decide what all the children are allowed to read in class because he believes that some of the parents don't know what the students are reading {an absolute certainty in my books}. Point the fourth is the unwarranted assumption that no 13-year-old can possibly be mature enough to read this book.

Yep. Smells like censorship to me. --MN]

By Aaron Petitt. This 16 year-old student at Fairview High School, Cleveland, Ohio, was suspended for displaying some posters he made promoting the bombing of Afghanistan. The posters showed planes dropping bombs with messages scribbled on them, such as, "Good morning, Afghan!" and, "May God have mercy, because we will not." He was suspended for ten days, ostentibly because his posters might have been offensive to Arab-American students. He immediately sued and on October 10th a federal judge ordered the school to let him attend classes.
(see 30 Nov 2001)

See the appendix on Robie Harris.

The school board voted to put this book back on the reading list at Muskogee High School. It was removed unilaterally by principal Terry Saul on the basis of complaints by black students and parents that the language was racist. Assistant Principal Dan Hattaway seems to have applied some good sense and judgement to the issue. He said that a review of the reading list showed, "all the books use some language that shouldn't be used in school. But if you threw out everything that was objectionable to people, we'd be using a watered-down version or we'd all be reading Dr. Seuss."

[No you wouldn't. Dr. Seuss has also been subject to censorship challenge; or, at least, The Lorax has. --MN]
[And The Butter-Battle Book. --MN]
(see 03 Aug 2001)

By the news services themselves. During a conference call between the major networks and Condoleeza Rice, national security adviser, network executives acceded to her suggestion that future broadcasts of statements by Osama bin Laden be carefully edited to remove any potentially inflammatory language before being broadcast.

The ACLU posted an op/ed piece on this incident on Oct. 11th, and FAIR posted a media advisory on this issue on Oct. 12th.

[If they remove potentially inflammatory language from bin Laden's babblings, what will be left for them to broadcast that will not be disjointed and incoherent? --MN]
(see 12 Dec 2001; 09 Jan 2002; 16 Jan 2002)

In a free country it is the duty of writers to pay no attention to duty. Only under a dictatorship is literature expected to exhibit an harmonious design or an inspirational tone.    --E.B. White, Jan 1939

2001, October 10: Report of censorship

At Berkeley, again. This time the student senate passed student senate bill 67, which was drafted to punish the student newspaper, The Daily Californian, for not apologizing for its exercise of free speech. Stemming from the printing of the Darin Bell cartoon on September 18th, ssb 67 is a masterpiece of doublespeak according to the column filed by Debra Saunders in the San Fransisco Chronicle. Both versions of the bill apparently begin by lauding Berkely as, "a place of light where the rights of individuals with difference are appreciated and honest, probing inquiry is encouraged." Then saying, "Berkeley remains one of the few places in the world where a thoughtful, critical exchange can occur from people across a spectrum of backgrounds and races, without fear of reprisal or hatred." The bill then goes on to recommend that the student board levy an 8,000 dollar a month rent increase for the newspaper for it's refusal to be intimated into self-censure for printing the Bell cartoon.

At the same time, the first version of the bill allowed that the newspaper could escape this rent increase if it adopted "voluntary diversity training." As Ms. Saunders points out, "voluntary" is misused because capitulation would derive from blackmail, and "diversity" is misused as it means that only popular opinion would be acceptable.

That version of the bill was reportedly criticized by some big-name cartoonists, so it was amended by a committee to be cohersion free. Apparently the committee's idea of cohersion free is "mandatory sensitivity training."

One of the bill's co-authors allowed as to how "We are open to removing that word."

[Not that they would remove that word, mind you, just that they would maybe think about it. --MN]

The editor of Daily Cal, Janny Hu, is standing fast on the issue. Says she, "We maintain that the editorial cartoon fell within the realm of fair comment and the First Amendment."

Ms. Hu also believes that this round of PC censorship has been fueled by the appeasement made by her predecessor over the printing in Daily Cal of the Horowitz advertisement during the Spring.

[You go, girl! --MN]
(see 27 Sep 1999; 18 Sep 2001; 24 Oct 2001)

By Frank D'Aloia. In response to the September 11th attacks against the World Trade Center, Mr D'Aloia made a sign reading Foreigners Go Home. He hung this sign on the fence outside his body shop next to an American flag. When neighbors complained about it, Stillwater town officials, in Saratoga County, New York, looked into the matter, determined that the sign did not violate zoning laws, and proclaimed: Hands off. Said Supervisor Paul Lilac, who made the determination, "My personal position is I don't think it sends the right message, but Mr. D'Aloia has First Amendment privileges and I don't think that can be taken away from him."

[Finally! -- somebody got it right!

Mr D'Aloia has recognized that this sign might be an indication that he is prejudiced. Perhaps he is, as he stated that the U.S. needs some control on who gets into the country. However, this just as likely could be an effort to express a grief he doesn't know how to express. --MN]

By self-styled "Brother Jed". George Smock of Newark has taken to expressing himself about the September 11th attacks on the WTC by hatemongering at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio. He has been quoting portions of the Koran in an effort to "prove" that Islam is a hate-based religion. He has been attempting to make his points by contrasting the Koran with the Bible under the belief that the Bible is more right than the Koran because all the hatred and villification in the Bible is ameliorated by Christ's injunction to "Love thy neighbor."

The college cut short Smock's first diatribe and denied two applications for permits before their Human Resources office issued a permit for a two hour window for Friday, 12 Oct. Smock complained about this limit to his free speech, but it's not a free speech issue, it's about security. The college found that it would have to arrange -- and pay -- for a police presence to insure his safety.

[Personally, I think they should let the dumb-ass, irReverend Mr. Smock take his chances, and if somebody bounces a half a brick off his pointy little head? -- good enough for him. --MN]

U.S. District Judge James H. Michael Jr. struck down such a Virginia law as unconstitutional. This marks yet another setback in efforts to "protect" children from "harmful" material. Judge Michael recognized that the law showed, "legitimate concern regarding the proliferation of pornography on the Internet", but also wrote in his ruling, "In its efforts to restrict the access of minors to indecent material on the Internet, the Act imposes, albeit unintentionally, an unconstitutional burden on adult protected speech. Merely asserting that the government has an interest in preventing some harm cannot justify the suppression of free speech." Judge Michael also allowed as to how this law might become legal some day due to changing technology: "Technological advancements may, in the not-too-distant future, permit statutes similar to the one now before this court to regulate constitutionally content on the Internet."

In Utah this time. Women For Decency was founded in March of this year and is working with a novel approach. They engage in write in campaigns, e-mail blitzes, and phone calls. They do not however, seek any assistance from legislators or legislation.

Paula Houston, Utah's pornography "czar", says of them, "They are very professional, very polite and pleasant to talk to."

[But, of course, her prejudices and theirs dovetail. Also, while Lisa Pettys, chairwoman of the Utah County chapter, says "We don't want to come across as a screaming bunch of citizens; we want to persuade people to uphold community standards," their actions belie that, in that they seem to have taken it upon themselves to decide what those standards are; it appears that they are operating unilaterally, not upon the results of any survey.

Some of their targets are:

• pay-per-view television in hotels -- ignoring the right of persons to make a conscious decision to watch such material;
• Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, because it ran a Spiegel ad in which a woman was leaning against a nude man;
• Cosmopolitan -- because of its covers;
• In Style and similar magazines in supermarket racks;
• lingerie posters in stores such as Fredericks of Hollywood and Victoria's Secret;
• Sam Goody chain of video stores for adult videos.

They have also joined Illinois Lt. Gov. Corrine Wood in her crusade against Abercrombie & Fitch, despite that company's policy of selling their catalogue only to legal adults, and even carding prospective buyers and subscribers.

Aside from all this, director Janalyn Holt was reported as comparing their movement to the self-proclaimed war against the Taliban: "The parallels between [smut and terror] are uncanny. Pornography destroys families. It's not a one-time shot like an airplane flying into the World Trade Center. But little by little, blow by blow, it can be just as destructive. We are getting bombarded on all sides."

Golly -- sounds just like what they are doing to the Bill of Rights. --MN]
(see 18 Jan 2002; 01 Apr 2003; Also see:
a profile of the office and duties, 23 Mar 2000 by Ben Fulton;
A further critique of the office of porn czar, 01 Feb 2001 by Ben Fulton;
A profile of Paula Houston and her duties, 12 Mar 2001 by CBS News;
the report about closing the office, 15 Jan 2003 Salt Lake Tribune)

Three internet radio shows have been yanked from the net by their host's ISP even before the new anti-terrorist laws were passed. The three shows are IRA Radio, Al Lewis Live, and Our Americas. The shows were carried by Cosmic Entertainment, whose provider is Hypervine. The provider forced Cosmic to remove the sites after receiving a call from someone who said he was a federal agent, and who said the company's assets could be seized for containing pro-terrorist materials. All three shows apparently engaged in the political examination of terrorism or rebellion.

In a unanimous opinion the three-member panel of the state Court of Appeals upheld the conviction and $50,000 fine against Sanford Video and News Inc. The company had appealed claiming First Amendment rights and that the fine was excessive. Judge Hugh Campbell, in writing the decision, pointed out that this was not the company's first such conviction and that it had only challenged the amount of the fines and not the underlying conviction. Campbell also wrote, in light of the previous conviction, "We therefore have difficulty believing defendant thought its conduct was protected under either the federal or state constitution."

[Hmmmm. Interesting. I wonder of what, exactly, this obscene material was constituted and how obscene is defined in that state. One must keep in mind that "pornography" is not synonomous with "obscene" in the eyes of the law; or it shouldn't be. --MN]

By the Charlotte-Mecklenburg library board. The board submitted a two-tier library card proposal to the county commissioners. Parents will be able to select a card that will allow their children to sign out any books at all, or a card restricting their child to books targetting a young audience. This plan was submitted after years of public complaints by local insurance salesman Martin Davis about the content of some books.

Library board chairman Don Steger commented, "This is a choice plan for parents to make the decision that we don't feel it's our place to make."

[Chalk up another one for common sense. --MN]

The city of Mckeesport, Pennsylvania(?), required a distributor of an Islamic newspaper to pay a prohibitive fee for a permit to distribute the newspaper and even threatened him with arrest if he didn't. This was in May of 2001. They dropped the threat in July under pressure from the ACLU, but since then have been uncooperative in specifying which law justified their actions. So the ACLU filed a lawsuit alleging officials violated A.B. Abdul-Rabb's First Amendment right of free expression and the right to practice his religion.

[Chalk up another one for dumb-ass, butt-head, human stupidity. --MN]

In Iowa. Ellen Gordon, the state's new domestic security chief said there should be a review of the open-records law to make sure information gathered to defend against terrorist attacks is not open to the public.

To give her credit, however, she also said the state wanted to keep people informed without releasing sensitive information. Judging from the article it appears that Iowa is striving for a policy of selection over censorship. So far. A report a couple of months later at Freedom Forum stated how Iowa lawmakers had allowed that striking that balance was no easy matter.
(see 12 Dec 2001)

By AAN et al, who have been writing columns and editorials critical of President Bush and his Afghan policy. Soi-disant libertarians have been threatening papers and personnel who have been exercising their rights to free speech and a dissenting opinion instead of blindly toeing the party line. Among those who have received threats,

• David Rolland, editor of the Ventura County Reporter;
• Marc Eisen, editor of Isthmus;
• Ken Edelstein, editor of Creative Loafing (Atlanta);
• John Sugg, Senior Editor of Creative Loafing, and [possibly];
• Bob Snell, editor of Folio Weekly

[I don't know anything about the Association of Alternative Weeklies at the moment; I'll have to research them so I can fill in the background. Community standards are still in favor of free speech and freedom of thought, however, despite the threats. According to Sugg, he had received 400 pieces of mail about the column he wrote that drew fire, in a ratio of 5-1 in his favor. He said of the correspondence, "One very prevalent comment is that people are glad they're getting some outside-the-mainstream th inking." Bob Snell and Folio Weekly was mentioned in the article because they had previously been subjected to threats and vandalism, and Mr. Snell had commented on the necessity of creating a paper trail to aid in prosecution of suspects who turn their fantasies into action. --MN]

University of Connecticut had banned signs critical of Nike's labor practices. The Connecticut Civil Liberties Union got this policy overthrown under pressure of legal demands.
(see Jan 2001 for more on the Nike labor practice issue)

St. Joseph News-Press reporter Marshall White turned over notes from an interview with Marcus Busey to Buchanan County prosecutor Dwight Scroggins . White also answered questions during a deposition. The subpoena had been challenged, but as with Texas, Missouri has no shield laws to protect journalistic freedoms.

[I make no judgement of Marshall White; I do not know his personal situation. However, it is obvious that reporters in Missouri are expected to function as an undercover branch of law enforcement. The lesson here? -- don't talk to reporters in Texas or Missouri. --MN]
(see 20 Jul 2001; 29 Oct 2001; 18 Jun 2002; 20 Feb 2003)

At Lincoln Junior High School, Illinois. Love and Other Four Letter Words, by Carolyn Mackler, was removed from the school library. The book contains swear words as well as frank discussions among the characters about issues pertinent to many adolescents: alcohol or drug use ("getting wasted"), masturbation, and having sex. The characters in the book, however, are sixteen, not twelve, and school principle Dan Brace said of the work: "Certainly that book is way out of bounds with what we consider appropriate for our school. It's not in a gray area, it's completely out of the box." The challenge was initiated by Ausra Di Raimondo when she found the book in her 13-year-old daughter's possession and read it.

[There are a number of problems in this case. First, the book was selected because a key part of the selection process had been skipped: no one had read the book (it was late Spring and many new books had been ordered). Second, the publishers rated the book as being suitable for 12-year-olds. Third, the book was removed because Brace and Di Raimondo made the same mistake the publishers did in rating the book; except in diametric opposition. Fourth, the book was banned from the school unilaterally instead of being removed through a proper review process (Brace was reported as having spoken to a few staff members -- who, exactly?).

Problems two and three are the central errors in this case. Both sides made the mistake of pigeon-holing the target audience. The unwarranted assumption by Brace and Di Raimondo is that no 12 or 13-year-old could possibly be mature enough to handle such subject matter, and the unwarranted assumption by the publishers that every 12 or 13-year-old must be mature enough to handle such subject matter. Beverly Horowitz, who is the vice president of Knopf/Delacorte/Dell Young Reader's Group, said "age 12 and up" suggests the book is appropriate for a young adult.

Personally, I think they all have shit for brains. If the characters are sixteen, the book should be for the adolescent to young adult target audience, where a young adult is 18 to 22, inclusive. (Even I don't believe that a 12-year-old, however mature, can be considered an adult.) The issues dealt with in Love and Other Four Letter Words are not so immediate to the pubescent; 10 to 14 (in my rating system, with 15 to 17 inclusive, being adolescent). Against that, one has to balance the desire and necessity of anticipating incipient problems and educating the likely victims thereof.

At any rate, this one gets chalked up to censorship. Just because that one mother is concerned about her child's reading material does not mean that she or Brace can decided what all parents' children are not allowed to read. --MN]

A Manhattan federal appeals court ruled that Paula Perry can not keep on trucking with a Vermont vanity licence plate that reads: SHTHPNS [shit happens; alternatively: shout happiness, which is what Perry maintains is her message. --MN]. Perry, a former investigator in the Vermont's attorney general's office civil rights division, had argued that she had a First Amendment right to carry that message on her plate, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, saying she did not have a right to the vanity plate and that the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles did not deny her a fair hearing. The court concluded the general public does not have unimpeded access to Vermont license plates, but can only put a message on their plates with the permission of the state. Bridget Asay, a Vermont assistant attorney general, had argued that Vermont decided reasonably that it did not want to participate in Perry's message. The court also ruled, however, that Perry does have the right to carry the message elsewhere on her truck, as on a bumper sticker.

[Good call, I'd say. I chalk up this case as friction generated by an honest and concerned inquiry into the rights of one versus the rights of the other. --MN]
(see the file on challenges to vanity plates; or an op/ed piece by Kenneth Paulson, 26 Aug 2001)

By the International Press Institute, based in Vienna. Zimbabwe is in the company of South Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela, as "countries that appear to be moving towards restricting press freedom."

The city council of San Antonio will be paying the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center the sum of $550,000. The city council (actually a previous council), cut the group's funding after religious conservatives and talk show personalities protested public funds going to the center when it sponsored a homosexual film festival in 1997. The council sat down to negotiations in May when it was chidden by U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in a "viewpoint discrimination" lawsuit. Judge Garcia said of the cuts that they violated free speech, equal protection, and open meetings laws, and that the cuts were indicative of a "constitutionally impermissible motive".

[Where they really screwed up is when they singled out Esperanza for a complete loss of funding, where other arts groups were subjected to budget cuts of only fifteen percent. The cut amounted to a $62,000 loss to Esperanza. Over four years, that amounts to $248,000; for which they are getting $550,000 in remuneration; a rate of two dollars twenty-one cents to the dollar. --MN]

By University Berkeley jounalists. Some 1,000 copies of the paper were stolen to prevent the dissemination of ideas. The idea in this case was that foreign states supporting terrorism should be dismantled by armed force. It appeared in an advertisement bought and paid for by the Ayn Rand Institute and which appeared in the Oct. 23rd edition of the now much beleaguered Daily-Cal. The stolen papers were replaced with a flier calling for a boycott of the paper and a denunciation of the "End States Who Sponsor Terrorism" ad as "irrational and inflammatory," stating that it would perpetuate hostility against the Iranian community.

[I assume that's the community of ex-patriate Iranians in the U.S. See, the problem with this attitude is that: While some raving fools with an axe to grind will certainly speak out in condemnation of the Iranian community in the U.S., those people are already bigots or narrow-minded to begin with. The attitude of the censors, however, assumes that all people will give in to such bigotry. This is itself bigotry as it discriminates against everyone who can think for themselves and continue to respect the dignity of their fellow man. The overwhelming majority in my not so humble opinion. --MN]
(see 27 Sep 1999; 18 Sep 2001; 10 Oct 2001;

At McCarter Elementary School, in Topeka Unified School District 501, Kansas(?). The site council [the school committee I assume. --MN] decided that party-goers to school and associated school events may wear only costumes with a patriotic theme. The reason stated by Principal Richie McDaneld is, "A lot of children do not wear Halloween costumes either because their parents cannot afford to buy them or because of religious reasons." She was also quoted as saying, "We made a decision because we believe it's in the best interest of the kids. I think it's better for them to laugh and have fun instead of planning something that will frighten some students and leave others out." She also alleged that some costumes scare some of the younger students.

This decision did not sit well with one parent, at least. Reginald Griffin said the ruling isn't in line with the spirit of America. His reply is, "I'm trying to teach kids that we do have a choice to move on, that we're not going to let terrorists strike fear into our lives and that we continue doing what we've always done."

Other schools in the district are encouraging children to wear patriotic costumes, but in a survey of 17 of the 21 schools in the district, McCarter was the only one where a Hallowe'en dress code was being forced on the students. Griffin had started a petition to get the ruling overthrown, and this petition had gathered 230 signatures. However, it was doubtful that it would be efficacious.

[Okay, kiddies, . . . where to start? . . .

1. Parents who can't afford a scary costume won't be able to afford a patriotic costume, either;
2. Parents who won't allow a child to wear a costume for religious reasons -- probably not such a minuscule minority in the Bible Belt -- should not allow their child to wear any kind of costume; although I expect many such would play fast and loose with self-righteous moralizing about how some costumes are more equal than others;
3. McDaneld and the site council has obviously taken it upon themselves to decide that it is best for children -- unilaterally and without just cause -- that:
   • the childrens' freedom of expression must be stifled;
   • everyone is required to toe the patriotism party line with the necessary corollary that,
   • dissenting opinions concerning American Rightness must not be allowed;
   • that children can only plan on wearing frightening costumes out of malicious intent to scare and intimidate and not out of any desire to have fun, and that;
   • some children of elementary school age are too stupid to understand what Hallowe'en is about.

I don't know what the population of the student body is at McCarter school, but off hand I'd say that 230 parents is a significant proportion of the parents. Even assuming that both parents had signed the petition in a third of the cases, that would mean about 195 families whose children attend the school are opposed to the ban. If the student body is 600 strong, as it was at my daughter's elementary school in 2000, then opposition is running at approximately thirty-three percent. Hardly a majority, of course, but interesting for the locale. --MN]

By London based Amnesty International, this time. They issued a report in which they assert, "journalists attempting to carry out critical and independent reporting are subject to harassment, including violence and death threats, as well as the misuse of criminal charges to hamper their work." They also called for the European Union to send observers to Zimbabwe now instead of waiting for the April 2002 elections.

At Paradise Valley High School, Arizona. It was reported that the principal, Denise Birdwell, reads all the articles before publication and routinely kills or makes changes to opinion columns and editorials. This allegation was made by the staff of the monthly, Trojan Times. Birdwell objected to the tone of an article on "Dirty Dancing" by writing, "Even opinions in school papers have limits. You may not challenge or slam the school or administrators. Sorry! Clean this up." The students l odged a complaint with the Student Press Law Center. SPLC Executive Director Mark Goodman commented, "This is a principal who is acting as if the newspaper is her mouthpiece."

[Birdwell seems to be laboring under the misapprehension of double think. She reportedly said that she is trying to work out her differences with the newspaper staff, and that she does not want to infringe on the newspaper's rights, but she also has to look out for the rights of other students on campus. Other student groups have complained about the way the newspaper has portrayed them in the past and some even refuse to do interviews with the staff. Which is their right. Just as much as it is the right of the paper to be critical of the student groups and even of the school administration. --MN]
(see 01 Dec 2001; 04 Dec 2001)

In the MS-Word dictionary. Negative terms usually used in a rude context and some terms usually considered vulgar have been deleted in the most recent release: Word Version 2002. It appears that MicroSoft will not allow name calling. Three words cited are: losers, idiot, and bastard.

[The article I saw on this issue quoted Susan Butler, publisher of The Macquarie Dictionary, and Dr Louise Ravelli, a university lecturer in linguistics. Dr. Ravelli allows in her comments as to how the censorship could limit writing, but Ms. Butler disagrees with that assessment. While she feels that this is a case of political correctness carried to an extreme, she said in reply to Ravelli's concern, "The words will not disappear because Microsoft deletes them. It just makes Microsoft look silly."

No, the words won't disappear, maybe not today, or tomorrow, but some day and for the rest of our lives. This PC move by MicroSoft is merely another snowflake in the avalanche that could someday sweep down the hill and bury the global village. In the meantime use the Macquarie Dictionary, that remains unbowdlerized. Also in the meantime, I'll keep shoveling. --MN]

At the University of Southern Maine, at both the Portland and Gorham campuses. But this time the police made a bust. Three students were arrested with approximately seven hundred fifty copies of the October 29th edition of the paper at the Portland campus. Anthony Pergola and Jonathan McCorkill, along with an unidentified student, were taken into custody; the third student is still under investigation and yet to be charged as of Oct. 30. The police were alerted after all the copies of The Free Press were stolen at the Gorham campus minutes after being placed in the distribution racks. The motive appears to be a series of articles and columns that were critical of fraternities and sororities; what is called "Greek life".

A thousand copies of The Free Press had also been stolen on October 22nd.
(see 09 Nov 2001)

By John DePetro of WHJJ radio station, Providence, Rhode Island. A radio talk show host, DePetro allegedly received a copy of a secret videotape of a sting operation. In the tape, a politician supposedly accepts a bribe. The special prosecutor investigating the leak subpoenaed DePetro on the grounds that journalists aren't journalists all the time and that journalistic ethics come with some kind of a time stamp.

[Funny. A member of the armed forces and police services is on duty 24 hours a day, every day, without exception. How come the same cannot be said for the personal ethics of other professionals? --MN]
(see 20 Jul 2001; 18 Oct 2001; 18 Jun 2002; 20 Feb 2003)

By minors. On this day the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal in the case of Kendrick v. American Amusement Machine Association by the City-County Council of Indianapolis. This ordinance made it illegal for minors to play violent games and required that arcades keep such games at least ten feet away from non-violent games. It was overturned as an unconstitutional damper on free speech by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeal. Judge Richard Posner wrote in the opinion, "Violent video games played in public places are a tiny fraction of the media violence to which modern American children are exposed. Tiny -- and judging from the record of this case not very violent compared to what is available to children on television and in movie theaters today."

[Well, yeah, there is that, and while I agree with the ruling I can't agree with that particular sentiment. No individual snowflake in an avalanche is responsible for burying the village at the foot of the slope, but every individual snowflake lends its impetus to the avalanche. For my money, the ordinance is unconstitutional because it discriminates among video games. {Compare the ban of all electronic games by the government of Greece; which is "fair" because it makes no distinction between one kind and the other.} This ordinance should have been struck down because it is clearly based on the Harmful To Minors misapprehension -- for which there is no supporting evidence -- not because violent video games constitute less of a supposed cause of social violence as a matter of degree. --MN]

At Georgetown University, Washington. D.C. Their Committee on Speech and Expression drafted a proposed addendum to the speech and expression policy already in place. This addendum would give school officials the power to confiscate a publication that shows the officials in an unfavorable light; specifically: those that "target identifiable individual members of the university community may be taken from public distribution places by the Vice President."

This policy addendum appears to be a piece of double think, in that it recognizes the value of anonymous speech, but then dismisses it, calling for the "eventual" identification of such speakers. It is being proposed after a satirical publication of the the school newspaper was critical of some officials.

In reply to the proposal, the independent monthly student magazine The Georgetown Academy, has promised to uphold free speech. Sabin Calle wrote in a letter to The Hoya, "As its editor in chief, I commit The Georgetown Academy to republish in our pages the content of any anonymous publication, regardless of its content, ideology or motive, if we determine that it has been confiscated for its content or aspects of the author's constitutionally protected anonymity."

[See, if they really want to engage in dialogue with those who are critical of their regime instead of wanting to punish them, why don't they just use the paper to explain themselves? --MN]

By Federal Way High School students in Seattle, Washington. It was challenged by Karla Dyer, a candidate for the local school commission, because it printed a letter to the editor that was critical of her attempts to censor books at Thomas Jefferson High School in July. Dyer alleged that in printing the letter the paper engaged in political partisanship -- thereby making it necessary for Superintendant Tom Murphy to delay the paper's distribution while he consulted with the state Public Disclosu re Commission.

[Which is probably proper procedure, but one must question the motives behind the complaint and the nature of the complaint. Dyer objected to the sexual content in a series of books at Thomas Jefferson High School, and now she is objecting to the content of a criticism of her politics; and one not put forward by the paper, but by one of the paper's readers. How can this woman not understand that letters to the editor are a matter of personal opinion, and that the letters printed do not necessary reflect the opinion of the papers in which they are printed?

Even if she is right in alleging that printing the letter advances her opponent's position, in violation of state law which prohibits the use of public resources for campaigning, what is the underlying cause of her complaint? That she considers herself to be above criticism? . . . or that she may not be criticized for advocating censorship? . . . or what? Given this woman's position on censorship, and the fact that she is running for a position of authority in a body which did not support a previous acti on of hers, I hardly think she has any real profound interest in political due process. --MN]
(see 17 Jul 2001)

He signed into affect an executive order keeping secret the unreleased records of a former president at the sole whim of the sitting president; forever.

[What he did was to summarily enact a pseudo-law abrogating the Presidential Papers Act of 1978 and the right of the people to know what presidents have done in their name, and excluded a sunset clause so that it will never lapse. This order will have to be rescinded by another executive order from another president.

What is especially noteworthy in this case is that documents from the Reagan era, in which Bush Senior was vice-president, would have become public this year. So obviously this is another case of Bush family censorship.

And what is the Bush family trying to hide now? -- Perhaps this? --MN]
(Read the report at the Freedom Forum web site; see 28 Nov 2001; 28 Feb 2002; 18 Mar 2002)

According to the Virginia Supreme Court. In a 4-3 decision that body overthrew the conviction of three men who had burned a cross on the lawn of a "mixed race" couple on the grounds that cross-burning enjoys First Amendment protection. Justice Donald W. Lemons wrote for the majority, "Under our system of government, people have the right to use symbols to communicate. They may patriotically wave the flag or burn it in protest; they may reverently worship the cross or burn it as an expression of bigotry." In writing the dissenting opinion, Justice Leroy R. Hassell said, "The First Amendment does not permit a person to burn a cross in a manner that intentionally places another person in fear of bodily harm."

[You blew it fellas; Hassell has the right of it in this issue. On the introductory page to the Celebrate Freedom section I mention the argument of selection vs: censorship. The argument of what is appropriate to the milieu is expressed obliquely by the quote of a Supreme Court Justice who once said, "your right to swing at me ends where my nose begins." In essence, if you want to burn a cross at a hate-rally at the public meeting place you have chose for the rally, and you ensure that local safety codes for fireplaces are respected so the fire doesn't spread, then by all means go ahead. If, however, you willfully invade someone's private property and disregard safety codes, then you have committed criminal trespass and arson, despite the free speech component of your actions. In other words, you didn't just swing at his nose, you connected. So, if such activity is going to be treated as a criminal matter, it should be for trespass and arson, and if as a civil rights matter for invasion of privacy, violation of freedom of movement -- which allows a person to live anywhere they damned well choose, or freedom of choice -- which allows you to marry anyone you wish to regardless of religion or ethnicity. Anyway, that's my not so humble opinion. --MN]
(see 28 May 2002; 11 Dec 2002; 08 Apr 2003; 08 Mar 2004)

By citizens of Sacramento. See the anti-Bush sentiment suppression timeline.

Acting with a number of free speech organizations, the National Coalition Against Censorship opened a new section to its web site. In this new section NCAC catalogs incidents of censorship and free speech violations that stem directly from the September 11 attacks.

The other groups involved in the project are:

• American Civil Liberties Union
• Electronic Privacy Information Center
• Freedom Forum
• Free Expression Network
• People for the American Way
• Student Press Law Center
• Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression

By Catherine Breillat. It was effectively banned by the Ontario Movie Board. The film is about the sexual awakening of teen-aged sisters and the board chairman, Robert Warren, maintains that the film has depictions of teen-age sex, even though, according to reports in the Globe And Mail, there is no sex in the film. The film was passed in Quebec and British Columbia. Meanwhile, in the U.S., the distributors of the film capitalized on the ban by advertizing the film as Banned In Canada and Banned In Ontario.

You can access a series of articles and reader commentaries on the film and the fall out from the decision through these links:

• Ray Conlogue report on the movie board's original decision, 08 Nov 2001
• Ray Conlogue report on the decision review, 14 Nov 2001
• Ray Conlogue report on Breillat's reaction, 16 Nov 2001
• Edwin R. Kammin commentary on the film and the decision, 21 Nov 2001
• James Adams report on the ongoing issue, 22 Nov 2001
• Michael Posner report on the movie board and the decision making process concerning Fat Girl, 24 Nov 2001
• James Adams report on fall out from the decision, 24 Nov 2001
  [And which looks like hack-work compared to more balanced reports. --MN]
• Kathy Rogers commentary on Movie Board decision, 26 Nov 2001
• Roy Turner commentary on Movie Board decision, 27 Nov 2001
• Russell Smith commentary on censorship, 01 Dec 2001

[Judging from the articles on Warren and the decision, I'd say that the rationale for banning this work is derived from a straw man argument and a slippery slope argument. --MN]

The Cumberland County district attorney's office decided to drop the case against Anthony Pergola, Jonathan McCorkill, and Cyrus Dulac, of the University of Southern Maine. The three students were arrested with almost a thousand copies of The Free Press in their possession, in which edition appeared an article about sanctions that had been imposed on the sorority Sigma Iota Sigma. The sorority president, Sarah Poulin, rendered the case unprosecutable by the simple dint of paying for the stolen copies; albeit through apparently misrepresenting her action as a desire to pay for an additional thousand copies rather than for the ones that were found in possession of the suspected perpetrators. The district attorney would have had to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the students had no intent of paying for the paper in the first place. The students will still be subjected to a hearing before the Student Conduct Council. The previous theft of a thousand copies of the 22 Oct edition was still under investigation.
(see 10 Oct 2001)

Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Detroit, Michigan, was ordered to remove an anti-abortion display which was on loan to the church from Right to life-Lifespan, of Troy, Michigan. The display consisted of 2,200 crosses, out of 4,400, along with a number of banners. There is some confusion as to motive for the removal.

A number of local citizens had complained that the display offended their sensibilities. Plymouth Township officials said that it violated local sign ordinances. Church officials say that the demand violates their First Amendment rights.

[Let's take a look at the background issues here, shall we? Anti-abortionists who require that no person be allowed access to information about any form of birth control complain loudly about how reproductive freedom and the separation of church and state offend their sensibilities and demand censorship of anything they don't like people to look at. One group of them puts up a display that offends the sensibilities of the local citizenry, but insists that they have a First Amendment right to express opinions and display materials that offend the sensibilities of others. When they are told that they are violating local safety codes, they complain that they are being subjected to censorship.

Does that seem to be a fairly accurate summation to you? --MN]
(see 10 Aug 2001; 03 Sep 2001; 21 Dec 2001; 15 Feb 2002; 25 Jun 2002; 30 Jun 2002; 30 Sep 2002; 14 May 2003)

Under the Oklahoma Open Records Act. Thus had proclaimed Attorney General Drew Edmondson at the First Amendment Conference which was held at the University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond. The groundbreaking legal opinion stems from a request by Susan C. McVey, who is director of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. This ruling, the first of its kind concerning the transmission of messages through the cybernetic forum by an Attorney General, means that electronic messages between state agencies and between state and local governments are covered by the state law.
(see 24 Nov 2001)

Four high school students and a high school principal were given awards for standing up to Big Brother and spittin' in his never closing eye.

By Susanne Walker. This artwork comprises 21 ceramic penises; which were part of an exhibit on the theme of domestic violence. The penises were stolen not as a censorship move against "porn" or "obscenities" so much as a patriotic statement. However, this particular exhibit, already controversial, was not reinstated by the Boulder, Colorado, library hosting the art show -- entitled "Art Triumphs Over Violence" -- after the pieces were returned.

Newark, Kennedy, and La Guardia airports all denied travellers the right to know what was going on during coverage of downed American Airlines Flight 587, which had crashed on take-off from JFK airport. At Newark, passengers who had congregated in the cafe had the television channel changed on them by a security guard who told them they were "not allowed" to watch the breaking story. They turned the television back to the story as soon as he left. At La Guardia, news programming was tuned out and televisions were set to all-sports and all-business channels. This Big Brotherism seems the have distressed the people involved more than the delays and worries about flying did.

And in which he details a number of incidents of people being punished for balanced journalism or dissenting opinions.

And refuses to kowtow to another pompous ass who is violating community standards. The owner and operator of Bargain Bazaar, in Hopewell, Virginia, has kept a mannequin out in front of her shop for years. The mannequin is posed as if in preparation to dive. Ordinarily, it is bikini-clad and bears a sign on its rear-end reading, "Rock Bottom Prices." On September 11th, Pinkleton changed the sign to read, "Terrorists Kiss This!"

Mayor Anthony Zevgolis got in a snit over the display and demanded that it be removed, stating that it is "obscene," "lewd," and "degrading to women," and citing citizen complaints. However, Pinkleton says a number of locals have come to appreciate the display over the years and has said that almost all of them have sided with the shop in the controversy. The ACLU has also waded into the issue, threatening Zevgolis with legal action if the sign is taken down. Ironically, Pinkleton had been planning on changing the sign as a matter of course when she got the letter demanding its removal.

By J.K. Rowling. In Taipei, Taiwan. The seven thousand member congregation of the Ling-Leung Church were warned off the books by Evangelist officials. See the Harry Potter censorship timeline.

By J.K. Rowling. See the Harry Potter censorship timeline.

By Warner Brothers. See the Harry Potter censorship timeline.

At the anti-globalization protests in Ottawa. The meetings for the G-20, International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank was the scene of protests carried over from the Seattle, Quebec City, and Genoa conferences, albeit on a much smaller scale. In Ottawa, police reportedly committed human rights violations by loosing an attack dog indiscriminately into the crowd, and by deliberately shooting one protester in the stomach at point blank range with a tear gas cannister.

[However, I do not consider the reporting in this case to be credible. I find that the story is poorly written, and some details are missing where others are included that slant the story. In fact I wrote to Ms. Kraus and to the rabble.ca editors, in which I subjected the article to a critical review.

What really came out in the wash was a case of attempted censorship by a police agent. The reporter who covered the story for rabble.ca in the main media center was ordered arbitrarily by an officer to give up her credentials, threatened with detention, and finally ejected from the building.

The specious reasoning of the officer who demanded the credentials of Ms. Kraus was that, that particular media center was for international and national media only and that she belonged in another media center across town, one for independent news services. Kindly take note that rabble.ca is a web site and internet publication and news service; hence: as international as you can get. One might even say that it is globalized. My call is that the officer meant that that particular media center was for mainstream news services only. If that was the case, I have to ask myself why it is the Canadian government has a two tier information dissemination policy. --MN]
(See 14 Nov 2003)

By the Colorado Supreme Court. It has recognized the validity of nontraditional newspapers and magazines that publish stories of public interest. Those dealing, for instance, with issues of criminal arrest or conviction of state residents. This precedent- setting ruling derives from a suit by Roseanne Marie Brock, who was convicted of wrong-doing, against the agency that had investigated her case. This agency, Joe Dickerson & Associates, reported on the case in a newsletter, The Dickerson Report, which is provided without charge to financial institutions and law enforcement agencies. Brock's contention in her suit was that the newsletter was a strictly commercial device without First Amendment protection. Justice Michael Bender disagreed, ruling that the publication of her case was not a violation of Brock's right to privacy and that no damages incurred to her from the publication, basing his decision on the long-held view that "profit motive" does not automatically transfer into "commercial speech" a story of legitimate public interest.

[This was not a case of censorship; Brock sued for invasion of privacy. Although the article I read doesn't say, I assume it was to try milk the situation for money, not to try get the report censored. In as much as she had been convicted for stealing bearer bonds. . . . --MN]

Sponsored by Boulder County Safehouse and hosted by the Boulder Public Library. It seems to have been the victim of a copycat crime. This time a sculpture, in red clay, of a woman with a naked torso was stolen. Unlike the 21 ceramic penises, however, this bust had a price tag of nine hundred dollars. There is, however, no apparent connection between the two thefts. Yet.

At the Student Press Law Center. In three incidents widely separated in both time and space.

• Nov. 08: A large percentage of a 3,500 copy print run of The Argo had disappeared from distribution bins. Shaun Reilly, an editor and student at the Richard Stockton College at Ponoma, New Jersey, speculated that it might have been due to an article about a sexual harassment suit, or another about vandalism to students' cars.

• Nov. 14: The Daily Lobo at University of New Mexico had 2,000 copies stolen, then returned later in the day, albeit not before they had to order an additional print run at the cost of one hundred eighty dollars. The returned copies were found to have had a flier included that was part of a political campaign for nine students running for the student government. An illegal inclusion that violated electioneering guidelines aside from stealing advertizing dollars from the newspaper. The student p arty sent a note to the newspaper apologising for the inconvenience while not admitting to any wrongdoing. The note read in part, "Since the Daily Lobo is a free student publication, with student fees going to publication, and since we are all students, we do not see a problem with putting our flyers [sic] into the Daily Lobo." Editor Iliana Limon said that she had a hard time getting the offenders to understand that they had indeed committed an offense.

  [If they didn't see any problem with putting their fliers into the Lobo then why didn't they try to make arrangements with the paper up front? --MN]

• Nov. 16: The Baker Orange, the student weekly at Baker University, had an estimated 700 copies stolen; on recruitment day. Probably because of a controversial article concerning the lack of activity of investigations into date-rape at the Baldwin City, Kansas, campus, according to editor Andy Woolard.

On the occassion of Leggett's one hundred twenty-fourth day of incarceration. Ms. Jackson Lee wrote to the Attorney General to ask that Ms. Leggett be released on bail. In her letter, she pointed out, "Ms. Leggett presents no risk of flight, nor does she pose any threat to society or herself. Her only 'crime' was to protect her confidential sources . . . "

Greg Serres, the interim U.S. attorney for South Texas said that prosecutors would continue to oppose Ms. Leggett's release.
(see my opinion on this sorry mess; also see 20 Jul 2001; 18 Oct 2001 for a similar case in Missouri, and 02 Jan 2002; 04 Jan 2002)

By the Department of Environmental Managament. The restrictions, proposed under the rubric "we must protect the children," were supposed to be to keep pedophiles from photographing children, but were too wide ranging and would have violated the First Amendment rights of professional photographers. The DEM was also forced to admit that this particular proposal had nothing to do with environmental management.

Out of some sense of knee-jerk reactionary religious protectionism. Teacher Tom Newstead was barred from holding classes in this discipline at St. Mary's Church hall, in Henham, Essex, east of London, by the local vicar, but with the support of the church council and local residents.

Rev. Dick Farr offered the rationale, "I fully appreciate that for some people yoga is just exercise, but I am also aware that yoga is often a gateway to other things, such as Eastern mysticism. We are here to promote Jesus and don't want to offer a platform to anybody who is going to undermine that."

[It's kind of funny, but for the last couple of years I have been becoming increasingly aware that organized religions are actually anti-spiritualism. --MN]

In Kansas. While Oklahoma ruled for openness concerning electronic messaging in government, Sedgwick County commissioners in Wichita, Kansas, not only refused to divulge basic information about how many e-mails pro or con had been received concerning an issue, but after ruling on public policy based on the strength of those e-mails, then deleted them.

[I smell a fraud. --MN]
(see 09 Nov 2001)

For the release of the Reagan administration papers. Which scheduled release was interrupted by an executive order signed by George Bush jr. The Committee is seeking to have released more than 68,000 documents, as well as having the executive order overturned outright.
(see the report at the Freedom Forum web site; 01 Nov 2001; 28 Feb 2002; 18 Mar 2002)

By Michael Perry of Reuters's Sydney, Australia, bureau. In an article published online through Yahoo! News!, it was reported that sixty Seventh-Day Adventist schools had banned Harry Potter books out of fear that children would be encouraged to delve into the occult. However, an analysis of the actions undertaken by the church, as reported in the same article, suggests that it was a matter of not selecting the works due to their being inappropriate to the Seventh-Day Adventist milieu. Reuters, however, calls the decision a "banning" in the article headline, and Perry uses the word in the article. Further, the decision seems to have been made not by the schools, but by the governing body for those schools.

Said John Hammond, the education director in Australia for the Seventh-Day Adventist church, "We have a library policy that excludes any book acquisition about the occult or which could encourage children into the occult. We have not banned anyone from buying one at home, that's fine, but they do not meet our school criteria."

[Chalk this one up to sloppy scribbling. Most likely due to lack of consideration of the issues. According to the article, the S-DA acquisition policy has been in place since well before Harry Potter books hit the marketplace. See the Harry Potter censorship timeline.
(see 30 Apr 2003) --MN]

Fairview Park school district did not admit to any wrongdoing, but decided to settle. The district agreed to pay $21,000 in legal fees, $1,000 for the boy's parents' claim of lost wages, and $2,000 for compensation to the boy. The Superintendent, Nylajean McDaniel, did not did not explain her decision to reverse the suspension, commenting only that she had considered all the evidence. She also denied that the judge's action had any influence on her decision.

[I smell a dung-heap. As well as reversing her decision, McDaniel asked that Petitt not display the posters so as not to offend Arab-American students. She maintained that the suspension was merely an effort to protect the rights of some students from being trampled on by the exercise of another student's rights. What makes this person think she is some kind of constitutional expert? This is nothing more than a case of knee-jerk reactionary censorship as far as I'm concerned, and her explanation is a load of sanctimonius posturing. Taking the posters down would have served her ostentible purpose but a suspension was way out of line. --MN]
(see 08 Oct 2001)

In an alert issued on this day, FAIR detailed a wholesale propagandist effort by Newsweek Magazine, for their 03 Dec 2001, issue. Written by Howard Fineman and Martha Brant, who are, respectively, the magazine's senior editor and White House correspondent.

[In my not so humble opinion the article is a shameless piece of sychophantry; the interview isn't any better. --MN]

The Windy City Hemp Development Board sued the city of Chicago in 1997 when the Chicago Park District rejected their application for a rally permit in March. On the face of it, this looks very much like a knee-jerk, hypersensitivity snivel. The Park District maintains that it refused the permit on grounds of public security, the Hemp Board claims it is censorship of their message calling for the legalization of marijuana.

Seventh US Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago heard the case in September 2000 and had ruled unanimously that it was a matter of public security. Richard Posner, a pro-civil liberties jurist, wrote in the decision, "It is the censor's business to make a judgment about the propriety of the content or message of the proposed expressive activity. The regulation here does not authorize any judgment about the content of any speeches." [...] "A park is a limited space, and to allow unregulated access to all comers could easily reduce rather than enlarge the park's utility as a forum for speech. Just imagine two rallies held at the same time in the same park area using public-address systems that drowned out each other's speakers."

[There's some material about the counter-arguments to Judge Posner's decision which you can read about in the article. I don't think they amount to much although a few of them are valid. What I see as the key issue here is that any group should be allowed to apply for a permit and that the city should not be allowed to refuse that permit unless they can show just cause to believe that such a rally would violate public security, but must otherwise bend over backwards to accomodate the group that submitted the application. Off hand I'd say the Hemp Board is over-reacting with misplaced, petulant whining. --MN]
(see 21 Dec 2001 for a similar case and 15 Jan 2002 for the conclusion to this case)

By Pennsylvanian school newspapers. In a report filed by Jane Elizabeth, Post-Gazette Education Writer, it was revealed that the Pennsylvania state board of education was quietly [dare I say surreptiously? --MN] revising the guidelines governing student publications. They were attempting to remove most of the narrowly defining text from some two dozen paragraphs that would leave only four paragraphs of overly broad guidelines that would sweep away the First Amendment rights of school newspapers.

Some proposed changes are:

• Public school students may express themselves unless the expression materially and substantially interferes with the educational process; threatens harm [1] to the health, safety or welfare of the school, students, faculty, or community; is vulgar, lewd, obscene or plainly offensive; [2] encourages unlawful activity; or interferes with another individual's rights [3] . ...
• School officials may require students to submit for prior approval a copy of materials to be displayed, posted, distributed or otherwise disseminated on school property [4].

[1] Changed from "threatens immediate harm", thereby allowing censorship on the grounds of a vague, long-term "threat" that will almost certainly never come to pass.
[2] The terms are not defined, leaving them open to subjective interpretation by every petty dictator.
[3] Doesn't denying the majority of students a right to information to assuage the hurt feelings of the few or the one interfere with their individual rights?
[4] Very obviously allowing prior restraint.

Some provisions which will be removed entirely are:

• Students have a right and are as free as editors of other newspapers to report the news and to editorialize within the [previously stated] provisions.
• School officials may not censor or restrict material simply because it is critical of the school or its administration.

Even though under current guidelines school newspapers have faced censure from school officials for examining issues such as natural turf vs: artificial, or for reporting on the filthy condition and decrepitude of school washrooms, Peter Garland, the executive director of the board of education, insists that censorship is not what state officials have in mind.

[Then why change the guidelines at all? If they already work leave them alone. --MN]
(see 26 Oct 2001; 04 Dec 2001)

By the Central High Register, Omaha, Nebraska. This Pacemaker Award winning school newspaper might or might not have gone overboard on reporting an incident wherein a football player might or might not have been shown preferential treatment and allowed to play despite being ineligible due to criminal charges. The school officials could be subjecting it to scrutiny because of real concern for the health and development of the students or maybe because the paper blew the whistle on an unethical practice and obliquely implicated the school officials in this action.

Read the article and appended comments and make up your own mind.

[See, the school principal, Gary Thompson, allowed as to how he had "counseled" the adviser and Editor-in-Chief to not run the story, but that the final decision was up to them, then when they ran it he said he was all disappointed with that decision. What a load of fetted dingoes kidneys. --MN]
(see 26 Oct 2001; 01 Dec 2001)

In 1978, Los Angeles tried to fight the crime, filth, and economic decline associated with traditional red light districts by implementing zoning regulations that disallowed sex-related businesses to locate closely to one another.

There was a loophole that allowed a single business to diversify and to offer services other than the one for which it was intended; such as a triple-X theater allowing a porno-newsstand to sell magazines in the lobby.

In 1983 L.A. banned multiple adult businesses from operating on the same site. This ban was ignored in some cases. In two cases, adult bookstores added video viewing booths. This was in the early '90's. When city officials became aware of the violations and moved against the bookstores the owners sued the city. This case came before the U.S. Supreme Court on this day. The ruling is expected for the summer of 2002.

This case is Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, 00-799.

Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, Michigan, were ordered by Arbitrator Paul E. Glendon's decision to reinstate gay-themed bulletin board displays, as well as to apologize in writing to the two teachers who had mounted the original displays in 1999. Mr. Glendon argued about the specious reasoning invoked at the time, writing that school officials had dismantled the displays because they thought the teachers were "promoting" homosexuality.

[A common argument against equal respect for homosexuals is that gay men are actively engaged in recruiting the young and impressionable into the lifestyle. --MN]
(see 07 Oct 1999)

Corinne Smith of The Ottawa Citizen reported that the city council of Hull, Quebec, (a short drive across the river from Ottawa), had passed a motion requiring that adult-themed comic books be kept in a locked room where even adults are not allowed to access them. Patrons now have to browse through an index containing photocopies of the magazines covers and ask a librarian to bring out their selections.

The council passed the motion due to complaints that pornographic material was accessible to children by dint of being in the open stacks. Library staff, however, clarified that situation. Denis Boyer, director at the main library, said, "Those books can only be borrowed by people over the age of 16." Margot St-Jean, who works at the main desk, pointed out that, "The books were originally on shelves right next to the main desk, in the direct line of vision from the counter. They were always visible to us. We would know if children were taking books from those particular shelves." Ms. St-Jean also said, "Because they can't browse in the stacks anymore people can't discover new titles or new comic books on their own. They have to know what they are looking for."

[If the Hull city council wanted to protect children they can just as easily have the comic books put in a unlocked room. In the end, however, it is not up to them to decide or to rule on where the material is kept. That decision must be left strictly up to the library. --MN]

By Michael Moore. See the entry on the Michael Moore censorship movement page.

In a keynote address before the American Society of Access Professionals, in Washington, D.C. Paul McMasters is the First Amendment Ombudsman at the First Amendment Center. His work is frequently carried at the Freedom Forum web site.

So, this Orange Coast College guy, Ken Hearlson, says some really stupid things in a ham-handed way, in a class, to a few students, see, on Sep. 18th. So these four students, Muslims, complained to the administrators about it. The administration, perhaps wisely, decided to consider this incident as a matter of classroom decorum rather than the more wriggly can of worms of academic freedom and First Amendment rights. In a 73-page report they allow as to how most of the allegations are unsubstantiated. So Hearlson was re-instated, but got a letter from the adminstrators that he and others say is a remprimand. These self-same administrators deny that it is a reprimand, but the president of the teachers union, Kristina Bruning, said the letter will have a "chilling effect" on academic freedom. Ms. Bruning said professors had complained to her already that they've curtailed classroom debate because of the college's response. Faculty member objected to the college's decision to place Hearlson on extended leave without a hearing, as well. The executive director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Thor L. Halvorssen, commented on the case, "In this politically correct environment, innocence is no longer a sufficient defense. They reprimanded a man who they themselves declared was innocent, and that's unspeakable."

Hearlson is reported to have complained that the decision is an attack due to his religious beliefs. A conservative, born-again christian, he commented, "My belief and my family's belief is they wanted to fire me and the school saw these charges by the Muslim students as a chance to fire me and stop my teaching at Orange Coast College."

At Freedom Forum Online. This article examines security efforts in four states; including the measures implemented in Iowa in October.
(see 17 Oct 2001)

FAIR reported that the major American news services have been consistently failing to investigate and report on the full scope of the attacks on Afghanistan; particularly in the area of how many civilians have been killed.
(see 10 Oct 2001; 09 Jan 2002; 16 Jan 2002)

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ruled that a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ordinance prohibiting the placing of leaflets on parked cars is in violation of the First Amendment. Originally a state traffic law, it was adopted with other traffic laws to allow local enforcement. On 20 Dec 2000, Rosemary Deida fell prey to it. After passing out religious tracts inside City Hall, she placed a number of tracts on cars parked out in front and was subsequently ticketed.

Deputy City Attorney Rudolph Konrad believes that Judge Adelman should have used a lower standard than the First Amendment in trying the case; one that acknowledges cars are private property. He said the city might appeal. A side-issue at stake are the anti-litter laws upon which the city based its defence of Deida's citation.

Ms. Deida was defended by Liberty Counsel, a religious-rights foundation.

[Interesting can of worms, wot? I suppose that one could also argue that the placement of unwanted religious material on one's windshield whilst one is not in attendance of one's vehicle violates one's own religious freedom; or possibly constitutes a violation of right to privacy. --MN]

Nancy Hsu Fleming wrote a complaint to the Rhode Island state Department of Environmental Management, in April 1992, in which she said that she and other residents of her community were worried that the Dry Bridge Road landfill would contaminate their water supply. Her activism against the site, under the operation of Hometown Properties, was so unrelenting that Hometown Properties sued her for defamation, on the grounds that her letter to the D.E.M. was "willful, wanton and malicious", and that it intefered with their contractual obligations to D.E.M., the licensing authority for the dump. This was in December, 1992.

In 1993 the ACLU claimed the suit violated a law against Strategic Lawsuits Againt Public Participation. In 1994 a Superior Court judge ruled that the anti-SLAPP law did not apply to defamation suits. Fleming appealed that decision and the state Supreme Court overturned the ruling unanimously and ordered the case against her dismissed.

Fleming sued. Counter-sued, actually, on the grounds that Hometown Properties had violated her First Amendment rights. Three days into the lawsuit Hometown Properties capitulated and settled for 400,000 dollars.

By Judy Blume. In School District 46, Elgin, Illinois. This book is scheduled to undergo a review process, actually, to decide whether to put it back on the shelves in the middle schools or to maintain its banning. For the third time in four years.

The book was originally banned from all middle school libraries, but not high school libraries, in 1997 when it was challenged by Jean MacNamara. This local mother said of it that it violates the word of God, encourages premarital sex, and objected to it's being payed for with her tax dollars.

[Again -- as if she is the only person who pays taxes. --MN]

Librarian Joan Devine, at the Eastview Middle School, where the challenge was initiated, said, "It's the only book that's ever been banned in our school district, and we didn't like the idea of censorship. I think it's a good story. I think if a parent is uncomfortable with the content, I certainly don't mind if they would say to their child, 'I don't want you to read this.' But I am uncomfortable when one or two parents make the decision for so many."

["We" are the middle and high school librarians. Obviously, a portion of the school board didn't mind this censorship at all. Exactly half, in fact. Of some interest is also the fact that MacNamara's four children do not attend any public institute of learning; they are home schooled. Parents in that school district have initiated a half a dozen challenges against books, stories, and movies in the last ten years, but Forever is the only one to be "banned". One question of note in this issue is: is it a banning if the book was removed after a review process? Personally, I feel that it is if the book was removed because of its content; which is almost certainly the case. --MN]
(see the following entry for more on this issue.)

A special committee voted unanimously to have the book returned to shelves in middle schools in School District 46. The committee was formed of staff, librarians, and parents. The parents in favor of upholding the ban reacted, predictably enough, with sour grapes.

This decision, however, does not put the book back on the shelves. The school board must now vote on the issue. At the last review, the board's votes had been split, resulting in a deadlock, and four of those who had split the vote are still incumbent.

[One parent, Doug Heaton, complained that he didn't want his daughter coming across what he called "smut" while browsing the stacks and said that the district must find a way to prevent that. This is typical of political-correctness -- although resistance to Forever is religious-based in this case -- that Mr Heaton does not want to accept responsibility for raising his daughter. All he has to do is to write a letter to the librarian at his daughter's school outlining exactly what books she is not allowed to read and ask that she browse under the supervision of her teacher or a staff member. --MN]
(see 22 Jan 2002)

Thus spake U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres in a ruling wherein he struck down a request by journalists to see a 95-page affadavit filed by the FBI in asking for a search warrant in a case against the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, and four other city officials. Torres denied the motion on the grounds that releasing the document would compromise the right of the suspects to a fair trial.

[Every so often we get raving fools with an axe to grind who come up here to Canada and try to tell us that a publication black-out of a trial is censorship. What they don't seem to take into consideration in their blanket condemnations of our judicial system is that theirs is no better. A number of the first amendment cases I've read about during this year involved trials in the U.S. in which court documents were sealed. Now, a publication ban during a trial should, ideally, protect the right of the defendant to a fair hearing, but sealing the documents afterward? --MN]
(see 01 Aug 2002; 20 Aug 2003; 21 Aug 2003)

For silencing a critic of a program referred to as high-stakes testing. According to an article posted at the ACLU site in April 2000, this type of testing amounts to little more than education by racial profiling. The formal name for this program is Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System.

In May 2000, the MDE cancelled an education conference keynote speech that was to be given by Alfie Kohn, an outspoken critic of the program, by threatening the conference organizers with the loss of a grant.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favour of the Kenosha Unified School District. Two students had sued the school district and their principal when the principal would not allow one religious element out of the four proposed religious elements in a mural dedicated to the various extra-curricular clubs at the school. Mathew Staver, of Liberty Counsel, a non-profit religious advocacy group, vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court.

[Yeah, I bet that'll look good on his resume. I anticipate the high court will refuse to hear this case, however. I also think the principal is a putz. Voluntary religious activity is not illegal in schools and I can see no rational reason why such a group cannot publicize its presence. --MN]
(see 03 Feb 2000)

By the French magistrates' union. This self-help booklet on basic civil rights has drawn the ire of French police officers and government officials. Vos papiers! Que faire face ... la police? seems to have been published in conjunction with a new law on the "presumption of innocence". French jurisprudence has operated for some time on the Napoleonic code, a presumption of guilt. With this new law, French police will now have to adopt a modus operandi more along the lines of North American police; and they don't like it.

Minister of the Interior, Daniel Vaillant (essentially the head of the national police), filed a complaint, and the Minister of Justice, Marylise Lebranchu, called publication of this work ill-advised. Police officers have reportedly been demonstrating against the book, calling it anti-police and saying that advising people of their rights hampers them. The police have also been attempting to overturn the new law on presumption of innocence.

The book was reported as being nearly impossible to find, and that the major Paris bookstore that was selling it did not know when its back-order would be filled. However, the story, which was in the form of a forwarded e-mail at the LISnews.com web site, did not say whether the difficulty in finding a copy was due to popular demand or not.
(see 12 Feb 2002)

In Columbus, Ohio, the Bexley High School school board invited a Muslim woman who is a pediatrician and associated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations to speak during an assembly on 05 November. Asma Mobin-Uddin is an American of Pakistani ethnicity. The invitation was issued in light of Bush's encouragement to Americans to better understand Muslims.

Trouble arose when Ms. Mobin-Uddin apparently explored the issue of America's "blood-soaked foreign policy". Emily Haninger, the mother of a student at the school, claimed that the assembly deteriorated into a forum for anti-U.S. viewpoints. The superintendent for Bexley, Michael Johnson, was quoted as saying that Ms. Mobin-Uddin, "made no comments which were anti-American or against any ethnic or religious group in the United States." As near as I can tell, this exchange was made at a school board meeting on 17 Dec.

Ms. Haninger said of the address, "To me, Mobin-Uddin's logic is sickening. It argues that American foreign policy is so horrible that we can blame it for the terrorist attacks." She also criticized the school board, demanding, "Don't you think some organizations and ideas (are) too dangerous to bring into the schools?"

[This criticism seems to be based on CAIR's support of islamist extremism. For more on that you can open a new window to 06 Jun 2001 --MN]

After the address, there was a small-groups discussion from which Haninger was barred. The article did not state for what reason she was barred.

Haninger immediately [I assume this means 06 Nov or shortly after. --MN] invited Representative Pat Tiberi (R-Columbus) to come to address the school to give the students the U.S. perspective, but this invitation was canceled by principal Earl Focht and social studies teacher Nancy Mallory. The article I read did not say what authority Ms. Haninger might have had to issue such an invitation. The board did say, however, that the rationale for the cancellation was that the students get the U.S. perspective through the media and in class.

Superintendent Johnson also said the decision would limit the likelyhood of partisan politics.

The article also reported Johnson as saying that he prefered to learn about American foreign policy from scholars who can present the issues objectively.

[Always assuming that they are being objective. . . . --MN]

At PlanetOut.com. The article reports that India had banned homosexual sex altogether and that a health charity, The Naz Foundation, had filed in the New Delhi High Court. The government has until 28 Jan 2002 to reply before the case will be heard. The concern of The Naz Foundation is that fear of apprehension by the police will lead gays to conduct sex more furtively and lead to a higher increase in the incidence of AIDS.
(see 27 Jun 2001; 28 Jun 2001;

The ACLU posted a press release detailing the most recent efforts by this Southern U.S. grocery giant and Fortune 500 company to squelch criticism of their discriminatory policies. The company's attorneys tried to order a web site's operators to shut down the site. The protests and activism against Winn-Dixie began circa October 1999 in response to the company having fired a 20-year employee, on 04 January, 1999, for being an occasional cross-dresser. Not at work; elsewhere and always on his own time.

Due to political correctness. Enid Blyton, who wrote over 700 children's books, had serial characters called golliwogs, which are still today reputed to be the equivalent of niggers. In an article carried by both The Advertiser and the The Courier-Mail, Michael Owen-Brown reported that the Australian publisher Hinkler Books was required by the copyright owner of Blyton's works to invoke revisionism in the latest release. Chorion Intellectual Property has owned the copyrights since 1996.

The revisions Kinkler Books were required to make are:

• Golliwogs no longer inhabit the world of The Magic Faraway Tree; the expurgation of these characters started over a decade ago with the Noddy and Big Ears books, and Chorion Intellectual Property now insists that gollys, as they are called, be banished from her other books as well. This in spite of a study in Britain in year 2000 that determined that the portrayal of golliwogs was not racist. The golliwogs have been replaced by teddy bears, which have themselves been altered by:
• changes to the faces in the original illustrations with the use of computer art programs;
• Dame Slap is now known as Dame Snap and discipline is now administered with caustic comments rather than slapping the characters.

Erin and Claire McAuley of Gawler South, ages nine and four, respectively, don't see what all the fuss is about. The sisters maintian that the changes to the golliwogs and the slapping references have made the books "worse".

Erin described the golliwog as "doll-like". "It doesn't matter what he looks like. It would have been good to keep it the way it was. It's worse now," she said. Claire said, "I liked the golliwog. He was funny. They should keep it the same."

Erin also allowed that the slapping references could worry some people but that it did not warrant the changes, saying, "I know the slapping is pretend."

[Which only proves that a nine-year-old child is smarter than your average intellectual prostitute. --MN]

By Jon Rosenblum, Jon Turner, and Alan Weene of Ashland High School, Massachussetts. This one seems to only skirt the edge of censorship, however. When the students launched the underground newspaper, the principal, Shelley Marcus Cohen, told Rosenblum that they could not pass out the paper during the school day, only before and after school. The three editors pleaded their case under Tinker v. Des Moines, and when Cohen wouldn't back down they appealed to the superintendent, who ruled that they could pass out the papers at lunch time as well.

This underground paper was launched because an earlier effort between Cohen and the three students to establish a school newspaper failed when the relationship soured. The Real Deal seems to be willing to take a hard look at serious issues, as it reportedly offered blunt criticisms of school problems (as well as humourous methods by which those problems might be fixed).

By J.K. Rowling. In Iran. See the Harry Potter censorship timeline.

The author of Kaffir Boy wrote a commentary that was published in this day's edition of USA Today. In it, he recounts how Kaffir Boy is partly autobiographical and how amazed he was when he discovered free speech. He also condemns those who would censor speech, having come from a country whose regimes did exactly that, often with bloody-handedness.

The Bainbridge School Board decided to install Cyber Patrol on the computers in its schools, and to limit filtering only to sites in the militant/extremist category. This for reasons of personal safety rather than from any misguided attempt to control access to information. Said Superintendent Steve Rowley, "The other sites didn’t present the same potential for personal harm as the militant/extremist (sites), where bomb-making information might be available. We might find other categories repugnant, but they are not ones that would do great harm. We should establish filters only where we have problems, or where there is a safety issue."

The school board sided with the superintendent, with only one dissenting voice who believed that Bainbridge wanted more filtering over less. He might have had a point in that the parent advisory panel recommended blocking all the Cyber Patrol categories. The board refused to accept that recommendation because the advisory panel was too small to be representative and that the recommendation was too "Big Brother-ish."

The use of the filters, does, however, stem from federal government requirement of filtering for funding.

[As dirty a piece of blackmail as you're likely to see. Nice to see someone decided to create a loophole. --MN]

At the Student Press Law Center. An article was posted about the Olgilvie Public Schools having seized copies of an underground publication because it criticized two specific students and for what the administrators considered to be material constituting sexual harassment -- a survey of eighth grade boys, for instance, to select the hottest.

The five students who created the 'zine are thirteen years old. Some twenty copies were distributed in September. [Although the article does not say where they were distributed. --MN] They were subsequently punished by short-term suspensions from participation in extra-curricular activities. However, the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union alleges a lack of due process after those punishments were handed down. As well as censorship of the publication.

By order of Judge Robert H. Cleland, East Michigan District Court. Judge Cleland dismissed every claim that Ford Motor Company had brought against 2600 Magazine in a lawsuit. Ford had filed the suit in April 2000 because the magazine had pointed www.fuckgeneralmotors.com at the Ford web site. This is not a First Amendment victory, however. Despite flatly rejecting all of the claims made by Ford, the court avoided First Am endment issues. The basis for the suit was that 2600 Magazine had infringed on Ford's trademark.

By Alberto Gomez. In Florida, again, just to round out the year, I suppose. Volusia County officials removed Mr. Gomez's two paintings from the walls of the new courthouse because several people had complained about them. Daydreamer, depicting sketches done by his nephew, shows a small, anatomically correct, male devil, and My Father was said to have another depiction of the devil in one corner. David Byron, the county spokesman, defended the decision by saying about Daydreamer that it was a little obscene. That painting was hanging next to a hearing room that was to be used for trying juvenile cases, some of which could have included child molestation.

The Art in Public Places Committe had approved the works after reviewing them. Daydreamer had been selected for an art outreach program in local schools. Teri Ford Cobean, committee chairwoman, said of the incident, "When they took the piece down they censored it. To remove a piece of art from a public building because someone complained is censorship."

To their credit, the county officials have said that they will hang the works elsewhere.

[So, . . . selection or censorship? An effort to find a more appropriate milieu or to hide the paintings out of embarrassment? --MN]

Of anti-abortion protests. Barrington, Illinois, based Vote Life America contends that it has been unfairly treated by municipal regulations about permits for public demonstrations in the Chicago suburban communities of Palatine and Oak Forest. VLA voices its dissent to abortion by criticizing public officials who are not opposed to abortion and who are up for re-election. The advocacy group protests in an area of that official's riding. The groups maintains that the Palantine and Oak Forest regulations are too strict. In each case permits were denied -- within the regulations -- but VLA got eleventh hour, temporary court injunctions allowing their demonstrations to go ahead. In Palatine, permit applications must be submitted no less than ten days in advance, but that regulation -- the provision used to deny the permit -- pertains only to parades and events that require closing city streets. Oak Forest regulations have a similar advance notice provision, but also allow for only one protest per year by a given group.

Municipal leaders maintain that the regulations are necessary for public security and that they have a right to set restrictions on time, place, and manner of speech. The case is before the courts, and there is already decades of precedent and landmark rulings covering this issue. Still, more recently, the Windy City Hemp Board had its case against municipal regulations heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

After the Oak Forest protest, that community reviewed and revised its regulations, cutting the advance notice provision from 30 days to 21 for groups of 50 or more protesters, but also requiring that the protesting group have insurance for the event and pay up front for clean-up and traffic control costs. The mayor of Oak Forest, Pat Gordon, said, "I'm not denying anybody the right to say what they feel. We're not trampling on any rights. We're looking to protect our residents. We just want some ground rules." ACLU spokesman Ed Yohnka replied, "We support the regulations, but they have to be reasonable. They can't just act as an excuse to stop someone from organizing altogether. The permit process should balance speech with safety, not just prohibit the speech."
(see 10 Aug 2001; 03 Sep 2001; 09 Nov 2001; 15 Feb 2002; 25 Jun 2002; 30 Jun 2002; 30 Sep 2002; 14 May 2003; also see 15 Jan 2002 for a ruling in a similar case.)

By Anthony Zucco of Ohio. See the file on vanity plates.

By We the People. The Federal Communications Commission of the U.S. continued to erode diversity and media access by creating an enviroment partial to monopoly. One ramification of deregulation of the media industry in the U.S. is that cable rates have risen three times faster than inflation. Hence, low income families have been and will increasingly be cut off from media diversity.

At the Student Press Law Center. This one about an incident at San Francisco State University. The student publication, [X]press Magazine, had a story about a dildo factory. The front cover featured photographs of a number of dildos. So the chairman of the journalism department, John Burks, summarily pulled the magazines off the racks for three days.

Mr. Burks maintains that what he did was not censorship, however, redistribution of the magazine hinged on a vote of the faculty.

[And that certainly makes it censorship in my book. The relationship between the journalism faculty and student publications at SFSU is unique due to they're being laboratory publications; the students work on them during class time rather than as an extra-curricular activity. Hence, the faculty retains some control over publications. However, the journalism department guidelines, drafted by a previous department chairman specifically to inhibit such censorship, allows total editorial control by the students. --MN]

By Rudolf Giuliani. Public access to these public documents was forbidden by Rudolf Giuliani.

In as blatant a violation of First Amendment rights as any in 23 of the previous 29 for which he was sued, Rudolf Giuliani usurped total control over documents pertaining to his mayoralty by signing an agreement that sent the whole bunch of them to a archival center run by his colleagues, while reserving the perogative to withhold any documents he decides should not be made public.

Former New York city mayor Ed Koch commented of the incident, "He's removed his papers so that nobody can go down there and look at them. I think that's dead wrong"

[And has, thereby, joined the ranks of the rank cowards who try to hide their embarrassment behind a veil of censorship; former Texas governor George Bush, former vice-president George Bush, former president George Bush, current president George Bush, . . .

A spokesman at the archive center which received the documents stated that the purpose of the move was to allow the documents to be classified and made accessible to the public more quickly. Yeah, well, there is a finite chance that will happen, I grant you, as minuscule as I personally believe it to be. For the moment -- cynicism and all -- I'll adopt a wait and see posture. But I still ain't gonna believe it until I see it, and maybe not even then. --MN]
(see 24 Dec 2 001; 28 Feb 2002; 05 Oct 2002; 08 Jan 2003 27 Mar 2003; 27 Apr 2006)

By J.K. Rowling. See the Harry Potter censorship timeline.

The Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers is opposed to a "community corrections" program. They had put up an advertisement at the T.F. Green Airport advertizing their opposition earlier this year, but the airport required that they put up a sanitized version, effectively censoring the group's speech.

By William Styron. The book was removed from the shelves of the La Mirada High School, in La Mirada, California, when a parent complained about the sexual content. Sophie's Choice is a story about a holocaust survivor and her jewish lover. It explores the themes of evil and morality. The removal of the book from the shelves might have been part of the review process, but the decision set off a prolonged protest by students, which is being led by Kat Kosmala, aged 18.

Ms. Kosmala has since found a copy of the book to read, but says of the incident, "I don't believe it's anybody's right to decide what I should read and what I shouldn't read. If they are offended by the book, they don't have to read it." The flap over the incident has drawn the attention of the ACLU who has threatened to sue the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District if the book is not returned to the shelves.

William Styron has even waded into the fray, commenting, "I think it's reprehensible. I find it shocking. It's improper to allow people to be brow-beaten about books in this country."

[I won't call this a case of censorship just yet. Unfortunately, the article in which this was reported was lacking in certain key details. For instance, what review process had been initiated, how far along was it, how long was it expected to take, and is the removal of the book from circulation part of that review process? Restriction of access to the work was automatic in the case of the Duval County review process, but if Sophie's Choice was removed in September, then it has been a full three months since the book was removed. An unconscionable long time in my opinion. The review committee is probably doing what committees do best, which is just talk. I, for one, shall endeavor to watch developments in this case. --MN]
(see Oct 2001 for a comparsion of a review process; and 10 Jan 2002 for the resolution of this case)

See the appendix on Robie Harris.

A district court judge today threw out an ordinance -- which restricted the access of performers to parts of the city and which stipulated a lengthy permit process. Judge Virginia Crandall overruled the bylaw on the grounds that it violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the constitution as well as corresponding provisions of the state constitutions.

By J.K. Rowling, among others. This series, however, was the specific focus of the congregation [or part of it --MN] of the Christ Community Church, Alamogordo, New Mexico. After a Potter-bashing sermon before an audience reported at several hundred, Pastor Jack Brock and his congregation went outside for the burning. Into the flames went:

• "at least 30 copies of Harry Potter" books,
• novels written by Stephen King,
• and fantasy pioneer J.R.R. Tolkein,
• Star Wars posters,
• The Complete Works of William Shakespeare,
• AC/DC records,
• CD covers,
• copies of Cosmopolitan,
• Young Miss,
• various adult magazines,
• and a ouija board.

The religionists also piled into a rubbish bin a number of CDs, including some by Eminem, a Backstreet Boys music tape, and some Disney animated videos, including Snow White.

The book burning did not go unopposed, however. A crowd of counter-protesters was on hand to express their dissatisfaction with the event. This crowd was also numbered at several hundred. Some were costumed in pointy witch-hats and others held pickets; one of which read: Hitler - Bin Laden - Pastor Brock - what great company. [The counterprotest was organized due to an open letter the church had sent to a paper to publicize the event. --MN]

Brock described the works as "a masterpiece of satanic deception," and said that the book burning was part of an effort to get christians to purge their homes of anything preventing them from communicating with God. He also said that he hadn't read the books, but that he had researched the contents.

[Researched the contents, eh? Wonder what that consisted of.

{Never mind, I found out. It seems that he bought one of the books and skimmed through it without actually reading it so he could understand what it was he was condemning. Silly me; and here I spend a couple of hours a day studying censorship and free speech issues.}

Of special note should be his attitude about getting rid of anything that gets in the way of God. Personally, I consider this to be a false doctrine. If God is all powerful then a few books or CDs ain't gonna get in the way when he wants to get your attention. Plus, the rationale of the Taliban for banning dancing, singing, and all forms of entertainment, was: if you have time for leisure then you should be using it down at the mosque in worship of Allah. Looks to me as if that Hitler - Bin Laden - Pastor Brock picket was closer to the truth than people realize. I don't give those numbers much credence, by the way; they are much too vague. Consistently so. One independent article pegged the numbers at 500 congregationists and 1,500 counterprotesters. The Alamogordo Daily News reported 400 and 800 respectively. The wire service story described the line up of counter protesters as being a quarter of a mile long. See the Harry Potter censorship timeline. --MN]

[See my commentary on the issue of contemporary book burning. --MN]

Appendix A: The Salman Rushdie Death Threat timeline

Appendix B1: Harry Potter censorship issues

Appendix B2: Harry Potter censorship timeline

Appendix D: ACLU cases

Appendix E: Canadian Post-Columbine Hysteria

Appendix F: Taliban's knee-jerk reactionary act of monumental insecurity timeline

Appendix G1: Censorship by President GeeDubya and company

Appendix G2:George Bush religious initiatives and cover-ups

Appendix G3:Actions to shield George Bush from free speech

Appendix H: Robie Harris Censored timeline