Livingston County has more self-appointed community censors

One thing there is no shortage of in Livingston County is self-appointed community censors, and the latest are Oceola Township resident Mary Pruneau and Iosco Township resident Marta Soto.

The two are urging a boycott of the recently opened Family Video store in Howell after discovering they apparently have a small room in the back where you can rent X-rated videos. Apparently, deciding not to rent one is not enough for the pair, and they want to tell you want you can and can’t rent, too.

The pair wrote letters to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, and because it apparently was a slow news day they picked up on it. Livingston County has a history of such self-appointed censors, like the group that tried to censor mannequins at Victoria’s Secret.

A group of parishioners at Green Oak Township's Holy Spirit Catholic Church launched a letter writing campaign against the Victoria’s Secret store in the then new Green Oak Village Place in the fall of 2006 because they were dressed in lingerie. A few days later the group also targeted a new adult video, lingerie and novelties store in Brighton.

At about the same time that group was in full swing, the anti-gay hate group called LOVE - (Livingston Organization for Values in Education) launched its book-banning quest; first with the book “The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them” and then it went after Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison's first novel, "The Bluest Eye," and an acclaimed memoir written by Richard Wright in 1945, "Black Boy, " as well as the classic Kurt Vonnegut novel "Slaughterhouse Five.”

Like many people, I was surprised the store had an x-rated section. The Family Video store opened just a month or so ago, and I joined shortly after that. I like the inexpensive prices, including free kid’s movies. Since joining I have rented at least a couple of movies every week,

The newspaper helpfully listed the titles of some of the adult titles available, such as Blondage," “Girls Behind Bars,” “Bad Wives" and "Girls Get Hot." After renting movies there, I know anyone would invite the embarrassment of the clerk saying, “Terminator 2 is due back Wednesday and Girls Get Hot is due back Saturday.”

It’s great to see a new business thriving in the City of Howell. For a number of years the location was a sporting goods store, but it moved to a new location a few miles east down Grand River Avenue to a strip mall in Genoa Township. The single building housed a shoe store for a few months, but they left, too.

After sitting empty for some time, the company that owns Family Video gutted the building but for a few walls and developed a beautiful building. I’m not sure how many people it employees, but it would be a shame if a few small-mined people cost employees their jobs.

I have some simple advice for Ms. Pruneau Ms. Soto: don’t rent them. Better yet, go to Blockbuster, but stop the ridiculous boycott.

Pruneau makes the false claim that pornography “increases violence toward women.” That’s simply not true. The problem with that argument is that even though pornography is more widespread and available than ever online, violence against women is down. Since 1993, according to the FBI crime statistics, rape is down 72 percent and other sexual assaults have fallen by 68 percent. Even in the last two years, when the FBI reported up ticks in violent crime, the number of rapes continued to fall.

TV station bows to political pressure and censors political ad in Supreme Court race

CBS affiliate WWMT-TV in Kalamazoo censored political speech Thursday when it pulled the ad pointing out rightwing activist judge Cliff Taylor fell asleep when hearing the case of two mothers who lost six children in an apartment fire owned by the Detroit Housing Commission.

The add, called "The Fairly Tale of the Sleeping Judge," features the two mother's saying Taylor fell asleep during their case. They also filed an affidavit stating what they saw. But the attorney representing the Detroit Housing Commission also filed an affidavit saying he did not see Taylor nod off. The Housing commission, of coursed, won the case; no individual has won a case against an insurance company, municipality or corporation heard by the four activist judges known as the "Gang of Four" led by Taylor in a decade.

According to subscription only Gongwer, the decision to pull the ad came after station discussions with Alan Wilk, counsel for the Taylor campaign, and the Michigan Democratic Party. The campaign had asked all stations in the state to pull the ad, but only WWMT in predominantly Republican West Michigan bowed to political pressure and censored the ad.

I have already sent an email protesting the station's decision to censor political speech and knuckle to political pressure, and I urge you do the same. General Sales Manager James Wagner can be emailed at wagner@wwmt.com. To phone the station call (269) 388-3333 or toll free at (800) 875-3333.

Taylor's opponent, Judge Diane Marie Hathaway, continues to rack up endorsements, and yesterday she received several endorsements from local law enforcement leaders, each citing Hathaway's record on drug and sex crimes. Those endorsements include Detroit Prosecutor Kym Worthy and the Michigan Association of Police Organizations.

When you can’t debate you censor

We saw last summer how Republicans hate to be challenged when they try to lie and spin facts, and when Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, censored the liberal blog Blogging for Michigan by banning it from Senate computers we saw how far they will go when challenged with the truth.

I felt that same wrath when I was banned last week from commenting on the leading right wing blog, RightMichigan, by paid GOP operative Nick DeLeeuw.

It’s pretty sad when their positions are so flimsily they cannot even defend them, and because they can’t defend their positions they just shut people up. Many of my blogger friends and colleagues ask my why I bother posting on right-wing blogs and put up with all the personal attacks. It’s pretty simple: How hard and how fun is it to have a debate with yourself or with someone with the same position. Hell, how do you even debate yourself?

Actually, I don’t get a whole of lot out of these debates and exchanges because after I destroy their positions and punch holes through their lies and half truths, I get greeted with name-calling. When you do not have a leg to stand on that’s what you get. I should have expected this because his boss has a “blog” that does not even allow any comments. They want to be able to spin their lies without being called out on it.

One of their favorite insulting names for me is troll. Whenever I disprove their spin and point out their lies I get called a troll instead of them backing up their position. I’ve repeatedly asked how I can be a troll when to comment I have to be registered with a screen name and password that has to be approved. You can comment here anonymously because I can defend my positions, and I’m not afraid to stand up for what I believe.

It doesn’t really bother me that I got banned because I was just wasting my time debating people devoid of real ideas and closed minds, but the lame excuse he used to get rid of someone who was kicking his ass in debate really bothers me.

The other favorite slur against me is a play on my screen name, and I’m called Commie Guru, or similar variations. Very clever of them, but unfortunately, that’s what passes for real, intelligent debate on that blog.

Being called a Communist is something that is particularly offense to me because I spent 20 years in the Navy during the Cold War. I made some 10 overseas extended deployments during that time away from my family, and it really bothers me to be called a communist after that.

The people on that blog, like many Republicans, are what Al Franken calls “Chicken Hawks” meaning they are pro-war but refuse to serve in the military to back that up. DeLeeuw and the few posters there are the very definition of chicken hawks. There is one serial poster there who continually calls me a communist, but at the same time keeps telling me how much he supports the Iraq occupation and the troops. One day I called him out on a particular offensive anti-troop remark, so I began calling him “troop-hater” when ever he called me a communist. Childish. Yes, but what can I say.

In reality, I know he nor DeLeeuw are really not troop-haters. They are just indifferent, and they want them to go and fight and come home, shut up and then disappear.

Back to what got me banned. DeLeeuw posted some untrue things about the people tying to discourage people from signing the petitions in the misguided recall attempt against Rep. Robert Dean. He claimed the paid signature collectors were being harassed, so I went right to the source to get the information and found out that DeLeeuw was lying. He later posted video he took that proved I was right.

To make a long story short, I was banned for – get this - “chicken-hawking.” I have no idea how he reached that conclusion since I served in the military and am against the Iraq occupation.

If I misstated anything here or I am incorrect feel free to add your comments. You can even do it anonymously.

See, I don’t censor people here.

Senate Democrats introduce resolution to stop secret votes and harassment of media

LANSING – The flap over the vote for the sales tax increase in the wee hours Monday morning has led Senate Democrats to introduce Senate Resolution 114 Thursday to amend the Senate Standing Rules to ensure there are no secret votes.

The trouble began around 3 a.m. Monday when the Senate was voting to give immediate effect to House Bill 5198. The bill to tax certain services had passed earlier with a 19-19 tie broken by Lt. Gov. John Cherry. Since the state government had been shut down at midnight, Cherry called for a vote to give the bill immediate effect instead the normal procedure that says a bill only takes effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session.

Immediate effect takes a two-thirds vote or approval by 26 Senators. However, those votes are not recorded in the Senate journal, and a photographer from the Senate Democratic Caucus was taking photos of the board. A number of Senate Republicans objected to that, and Sen. Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, then ordered all Senate staff off the floor.

Subscription only Gongwer reported, “In the process a news photographer began shooting the voting board - Senate rules forbid photographing a non-roll call vote - and several senators shouted the photographer should be thrown off and one demanded his tape be confiscated. A sergeant stood with the photographer while that portion of the tape was erased.” However, it cannot be verified if that incident actually took place.

Senate Republican leadership says the Senate rules bar the media from taking photos of the vote board during unrecorded votes. In an email response Carol Viventi, the Secretary of the Senate, said “Consequently, no one, media included can take pictures of the board when it is an unrecorded vote.” But that’s news to some regular media that cover the Capitol on a regular basis. Phillip Hendricks, the news director at Lansing TV station WLNS, said he has never heard of that rule.

“I don’t know of any policy that prohibits us filming anything,” he said. “We have never had a problem, and we film what ever we want.”

Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, said the caucus photographer was shooting the board at his request, and he and the caucus attorney checked for any written policy that prohibited staff from shooting photos of the board. He said any change in Senate rules must be approved by a vote of the full Senate. Schauer said he received a letter from Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, in response to what rules were used to stop the board from being photographed that cited a policy Schauer said he cannot find, and he also said he cited “long-standing custom and usage” as the precedent for banning visual recording of the vote board for non-record votes. Schauer said the so-called long-standing custom violates both the spirit of the Open Meetings Act and the Constitution.

“We have no right as Senators to cast votes in secret,” Schauer said. “I will always error on the side of openness.”

The resolution will amend the standing rules to allow no secret votes, and to allow the press, public and staff to photograph the board at any point in the Senate session.

“Our First Amendment is clear, our Constitution is clear, our rules are clear - the public has a right to know how we represent them in this chamber,” Schauer said in a press release. “The resolution we offer today should not even be necessary, but it will once and for all end any perception that there are secret votes in this Senate.”

Legislature misses midnight deadline for avoiding a shutdown but still passes budget agreement

LANSING – They missed the midnight deadline for averting a partial state government shutdown, but it appears after a day of bills funneling back and forth between the Senate and House a shutdown was averted early Monday morning.

Shortly before 3 a.m. Monday morning the Senate voted 19-19 for the conference report for House Bill 5198 to set a sales tax on certain services with two Republicans crossing over and Lt. Gov. John Cherry broke the tie by voting yes. Earlier in the morning two hours earlier the Senate had voted the same way for the conference report for House Bill 5194 that that raised the income tax rate from 3.9 percent to 4.45 percent.

Averting the shutdown took a lot of starts and stops, such as the conference report for the package of bills known as the Public Employees Health Benefit Act bill requiring pooling of health insurance for teachers and other public employees. It barely passed in the House by a vote of 57-52 just minutes after midnight Sunday night/Monday morning. That appeared to be the last piece in the puzzle for an agreement to balance the budget and for the Governor signing a 30-day continuation or temporary budget bill if the Senate passed the revenue bills authorizing the sales tax and the income tax increase.

Things got rolling in the Senate at 9:30 p.m. when it took up bills sent over from the House. Senate Bills 772 and 773 – the all important continuation budget - was passed by a vote of 34-3 that will keep the state government going for 30 days beginning on Monday. The continuation budget bill was previously approved in the House. The other budget bills are tie-barred to the continuation bill, and it took all night and the early morning to get all the pieces in order.

“This is a multi-departmental budget bill, and it includes debt service payments,” said Sen. Ron Jelinek, R-Three Oaks, the chair of the Appropriations Committee.

However, the continuation budget bill was tie-barred to the revenue increases; House Bills 5198 that set a sales tax on certain services and HB 5194. Earlier in the day the House passed HB 5198 that set the sales tax on 23 categories of services. It was approved with a narrow vote of 56-53, with the support of all but two Democrats. The bill provides some $613 million toward this year's $1.8 billion budget deficit.

The Conference Committee, consisting of three members from both Houses, voted 4-2 to approve HB 5194 that raised the income tax from 3.9 percent to 4.45 percent. Shortly before 11 p.m. the House passed the bill by a vote of 57-52 to kick it over to the Senate. Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton, and Rep. Ed Gaffney, R-Grosse Pointe Farms, were the only Republicans to vote for the bill. Ironically, Ward was on the conference committee and cast one of the two no votes.

The Senate also passed unanimously a series of reform bills aimed at improving government efficiency in exchange for some Republicans supporting the revenue increases. Senate Bills 396, 396 and 397 were passed that creates a Commission on Government Efficiency. The commission would conduct a comprehensive reviews and analysis of state administrative functions and mandates imposed upon local units, and the commission would recommend potential cost-saving reforms to the Legislature.

SB 549 was passed unanimously to implement a uniform school calendar for all public school districts. The rationale is there will be a monetary savings if it is easier to share program and services if they are all on the same calendar. SB 632 would allow products made by prisoners through Michigan State Industries (MSI) only be sold to non-profit agencies and tax-exempt agencies.

A major reform that was passed unanimously was House Bill 4800 that ends the so-called “double dipping.” It amends the State Employees' Retirement Act to suspend pension payments of a retiree under the act if the individual is reemployed by the State of Michigan directly or indirectly. The House substitute for SB 622 was passed 22-16 that will allow the Michigan Department of Corrections to privatize the corrections mental health program by allowing them to contract with "third-party providers."

Most of the Michigan’s media was for the first time in a long time focused on the Capitol, and Detroit and Lansing area TV stations were conducting live interviews and reports on both the House and Senate floors. However, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, had the Senate Sergeants-At-Arms order the assembled media not to photograph or film the vote board when votes are taken to give the bills immediate effect. Those votes are not recorded anywhere or appear in the Senate Journal, so a photo or video of the board would be the only record. The rules that govern the Senate say nothing about what the media can or cannot shoot once they are given permission to film or photograph on the Senate floor.

This is not the first time Bishop has been accused of censorship. Last August he received a firestorm of criticism for attempting to block access from Senate computers to the blog "Blogging for Michigan" that had been critical of his handling of the budget situation. Only after he received criticism from both sides of the political spectrum did he relent and change his position.

Newspaper calls for censoring all political blogs

With the Mike Bishop attempt at censoring a legitimate news source simply because they criticized him almost a month old, some in the mainstream and corporate media are just now getting around to putting their two cents in. Some get it, but apparently some do not understand the 1st Amendment.

As you know, back on Aug. 3 Senate Majority ‘leader” Mike Bishop, R- Rochester, blocked access to the liberal blog "Blogging for Michigan" and only BFM from Senate computers. Bishop and his staffers blamed, depending on who asked and the time of day, that BFM was banned for saying mean things about Republicans, or political staffers should not waste government time by reading political content or the assistant communications director for the Senate Democrats Communications was running the blog. It took four days of pressure from other liberal bloggers, one conservative blog and the mainstream media for him to relent.

Some mainstream media outlets, like the Traverse City Record Eagle, got it, and they called Bishop out on his classic example of censorship: the government trying to silence the press for criticizing him. Unfortunately, the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus does not get it.

In an editorial today, the conservative and corporate editorial board is parroting the rightwing topic talking point that it was a simply “mistake” by Bishop.

“The mistake made by Bishop, or whoever decided to block the site, was a basic one. Few would challenge an honest attempt to improve productivity at state offices. But this attempt was obviously aimed at blocking access to a particular site.”

Are they for real? A mistake? Then they would have no problem with the Senate blocking access to their web site. Productivity and wasting time has nothing to do with it. Senate staffers answer questions from constituents everyday on issues facing the public and current affairs, and they should have access to every available news source. It seems the only mistake Bishop made was underestimating the reaction and he thought people would not be paying attention. The “Bishop made a mistake” defense popped up on the show “Off the Record” this weekend when one of the righting bloggers on the show used it.

Unfortunately, it gets even worse, and the P & A is arguing for the government to censor all blogs. The only possible explanation I can come up with is they have a lack of respect for blogs, and they don’t consider them legitimate news sources.

“If Bishop wants to make and enforce rules about appropriate workplace behavior, that's fine. But his rules have to be content-neutral. In other words, either ban all political Web sites or none.”

I would like to hear the outcry from them if Bishop banned all newspaper web sites. You would hear from me, and I would go to the defense of the P & A. Any attempt to censor a newspaper is met with immediate response from the newspaper and the Michigan Press Association (MPA). It should be met with outrage.

Some four or five years ago the Howell City Council tried to pass an ordinance that would limit or move newspaper vending boxes from the downtown main four. There was a restaurant there with outdoor seating and numerous paper vending boxes, but most were from the free shopper and real estate publications, as well as all of the state’s major newspapers and the P & A. It was almost impossible for pedestrians to get by the bottleneck.

The newspaper's management immediately contacted Dawn Phillips Hertz, the MPA attorney, and they rightfully quickly put a stop to it because any restriction of getting the news to the public is a violation of the 1st Amendment. The city backed off of that position. Why? Because it made a mistake by demanding they be moved by a law instead of just asking.

That was an honest mistake. What Bishop did was not.

Bishop caves to pressure over censorship of the press but still does not get it

After four days of solid pressure from both the left and right side of the political spectrum and those that truly understand the intent and importance of the First Amendment, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, relented and stopped the illegal censoring of a liberal blog for daring to call him out on his foot-dragging and attempt to hold the state budget hostage for his political gain.

Late last Friday Bishop blocked access to the liberal blog “Blogging for Michigan” and only BFM from Senate computers. Bishop and his staffers blamed, depending on who asked and the time of day, that BFM was banned for saying mean things about Republicans or political staffers should not waste government time by reading political content.

Bishop’s office just released a statement that said:

"I stand by the position that Senate employees should be not be using taxpayer equipment to view political blogs pursuant to Senate Rule 1.401(c). These blogs are of questionable content and employees who are paid to conduct the business of the people of Michigan should not be interacting with them during business hours.”

He just does not get it. He further went on to blame Senate Democrats for correctly pointing out that he was doing exactly what the Founding Fathers were protecting against when they wrote the Bill of Rights: stopping the government from censoring political speech and writing and trying to hinder a free press.

"Senate Democrats seem intent on making this a debate on censorship and their right to view questionable political content during business hours. Senate Republicans believe this a discussion of the proper use of taxpayer resources and appropriate conduct during business hours and establishing strict guidelines on employee use of the Internet and websites.”

Again, he just does not get it. The debate is exactly about censorship. Perhaps someone should send Bishop a copy of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Also, thanks to rightwing bloggers like “RightMichigan” for supporting the Constitution and recognizing the debate was exactly about censorship.

Bishop tramples on First Amendment’s Freedom of the Press

Senate Majority Leader and chief obstructionist Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, took the unusual step and for the first time in Senate history illegally censored a liberal blog for daring to call him out on his foot-dragging and attempt to hold the state budget hostage for his political gain.

Subscription only Gognwer News Service reported Bishop ordered "Blogging for Michigan" blocked from being accessed from Senate computers, using the false claim that the blog was “created by a Senate employee using Senate equipment.” The blog was created and operated by Shiawassee County resident Christine Barry, a systems engineer, from her home. All the material posted comes from public sources, such as newspapers, newsletters, the Senate websites, the Senate Journal and the Senate session and most of the committees are broadcast live on the Senate web site. Not only that, the info is properly sourced with links, something you don’t see in the mainstream media.

The blog was only created in June by Michiganliberal diarists Christine and Wizardkitten, and this attempt at censorship by Bishop and/or his henchman proves how effective it has been. I am proud to say I am a poster and an editor on Blogging for Michigan.

Ironically, this is the only blog that was blocked; leaving all three of the conservative blogs in the state, as well as that thing ran by the chair of the state GOP, even Michiganliberal was not blocked. That seems ironic when you consider that many people post on both sites, like me. I post on Michignaliberal as kjbas58, and many of my posts have been critical of the do-nothing-Senate, but only Blogging for Michigan has been blocked. Could you imagine the outcry from the right if the House Democrats tried to block one of the three rightwing blogs, or from everyone if a newspaper web site was blocked?

This situation is the very definition of censorship and a clear violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution’s protection of freedom of the press. Now that the news services that cover the capitol and the nation via Daily KOS have caught on to this censorship attempt, hopefully the mainstream media in Michigan will catch on to what Bishop is really about.

Blogging fro Michigan now carries the well-deserved masthead “The site Mike Bishop doesn't want you to see.”

I suggest anyone who cares about the Bill of Rights contact Bishop.

Hate group’s ‘Plan B’ is a bust

In perhaps the biggest anti-climatic decisions ever, the anti-gay hate group known as the “LOVE” PAC (Livingston Organization for Values in Education) is dropping its four-month mission to censor Nobel and Pulitzer-winning literature, according to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus.

The decision has a lot to do with the group’s ridiculous claim that the “The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them,” Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison's first novel, "The Bluest Eye," an acclaimed memoir written by Richard Wright in 1945, "Black Boy " and the classic Kurt Vonnegut novel "Slaughterhouse Five” were pornographic, but that absurd claim was turned down by the law enforcement agencies it lodged a complaint with.

Vicki Fyke, the leader of the hate group and the former advisor of the Livingston County Teen Age Republicans, was quoted last month in the P & A as saying the group had a back-up plan when the baseless complaint to law enforcement that the books used at Howell High School were pornographic failed, but she would only reveal it when that scheme failed.

"We do have backup plans," she said. "We'll have to decide on what 'Plan B' would be. We're certainly not going to let it go."

Apparently plan B is nothing, and Fyke said last week the group would work to elect candidates sympathetic to its causes, rather than pursue the books issue. It bears remembering that’s how this entire mess got started. Current Howell Public School board and “love” member Wendy Day snuck by and was elected to the board last May, and she was a major instigator of this embarrassing mess that wasted tax dollars, wasted the time of the FBI and gave the Howell community another black eye.

Here is perhaps the most ridiculous quote of all from Fyke’s more than 15 minutes of fame from this embarrassment, trying to blame the School Board for the mess caused by “love.”

“We recognize that, had our school board shown some leadership over these past two years, our community would have been spared a lot of embarrassment," she said.

What she really means is they should have listened to a small-minded but very vocal minority group of extremist censors and banned books. Maybe if Fyke took the time to actually read the books maybe our community would also have been spared a lot of embarrassment.

“Love” is not saying whom it will endorse, but when it does all sane, reasonable people should not vote for those candidates. Fyke claims the group is putting together an endorsement questionnaire, but does anybody really doubt they already know who they are endorsing?

In Howell there are two seats being contested by five candidates, including the incumbent, Jeannine Pratt. The candidates include, Dan Fondriest, 49, Genoa Township; William T. Harvey, 44, according to sources a strong Republican from Genoa Township; attorney Edwin J. Literski, 52, Genoa Township, a strong Republican; Pratt, 46, City of Howell, and Douglass Moore, 54, from Oceola Township.

The P& A reports that Harvey – whose son was one of the first people involved in the book controversy after he complained to his father about "Freedom Writers” -
said he agreed with LOVE's stance on the books, to the extent that the books were not appropriate for English classes because they focused on social problems.
"I agree that students should not be reading what would be considered adult content in an English class when there is so much better material to choose from," he said.
Harvey added that the curriculum should better reflect the overall district community.
"Look at the makeup of Livingston County ... there's a high number of churches, religious people, conservative people," he said. "By choosing a book that has material that is going to be offensive to many of your clientele, is that a wise choice to invite controversy?"

Cleary, Harvey will get “love’s” endorsement, and he is likely a “love” member. The obvious question is how can you expand your mind and become educated if all you read or study about is in your own small, little world, or why his son did not just opt for another book?

The other candidate sure to get the “love” endorsement will be Moore.

Moore also said he didn't see much educational value in the books.
"I wasn't sure how these books advance education," he said. "I don't see that there couldn't have been better ones to use."

Book banning saga reads like a mystery novel

The book banning and censorship saga by the anti-gay hate group known as the “LOVE” PAC (Livingston Organization for Values in Education) is just about at its most bizarre point ever with an actual investigation by the FBI.

The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus has done an excellent job of covering the story despite unjustified charges of “yellow journalism” and continuing to push the story to sell papers. I don’t know how any legitimate newspaper can ignore a story that the entire community is talking about. However, the story in Sunday’s newspaper on the controversy is pushing that envelope a just a bit.

The so-called “love” group has been waging a losing book banning battle for the past four months against “The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them,” Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison's first novel, "The Bluest Eye," an acclaimed memoir written by Richard Wright in 1945, "Black Boy " and the classic Kurt Vonnegut novel "Slaughterhouse Five.” The group falsely claims they are pornographic, and they want them banned from Howell High School AP English classes.

Last month the leader of the so-called “love” group and the Livingston County Teen Age Republicans, Vicki Fyke, sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and Livingston County Prosecutor David Morse claiming the books in question violate child pornography laws and further makes the ridiculous claim that the books' presence in high school classrooms violates the law by disseminating sexually explicit material to minors. The U.S. Attorney actually took the bizarre step of having the FBI investigate, and Morse is expected to have a decision Monday. That’s where the story stands today.

A story in the newspaper Friday told us there has been no other action, and that Morse is still actually considering this ridiculous claim and is expected to have his decision Monday. However, he seems to be setting us up for another bizarre decision to actually move forward. Now, his office has made some questionable moves in the past on some cases, but he is usually above politics and generally same.

The only thing newsy about Friday’s story is a collation of free speech and literary groups sent an open letter to the Howell School Board taking the Federal prosecutor to task for the ridiculous decision investigating the absurd claim and urging the books not be censored.

Sunday’s story offers no new information, but apparently the paper held back a Morse quote that basically says this could be a 1st Amendment test case that could effect libraries and bookstores across the country. God forbid we get any more bad publicity for the Howell area.

The article added a few quotes- the most amusing one from David Hudson Jr., a lawyer with the Tennessee-based First Amendment Center – who said he “literally laughed at the thought that the books would be legally barred from distribution to minors.”
"I can't imagine this would get very far," he said when told the titles of the books in question. "It's a misguided, heavy-handed attempt that constitutes an egregious violation of the First Amendment." However, there is no news in the story that has not been reported before.

However, it’s nice to see the newspaper talking a stand against censorship on the OP-ED page, and the editorial page is the only place where a story cannot be “covered to death” or the newspaper can be accused of so-called “yellow journalism.”

Rich Perlberg, the executive editor of the newspaper, points out the absurdity of a federal law enforcement agency investigating prize-winning literature for obscenity in a column Sunday.

“Fyke is a Howell-area woman who is the most public face of LOVE, a citizens group that has somehow enlisted our county prosecutor, a federal prosecutor and the FBI into a misguided — that's the kindest word for it — investigation into whether our teachers and administrators are peddling porn.
It is totally reasonable for people to have different opinions about whether certain books are appropriate for high school students. It is beyond comprehension that an intelligent person could spend more than 30 seconds to decide if teachers are guilty of a felony when they assign the works of authors such as Kurt Vonnegut and Toni Morrison. Morrison, by the way, has won both the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes.”

In order to be legally defined as pornography, a book must be found to appeal only to readers' prurient interest in sex, and have no literary or educational value. But all of these books have won numerous prizes, awards and praise from many, many literary groups, and that automatically meets the definition of having “literary merit.”

“I'm confident that Morse will make the right call. But I'll wonder forever why it took him so long,” Perlberg wrote.

I hope he is correct, but the after the bizarre turns this case has taken nothing would surprise me.

Book banners are not concerned parents

I ran across this excellent post about book banning and censorship, and in light of the disgraceful situation we have going on with the attempted book banning in Howell, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to post it.
Camille, who runes the blog, told me all of the examples of censorship by what she calls “book banning know nothing nutters” actually happened and are “ripped from the headlines,” for you “Law and Order” fans. We know that’s true because we here in Howell have seen some of these very things happen from the so-called “LOVE” group.
If you love to read, love books and love to talk about them check out her blog the “Book Moot.”

It occurs to me that I should be clear. There is a difference between a concerned parent and a book banning know nothing nutter.

I love concerned parents.

Both a Concerned Parent and a BBKNN may not have read a children's book since their Betsy & Tacey / Go Dog Go days and are genuinely distressed by something in a children's or YA book

*******
A Concerned Parent reviews the book their child has checked out of the library

whereas

A BBKNN is working from a list they found on the internet and checking to see if the school library has any of the titles.

*******
A Concerned Parent talks to their child's teacher, librarian or principal about the book. They have a discussion with the librarian and others about the book.

whereas

A BBKNN goes directly to the school board demanding the book be banned.

*******
A Concerned Parent is genuinely worried about the effect a book has on their child and should be applauded for taking an interest in their child's reading life.

whereas

A BBKNN is primarily interested in the newspaper article about their school board appearance.

*******
A Concerned Parent works with the librarian to offer alternative reading choices to their child and the parent talks to their child about the books they expect them to read.

whereas

A BBKNN sends their kid into the library to check out yet ANOTHER controversial book so they can add it to their list of grievances.

*******
A Concerned Parent may determine that their child's reading selections need exploring and realize this is an opportunity to discuss certain issues with their child.

whereas

A BBKNN begins an email campaign maligning the librarian and expressing outrage over the presence of the book in the library and on the planet Earth.

*******
A Concerned Parent realizes that they can make reading choices for their own child but have no right to determine reading selections for other people's children.

whereas

A BBKNN complains about the book to people where he/she works and vows to "take the book down."

*******
A Concerned Parent may still honestly feel a book needs to be reconsidered after they have read it and they file paper work to have the book reconsidered.

whereas

A BBKNN files paperwork to challenge the book without reading the book in its entirety and goes through and picks words and scenes out of context to include in the complaint.

*******
A Concerned Parent reads the report of the reconsideration committee and finds a) the committee has agreed with the concerned parent or b) accepts that others have found value and merit in the book and is resigned that the book will remain on the shelf.

whereas

A BBKNN reads the report of the reconsideration committee and finds a) the committee has agreed with the BBKNN or b) shrieks in frustration that others have found value and merit in the book and is NOT resigned that the book will remain on the shelf.

Instead they immediately escalate and file an appeal vowing to take their complaint all the way to the state board of education.

*******
Concerned parents are concerned with the welfare of their own child.

whereas

BBKNNs' own children are not part of the equation because they don't let their kids read “those kinds of books” anyway.


I love concerned parents.

I also want to urge people to “Take the Banned Book Challenge” as part of Freedom to Read Week that begins Monday. Pelham Public Library in Fonthill, Ontario is sponsoring the challenge, and they are asking people to set a goal to read as many banned or challenged books as you wish between Feb. 26 and June 30, 2007. Readers can visit the Pelham Public Library’s Fahrenheit 451: Banned Book Blog to set your goal and report on your progress with an online form.

Intolerance reigns in Livingston County

We have another case of so-called community leaders overreacting and practicing censorship.

For the last two months or so there has been a flap over Howell High School banning – or pulling - a book from its advanced 10th grade English class called “The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them" because of the book’s alleged profanity and references to drugs and sex acts. The district’s administration basically left the English teacher using the book out to dry by saying she never had approval to use the book in class.

For those of you who may have been watching TV recently, you may have seen the trailer for a film called “Freedom Writers” starring Hilary Swank that is based on this book. According to the plot line, “A young teacher (Swank) inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school. “ We do not want our young people learning tolerance, especially in conservative Livingston County.

It turns out that the book was used last year in class, and the book was approved by the English Department, according to an excellent article in the Daily Press & Argus by a good friend of mine and a future teacher.

A joint statement, signed by 17 English teachers at Howell High School, said the book was approved as a supplemental part of the curriculum by the Howell High School English department last year.
Ms. Capy is teaching the book because she was assigned to teach both of the two sections of accelerated 10th-grade English this year," the statement said. "It needs to be made clear that she has no responsibility whatsoever in the approval of the book other than being a voting member of the English department. The criticism of her by a few members of the community is completely unjustified."

Some of that unjustified criticism ”by a few members of the community” came in a letter to the editor in the newspaper today by Vicki Fyke, where she says, “It will be interesting to see if our administrators or our school board have the courage to enforce their policies and reprimand this irresponsible teacher for her total neglect in following the proper procedures and for not being the least bit sorry once she was scolded.” Maybe you should check your facts before you throe out unjustified accusations, Ms. Fyke.

The interesting thing about this letter is Ms. Fyke is the advisor for the Livingston County Teen Age Republicans. What a great job for an intolerant person, and she can pass that on to our future leaders. Apparently, she thinks only students with perfect records are worth educating. I suggest you read the book and go see the movie. Oh yea, I forgot, Liberal Hollywood is not going to stop you from being intolerant.