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A recent press release from
Reporters without
Borders ranks countries for press freedom.
Iceland scores the highest while Eritrea is last at 169th place. The US is in 48th place according to this report.
Read the whole report here.
Posted by Jon Lutz
Graphic novels are in; they’re hot. And to keep pace with a literary trend that sounds like fun, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and read one. I skipped the much acclaimed Persepolis and American Splendor, choosing instead a memoir cum Künstlerroman about growing up in a weird family. I read Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home last month and enjoyed her fresh approach to sharing memories from dysfunctional family life, an old though not exhaustible topic thanks to our continued interest and quite possibly hardwired voyeuristic fascination with other people’s dirty laundry. 
Since my reading experience was positive, it came as a surprise to learn that Bechdel’s book is causing a wee stir in a small town in Missouri. What’s the fuss about I wondered.
One resident has this to say:
My concern does not lie with the content of the novels, rather my concern is with the illustrations and their availability to children and the community.
and
Does this community want our public library to continue to use tax dollars to purchase pornography?
Speaking in support of the library, another resident says:
The library’s purpose is to provide a broad sweep of information. If you have only things that you like in a library then it is a private library. I find myself defending something that I find repugnant, but I feel it needs to be provided.
Fun Home is the first graphic novel published by Houghton Mifflin.
--
Board of Education v. Pico and a story at Newsarama (via galleycat)
Posted by Toni Urquhart
Censorship is a cure worse than the disease.
~Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida
"The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida, Greater Miami Chapter today filed a lawsuit against the Miami-Dade County School Board challenging the removal and banning of a series of children’s books, including the hotly debated Vamos a Cuba (A Visit to Cuba), from the public school’s library system." (article)
Posted by Toni Urquhart
In a 5 to 4 vote the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday May 31st that free speech rights do not protect government employees, even whistleblowers, from punishment for comments made on the job. Read the Opinion here.
Posted by Jon Lutz
According to the results of a survey conducted by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, one in five Americans can name all five Simpsons, but only one in a thousand can name the five freedoms under the First Amendment.
A quick review:
The Simpson family
1. Homer
2. Marge
3. Bart
4. Lisa
5. Maggie
Freedoms
1. Religion
2. Speech
3. The press
4. Assembly
5. To petition for redress of grievances
"At a time when the American Press is under increasing scrutiny," it is important to be mindful of these five guarantees under our Constitution. Howard Troxler says, "If we were smart, we would hire the Simpsons to push this First Amendment thing."
Posted by Toni Urquhart
Six Philadelphia-based animal rights activists went on trial this week in a federal courthouse in Trenton, N.J. for their alleged direct harassment of a contract research company with animal-testing labs in the state of New Jersey, Huntingdon Life Sciences.
The Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty campaign is based in the United Kingdom and manages a local and global mission to end the operations of Huntingdon Life Sciences. The activists claim that their website and other efforts to shutdown the company are exercises in free speech and are therefore legal.
John E. Lewis, from the F.B.I., gave testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on October 26, 2005. He discussed the threat animal rights activists pose to legitimate business and what constitutes not advocacy, but criminal activity.
Posted by Toni Urquhart
In a few weeks, Howard Stern will be joining Sirius, a satellite radio company, which is "betting $500 million (and, probably, its future) on Howard; it's given him two entire channels." With the number of Stern listeners surpassing the number of satellite radio subscribers, his induction into this new mass medium "could be a momentum changer for Sirius."
Michael C. Dorf provides commentary on the latest First Amendment issues Stern's "unique brand of narcissistic pre-adolescent" shock jock talk will likely elicit now that he will be in space, "where the FCC's regulation of 'indecency' does not currently reach."
A list of FAQ's, which include FCC definitions of what makes material "obscene" and "indecent," provides information on how the government enforces the law regarding broadcasts during certain hours, while at the same time, "is careful of First Amendment protections and the prohibitions on censorship and interference with broadcasters' freedom of speech."
New York magazine offers a profile of "Howard Stern in Space."
Posted by Toni Urquhart
In December 2004 eleven parents filed suit against the Dover (Pennsylvania) Area School Board in federal district court after the school board established a policy that biology teachers must read a statement about Intelligent Design at the beginning of the unit on evolution. The trial, Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School Board, is going on now. For more information, see the website of the National Center for Science Education (which opposes the teaching of Intelligent Design) and the Discovery Institute (a proponent of Intelligent Design).
Posted by Robin Gault
A federal judge in Pennsylvania will hear arguments Monday September 26 in a lawsuit that could establish how students are taught science for years to come. The case is Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. Here is a copy of the initial Complaint. More court documents are available via Pacer Service. You can see a librarian about access to documents via Pacer.
Posted by Jon Lutz
