Sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association, and a variety of other groups, Banned Books Week (Sept. 29-Oct. 6, 2007) celebrates the first amendment right to free speech, which includes the right to read and write books that are considered unorthodox or controversial. A banned book is one that has actually been removed from a library or school system, a “challenged” book is the attempt to ban such material. THE 10 MOST CHALLENGED BOOKS OF 2006 And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell Gossip Girls (Series) by Cecily Von Ziegesar Alice (Series) by […]
NEWSWEEK: Blackwater Massacre Unprovoked
Sept. 30, 2007 — Since the fatal Sept. 16 Blackwater USA shooting in Baghdad’s Nasoor Square, officials from the private security company have insisted that their guards were responding to fire from “armed enemies.” Yet an extensive evidence file put together by the Iraqi National Police and obtained by NEWSWEEK — including documents, maps, sworn witness statements and police video footage — appears to contradict the contractors’ version of events. A confidential incident report, which has been provided by Iraqi National Police investigators to American military and civilian officials, concludes that the Blackwater vehicles “opened fire crazily and randomly, without […]
RUDY: It’s A White Thing, You Wouldn’t Understand
UPDATE: Rudy Guiliani will be reaching out to white English-only voters tonight at The House That Joey Vento Built.
INSTANT KARMA: We Are With You In Myanmar
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Hunkered down in their war rooms hundreds of miles from mass protests, the aging, hard-line generals in Myanmar are known as a suspicious lot who view the West with disdain and depend on browbeaten advisers and astrologers to guide them. The demonstrations are the stiffest challenge to the ruling junta in two decades, a crisis that began Aug. 19 with protests over a fuel price hike then expanded dramatically about two weeks ago when Buddhist monks joined the protests.Since Wednesday, soldiers and riot police have clubbed, shot and detained demonstrators in Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, […]
WHY NET NEUTRALITY MATTERS: Verizon Will Not Now Allow Pro-Choice Texting
BY ADAM LIPTAK OF THE NEW YORK TIMES: Saying it had the right to block “controversial or unsavory” text messages, Verizon Wireless has rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for a text-message program. The other leading wireless carriers have accepted the program, which allows people to sign up for text messages from Naral by sending a message to a five-digit number known as a short code. Text messaging is a growing political tool in the United States and a dominant one abroad, and such sign-up programs are used by […]
ETHNIC CLEANSING: Iran Free Of Gay Menace
Ahmadinejad also rejected criticism of human rights in his country, notably persecution of homosexuals: “In Iran we do don’t have homosexuals like in your country,” he said, sparking loud laughter from the audience. “In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I do not know who has told you we have it.” [Reuters] RELATED: Iranian Queer Organization Ring A Bell?
SALLY FIELD: Sing Goddamn
FOX censored Sally Field’s anti-war comments during her acceptance speech at the Emmys. Watch MORE episodes of FOX ATTACKS
iMAYOR: Hooray! I Added Five More Cops!
When Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson announced with fanfare last week that state police would be patrolling high-crime neighborhoods to help control growing gun violence, officials declined — citing strategic reasons — to say how many troopers would be involved. Yesterday, Mayor Street let it slip. The number, he said, is five. Street, in unsolicited comments, mentioned the number of troopers working with city police while he was attending a city-sponsored job fair that drew 2,000 people to the Liacouras Center in North Philadelphia yesterday morning. He complained that the news media do not cover such events, but gave significant […]
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs
It’s Official: O.J. Simpson Is Completely Fucked An audio recording of the alleged robbery released by TMZ.com identifies an agitated Simpson uttering obscenities to an unknown person. “You think you can steal my (expletive) and sell it?” says the voice identified as Simpson. The district attorney said he expected Simpson to ultimately be charged with seven felonies and one gross misdemeanor. If convicted of the booking charges, Simpson would face up to 30 years in state prison on each robbery count alone. Simpson owes the Goldman and Brown families $33 million for the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, […]
WAR PIGS: Iraq Revokes Blackwater’s License To Kill
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Interior Ministry canceled the license of controversial American security firm Blackwater USA today after Iraqi officials charged that eight civilians were shot by company bodyguards accompanying a U.S. State Department motorcade the day before in Baghdad. “It has been revoked,” said Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf, a spokesman for the ministry. “They committed a crime. The judicial system will take action.” The decision marks Iraq’s boldest step yet to assert itself against foreign security contractors, who arrived in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. Blackwater has become the symbol of foreign gunmen accused by many […]
Meanwhile, Back At The War…
KYW: A marine from New Jersey has been killed in Iraq. His family was planning his wedding celebration, when they learned of his death early Saturday morning. Terry Allen from Pennsauken, New Jersey, was supposed to come home from his second tour in Iraq on Tuesday. But the 21-year-old Marine Corporal was killed by sniper fire. RELATED: Emmy’s Censor The Flying Nun Sally Field’s Anti-War Speech
CURIOUS: Fumo’s Super-Lawyer Recuses Himself
BY JOHN SHIFFMAN INQUIRER STAFF WRITER In a surprising move, Richard A. Sprague and his firm asked today for permission to withdraw as lawyers for indicted state Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Phila.). The request comes just three weeks after U.S. District Judge William Yohn ruled that Sprague and his firm, Sprague & Sprague, could represent Fumo, despite conflicts of interests alleged by prosecutors, as long as Fumo waived and acknowledged any such conflicts in court. Yohn had set such a hearing for later this month. Instead, Sprague and colleagues Mark Sheppard and Geoffrey Johnson filed a motion this morning, […]