The very fact that she asked the question makes her unfit for any public office in this country. She wasn’t looking for a debate. She was testing the waters.
OK. Further checking indicates that this list is bullshit, at least in regards the specific case of “Palin vs. Librarians of the world.” Sorry I missed the edit window to delete it entirely.
That’s a pretty weird list. I’d be suspicious in the first place about something like that with no pedigree, but I’m curious as to how you found it, and how you decided it vwasn’t real.
It contains books that have been banned in other libraries (“Huck Finn” and the Harry Potter books), some that are pretty clearly religious in nature or origin but NOT banned (“A Wrinkle in Time” has a treligious basis. “Bridge to Terebithia” may look a bit anti-religious, but was written by a minister’s wife.), and some I can’t account for. (I like Fredericl Forsyth’s “The DEvil’s Alternative”, but it’s an old thriller, pretty much outdated today, and I’ll bet you can’t find a copy without resort to used-book sites. And it’s no worse than any of his other books, so why isn’t “Day of the Jackal” there – it’s still in print.)
The list seems to have cropped up on a blog run by a librarian (librarian.net) in the comments section - and was immediately debunked there. Looks like a cut and paste of a generic banned books list.
The gist of the debunking was that many of the books (for instance, the entire Harry Potter series) had not yet been published in 1996.
Not to say that this is the case for what we are discussing, but I did want to point out that not every library works this way. Some very large systems have a City Librarian that serves at the pleasure of the Mayor, and even the Library Board itself is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Mayor (but they do have total responsibility for the budget after it is passed from the Mayor/Council). And while the MLS degree is usually required by the search committee, it is, in fact not required by the job, which is a non-civil service political appointment. And I have first-hand experience with some of those positions having to reapply for them when a new Mayor was elected, though never an outright firing, but it would have been allowed for them to do so.
Another thing that doesn’t pass the smell test… how likely is it that Palin had enough familiarity with 92 books to determine that they ought to be banned? How likely is it that she could sit down and make a list of 92 book titles of any kind?
I’ve referred to this article in other threads. But it has particular relevance here, given that it offers an answer to the 'what did she want to ban question
I don’t see any corroboration there at all about any of the book banning statements.
We have a couple of indie rockers who are giving their opinions about Palin. I doubt if any of them were at any of the meetings between Palin and Emmons.
corroboration? Get a copy of the Town council minues where Palin allegedly tried to get book banned. That’s corroboration. Those are just meaningless quotes from a couple of dudes that live in that town.