Author: Glenn Hauman

Why do these people hate America?

Yahoo! News – Some Miss. Libraries Ban Jon Stewart Book

GULFPORT, Miss. – Library officials in two southern Mississippi counties have banned Jon Stewart’s best-selling “America (The Book)” over the satirical textbook’s nude depictions of the nine U.S. Supreme Court (news – web sites) justices.

“I’ve been a librarian for 40 years and this is the only book I’ve objected to so strongly that I wouldn’t allow it to circulate,” said Robert Willits, director of the Jackson-George Regional Library System of eight libraries in Jackson and George counties.

“We’re not an adult bookstore. Our entire collection is open to the entire public,” Willits said. “If they had published the book without that one picture, that one page, we’d have the book.”

Wal-Mart has declined to stock the book because of the page, which features the faces of the nine Supreme Court justices superimposed over naked bodies. The facing page has cutouts of the justices’ robes, complete with a caption asking readers to “restore their dignity by matching each justice with his or her respective robe.”

So– whad’ja think?

The Scientist :: OFAC reverses embargo ruling

OFAC reverses embargo ruling
Decision allows US publishers to edit manuscripts from Cuba, Iran, and Sudan | By John Dudley Miller

In a reversal of almost all of the controversial prohibitions enacted in September 2003 that led to a lawsuit against it by a coalition of US publishers 3 months ago, the Treasury Department reauthorized American authors and publishers to collaborate with and edit the scientific and other manuscripts of citizens in trade-embargoed countries yesterday (December 15).

The Treasury Department said it acted “to further promote the free flow of information around the world and to ensure the voices of dissidents and others living in Cuba, Iran, and Sudan are heard,” according to an anonymous Treasury official speaking through a spokesperson.

But Edward Davis, one of the publishers’ attorneys, said yesterday that the publishers are not yet ready to drop their lawsuit, filed September 27, because the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), by granting a general license, continues to assert that it can regulate informational materials. The plaintiffs argue that OFAC has no such authority.

“I think it’s nice that the government has recognized the validity of our position for freedom of speech and freedom of the press,” said Marc Brodsky, president of the American Institute of Physics and executive council chair of the American Association of Publishers Professional and Scholarly Publishers Division, one of the plaintiffs. “It’s just a shame that we had to spend so much effort and time and money to go to court to get their attention, despite the fact we went to them ahead of time.”

In January 2002, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) stopped publishing manuscripts from embargoed-country scientists after officials at Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) told the organization informally that publishing and providing other services to members in embargoed nations might be illegal. In September 2003, it formally banned all editing of IEEE manuscripts, even correcting spelling and punctuation errors.

Last April, OFAC reauthorized IEEE—but not American publishers in general—to edit manuscripts from embargoed nations and to provide some services to them. Cecelia Jankowski, IEEE’s managing director of regional activities, welcomed yesterday’s ruling, saying, “It further confirms our interpretation of the April ruling that enabled IEEE to resume all publishing activity.”

Yes, it’s out! Finally, the threads all come together is revealed! The killer of Sue Dibny is–

Whoops. Wrong book.

So. Madrox #4. Whad’ja think?

FCC Wary of Greeks Baring Gifts at Games (washingtonpost.com)

In response to one or more indecency complaints, the Federal Communications Commission has asked NBC to send it tapes of its coverage of the Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies in Athens, the network confirmed late yesterday.

Ironically, the night before, NBC’s Summer Games coverage was named the family-friendliest special of 2004 during WB’s broadcast of the sixth annual Family Television Awards. The awards are given by the Family Friendly Programming Forum, a group of 46 major national advertisers working to encourage networks to produce more family-friendly prime-time fare…

Yet another example of how open we Americans are to free expression and ideas from other lands nowadays…