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October 26, 2006
Line up to be an idiot.
An Alabama lawmaker has gone to great lengths to prove that he's a fascist. How? He's proposed removing any book from library shelves that includes a gay character, or is by a gay author.
This is one of those "where do you even start" stories:
Republican Alabama lawmaker Gerald Allen says homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle. As CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, under his bill, public school libraries could no longer buy new copies of plays or books by gay authors, or about gay characters.
"I don't look at it as censorship," says State Representative Gerald Allen. "I look at it as protecting the hearts and souls and minds of our children."
First, Mr. Allen may be interested to know the definition of "censorship." Webster's defines it as "the institution, system, or practice of censoring or censors" which is "an official who examines publications for objectionable matter; an official who reads communications and deletes forbidden material." So, in essence Mr. Allen's "protecting the hearts and souls and minds of our children" is really a wonderful definition of censorship, not a movement away from it.
Second, Mr. Allen worries about the "gay agenda." He's sees flamboyant threats in books everywhere.
But in book after book, Allen reads what he calls the "homosexual agenda,"
and he's alarmed.
"It's not healthy for America, it doesn't fit what we stand for," says Allen. "And they will do whatever it takes to reach their goal."
How many books has he actually read? Which ones are they? Is he reading this, or this? Where is he seeing an agenda?
Finally, this ass-hat misses the irony of his fight completely when he says "it doesn't fit what [America] stands for." What doesn't? Freedom of choice? Freedom of Speech? Freedom of Ideas? Freedom to be left alone by an invasive, controlling government? Which of these is not what America stands for?
Thankfully, when his bill came up for a vote, the rest of the legislators fled the room allowing it to die as a result of a lack of a quorum.
Posted by sferrell at October 26, 2006 2:44 PM
