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Red Commissar
4th August 2011, 22:32
The school board of Republic, Missouri, recently decided to ban two books- Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and Sarah Ocker's Twenty Boy Summer, while retaining another, Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak. This came after a complaint was filed by a parent citing that the three aforementioned books had values "contrary" to the bible and should not be taught in schools, specifically in the High School where they are a part of the curriculum.

After a year looking into it, the school board finally banned two of the three books based on standards passed in April regarding violence, sexual content, drugs, etc., but essentially upholding the complaint that these books ran contrary to the bible.

Meanwhile, politicians are making the rounds talking about the dangers of "sharia" law in the United States and how it can overrule the laws "we" value. Of course there's nothing wrong with a Christian fundamentalist pushing the same vitriol.

http://blog.au.org/2011/08/02/yielding-to-censorship-mo-school-board-bans-books-that-are-%E2%80%98contrary-to-the-bible%E2%80%99/

Sasha
4th August 2011, 22:45
Vonnegut Library Responds to Slaughterhouse-Five Banning (http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/08/04/vonnegut-library-responds-to-slaughterhouse-five-banning)

Posted by Paul Constant (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/paul-constant/Author?oid=17693) on Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 12:21 PM

Remember yesterday (http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/08/03/slaughterhouse-five-is-apparently-contrary-to-the-bible-now), when I told you about a dipshit with a funny name (Wesley Scroggins!) who decided that famous anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five was against the teachings of the Bible? Remember how Scroggins went on to have the book banned from a Missouri school district, because, as I said, he is a dipshit?
Today, the Kurt Vonnegut Library has announced (http://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/) that, thanks to an anonymous donor, they're giving free copies of Slaughterhouse-Five to every student in the school district who asks for one:

Please provide us with your name, address, and grade level...We think it’s important for everyone to have their First Amendment rights. We’re not telling you to like the book… we just want you to read it and decide for yourself. We will not share your request or any of your personal information with anyone else.
This is a great thing to do. If you'd like to help pay for the shipping and handling of these books, you should visit the Vonnegut Memorial Library website (http://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/).



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