Grassroots American Values A Firelands Area Conservative Action Group http://www.plan2succeed.org/grassroots WARNING: THIS NEWSLETTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL

March 2006

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3

In This Issue: Page 1: Powerful Tentacles Page 2: Everything You Always Wanted… Page 3: How Long Until We Get… Page 4: Library Acquires …; Local School Board Reaction Part II Page 6: Twist & Spin Page 7: Keeping Age-inappropriate Literature Away from Minors; How you Can Help; Cool Blogs & Links Page 8: Reporters & Writers Needed; Our Mission Statement; Our Goals Hate Mail: please, address it to Contact: P.O. Box 286 Huron OH 44839 Copyeditors: Terry Kette and Jean Wasylik DISCLAIMER: This is not a Politically Correct organization. We do not exist to make people feel comfortable. So, feel free to feel uncomfortable!

About this Newsletter National news often distracts us from local events. This Newsletter is intended for Conservatives in the Firelands area that want to be informed and involved. You have our permission to send it to your Conservative friends, either by snail mail or email. Powerful Tentacles PABBIS exposes the ALA’s gigantic scheme to brainwash children. For more information, go to their web site and read the News section: http://www.pabbis.com/news.htm. Printed with permission of Parents Against Bad Books In Schools http://www.pabbis.com/alahow.jpg

Send this great purchase suggestion to your library: www.inthefaceofevil.com

Everything you Always Wanted to Know about G.A.V. –and did ask!

Since February 11 the Sandusky Register has published articles, editorials and letters about GAV. Below we try to correct a few misconceptions.

Homophobia: homos=same + phobos=fear. We do not fear homosexuals (but… are some homosexuals heterophobes?). Label us all you want, theirs is a risky lifestyle that should not be encouraged and it is not public libraries business to advocate. Our issue is age inappropriate books found in the Children and Young Adult (1) departments of libraries (not homosexuality): under-age sex, profane language, violence, suicide, rape, incest, and non-traditional families (2). We simply ask libraries restrict these controversial issues to Adult areas. Aren’t our children worth this small change? What responsible adult would agree that giving these kinds of books to children is a good idea?

We have nothing against Huckleberry Finn. The books mentioned in the Resister were from an ALA list. Check their list and read the books challenged by parents (3). You will learn that the ALA is not a child-friendly agenda.

The issue is not free speech or politics and we are not trying to censor what others read. Parents should not have to abdicate to Public Libraries –in the name of “free speech”— the control over what their children read. As Nancy Czerwiec wrote in her letter to the Editor, it is not my right versus yours, but it is not right to sexualize innocent children. Society protects minors. Libraries have the same responsibility to protect children as do teachers, and all public officials. Freedom of speech does include the freedom of Public Libraries to use tax money for the sexualization of children who do not have the capacity to discern, reflect and make good judgments on sexual issues.

That librarians cannot act in loco parentis is ALA drivel (4) Libraries love to repeat. While every parent has a duty to monitor his child, it does not take a village to raise a child. But how can parents monitor their children when schools encourage them to go to libraries un-chaperoned? They have no idea their kids can get age inappropriate literature in sections public libraries dedicate to minor children. Librarians no longer use common sense to guide children’s choices like they had done in the past (5). They no longer stop kids for fear of being labeled “censors” by the ALA and the CLEVNET webpage is not equipped to stop children from borrowing any material. If “all computers are filtered to prevent access to pornographic and extreme-violence” why doesn’t this policy extend to books? If minor children should have access to everything, why do most Public Libraries have Internet filtering? Why do they have separate Children and Adult sections? Is their Children section just a place to keep smaller furniture?

The ALA bill of rights maintains that “A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of […] age […]”. There is only one Bill of Rights and it was written by our Founding Fathers. (For you in Rio Linda: the Bill of Rights protects individuals from government funded institutions, not the reverse.) The ALA mock “bill of rights” (6) was never voted by Congress. If they want acceptance, ALA should fight for an amendment to the Constitution as the law prescribes. This “freedom of speech” is about allowing minors to obtain information on oral or group sex, which is, in fact, an abuse of librarians’ power. If Ohio libraries really believed a “person’s right to use a library” should not be limited because of age, what is stopping them from abolishing their Children and Young Adult areas?

Milla Kette has no personal issue with Ann Hinton and Julie Brooks, but with age inappropriate literature found in children’s sections of Libraries. She volunteers to the Huron library commendable program “Book Delivery to the Homebound” and made monetary donations to both libraries to encourage the purchase of good books.

In her letter to the Editor, Mrs. Brooks stated that: “If you want to view ‘Bambi’ or ‘Brokeback Mountain’ we have it.” Great: your kid can now take Brokeback Mountain home and watch it, even before you get home from work! Blockbuster’s contract allows parents to restrict what their children rent; we suggested that to public libraries and were dismissed. So, next time your 6^th grader asks permission to go with his class to the Library to do research for his Independent Studies class, you might like to think twice.

We are suggesting libraries buy Conservative books, because we found a disproportion of two Liberal to one Conservative book. Yes, if a book is not available in our library, it may be through CLEVNET. Now, let us consider The Proper Feeding and Care of Husbands, by Dr. Laura Schlessinger, that sold 724,300 copies and The Family, by Kitty Kelley, 715,000 –ranking 13 and 14 respectively in Publisher Weekly 2004 Bestsellers. CLEVNET owns, respectively, 83 and 188 copies of each; the Sandusky Library owns only four copies of the first, against 17 of the latter. Consider now The Passion of the Christ and Fahrenheit 9/11: 2004 domestic grosses respectively, ranking #3 with $370,274,604 and #17 with $119,194,771. The CLEVNET owns, respectively, 97 and 257 copies or each. The Sandusky Library owns 6 copies of the first and 7 of the second. Is offering fewer copies of more popular items librarians’ way to “appeal to a diverse public”? (That Liberal items are overrepresented, we are sure, is just another isolated incident!) Clearly the addition of Conservative items should be given priority. We are glad both libraries have recently purchased such materials, and this effort should continue if they wish to be impartial representatives of their communities.

According to ex-teacher Ty Roth’s letter to the Editor, allowing parents to make choices for their children will transform “our small corner of America” into a fascist state. Let’s see. Fascism: centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation and forcible suppression of opposition. Libraries follow guidelines dictated by the ALA; citizens do not elect library boards or directors, have no say in the library policies, and their taxes have been centralized in Columbus. GAV members, “narrow-minded thinkers and purveyors of hatred,” ignorant, intolerant, have no right (nor intellect or finesse) to call disturbing books disturbing. Really? Disturbing: to trouble emotionally or mentally. Tenderness, by Robert Cormier (Huron Library, Young Adult Fiction): “Eric began with…. kittens. Liked to hold them…. feel the brittle bones.... Fragile bones, as if they’d snap and break if you pressed too hard, caresses too hard. Which he did, impossible to resist.... place his hands over their faces and feel them go beautifully limp.... Hated violence but couldn’t help it. … Enjoyed it… the real problem was disposal.” We call this pretty darn disturbing.

(1) Some alarming facts: http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/aboutyalsab/yalsafactsheet.htm

(2) Rainbow Party, Paul Ruditis; Deal With It, Esther Drill, Heather McDonald and Rebecca Odes; It's Perfectly Normal, Robie H. Harris; Tenderness, Robert Cormier; 33 Snowfish, Adam Rapp; Alice on the Outside, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor; Boys and Sex, Wardell B. Pomeroy; Rainbow Boys, Alex Sanchez.

(3) http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklistsbook.htm (Also, read our newsletters for examples of age inappropriate books in Ohio libraries.)

(4) http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/governingdocs/policymanual/intellectual.htm (53.1.13)

(5) See how things changed: http://www.fflibraries.org/Basic_Docs/biehle.htm

(6) http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/governingdocs/policymanual/intellectual.htm (53.1)

“The Day of Truth is scheduled for April 27, 2006. This is the day after GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Educational Network) will sponsor the ‘Day of Silence.’ GLSEN’s Day of Silence encourages students to remain silent throughout the day. It is part of their overall strategy to change how our society perceives homosexual behavior. But the Day of Silence is a misnomer, because what is truly being silenced is the Truth.” www.dayoftruth.org

How Long Until We Get This One?

On January Looking for Alaska by John Green received the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature (1). The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association. Below is an excerpt of this excellent book:

[…] Lara randomly asked me, "Have you ever gotten a blow job?" […] "I've just never geeven one […]. I think I want to," she said, and we kissed a little, and then […] Lara unbuttoned my pants and pulled my boxers down a little and pulled out my penis.
[…] And then she wrapped her hand around it and put it into her mouth. […] Should I do sometheeng?"
"Um. I don't know," I said. Everything I'd learned from watching porn with Alaska suddenly exited my brain. […] "Um. Maybe we should ask Alaska."
So we […] asked [her]. [Alaska] walked into the bathroom, returned with a tube of toothpaste, and showed us. In detail. […] Lara and I went back to her room, where she did exactly what Alaska told her to do, and I did exactly what Alaska said I would do […]. It was my first orgasm with a girl, and afterward I was embarrassed and nervous, and so, clearly, was Lara, who finally broke the silence by asking, "So, want to do some homework?" […]

[Alaska and I] watched the movie. It opened with a woman standing on a bridge with her legs spread while a guy knelt in front of her, giving her oral sex. [The] woman crouched on her hands and knees while a guy knelt behind her.

CLEVNET has 73 items available (more than half are in the Young Adult sections, one in Cleveland Heights High School) and 18 on order. How long until your local Library stacks their Children and Young Adult departments with this filth?

(1) Inspiration from the ALA: http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/awardsandgrants/yalsaawardsgrants.htm

Library Acquires Conservative Items

We would like to praise the Huron Public Library (Phone: 419-433-5009, Fax: 419-433-7228 - E-mail: huron@oplin.org) for purchasing the following items we suggested:

- The Ten Things You Can't Say In America, Larry Elder

- What's so Great About America, Dinesh D'Souza 

- Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline, Robert H. Bork

- Betrayal, Bill Gertz

- Back in Action: An American Soldier's Story of Courage, Faith, and Fortitude, David Rozelle

- Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant, Humberto Fontova

- The Connection, Stephen F. Hayes

- Countdown to Terror, Curt Weldon

- Spin Sisters, Myrna Blyth

- The Truth About Hillary, Edward Klein

- Clarence Thomas, a Biography, Andrew Peyton (on order)

- The New Racists, Armstrong Williams (July 2006)

- Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell (on order)

- Disinformation: 19 Media Myths that Undermine the War on Terror, Richard Miniter (on order)

- The War on Christmas, John Gibson (on order)

- Do as I Say (Not as I Do), Peter Schweizer (on order)

Local School Board Reaction to Taxpayer’s Request (Part 2)

The Gordian Knot*

We purchased a plethora of documents from the Huron School Board referent the Public Library. Among several documents that had no link to the library, we learned the School Board only passes money from the State to fund the library.

The funding amounts to: Local Government Fund or LGF + Local Government Revenue Assistance Fund or LGRAF (4.8% of State Income Sales, Public Utility excise, corporate franchise Tax and 3.024% kilowatt/hour) + Library and Local Government Support Fund or LLGSF (5.7% State Income Taxes; provides about 80% of revenue to public libraries; out of 251, 176 libraries receive no other revenue). All this seems not only conceived to separate us from our hard-earned money, but to make it impossible for us to control its use. Since we no longer pay the bill directly we have no say. Our duty is just to pay taxes and shut up!

Last year we met Erie County Prosecutor Terry Griffith who represents the Huron Library; according to her the Huron School Board has jurisdiction over the library. During a phone conversation the Board treasurer, Mike Weiss, disputed this claim explaining the money comes from the State and the Board is merely the library’s fiscal agent.

The process to figure who is responsible for what is confusing. The Board of Education seems to be a mere money dispenser for the library. Nevertheless, a 2003 document (RESOLUTION NO. 4407) reads: “this Board intends to place eight tenths (0.8) mill replacement levy on the May 6, 2003 election ballot”. One would assume that if a Board member has the right to vote in the affirmative, he equally has the right to vote against for personal reasons. After all, is this not the power of the purse? Unless the Board is nothing more than a rubber stamp, much like the soviet Duma…

One may dispute it, but the Library Board of Trustees and the Board of Education have a moral obligation toward the community to see that minor children are not exposed to age inappropriate literature. Since the law allows teachers and librarians to expose children to materials “harmful to juveniles’, it is imperative for citizens to change this law.

In a letter of 8/24/05 the Huron Library director explained that the library “determines the appropriateness of literature selections based upon [the] Board approved Materials Selection

Policy” (1). While in the Library, Internet users cannot “receive or display text or graphics that may reasonably be construed as obscene” (2). Yet According to Mrs. Hinton the Library “does not have separate guidelines for selection of materials for children.” How does their policy distinguish between harmful and obscene material for minor children that is educational versus merely prurient? The Young Adult department harbors books such as Tenderness, by Robert Cormier (Subject(s): “Serial Murders-Juvenile Fiction” and “Psychopaths-Juvenile Fiction”) and Alice on the outside, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Subject(s): “Sex-Juvenile Fiction”). Are these books educational? True to their “free and public access” policy, the Huron Library “dedicated library staff members are always available to provide suggestions and guidance to parents in selecting materials for their children.” True to the ALA mock Library Bill of Rights this same staff cannot stop an unaccompanied minor from checking out books like those mentioned above.

While the School Board believes it has no say in the Library business, its Board of Trustees submits local citizens to lengthy and deceiving bureaucratic procedures (3) that amount to the same thing. When they were contacted, they resorted to the ALA instruction book: they sent a Request for Consideration, a bureaucratic document designed not to help, but to discourage parents from acting because of the length of time the process may take (4).

There is a need to stop the bureaucratic maneuver of sending our State Income Tax to Columbus to return it through a powerless agent, and restore the control back to local patrons. The Board of Trustees of the Huron Library is selected by the Huron Board of Education (OH Revised Code Section 3375), so voters can send a message in the next elections. The Sandusky Library on the other hand is a non-profit organization and selects its Trustees, turning taxpayers into silent spectators whose only right is actually a duty: to foot the bills!

(1) http://winslo.state.oh.us/publib/material_huron.html

(2) http://winslo.state.oh.us/publib/internet_huron.html

(3) http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/challengesupport/dealing/workbookselection.htm#instructions

(4) Example: http://www.washingtontimes.com/culture/20050921-102415-2511r_page2.htm

Sandusky Library: http://www.sandusky.lib.oh.us

Huron Library: http://www.huron.lib.oh.us/

* For you in Rio Linda: Gordius, king of Phrygia, tied a very complicated knot that could only be undone by the man who would eventually rule Asia. When Alexander the Great went to Phrygia, he took a direct approach: he cut it with his sword. He then went to conquer all of Asia. Moral of the story: extreme situations call for simplistic solutions.

In Japanese the word yaoi means male to male sex. The CLEVNET consortium (www.cpl.org) is considering the acquisition of the Yaoi comics Saihoshi, the Guardian and Desire of the Gods, to be added to their Young Adult department (“Young Adult” = anyone under 18). We asked Chrystal Jeter (ChildLit@cpl.org, Chrystal.Carr.Jeter@cpl.org) to reconsider this absurd purchase. No answer yet. See the pictures for yourself (they were too graphic to be printed here) and understand why these comics should not be available to minors: http://www.guidemag.com/temp/yaoi/a/mcharry_yaoi.html.

Twist and Spin –the Truth Will Remain

On March 9, 2006 in an editorial, the Sandusky Register made clear their main goal is to form public opinion, not to inform. Their attack singling out an individual from a group exemplifies how the media defends freedom of expression so long it is in accordance to their views. They labeled the material we sent them as “graphic depictions of female nudity,” “unfit for public view” and even had to recover from the “shock of seeing these items.” Yet these materials did not come from the pages of Playboy, but from books and magazines written and available for minor children in Public Libraries. Who would think the view of pages of children’s books could have shocked adults? Since when do books destined to minors “about whole body health” have offensive images/words? Our intention (lost by all seven members of the board) was not to shock, but to alert them for a problem that seems to affect most American Libraries. These are the titles the Register chose not to disclose:

- SEVENTEEN magazine (October issue)

- Tenderness, Robert Cormier

- The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky

- Deal With It, by Esther Drill, Heather McDonald and Rebecca Odes

- It's Perfectly Normal: A Book about Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health, by Robie H. Harris

Adults deemed books intended specifically for minor children to be “offensive to public sensibilities” and “inappropriate for mass mailings” (which never happened). Yet they believe the images they refuse to publish (because their paper is “delivered to homes in which minor children live”) should be available for children in Public Libraries! Had the Register fulfilled its function, parents could have read these books and judged for themselves. Unless it is not safe to allow adults to make judgments without the guidance of the media, because they can arrive to a different interpretation… The Register also changed the heading of our Letter to the Editor (published the same day) from “Not Homosexuality” to the ambiguous “Libraries Out of Control.” Indeed, there is a time and place for everything… And it is parents’ decision –not Libraries or the ALA!— what their minor children will or not read.

The Sandusky Register sure has the power to keep attacking our group and its members, sending veiled threats, and choosing not to publish letters readers have been sending. As gate-keepers, they have the power to twist and spin. But the truth remains and the Register missed a great opportunity to do their job: inform the public and allow free speech.

W Ketchup™ for Dad and Mom:

Delicious and so… Right!

Get yours where I got mine:

www.wketchup.com

ALERT FOR PARENTS

The attack on traditional families has started in Elementary Schools with books like How My Family Came to Be: Daddy, Papa and Me, by Andrew Aldrich. When you talk with the teachers you might be surprised to learn some are getting guidance from pro-homosexual materials such as It’s Elementary, from Women’s Educational Media (pro-homosexual training video) and Queering Elementary Education, by William J. Letts IV. It seems their mission is no longer to teach children to think, but what to think. Schools now encourage kids to go to libraries where they can take home (without your knowledge) any book–and the Children, Teen and Young Adult (=anyone under 18) shelves have plenty of anti-traditional family literature, all intended for children! Lesbian and Gay Voices, an Annotated Bibliography and Guide to Literature for Children and Young Adults, by Frances Ann Day is an excellent source for parents who want to know if their children are being brainwashed in school. For more objectionable titles check these sites: www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/educator/booklink/K-6.html and www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/educator/booklink/7-12.html.

Keeping Age-Inappropriate Literature Away from Minors

National Library Legislative Day on 1 & 2 May 2006 may be an excellent opportunity to alert Congressmen and Senators to what is available in Public Libraries for minors.

Æ Ohio House of Representatives: http://www.house.state.oh.us/index.html

Æ Ohio Senate: http://www.senate.state.oh.us/index.html

This year as part of their “Diversity Celebration” Firelands Campus had “In Our Family: Portraits of All Kinds of Families”, an exhibited that celebrated, among others, “lesbian and gay-parented families”. GAV sent a proposal to Lesley Ruszkowski (assistant director, Office of College Relations, One University Drive, Huron, OH 44839; Phone: 419-433-5560, extension 20613; E-mail: lesleyr@bgnet.bgsu.edu) for next year to a Consensus Celebration exhibit that, novel concept, will focus on that which we all can agree. We are still waiting to hear from Firelands, but are sure they will embrace our suggestion. So, start separating your pictures to this consensus commemoration!

How You Can Help

Ø Visit your local Library and learn what they have available to children and teens.

Ø Ask your Librarian about their policies.

Ø Make your position known to your Library.

Ø Write, call, fax, and email your local Library with suggestions of family friendly books for children and teens.

Ø If your Librarian does not act upon your concerns, contact the Library Board of Directors.

Ø Write, call, fax, and email your Congressman.

Ø Support Grassroots American Values in our efforts.

Cool Blogs & Links

· http://www.gender-news.com/other.php?id=146 Sexualized High School kids

· http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS06B01&f=WA06B33 Benefits of abstinence

· http://www.rense.com/general69/prop.htm The best review of Brokeback

· http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49036 Brokeback hate mail

· http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/2/92006e.asp Son “damaged” by homosexual talk

· http://www.coshoctontribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060207/OPINION03/602070337&SearchID=73235083892021 ALA awards age inappropriate literature for minors

· http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10276/CWA/education/index.htm NO to offensive reading material

· http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/06021601.html Even the French get it!

· http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/17/AR2006021701846.html

George Will on Blackwell

· http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/state/13823878.htm Underage sex: not harmful!

· http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=BreakPoint1&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=17946 Moral judgment = mental disorder?

· http://www.massresistance.com/docs/articles/new_oxford.html The books were a front

· http://www.alainsnewsletter.com/article.php?id=151 He came out! J

· http://www.wketchup.com/news/060216.php Google, a traitor?

· http://www.freecongress.org/PC_Essays/default.asp What is political correctness?

· http://www.homemakersforamerica.com Conservative gals

· http://www.peytonwolcott.com/ Helping parents & taxpayers implode Education, Inc.

· http://www.usconstitution.net/ US Constitution on-line

· http://homepage.mac.com/mkoldys/iblog/index.html Johnny Dollar, cool under fire

· http://www.brokenpromisesmovie.com/ The video all Public Libraries should have

· http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-21.htm Anti-Semitic cartoons Arabs love to publish

· http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200602240629.asp Common sense, anyone?

· http://www.cinderellamanmovie.com Real good movies never get Oscars

· http://www.nationalreview.com/blyth/blyth200602240809.asp Got enough of Hollywood yet?

· http://www.junkscience.com/ Real science

· http://www.globalwarming.org/ More real science

· http://www.850koa.com/pages/shows_rosen.html?feed=119739&article=407088 “Geography” class

· http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49171 Down with Mom and Dad!

· http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48386 A special Easter

Reporters & Writers Needed

We need your help. If you are interested in volunteering to attend and report on City, Township, County, School Board, and/or any other public meetings, we would like to hear from you. We are not looking for professional writers or journalists, but like-minded Conservatives who would like to contribute to our newsletter. We are looking for volunteers to write 500 word editorial comments on local governmental activities. Writers can use a pen name if they do not want their real names disclosed. If interested, please respond to .

Our Mission Statement

Grassroots American Values exists to promote and defend the right to life, marriage, traditional family values, small government within the Constitutional boundaries of the Founders, personal responsibility, and American sovereignty.

Our Mission Statement, while lofty in scope, is intended to provide guidance for our group’s local activities. National news coverage too often focuses our attention on National events. We too often ignore the actions of our local politicians and career bureaucrats. We formed this organization to inform you, solicit your opinions, and invite your assistance in pursuit of the above-mentioned principals in our hometowns.

Our Goals

· Recruit and enlist members

· Seek out and enlist like-minded volunteer committee members, reporters, and contributors

· Monitor and report local governmental activities to the membership

· Find consensus among members and contributors

· Formulate action plans

· Organize activities, including lobbying activities

These are ambitious goals with a broad agenda; however, with your help we believe they are attainable. We welcome your comments and suggestions: .