BibliophileBullpen » idiot

Canadian science fiction writer, beaten and arrested at US border

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:36:40 +0000

Some days i am not so fond of my country. Personally I think we have wound up our police and border guards too tightly looking for enemies that they can’t see straight and make some pretty terrible mistakes.

From Boing Boing
Dr Peter Watts, Canadian science fiction writer, beaten and arrested at US border

Hugo-award-nominated science fiction author Dr. Peter Watts is in serious legal trouble after he was beaten, pepper-sprayed and imprisoned by American border guards at a Canada U.S. border crossing December 8. This is a call to friends, fans and colleagues to help.
Peter, a Canadian citizen, was on his way back to Canada after helping a friend move house to Nebraska over the weekend. He was stopped at the border crossing at Port Huron, Michigan by U.S. border police for a search of his rental vehicle. When Peter got out of the car and questioned the nature of the search, the gang of border guards subjected him to a beating, restrained him and pepper sprayed him. At the end of it, local police laid a felony charge of assault against a federal officer against Peter. On Wednesday, he posted bond and walked across the border to Canada in shirtsleeves (he was released by Port Huron officials with his car and possessions locked in impound, into a winter storm that evening). He’s home safe. For now. But he has to go back to Michigan to face the charge brought against him.

(continue reading)

American Prude

admin — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 04:14:00 +0000

I can’t improve on this.
from the Independent.

Author’s nude drawings too hot for US publisher
By Tony Paterson in Berlin

One of Germany’s best-selling children’s authors is embroiled in an extraordinary transatlantic row about nudity after a US publisher refused to accept one of her books because it contained naive sketches of an art gallery with works depicting naked bodies.

Rotraut Susanne Berner’s illustrated “Wimmel” books about the everyday lives of adults and children have won international acclaim and are best-sellers in 13 countries from Japan to the Faroe Islands.

But the 59-year-old author said her American publisher had refused to accept her latest book for US distribution because it contained elements deemed potentially offensive, including drawings of people naked or smoking. Berner said her US publisher, Boyds Mills Press, had objected in particular to one of her illustrations which showed adults and children in an art gallery where the portrait of a naked woman was on show together with a seven millimetre high sculpture of a naked man exhibiting a barely discernible penis. . . .continue . . .

beloved not so much

admin — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 03:10:00 +0000

idiot alert • 150 Advance Placement Students at a Louisville TN school were told to stop reading Toni Morrison’s Beloved after some parents (read 2 morons who were allowed to breed) objected to its sexual content and language. The students were told to start over with The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne – which merely has sex and adultery but the language is spotless.

naughty librarians

admin — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 02:29:00 +0000

idiot alert • Librarians at Rocky Mountain College, Billings, MT are hoping to find the person who bought a large calfskin 300 year old book at the annual book sale last spring. Librarians discovered that Volume one of three of History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England by Edward Hyde, First Earl of Clarendon, published in Dublin, Ireland 1719 was missing as they were preparing for this year’s book sale. Library Director Kehler said it is possible the book was misplaced, but more likely it was inadvertently sold during last spring’s sale.

naughty, idiot, whatever – I couldn’t decide. Either these folks are in serious denial that someone lifted this book OR they were stupid enough to actually toss this onto a library sale table. If you believe that A. it will come back and B. it was bought completely innocently – I have a bridge and some swamp land for you. Do people actually still believe other people are inherently well meaning and good? Cause last time I checked we were breeding a race of Viagra popping, money grubbing narcissists and the more of them I meet, the more I like my cats.

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:48:00 +0000

idiot alert • from the New York Times – the Principal of Wilton High School, CT has prevented the students from performing an an original play about the war in Iraq. They compiled reflections of soldiers and others involved, including a heartbreaking letter from a 2005 Wilton High graduate killed in Iraq last September at age 19. He was worried the play might hurt Wilton families “who had lost loved ones or who had individuals serving as we speak,” and that there was not enough classroom and rehearsal time to ensure it would provide “a legitimate instructional experience for our students.” Sure you can have a war but just not let anyone talk about it – cause THAT might hurt em. Yep, that’ll learn them.

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 22:46:00 +0000

idiot alert • Long Island Elementary School principal accuses teacher of being a witch – prompts lawsuit. Well duh, he’s already a toad, what more does he want?

seriously there are so many of these
i need a special idiot logo.
what do you think too much? or not enough?

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 03:09:00 +0000

idiot alert • Three John Jay High School, Lewisboro, NY, suspended three juniors for using the word vagina in a recitation of ‘The Vagina Monologues’ in school. You know i could do a blog of JUST these?

banktoaster • Typesfaster (Windows only) Free, open source application which teaches you how to touch-type and improve your typing speed. [via lifehacker]

something new • SF Gate reviews a new Library of America volume Thornton Wilder: Collected Plays and writings on Theater.

admin — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 04:23:00 +0000

idiot alert • Georgia is poised to introduce two literature classes on the Bible in public schools a move that would make the state the first to take an explicit stance endorsing — and funding — biblical teachings. is it too late to let them secede?

injustice galore

admin — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 04:09:00 +0000

big idiot alert • Kansas continues its de-evolutionary march to back into the ocean from whence we all came. The Kansas Obscenity bill will allow teachers to be charged with crimes depending up on the materials selected for classroom use. - Hmmmm…i am wondering if this will apply retroactively? Is there something in the water?

get this • from the Guardian – An American Pedophile in a Romanian prison writes a book on Dracula which earns him community service credit and he gets out of prison 2 years early. i have no joke for that – its kinda self explanatory.

hot button • Scientists Avoiding the Word “Evolution” in Scientific Papers I bet they’re avoiding the words ‘global warming’, but not surprisingly the word ‘FUNDING’

wwjd? • 10yr old Pennsylvania boy sues school for banning Jesus Halloween costume. Good for him – I hope he wins.

admin — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 04:36:00 +0000

stalwart alert • Judge dismisses Lexington, MA ‘King & King’ case writing “Diversity is a hallmark of our nation”.

must listen • from NPR Weekend Edition Saturday, February 24, 2007 · Literary detective Paul Collins has uncovered a literary ancestor to mad libs, the party game that was first popular in the 1950s. The discovery of a book called Revelations of My Friends points to an earlier origin. More at his blog Weekend Stubble.

worth hearing • also from NPR – The FCC will no longer require Morse Code for amateur radio licenses. The move seems to spell the end of using dots and dashes to spell out words over radio frequencies. But will the “Tom Sawyer” effect keep Morse Code alive?

wtf? • I reported on this before – remember the banned Youtuber who’s only crime was a video containing Koran passages? . . . well apparently it’s a concerted effort:

Muslims on YouTube organizing to censor videos that criticize Islam.
Muslims on YouTube have formed several groups where users and videos that criticize Islam (which they define as “Hate Speech”) are listed and mass-flagged as abuse. YouTube seems to remove videos and sometimes even ban users automatically. Muslims claim that they only flag videos that have violated YouTube’s TOS, but this has been been proven false”

editorial • Now really, I don’t have any feelings one way or the other about Islam I simply don’t care about religions in the slightest – I only give a shit about BEHAVIOR and INTOLERANCE. How come out of all the religions in the world, all of a sudden THEIR’S is the MOST sacred cow above all others? Freedom of Speech means just that, be it a blog, a cartoon, a video, a book or a newspaper. Where the Fuck do they get off targeting anyone they who disagrees with them in this manner . . . and where does Youtube get off aiding and abetting these Philistines? Inclusion in the 21st century means taking your lumps like every other idiot. Ferchrissakes we have been beating the hell out Catholicism for centuries now and the damn thing just won’t go away. If you religion can stand up to a few brick bats perhaps there is something wrong with it.