censorship

Shorewood wants everyone to read novel; Merrill parents try to ban it

October 5, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Larry Watson, left, author of the best-selling novel, "Montana 1948," is speaking in Shorewood today to kick off a "Shorewood Reads" program in which the whole community is being encouraged to read his book. Elsewhere, they're trying to ban it. Shorewood Patch says:

Shorewood Library Director Beth Carey estimated that the book has been checked out of the library more than 200 times and been read by a number of area book clubs over the last few months...

Montana 1948 has been the featured book in community reading programs numerous times since its publication in 1993, something Watson attributes to the fact that it deals with the kind of moral dilemma that “frequently makes for interesting and productive discussions.”

The novel also has provoked an interesting discussion in Merrill, up the road a piece, where some parents tried to get it banned from high school libraries and out of the curriculum for 10th grade English students.

That effort failed, as the Wausau Daily Herald reports:

All I don't know is what I can't read in the newspapers -- Walker edition

September 19, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

From an article by the very estimable John Nichols in The Capital Times comes a bald if unsurprising statement about Gov. Scott Walker. It involved Walker's reaction to the current John Doe investigation and FBI raids involving his tenure as Milwaukee County Executive:

News reports of the FBI raid are the talk of the state. But Walker is not talking. He and his press secretary are instructing reporters not to bring the issue up at public events.

Since when do a governor and his staff feel so uber-privileged that they will not only refuse to answer questions about a particular and unpleasant matter, but will effectively threaten any reporter who dares to bring the matter up in the first place? Is this transparent government, where the public has a right to know? Of course not, but it fits right in with the state GOP legislative leadership's recurring tactic of calling public meetings without following the spirit or even the language of the Open Records Act.