Happy National Library Week! And tomorrow is the bi-annual event known as Dewey's Read-a-Thon, where participants read for 1-24 hours.

Whatcha reading? And it's an open thread, too.

Fahrenheit 451 is this fall's "The Big Read" offering at libraries around the country. US readers can enter their zipcode here to find a participating group in their area. And yes, some libraries are also offering viewings (see a clip above) of Francois Truffaut's fantastic film adaptation from 1966, as well.

Open thread below.

Murray Waas explains:

Freedom of expression may be guaranteed by the Constitution. But it’s an idea we have to fight for every day.

The great civil libertarian Nat Hentoff once said that our sex drive pales in comparison with our urge to censor. It’s an urge that is played out in places high and low, encompassing both the serious and the absurd. Military veterans protesting the war are arrested in Boston and charged with disturbing the peace. An anti-abortion activist in Maine borrows sex-education books from public libraries and refuses to return them. A legislative leader in Rhode Island– the head of John McCain’s presidential campaign in that state– compares anonymous critics to `terrorists,’ and helps kill a proposal aimed at guaranteeing their First Amendment rights...

And let us not forget Robert Watson:

Robert Watson is both the minority leader of the Rhode Island House, and the chief chair of John McCain’s presidential campaign in Rhode Island. He is also, according to this week’s Boston Phoenix (see post below), one of those deserving by the alt weekly of one of their annual award winners for muzzling free speech in New England...read on

Bitch Ph.D: The Bush Crime Family has literally used all the power of the government to ruin a man without so much as charging him with a crime.

Secrecy News: Democratic Reps tell EPA to suspend the closure of public document libraries

Whippersnapp: Garry Kasparov, one of the greatest chess players of all time, on the U.S. policy in Iraq

Balkinization: It is hard to imagine that anyone could be more subversive to the rule of law than Judge Richard Posner.

Conservative Truths: Just one more reason not to vote Republican

The Aristocrats: The Aristocrats have declared the festival of Zappadan, which runs from the date of Frank's death, 

12/4, through the date of his birth. 12/21

Alternet:

In August, under the guise of fiscal responsibility, the Bush Environmental Protection Agency began closing most of its research libraries, both to the public and to its own staff.

The EPA's professional staff objected strongly, insisting that closing the libraries would hamstring them in their jobs. In a letter to Congress protesting the closures, public employees said, "We believe that this budget cut is just one of many Bush administration initiatives to reduce the effectiveness of the US Environmental Protection Agency, and to continue to demoralize its employees."
[..]Closing the EPA libraries is the perfect symbol to characterize the methods of the Bush administration. Since 2000, the Republicans have cemented their reputation as ushers of a new dark age. They have sought to shroud the light of science by closing libraries and by suppressing scientific reports. They have gagged their own scientists and persecuted whistleblowers. They have cloaked government in secrecy, a prime example being Dick Cheney's secret meetings with oil companies to draft an industry-friendly national energy policy. But that era is now winding down. Read on...

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." ...read on

The sickness is spreading at a rapid pace. Next will be gay screen writers, gay actors, gay chefs, gay starbucks workers, gay Wal-mart employees...oh wait a second..they don't make enough money to count. The next question is where will Ken Mehlman go?