by Bill Fancher and Jody Brown
(AgapePress) – Unfiltered Internet access at the nation's libraries is exposing children and library employees to pornography — and it appears the American Library Association is okay with that.
The American Library Association is one of the groups involved in a court challenge of the Children's Internet Protection Act, which would mandate porn-blocking filters on all publicly funded Internet-access computers in libraries and schools. The ALA's Bill of Rights states that everyone has a right to surf the Internet on library computers without any restrictions.
Family Research Council spokesperson Jan LaRue says many children get their first exposure to pornography on library computers “because, according to the American Library Association's Bill of Rights, surfing on the Internet on library-accessible computers … is a permissible use of library resources, even for children.”
LaRue says the ALA's attitude has become a problem for not only children and parents, but also for librarians.
“Regrettably, there are librarians across America who work in libraries where hard-core porn is turning their workplace into a cesspool,” she says. According to LaRue, many librarians are leaving their chosen profession because of that.
The New York Times reported earlier this month that a reference desk librarian in Minneapolis described her working atmosphere as “a nightmare” since library patrons had been given unrestricted, unlimited access to the Internet. Wendy Adamson, a librarian for 30 years, said her library “became a club for a large number of men who were viewing pornography all day.” She said some of the men would be at the door when the library opened and would remain until closing.
The veteran librarian related how she was demoralized and depressed by being exposed to images of sadomasochism and bestiality during the course of her work. According to Adamson, the library would often be littered with sexually explicit pictures printed out by Internet porn viewers, and that computer users would verbally abuse her when she tried to enforce time limits. But she said the worst part of her day was being unable to do anything when unsuspecting library patrons, including children, would be exposed to unwanted sexual images on library terminals.
Adamson says library administrators told the staff “to avert our eyes … but we were surrounded by it.” She added that library officials did not respond to staff complaints about the policy.
(This update courtesy of Agape Press.)
Educator Condemns ACLU for Defending Pedophile Association
by Chad Groening
(AgapePress) – The chancellor of Boston University said it is indefensible for the American Civil Liberties Union to represent the North American Man-Boy Love Association in a suit filed against the pedophile organization.
In a column published in the Boston Herald, John Silber says the ACLU has “abandoned common sense” by claiming that NAMBLA did not contribute to the death of 10-year-old Jeffery Curley in 1997. One of the two men charged in the killing visited the NAMBLA website prior to the brutal murder. The boy's family is suing NAMBLA as contributors to Jeffrey's death.
But the ACLU claims it was purely a question of free speech when NAMBLA published information on how to best accomplish statutory rape. Silber says the site even advised members to get access to children by volunteering, for example, to work with the Boy Scouts.
The Boston University educator says the ACLU is resisting any attempts to divulge the membership of NAMBLA, thereby protecting criminals from discovery. In addition, he says in the suit filed by the boy's parents, the ACLU is providing a proxy in court so that no one who wants to legalize sexual acts between adults and babies need suffer exposure in court.
Silber questions the ethics of the ACLU in its willingness to protect an organization that advocates the rape of children.
