No, TexFake isn't a new term coining George W. Bush's attempt at being a President it is the title of a book written in 1994 by a rare book dealer that dealt with the "scandal surrounding the 1988 discovery of forged copies of the Texas Declaration of Independence."Now almost 20 years later a recent purchase by the Texas Historical Commission has all the makings of TexFake redux.Here's what happened:-Recently, the THC paid $490, 000 for a letter written by Davey Crockett to his family days before he was killed at the Battle of the Alamo.-The state bought the letter from...
Iraqi State Library Under Siege. U.S. Forces Condone Takeover
Iraqi security forces have overtaken the state library. 20 Iraqi troops "seized the building at gunpoint yesterday, threatening staff and guards.""The reckless actions of the Iraqi forces and the US military, who appear to condone the operation, will put the staff and library and archival collections in real danger," said Saad Eskander who has run the library since 2003."They have turned our national archive into a military target...tomorrow or the day after, the extremists will attack the Iraqi forces there." says Eskander.The forces are occupying the building "to defend Shia worshippers heading to the shrine of Khadimiya, about 15 miles...
EPA Library Openings Hit Another Political Snag
I am beginning to get the feeling that the EPA Libraries fiasco, like so many other vital services and issues that are in dire straights in our country, will not be resolved until the the cancerous Bush administration is removed or leaves office.From a July 17th Press Release by the ever so important Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) :"Even as Congress moves to reverse EPA’s library closures, the agency is now racing to cement new procedures restricting the ability of the public to locate or read technical documents in the agency’s possession. A new proposed policy circulated internally for...
EPA Libraries Get a Lift. Bill Heads to the Senate Floor
The Senate Appropriations Committee has ordered the EPA to reopen all their closed libraries.The $2 million dollars cut by the Bush Administration will be made available again in the 2008 Interior Appropriations bill and used to "restore the network of EPA libraries recently closed or consolidated by the administration."The bill now heads to the full Senate so, if you haven't already, this is a good time to contact your Senator and urge them to support the bill. It would then need to go to the House to find support in a similar bill since this funding was not included in...
Censorship at Home and Abroad
This was one of last weeks Daily Number at the Pew Research Center for the People & The Press .The headline: 46% support public school library book banning.The good news is that this is the "lowest level of support in 20 years."What are these "dangerous ideas" that people want to keep from their kids?Isn't the act of keeping our kids from these ideas just as dangerous?Then we have Google going full throttle with their campaign to fight censorship. Their guns are aimed at Washington, D.C. in the hope of getting Government support in their fight for the free flow of...