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Published: March 25, 2008
“Keep libraries safe for kids”
ACLU asks Sacramento library board to relax pornography controls on public computers
Pacific Justice Institute Action Alert
March 24, 2008
 The Sacramento Public Library Authority Board is being pushed by the American Civil Liberties Union to increase access to pornography on taxpayer-funded computers.
The board will consider the ACLU's demands at its meeting this Thursday, March 27, in the chambers of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, 700 H St. The public meeting begins at 3 p.m.
Pacific Justice Institute is encouraging local parents and taxpayers to attend the meeting and urge the board to keep libraries safe for kids. Members of the media are also invited to attend, as this issue is expected to spark lively public debate.
A Pacific Justice Institute affiliated attorney will be present to counter ACLU claims that the First Amendment requires taxpayer-funded access to porn, and to remind the board of the many tragic instances where lax policies have resulted in sex crimes taking place at libraries.
The Pacific Justice Institute previously battled this issue last spring, urging the Sacramento Public Library Authority board to completely ban access to porn on library computers. The Board chose to adopt less-stringent measures, such as installing some recessed screens and using filtering software. Now, the ACLU is claiming that even this approach is unconstitutional because filters sometimes block out other sites.
In a letter to the Sacramento library board, the ACLU specifically identified the needs of youth to have access to information about gay and lesbian issues, contraception, and other sexual materials without their parents' knowledge.
Pacific Justice Institute urges any members of the public who address the board on this issue to maintain a respectful demeanor and remember that several members of the board strongly supported our efforts last year to ban porn on library computers.
For those not able to attend the meeting, comments can be sent by email to the board via Brenda Haggard, bhaggard@saclibrary.org.
For more information, contact Pacific Justice Institute at (916) 857-6900.
Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 7:20 AM By Margie
We need to tell the ACLU to take their hands off our children!
The last time I checked the constitution there was no right to pornography.
"Can a man take fire into his busom and his garments not be burned?Or can a man walk on live coals and his feet not be scorched? Proverbs 6.27-28
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Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 7:40 AM By catholic
Will try to send e-mail as I cannot go to meeting. One would think that this would be a no brainner....how any judge could be swayed by such a crazy arguement. The aclu is evil incarnate!
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Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 9:18 AM By Margie
Let the ACLU differentiate between a "want" and a "need". As far as I am concerned, necessities are quite different from desires.
"the ACLU specifically identified the needs of youth to have access to information about gay and lesbian issues, contraception, and other sexual materials without their parents' knowledge."
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Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 1:18 PM By Margie
May I refer the people of God to the Catholic Catechism on Respect for the souls of others: scandal? See CCCC 2284-2287.
Specifically 2287 and I quote, "Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encourged."(Pornography) "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!" Luke 17:1
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Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 4:33 PM By Margie
Here is some contact information for you. Make a call. Send an email. Show up! Take action.
thank you for your comments on this issue. They are being provided to our Authority Board members for Thursday’s meeting.
Brenda Haggard
Executive Assistant to
Anne Marie Gold, Director
Sacramento Public Library
828 I Street
Sacramento , CA 95814
P: 916.264.2808
F: 916.264.2755
E: bhaggard@saclibrary.org
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Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 5:46 PM By Laurette Elsberry
Thye Sacramento "Powers" Board, as it is called, perceives itself as the guardian of free speech - unless you want to argue with them. Years ago the American Family Association protested against the placement of "gay" newspapers in racks right outside the entrance to the children's section of the main library. Some of the most outrageous items from some of these newspapers were read aloud, really awful material, including some about the sexual fetish that some people have for amputees (don't ask me). Some ex-pornography addicts also testified about their addictions, and how they started. It was very hard for them to do this, and very courageous. And what did the "Powers" decide? Not to remove the "gay" newspapers because it would be "censorship".
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Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 7:06 PM By Judith Kaye
Allowing people to view pronography in public places as Libraries where our children go to enrich their minds with knowledge and as a place where parents once thought was a safe haven for our children is now tainted. ACLU who are you protecting the rights of? How about the rights of our future generation!
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Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 8:40 PM By John L. Sillasen
Making porn available to minors should be a crime. So, why isn't it?
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Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 9:23 PM By Allen
The Pacific Justice Institute seems obsessed with pornography but that's not the issue the ACLU has with the Sacramento library board. Obscenity and child pornography have always been illegal to view at libraries and the ACLU doesn't challenge that prohibition. What the ACLU does challenge is the library policy adopted last March that allows library staff to force adults to “end a search or change a screen” if they are viewing "subject matter that would interfere with the maintenance of a safe, welcoming and comfortable environment." Because this policy so clearly violates the US and California constitutions, the ACLU has asked the library board to rescind it. My daughter uses the Sacramento libraries and I am as interested as anyone in protecting her and the other children there, but we need not violate the US and California constitutions to do it.
For more on the REAL facts, see http://www.saclibrary.org/about_lib/auth_board/080327/8_1.pdf
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Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 9:28 PM By Chris O'Brien
What is this? I couldn't believe my eyes when I read this article. What on the earth is matter with your country? Pornography in libraries??? Get real Sacremento.
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Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 10:54 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher
What is to be surprised for? The ACLU was originally founded by Communist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Roy Baldwin to support Communist who were being arrested and indicted. Can you imagine t hat, we actually use to consider it a crime to be a Communist!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher, Founder & Chairman
Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Inc.
www.crcoa.com
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Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 10:55 PM By John L. Sillasen
How does it violate Constitutions? The freedom of speech issue does not constitutionally allow some things. So, is it that the latest prohibition requires too much of a judgment call by the librarian? Or is it the "force" issue? Why not then specify the content that is not allowed and then allow the librarian to pull the plug? Or have the librarian, upon noticing the patron's screen content, launch some kind of program that intervenes? That is, since some sites can be brought up even with filters on the system, the librarian who notices it would then send a program designed for this stage of censoring.
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Posted Wednesday, March 26, 2008 8:50 AM By Anj
The ACLU is not about rights, it hides behind this front it really is EVIL I can't stress it strongly enough. Why they are in practice I do not understand. The country is going downhill fast and they are leading it there! Common sense will tell you what they want is EVIL.
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Posted Wednesday, March 26, 2008 11:59 AM By Nedd
People, you have to understand the ACLU is an anything goes bunch. They want no restrictions on any activity deemed be immoral - porn, abortion, homosexual marriage, etc. When they do, it's always because there is either court precedent for the restriction or because their opinion is completely out of sync with most Americans. They support anyone using library computers for any purpose. To restrict anything deemed to them as free speech or freedom of expression usually means ACLU litigation. A society with no restrictions whatsoever is a frightening one to live in. The ACLU must be bankrupted for the sake of what good remains of America and there isn't too much left.
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Posted Wednesday, March 26, 2008 12:42 PM By Bob L
Nothing in the news amazes me anymore, especially the wants of the ACLU whose main purpose years back was to aid the underprivledged (I think).
Lose faith in leadership, induce or force people from religious beliefs, focus attention from important issues to sports, celebrity happenings, open all gates from morality & common sense, etc.
Wait: isn't that similar to the Communist Manifesto???
Library Porn-ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
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Posted Thursday, March 27, 2008 1:44 PM By Ralph Merletti
Please! I urge the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors to stop this "anything goes" madness of the ACLU! The family structure in America and around the world is already under assault from so many controversial and evil forces. The framers of the U.S. Constitution could never have imagined how misinterpreted the document would be as to the real meaning of freedom. Let's hold onto common sense and reject the ACLU's anarchy-style interpretation of "freedom" that would allow more access to pornography, homosexual agenda promotion, etc. to our children,--all this unknown to parents!
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Posted Sunday, March 30, 2008 4:55 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher
Bob L.
Actually unless you consider Communist "underprivileged" you are wrong! The ACLU was founded by Eizabeth Gurley Flynn and Roy Baldwing, and it was founded to protect Communist who were then being brought to justice. Can you imagine that, we actually used too arrest known Communist!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher, Founder & Chairman
Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Inc.
www.crcoa.com
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