Thursday, September 21 at noon there will be a meeting at the Main Library downtown Tucson in meeting room LL1.

The topic will be Banned Books.

When Richard and I walked into the library last Sunday, one of the first things we noticed was a display where The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn had a banner sealing it shut. The banner read, "Banned Book."

This sight sent me into deep thought. I must have stood there for some time as I wondered how can books be banned and not porn in the library. You make a choice to pick up and open the book. I don't make a choice nor does my child to visit a web site filled with images of porn. Yet, we were likely to see them in the library thanks to the those who cannot suppress their urges until they are in the privacy of their own home.

I dislike, disapprove of, and believe porn is harmful to our children and society. It goes against every moral fiber of my being. It disgusts me. Even with those strong feelings I believe porn is protected. We do live in a free country. The library has come up with a solution that will protect the safety of our children and the freedoms that make this a great country.

One still has to ask, "How can porn be protected and not books?"

I cannot answer the question. It is infuriating that freedoms are so silently lost. Basic freedoms. Parental freedom and religious freedoms gone from our public schools. Even choosing the color of clothes, hair or what you want to read. Don't even get me started on the color of your own private property. You would not believe the debate that happened over a companies national colors and Sahuarita's master plan. Simply infuriating!

I'll go to that meeting at the library and find out more about the movement to ban books. It will probably only make me saddened more to see freedoms tossed out the window.

"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us." Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas taken from the library flyer.