[Publib] Current Affairs

[Nann Blaine Hilyard]

His website is unavailable at the moment  "due to high traffic."
http://www.joewilson.house.gov/

Nann
@the library in Zion, Illinois


From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Backwage at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2009 9:47 AM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] Current Affairs

Well, good morning out there.  It is another day in library land, and that means another storm of patrons through the door, some of them perhaps already in front of your reference desk, ready to ask questions about the issues of the day.  Or yesterday, which included a speech by that President of ours about health care.

Sharing the limelight with the leader of our republic was a feller from South Carolina name of Joe Wilson, who managed to involve himself in the debate to the extent of referring to the President as a liar.  Joe now begins his fifteen minutes of fame, give or take a few hours.  People are wondering, "Who is Joe Wilson?"  "Where is South Carolina?"  "Does everybody there talk out of turn?"  It is your job to help them find answers.

First of all, you can direct your askers to either the Congressional Record or various online sources to find out about the Honorable Joe.  But to save you time, and in the interest of professional collegiality, I will share with you a few of Joe's votes in the House.  Of Representatives, that is.

The website "On the Issues" reports that Joe voted to make the Patriot Act permanent, including its provisions about permitting the FBI access to library circulation records, library patron lists, book sales records, book customer lists and other records.  The Act also would have permitted the extension of the provision allowing internet service providers to disclose subscriber information and contents of their communications.

Joe voted yes on a proposed amendment to the Constitution protecting our flag from desecration; also sought an amendment banning same-sex marriage; and wanted to protect the flag salute, too.  Joe voted against protecting individuals against employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.  Joe does not believe that abortion is a woman's right, but he strongly supports teacher-led prayer in public schools (he has a 92% rating from the Christian Coalition).  Needless to say, he strongly opposes federal support for health care.  He also wants to privatize Social Security.  Joe is a real demon on illegal immigration.  He wants those folks to be denied health services and jobs; Joe wants English enshrined as our national language and also wants the government to provide services only in English.  Actually Joe wants hospital personnel to have to report illegal immigrants who seek medical care.  Joe seems to want to abolish the IRS.

So there you have Joe Wilson.  He apparently is a strong supporter of free speech, at least for English-speaking native-born citizens who are members of Congress.  Any junior high kid needing a thousand words for a term paper should have no trouble finding current material at your desk.

M. McGrorty

________________________________
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/attachments/20090910/215e8c2c/attachment.htm