PENGUIN BOOK BARRED FROM LIBRARY SHELVES: PC GONE AWRY?

NOTE TO SELF: A FAMILY IS A FAMILY IS A FAMILY...SOME PEOPLE SEE SUBVERSIVE PLOTS EVERYWHERE, ESPECIALLY IN LOUDON

Given the fact that this is a place where there is reading matter covering a wide variety of subjects, one parent whose sensitivities were obviously jarred by the prospect of gay penguin parenting, has managed to get a book pulled from the library shelves. Some people see subversive plots at every turn, even within the pages of a children's book.

A children's book about two male penguins that hatch and parent a chick was pulled from library shelves in Loudoun County elementary schools this month after a parent complained that it promoted a gay agenda.

The decision by Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III led many parents and gay rights advocates to rush to the penguins' defence. Many say that the school system should not have allowed one complaint to limit children's literary choices. Some are calling for an overhaul of the book review policy. Besides, many say, what could be wrong with a book about penguins?

"The book is based on a true story . . . of what happens in the animal kingdom," said David Weintraub, director of Equality Loudoun, a gay rights organization. "It's about the joy of being part of a family. These penguins love each other. They take care of each other. The book, "And Tango Makes Three," by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, draws on the real-life story of Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in New York. It also appears to make a point about tolerance of alternative families.

As the book says, Roy and Silo were "a little bit different" than the boy and girl penguins who noticed each other and became couples. "Wherever Roy went, Silo went too." After they tried to hatch an egg-shaped rock together, a zookeeper gave them a fertilized egg to nurture. Experts say male chinstraps typically share incubation duties with females.The 2005 book, written with simple words and colorful pictures and dedicated "to penguin lovers everywhere," topped the American Library Association's list of banned or challenged books in 2006. Parents challenged the book in Shiloh, Ill., and Charlotte. Administrators in Charlotte initially yanked the book but later restored it, according to news reports.

Read the whole story here:

http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/news/2008/feb/16/tango/

Extra Information regarding penguins found on the Sea World site: http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Penguins/hatching.html:

"Care of the chicks
1 . Chicks require attentive parents for survival. Both parents feed the chick regurgitated food. Adults recognize and feed only their own chicks. Parents are able to identify their young by their chick's distinctive call (Marchant, 1990; Simpson, 1976).
2. Male emperor penguins exhibit a feature unique among penguins. If the chick hatches before the female returns, the male, despite his fasting, is able to produce and secrete a curdlike substance from his esophagus to feed the chick (Marchant, 1990; del Hoyo, et al., 1992) allowing for survival and growth for up to two weeks (Pr6vost and Vilter, 1963-1 Stonehouse, 1975).

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE AWRY

NOTE TO SELF: WHEN IS CHRISTMAS NOT CHRISTMAS? WHEN IT'S NOT "PC"


Once again as has occurred in the past, Christmas has become a politically un-acceptable word.

The latest is a move by an Ottawa, Canada, elementary school's attempt to remove the word "Christmas" from the song, "Silver Bells" in their annual Christmas concert

Gimme a break!

The move has ignited a controversy that has spread across the country and probably across North America and beyond. Instead, "Frosty the Snowman" replaced "Silver Bells" sung by Grade 2 and Grade 3 students attending Elmdale Public School.

"It was a choice by the choir," said Ottawa-Carleton District School Board spokeswoman Sharlene Hunter. "The teachers are visibly and emotionally upset and don't feel they can conduct that song to the best of their ability."

Elmdale has been inundated with telephone calls and emails after the story broke about teachers at the school changing the word Christmas and replacing it with "festive" in the Christmas carol, "Silver Bells." As in: "silver bells...silver bells...it's festive time in the city..."

Ridiculous!

It's akin to the story where Australian Santas were told not to use the traditional "ho-ho-ho" laugh and use "ha-ha-ha" instead, since it was deemed offensive to women.

It makes one wonder which songs will be deemed un-politically correct in the future. Will radio stations have to bleep out unacceptable words?

"It's beginning to look a lot like festive... Everywhere you go..." or "We wish you a merry festive..."

And a Merry Christmas...um - Festive - whatever, to you too!

DEAD BUT NOT BURIED

NOTE TO SELF: BODIES AND LOVE ONE'S WAITING TO BE BURIED

Grave diggers and maintenance staff have been locked out of the Notre Dame des Neiges Cementary located in Montreal, Canada since May 16 and the bodies are piling up. A labor dispute has paralyzed Canada's largest cemetary but there could - key word here could - be a break through if you parden the pun. The feeling of personal loss however, can't be measured in numbers.

The one-hundred and twenty nine unionized workers at the burial ground announced that they are prepared to return to work 4 days per week, starting next Monday. Management for their part are considering the proposal. Workers are members of the Syndicat des travailleurs et des travailleuses du cimetière Notre Dame des Neiges, a local of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux and have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2003.

Contract negociations will continue even while the dead are being buried. The statistics are shocking with 498 bodies stored in refrigeration units since the Fabrique de la Paroisse Notre Dame de Montréal, the corporation managing the cemetery for the owners, Sulpician priests, locked out the workers. More alarming is the closing date for the season being November 1
and some families of the dead fear the sheer logistics of burying or cremating so many bodies before then will be a nightmare.

In addition to the remains in storage, the cemetery receives about 50 to 60 bodies a week.
According to one veteran cemetery employee, those returning to work will be hard-pressed to bury 20 bodies a day. There are only four backhoes on the site, and once they start digging, no two graves are the same.

The cemetery's executive director said that there is a plan of operation, a system and it will be adapted to the needs of the individual families.

If families want a graveside interment service conducted according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, in what is a predominately Roman Catholic cemetery, the situation becomes even more complicated. In many instances, it means reuniting families who may have come some distance for the funeral, and now again have to co-ordinate travel plans if they wish to be present for the burial.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=afa7fe20-309a-47de-94f4-255aad97f8f6&k=85666