Reprint from the The Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge to stop the Miami-Dade County school district from removing a series of children’s books from its libraries, including a volume about Cuba which depicts smiling kids in communist uniforms.

The ACLU and the Miami-Dade County Student Government Association argued in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Miami on Wednesday that the school board should add materials with alternate viewpoints rather than remove books that could be offensive.

Last week, the board voted 6-3 to remove “Vamos a Cuba” and its English-language version, “A Visit to Cuba” from 33 schools, stating the books were inappropriate for young readers because of inaccuracies and omissions about life in the communist nation.

The book, by Alta Schreier, targets students ages 5 to 7 and contains images of smiling children wearing uniforms of Cuba’s communist youth group and a carnival celebrating the 1959 Cuban revolution. The district owns 49 copies of the book in Spanish and English.

The school board also decided to remove 24 other books in the series, including ones on Greece, Mexico and Vietnam, “despite not having received a complaint about those books and without having reviewed the books in its administrative process,” the suit said.

The ACLU noted the books have received favorable reviews in nationally recognized publications including Publishers Weekly and the School Library Journal. The suit also cites staff recommendations to keep the books.

“The Miami-Dade School Board’s decision to defy U.S. law prohibiting censorship and ignore the recommendation of their own superintendent and two committees is a slap in the face to our tradition of free speech and the school board’s own standards of due process,” said JoNel Newman, an attorney working with the ACLU.

School district spokesman Joseph Garcia said the district will go to court to defend the board’s decision.

The controversy began in April when a parent who said he had been a political prisoner in Cuba complained about the books’ depiction of life under communist rule.

The lawsuit alleges the books’ removal violates students’ rights to a free press and that the volumes were removed without due process.

For more of the ACLU’s idiocy visit Jay at StoptheAcLU

Mules are funny critters..
I have always loved to hear mules talking.. Complaining. Braying. Whatever.

There’s nothing quite like lying in a leaking wall tent cozy outfitters tent at Four am, sleeping soundly when the boss mule wanders up to the tent and brays at the top of his lungs. It’s guaranteed to wake you suddenly and make you reach for the rifle next to your bed roll.

In Cowboy Heaven, Montana, I used to do some fall packing with LeroyTheBald
Outfitter. Because his camps were so far back in the Bob Marshall wilderness, he had a tough time finding suckers to cook for him. When he first approached me about cooking, I laughed and said no.
He called, he begged, his wife Char called, she begged, they came to the ranch and begged, they sent mail and begged.
All I had to do was come to elk camp and hang out, and well cook three meals and a few snacks a day for himself and ten mighty elk hunters, from around the world.

Actually LeroyTheBald would start begging about the first of May.
I enjoyed this game, and I perfected not giving LeroyTheBald an answer until the middle of September.
This would make him crazy, and make me laugh.
It was altogether a fun game.

Cooking at elk camp took some skill, because the hunters would moan and complain if you served them raw or burned food, Bunch of crybabies.

Anyway Leroy used mules to pack the gazillion tons of stuff needed to keep the crybaby hunters from whining too much.

I always swore on the ride out of elk camp, perched atop a horse walking on a ten inch trail on the side of a mountain with fifty inches of new snow, I was NEVER going to do this again.

I sure got to know some of those mules pretty well.
All in all mules are funny critters.
But not at four am.

I have learned to cope with frizzy hair, by simply ignoring it.
I refuse to do what most women in Florida do, which is to use a five gallon jug of hair spray daily. They carry it with them in their cars and such, you know the five gallon pump and spray thingies.

Nope not for me!
I had sent TheRottenSon some pictures from Mitchells birthday party, his comment was
Geez mom do something about those frizzies.
Heh!

I have longish hair. It gets in my way frequently. I keep it long because
TheMasterOfTheUniverse likes to brush it at night, and I like that.
So we compromise. He gets to brush my hair, and I live with the frizzies.

Florida hair is not just a bit frizzy, when you have 4000 percent humidity
It becomes seriously frizzy.

At stores they give seminars on the battle of the frizzies, and how to win it this week….
Just yesterday I heard a woman ask, is it ok? Should I spray again?
With a note of terror in her voice, I wanted to say something to calm her fears, but I was afraid to..
She would have looked at my frizzies and fainted..

I guess when you live in paradise; small aggravations are to be expected.
It is a bit disconcerting when ladies run screaming in terror however.