1356 Why don't they listen to [insert name here]?

Greg over at Shush [Aug. 10] has a point that reminds me of the peace activists [even the name is a bit bizarre] who were here at Lakeside last week. Reminds me of the grieving mother who has already personally met with the president but wants one more shot to tell him he's wrong. However, Greg is talking about the American Library Association, a group sort of like the elected representatives from thousands of churches from hundreds of denominations who gather annually to feel important passing resolutions no one will ever read, and no one outside their little "club" supports. He writes:

The complaining on the ALA Council list for the past month has been something to behold. "Why aren't there news releases out on those resolutions!" "Why didn't American Libraries put more information about those resolutions in the magazine!" "Why hasn't George Bush begged our forgiveness for going into Iraq after we passed our resolution!" Well maybe not that last one but you know they dream about it. Anyway, a number of the more vocal liberals are up in arms because they feel the resolutions on disinformation and on Iraq haven't been properly promoted. They've been demanding that ALA staff drop everything they might be doing (probably even vacations) and devote all their time to telling the world that ALA has stuck her foot in her collective mouth once again."

And let us go back to the torture resolution once again. In April of this year the Bill of Rights Defense Committee offered an invitation for ALA to sign on to a letter opposing torture. The immediate response of Councilors? Sure! No mention of who the group was but they're against torture too so let's make common cause! Apparently once a resolution is passed, ALA is then forced to hop on any bandwagon and storm any windmill that may cross the shadow of one of the Council's proclamations.

These resolutions do nothing but drain time and energy away from ALA but they are the bread and butter of Rosenzweig, Kagan, SRRT, et al. These are the things that make them popular when they're sitting around with their various leftist friends from other leftist groups and organizations. All tittering away over bad Bush jokes and bragging how they convinced a national organization to say "F U" to over half the country. Rosenzweig is already on record that sabotage and invective are what make him happy. Are we really supposed to believe he has the organizations best interest at heart? Any of them?

If you're not a librarian, you're scratching your head--especially if your town library branch has been closed, or the hours cut back, or everything on the shelves is 20 years old to pay for the computer system. "What's this to do with libraries?" you wondered. Greg's point exactly. You are now smarter than the folks he has to work with on ALA. It's a good template for your own association or organization or church council TO AVOID.