WHEN WILL THIS STUFF STOP? – AT 8:35 A.M. ET:  The following falls under the category of, "You can't make this up."  From Minnesota's startribune.com:

As the Muslim student population grows in Minnesota, some educators detect a glaring gap: a dearth of books the students can relate to and from which others can learn.

"There wasn't a whole lot in our library that provided a sense of 'this is what's normal,'" said Julie Scullen, a reading intervention specialist at Northdale Middle School in Coon Rapids, where she took stock of books about Muslims growing up in America.

When colleague Beth Braun, a Northdale media specialist, launched a full-blown national search, she didn't have much luck, either.

"The books are more about what it's like to live in another country and be a Muslim, or what it's like to be from a war-torn nation, not what it's like to be a teenager in America and be a Muslim," Braun said. "Those books are few and far between."

Librarians in some other school districts tell a similar tale.

"I have really not come across anything," said Linda Goering, library media specialist at Robbinsdale Middle School.

Oh please.

When was the last time these "educators" expressed concern about books that never depict Cuban immigrants who escaped from Castro; Vietnamese immigrants who fled the Communists; Catholic teenagers who are pro-life; teenagers whose fathers or mothers are in the military?  I wouldn't bother to ask.

I note the presence of the word "librarians."  You know librarians.  They're those nice, gray-haired ladies behind the desk.  Right?  Not necessarily.  One of the most underreported stories in education was the takeover of the American Library Association by extreme leftists, and Castroites, years ago.  Terrific investigative journalist Nat Hentoff, the best of the best (and a liberal), exposed the takeover and was greeted by silence from the mainstream media. 

The takeover of the ALA was so complete that the organization refused to condemn the imprisonment of librarians in Cuba.  Again, silence in the media.

And now we find anguish over the failure of books to include Muslim teenagers.  No anguish about the exclusion of other groups.  Why am I not shocked?

December 29, 2010