I am making the assumption that the "walkout" you refer to was your "hasta luega" response to my post here. I have not exhaustively examined all the threads I missed, and probably won't, so if this is an error, let me know.

It is not necessary to prove that official librarians in Cuba are under the strict control of the Cuban communist government, any more than it is necessary to prove that releasing a hammer four feet above the surface of a neutron star would cause it to move downward. The library is a key source of public information, and in a totalitarian system it would be as tightly controlled as newspapers are. It is impossible to conceive that approved and "certified" Cuban librarians operate without political restraints. It is also unlikely in the extreme that those Cuban library officials able to freely travel overseas and hobnob with foreigners are not trusted and willing members of the Cuban totalitarian state apparatus, even if they are not what you would call "secret police." This is simple common sense, and is based on countless previous examples from other similar regimes.

The rank irony of certain factions of the ALA--and I was specific about the faction (the SRRT)--applauding said Cuban library officials while decrying Ashcroft's Patriot Act abuses, is inescapable, regardless of what one thinks of Ashcroft and his measures.

The ALA had another grand party last week, with a stellar lineup of guests like Gloria Steinem, Bernie Sanders, Ralph Nader, and others.

Yet, if I were to label this group as "leftist," some people would wonder how the hell I came up with such an odd idea.