The European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality recently submitted a report calling for a ban on “Books which portray ‘traditional’ images of mothers caring for their children or fathers going out to work” (Mail Online, November 7, 2012).

Since 2005, Americans calling themselves “religious” dropped by almost 18 percent, while those claiming to be “atheist” rose from 1 percent to 5 percent (BBC Magazine, August 21, 2012).  Why?

Consumer Reports magazine recently tested pork from U.S. markets and farmers. In the study, “pork-chop and ground-pork samples from around the U.S. found that yersinia enterocolitica, a bacterium that can cause fever, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, was widespread. Some samples harbored other potentially harmful bacteria, including salmonella… Some of the bacteria we found in 198 samples proved to be resistant to antibiotics commonly used to treat people.

When the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, announced that the United Nations had upgraded the Palestinians to non-member observer status he asserted, “One day, a young Palestinian will raise the Palestinian flag over Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the state of Palestine” (iThe Jerusalem Post, December 2, 2012).

What do Sean Connery, Oprah Winfrey, Yao Ming, and Baby Yoda have in common? Aside from their obvious celebrity, they—along with other sports icons, TV and cinema personalities (whether real or fictional), and political figures—have all featured sometime or another on a series of “READ” posters. Sponsored by the American Library Association, “READ” posters are popular decorations for public libraries across the nation.