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08/08/2004 Archived Entry: "Book burnings"

As our unofficial co-blogger Gordon P. comments, "It looks like the book burnings have started."

A Buzzflash news alert: "Ashcroft Tells Libraries to Destroy Citizen-Friendly Publications --- Statement regarding DOJ request for removal of government publications by depository libraries. Last week, the American Library Association learned that the Department of Justice asked the Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents to instruct depository libraries to destroy five publications the Department has deemed not 'appropriate for external use.' The Department of Justice has called for these five these public documents, two of which are texts of federal statutes, to be removed from depository libraries and destroyed, making their content available only to those with access to a law office or law library. The topics addressed in the named documents include information on how citizens can retrieve items that may have been confiscated by the government during an investigation. The documents to be removed and destroyed include: Civil and Criminal Forfeiture Procedure; Select Criminal Forfeiture Forms; Select Federal Asset Forfeiture Statutes; Asset forfeiture and money laundering resource directory; and Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000."

This from CNN. "The Attorney General of Kansas has ordered that more than 1,600 compact discs be withheld from distribution to state libraries because officials determined the albums promote violence or illegal activity, records show. The albums removed by Attorney General Phill Kline's office were part of 51,000 discs given to Kansas as part of a nationwide settlement to resolve allegations of price fixing. The confiscated CDs included recordings by 25 musicians, including rap artists such as OutKast and Notorious B.I.G., rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Stone Temple Pilots, and even older acts such as Lou Reed and the 1980s experimental group Devo."

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