Monday, 16 February 2009

Rants

Government orders book burnings- Nobody cares


As Our Masters in Washington decree:

...the federal government has now advised that children’s books published before 1985 should not be considered safe and may in many cases be unlawful to sell or distribute.  Merchants, thrift stores, and booksellers may be at risk if they sell older volumes, or even give them away, without first subjecting them to testing—at prohibitive expense.  Many used-book sellers, consignment stores, Goodwill outlets, and the like have accordingly begun to refuse new donations of pre-1985 volumes, yank existing ones off their shelves, and in some cases discard them en masse.

The problem is the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), passed by Congress last summer after the panic over lead paint on toys from China...  Penalties under the law are strict and can include $100,000 fines and prison time, regardless of whether any child is harmed.
...
A commenter at Etsy, the large handicrafts and vintage-goods site, observed how things worked at one store:
I just came back from my local thrift store with tears in my eyes! I watched as boxes and boxes of children’s books were thrown into the garbage!  Today was the deadline and I just can’t believe it!  Every book they had on the shelves prior to 1985 was destroyed!  I managed to grab a 1967 edition of “The Outsiders” from the top of the box, but so many!
Congress passes a poorly-drafted law, a clueless president (yeah, Bush II) signs it, and here we are.  Can you say McCain-Feingold Again?

No. Let’s NOT give ’em the benefit of the doubt.  Let’s call this one more step in the liberal fascists’ plan to cut our children off from their history.

Because you can bet that the usual suspects will fight tooth-and-nail against any attempt to stop this.  (And that assumes there’s anyone left in Congress with enough brains and balls to try.)  Just watch.

(Yeah, I’m furious.  Can you tell yet?)

Elsewhere (added 090217 18:47):

Via: Ace

Previously.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Rants at 17:53:44 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 I've always figured that in case of global apocalypse, I'd be the one hunkered down at the public library, defending it from all comers with vodka and a shotgun. One of the great joys of my childhood was cracking open an old book and breathing in that musty, slightly moldy smell of glue and old paper. This makes me sick. I may have to start early.

Posted by: Joanna at 02/16/09 23:12:52 (qBRUE)

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