Librarians: Champions of Democracy

[gr8fuldaniel]

I heard on the radio this morning Air America Radio That John "Big Brother" Ashcroft had actually backed down, from this one. I cant find a news link yet. The original story is hard to find too,even though it undermines the Bill of Rights. Chalk one up for us, the people.

Ashcroft Tells Libraries To Destroy Citizen-Friendly Publications A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT Statement regarding DOJ request for removal of government publications by depository libraries The following statement has been issued by President-Elect Michael Gorman, representing President Carol Brey-Casiano, who is currently in Guatemala representing the Association: July 30, 2004 Statement from ALA President-Elect Michael Gorman: 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 (CAFRA). ALA has submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the withdrawn materials in order to obtain an official response from the Department of Justice regarding this unusual action, and why the Department has requested that documents that have been available to the public for as long as four years be removed from depository library collections. ALA is committed to ensuring that public documents remain available to the public and will do its best to bring about a satisfactory resolution of this matter. Librarians should note that, according to policy 72, written authorization from the Superintendent of Documents is required to remove any documents. To this date no such written authorization in hard copy has been issued. Keith Michael Fiels Executive Director American Library Association (800) 545-2433 ext.1392

Dont we have a right to know the laws? These guys are the worst kind of criminals. Have they installed the new self serve robots in your local Library, a machine wont stand up for your rights and eliminates jobs. God Damn Machines are right out of a Gropenator movie. We should boycott the self checkouts at Grocery Stores and Home Depot, also. People are almost obsolete, automatons are getting a foothold. The machine state should probably be started in a new thread, I just wanted to point out the connection between the states fascist agenda for replacing real, live thinking librarians, with programmable machine librarians. Why are we being replaced? I have been in several Libraries where they are doing this, this is not to speed up lines, the libraries are not that busy. Sign of trouble here.

A fascist regime would have to overthrow such "ideals as this:

www.libr.org 'The American Library Association believes that freedom of expression is an inalienable human right, necessary to self-government, vital to the resistance of oppression, and crucial to the cause of justice, and further, that the principles of freedom of expression should be applied by libraries and librarians throughout the world.'

Shredding Ashcroft By Jim Hightower, AlterNet. Posted May 6, 2003. One of the most inspiring — and unexpected — sources of resistance to Ashcroft’s wild schemes is America’s librarians. Let's hear it for America's librarians! The old stereotype of librarians as meek maidens whose only passion is for the Dewey decimal system never was true, but now that image is being shattered for good, replaced by a new image of librarians as feisty fighters for freedom. Who is it that rushes to the barricades of our nation's democracy, daring to confont John "Mad Dog" Ashcroft as he rips into our Bill of Rights and tries to strip We the People of our hard-won personal liberties? Not the Congress -- it's meekly going along, providing the authority and funding for Ashcroft's maniacal assault. Not the puffheads of the media -- they're too busy shouting "patriotism" and cheering the Bushites to see, hear, or speak any evil by the emperor. Instead, our gutsy defenders of liberty are librarians in cities and towns throughout the country. They are distributing information and joining public discussion groups to tell us about the freedom-busting legislation that Ashcroft cynically titled the "USA Patriot Act." This thing is a Little Shop of Totalitarian Horrors, including provisions that compel librarians to turn over to the FBI the reading, reseach, and internet records of any and all library users, prohibiting librarians from even telling you that your records have been seized by government agents. This is no theoretical threat, for librarians report that Ashcroft's agents are making hundreds of these demands.

Its good to know our mousey little librarians are steadfast in the face of Goliath:

Ashcroft Mocks Librarians and Others Who Oppose Parts of Counterterrorism Law by Eric Lichtblau WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 — Attorney General John Ashcroft today accused the country's biggest library association and other critics of fueling "baseless hysteria" about the government's ability to pry into the public's reading habits.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Is this why Ashcroft, with stealth, tried to remove from libraries, the process for reclaiming your property when you have been arrested for no reason without representation for as long as they choose without bringing charges? These are some evil, shameful motherFvckers,
Quoting m3talsmith, who is quoting johngalt

Originally posted by johngatlt1234, It is Socialism... Here is an article by Walter Williams What is socialism? We miss the boat if we say it's the agenda of those left-wingers and Democrats. According to Marxist doctrine, socialism is a stage of society between capitalism and communism where private ownership and control over property is eliminated. The essence of socialism is the attenuation and ultimate abolition of private property rights. Attacks on private property include, but are not limited to, confiscating the rightful property of one person and giving it to another to whom it doesn't belong. When this is done privately we call it theft. When it's done collectively we use the euphemisms: income transfers or redistribution. It's not just left-wingers and Democrats who call for and admire socialism but right-wingers and Republicans as well.

EDIT to add: FOUND IT! Heres the original Article

[gr8fuldaniel]

the memory hole Federal Depository Libraries house tons of documents published by the US government. Several times a year, a federal agency asks these libraries to withdraw and destroy material on its shelves. In half the cases, the reason given is that the material wasn't meant to be released, that it's for "internal use only" or "official use only." [learn more] On 22 July 2004, the Justice Dept—via the Government Printing Office—told libraries to destroy five documents on asset forfeiture, a highly controversial practice in which the authorities take people's property. (Sometimes the people have been convicted of crimes; other times they haven't even been charged with a crime.) [Learnmore] The order said: Please withdraw these materials immediately and destroy them by any means to prevent disclosure of their contents. The Department of Justice has determined that these materials are for internal use only. Unlike all the other times an order like this was issued, some librarians, libraries, and the American Library Association put up a fight. The Justice Dept's request was met with widespread derision online, and the mainstream media picked up the story. In the face of this unexpected resistance, the Justice Dept backed down eight days later. By that time, many libraries—eager to do the government's bidding—had unhesitatingly burned these public documents. If a few parties hadn't raised hell, the material would be out of public circulation forever. The Memory Hole has obtained the sensitive documents that the Justice Dept wanted to destroy. They've been scanned and posted above. One of the documents on the burn list—"Civil and Criminal Forfeiture Procedure"—was sent to libraries on microfiche and isn't currently available here. When we get a paper copy, we'll post it.

Edit to add: go to the link above to see the actual documents Ashcroft tried to toss down the memory hole.

[PatrickHenry]

FedGov out of control. This is conservative? Restricting information is a police state tactic.

It's not to fight terror. The target is the real enemy of the FedGov: US citizens. Yes, [SIZE=2]you have been declared an enemy: by the Emergency Banking Act of March 9, 1933.[/SIZE]

[rhod01]

Books should be avaliable to all. The same with anyone should be allowed to write and publish one.

Cutting public funding to libraries is a discrace and endangers freedom of thought.

[PatrickHenry]

Defunding public libraries can be defended as budgetary restraint. Hiding stuff from the citizens is tyranny.

[Compugasm]

Maybe with the automation and internet, it doesn't cost so much to run a library.

[PatrickHenry]

It still costs bucks to have public libraries.

I think that may be a worthy expenditure of taxpayer funds, especially if the Gov is not allowed to suppress information. Finding out what's really going on is vital to the continuance of a republic.

Knowledge is power, ignorance is the road to the gulag.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Originally posted by PatrickHenry, Hiding stuff from the citizens is tyranny.

Especially when they are hiding from you the process you need to go through to get your property back from them after they have arrested you. For no particular reason with no charges filed, indefinately. When/if they release you they want to keep your house and property without accounting.

[PatrickHenry]

Isn't that theft?

"Our" "good" government stealing? From innocent(not proven guilty) citizens? Say it isn't so!!

[Technosoul]

I wonder if they could move to do the same kinds of censorship with information that can resouced on your computer (internet). Would not someone on the internet post all the information that was banned from the public libaries? Could Bill Gates or IBM come up with some kind of way to block all webpages from American downloaders that they feel should be removed, I am not a computer expert and so I am asking. Of course the libaries are government funded and the www is not. That gives them less authority over what they can offer or not offer.

Soon the libaries could become the lie burry (play on words).

I asked about computer censorship because some people would like to ban the links I use here from public review for political reasons.

Jeez... I would have no sources!

Technosoul.

[Technosoul]

PS the word "Jeez" is slang for the word "Jesus". Just spelled wrong.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Originally posted by Technosoul, I wonder if they could move to do the same kinds of censorship with information that can resouced on your computer (internet).  Would not someone on the internet post all the information that was banned from the public libaries?  Could Bill Gates or IBM come up with some kind of way to block all webpages from American downloaders that they feel should be removed,  I am not a computer expert and so I am asking. Of course the libaries are government funded and the www is not.  That gives them less authority over what they can offer or not offer. Soon the libaries could become the lie burry (play on words). I asked about computer censorship because some people would like to ban the links I use here from public review for political reasons. Jeez... I would have no sources! Technosoul.

and I thought you just didnt believe in sources!
When they decide its time, they dont have to shut down individual servers (Although I wouldnt put a super-virus past them)I think the police state would want to use the internet communications. They will comandeer Ma Bell and the Cable Networks with this (E.O. 10995)

Recipe for Treason The first of the Kennedy-issued executive orders (E.O. 10995) allows the president to take control of all media, as long as a national emergency exists.  Included as media are radio, television and, conceivably, telephone and Internet outlets.

......Its not Libary, its Library. One word we should know by instinct how to spell.

Edit to fix my own spelling :rolleyes:

[Nono]

Jaysus! It's actually a euphemistic way of not quite saying it, like "cripe", "shoot", "gosh" and "darn". Hell, the language is full of 'em.

[rhod01]

Well, Al Gore proposed a tax on emails, so Americans can start to think, quite legitamitely, that the internet is under threat.

The Right don't like freedom. The internet means gays can meet, abortionists can work together and Far-Leftists spread and discuss their ideas.

All of which they oppose. Oh, did I forget to mention Conservatives hate internet pornography and want it banned?

[Technosoul]

"Shssssh, quiet please".

I'm in this library tying to find a book about the face on Mars but it is not here, how come they never have the books I want to read, are the censoring knowledge or just underfunded?

Guess I will have to buy one at the bookstore.

Technosoul.

[rhod01]

I used to get updates from Kidspeak. A site about children standing up for their rights.

Doezens of schools keep banning books, etc. It's outragious, in my view. I bet Far-Left books are banned in lots of high-schools in America.

[gr8fuldaniel]

"A Peoples History of the United States" by Howard Zinn, should be a mandatory text book. It tells what really happened. From the back cover:

“Zinn has written a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those who have been exploited politically and economically and whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories... the book is an excellent antidote to establishment history. “Seldom have quotations been so effectively used; the stories of blacks, women, Indians, and poor laborers of all nationalities are told in their own words. While the book is precise enough to please specialists, it should satisfy any adult reader.”

I have no idea why this book is not available at my local library. They have no books by Zinn in their catalogue. I guess I need to ask them for it. I have my own copy, but I want it available to all. Could it be our brand new Nazi governors fault? Hope not.

Edit to add this Link to an excerpt from the book