Welcome to 1984 - almost.

[Sunder]

This speaks volumes as to where intentions lie.


http://scoop.agonist.org/story/2004/8/3/84635/46365

 Justice Department attempting to remove public documents from libraries

American Library Association
July 30, 2004

CHICAGO -- The following statement has been issued by President-Elect 
Michael Gorman, representing President Carol Brey-Casiano, who is 
currently in Guatemala representing the Association:

By Anonymous in USA: Liberty Watch on Tue Aug 3rd, 2004 at 08:46:35 AM PDT
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 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withdrawn materials in order to obtain an official response from the 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.


----------------------Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos---------------------------
 + ^ + :"I find it ironic that, on an amendment designed to protect  /|\
  \|/  :American democracy and our constitutional rights, the       /\|/\
<--*-->:Republican leadership in the House had to rig the vote and  \/|\/
  /|\  :subvert the democratic process in order to prevail"          \|/
 + v + :      -- Rep. Sanders re vote to ammend the US PATRIOT ACT. 
-------------------------------------- http://www.sunder.net ------------