What CPSIA looks like at your local bookstore

[#1]

I own a used bookstore and the ruling by the CPSA regarding vintage books peeves me no end. I am currently storing my contraband books. But here's photos of what the removal looked like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21881149@N06/3278972049/
No.... not Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!!!
Banned because its a 1984 printing... and it has STAPLES. deadly, deadly staples.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21881149@N06/3279001289/
The big hole in one of the four bookcases. They all have similar gaps.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21881149@N06/3279001383/
The sign explaining why we're consigning books to the Memory Hole.

Total value of books removed from sale: roughly $2500.

Here's an blog post explaining exactly how and why CPSIA ends up affecting books. (and the whole staple issue)
http://bookshopblog.com/2009/02/14/cpsia-book-banning-in-the-guise-of-safety/

Want a copy of the Big Brother sign? You can download it here:
http://www.rainydaypaperback.com/home//1984.doc
(fits standard sized paper, two to a sheet)

The pictures above have a Creative Commons license attached. You may share them and redistribute as you like.

[Former_Member]

andreacreates says:
i will purposely choose the older edition because of its charm.

that makes two of us.:)

[Former_Member]

Banning books for children just sets us back so many years. This is part of the literature of our country. If we ban books for children what are we encouraging?

[Former_Member]

This is just awful. What a horrible shame.

[Former_Member]

bookmarking and fearful.

[Former_Member]

I am flabbergasted by this news. I've been living under a rock I suppose(reading actually) and did not realize this was going on. My poor neighbor who has just spent boo koo $$$ buying up children's books in loo of opening a shop is going to be destroyed by this news. I think it's very Orwell's 1984'ish and I guess if their coming to my house to confiscate my books I'm going up in smoke! That would be the next step since I can't sell, buy or give away any.

[Former_Member]

i hope they change this law fast

[Former_Member]

The photos are so striking:(.

[Former_Member]

Orwell's 1984? It'll be Fahrenheit 451 next.....

[Durlzy]

Starting to memorize my favourite books now....

[DragoninKnots]

Sorry to hear about the effect of this on you, Fenris. :(

[DragoninKnots]

If a couple people (book sellers, parents, others severely affected) want to say something about the new regulations regarding books in my blog, send me a convo. Maybe we could do an interview-type article. I think it would be better coming from someone closer to the problem since I don't have kids.

[Former_Member]

One of the saddest things is the older books are the old classics that you know won't be reprinted...or maybe a book publisher could really make a killing by reprinting all of them. When we lose books we lose the thoughts, emotions and wisdom of the people who came before us and we can never get that back. I grew up reading all the Nancy Drew's, The Bobbsie Twins, The Hardy Boys do you think they will all be reprinted, I doubt it. What about Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, all the old fairy tales like Grimms Fairy Tales, all the CS Lewis books like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (although for the CS Lewis books they were in luck as they recently were reprinted), etc. Maybe some of these will be reprinted but I doubt all of them will.

What is happening to our country is truly scary. More and more control of our lives is being taken over by the very people we elected to protect our interest. Now they rule us and don't remember that they work for us. They sneak things into these bills that the American people don't know about until it becomes law and then the American people aren't even made aware the law exists. The only way that some will find out about it is when they are prosecuted.

We need to wake up....even now more control is being taken away from us. Just consider the Universal Health Care plan that was just included in the stimulus plan. Do you really want all of your private medical information in a Federal database and your government to decide what you can and cannot be treated for? Do you really want the federal government to control the national census? The people that we elected to govern our great nation are no better or smarter than we are. We can't let their ego's get in the way of common sense. I know some of you will disagree with me concerning some of the things like universal healthcare etc and it's our right to disagree with one another...at least at this point it is. Hopefully freedom of speech won't be the next thing to go. You know some of the things "so quietly" included in these bills might be good things but I sure would like to know about them before they become law. We "the people" have absolutely no say in what becomes law. CPSIA is on glaring example of that.

Sorry to get so off track and thanks for listening to my little rant but I'm just sick of all of this.

[Former_Member]

OTOH, if scads of these books *are* actually destroyed, it could increase the value of the ones you removed from your shelves and placed into storage.

Obviously people who love books hate to think of them becoming scarce in such a way, but perhaps a small, unintended silver lining.

[Former_Member]

I really hadn't thought about the range of this law and am shocked at your photos. :( Twittered it for you in case some of the non-artist parents who follow me don't understand quite what the CPSIA affects.

[FayeMaloneDesigns]

Critterhouse,"We need to wake up....even now more control is being taken away from us. Just consider the Universal Health Care plan that was just included in the stimulus plan"

Hope you don't get labeled an idiot paranoid rightwinger like I did! It's amazing how people including our lawmakers, have no idea what is in a bill, and how it is going to affect them.

I hope everyone is going to take these $$$ lost and subtract them from your business income this year. When it starts to hit the lawmakers in the tax revenue, maybe they will see what the consequenses are. This whole bill is absurd!

[Former_Member]

FayeMalone...it's okay if I do get labeled. As I said we won't all agree on things and that's healthy so that we don't become "sheep" and I must say that it was Bush that signed the CPSIA into law. It just upsets me that they don't read these things. It also upsets me that things seem to be so secretive. I don't want my government telling me how to live. Of all the damage that CPSIA has caused the outlawing of books upsets me the most and that's just what they have done. They are choosing for us what our children may and may not read.

Having said all of this, I'm going to try to move on and not let this upset me so much. I've just become so tired of it all. I was just reading another thread about spring coming, birds singing, etc. I think I can use a little of that. :)

[bobbinalong]

When it comes to having our medical information online, I am all for it. I was in two hospitals for a total of four times last year, and one time a month ago. Each time I had to have the same testing redone and the same paperwork filled out time after time. If it had all been in my "account" online, it would have been cheaper, more accurate, and faster. An allergy that surfaced on one visit would't be repeated in another. So I am definitely for this!!! Think of all the older people who can't speak up for themselves due to their condition or mental state.

When it comes to books, no books should be in boxes. There are kids in Appalachia who have never seen a book. We have nine, I believe, recreation centers in Columbus that closed due to the economy. They were a place where kids could go to escape their neighborhoods. There are kids living in towns where the coal industry has left and there are no "outlets". What good are books in boxes? They should be donated, spread around, given to young minds who can grow, can enjoy them, and escape into a storybook world. This is simply a matter of dollars over heart I believe. Why not distribute them to kids who can learn, enjoy. You can still claim them on your taxes as a donation.

People just don't think anymore. It is another "I" and "me" generation. What's in it for me. Too bad. Don't let "politics" change the way your heart believes. Don't let "politics" sway your popularity. Think for yourselves, on your own two feet.

[Former_Member]

farenhit 451 anyone?

[faeriemadesoaps]

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can
But when you want money
for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right
Ah

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...

You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right
all right, all right, all right
all right, all right, all right

[Former_Member]

faeriemade, thanks for that!

While I agree with the sentiment, bobbin, I don't agree with the health bill being stuffed into the spending bill. Because of its importance, it deserves to be debated on its own merits, so that it may be worked through properly. I'm a bit nervous of having my health records in some national database; it's a little too nationalized for my taste (though I do see the merits, too).

critterhouse, the census has always been done by the federal government. I believe the talk is about moving it from the Dept. of Commerce (?) to the White House. Not sure of their reasoning, though. And President Bush signed it into law because he really had no political choice; he was against it, but with only one dissenter in the House, the bill was veto proof.

I do like how you say: "As I said we won't all agree on things and that's healthy so that we don't become 'sheep'." I think you hit the nail on the head. The government is passing through too much, too fast, with too little thought; all it succeeds in doing is shifting total control for our lives to them. We need the debate and idea exchange.

[bobbinalong]

How do you know that none of the CPSIA stuff was stuffed into the spending bill?

[Bluebirdlane]

critterhouse....yes, yes, yes! And I don't think you're a nutcase or whatever....we need more people that are independant thinkers, not the "sheep" that so many have become. It's like a mass hypnosis, so many just going along and thinking that the new political figure/figures are the "annointed one/ones".... Once we stop thinking for ourselves, we're done for.

[Former_Member]

<<bobbinalong
When it comes to books, no books should be in boxes. There are kids in Appalachia who have never seen a book. We have nine, I believe, recreation centers in Columbus that closed due to the economy. They were a place where kids could go to escape their neighborhoods. There are kids living in towns where the coal industry has left and there are no "outlets". What good are books in boxes? They should be donated, spread around, given to young minds who can grow, can enjoy them, and escape into a storybook world. This is simply a matter of dollars over heart I believe. Why not distribute them to kids who can learn, enjoy. You can still claim them on your taxes as a donation.>>

No, I can't because its illegal for me to donate them too :( Can't export either.

I see what they were TRYING to do with that provision. Its one of the few parts I agree with. Companies that KNOW they have a product with issues that truly is dangerous should not be able to claim a tax write off by giving it to a charity that has no clue they've just been given toxic items. (see current peanut butter mess) Ditto that a product KNOWN to have failed test and that is truly dangerous should not be exported to other countries. Doesn't matter if it hurts a child in the US or in Kenya, it still hurt a child.

The execution just sucked because it also covers items that are in limbo, neither conclusive safe nor unsafe... but with the preponderance of evidence pointing to "safe". No child has ever been harmed by a book.

[Chris1]

wow that is so awful. I just can't understand why they would do this stupid thing....just cause they can I guess!

[Former_Member]

The problem with the "stimulus" bill is that it was done in secret meetings between one party and the White House (transparency?), not posted for anyone to read (as was promised), and no one but a very few people have any idea what is in it. As people are reading it now, it is apparent that there are huge problems for all of us in it and very little help for any but the special interest groups.
The Medical that was passed is not just info compiled on a Government website about each and every one of us, it is what was created to deal with this information that is a bigger problem.
Happy thoughts don't always solve real problems.