3.  Arsenal Uncovered: Linked to Extremist Movement
    by Winston Smith, address unknown

Special to TLE

Los Angeles - A joint task force of federal agents and state police raided
the home of a Santa Monica man Saturday, uncovering an arsenal of illegal
books and other media.

"It's astounding," said Police Chief John Lynch at a press
conference Tuesday. "I've never seen so many books in my life. It was
a virtual library."

Chief Lynch described a entire room filled wall to wall with books and
magazines. In one room officers discovered a computer, printer and
thousands of pages of printing paper. The discovery of the computer-printer
setup prompted evacuation of the neighborhood while EOD teams rendered the
device inactive.

Officers and federal agents stood in front of stacks of seized books and
magazines at Tuesday's press conference. A leather bound 1400 page copy of
War and Peace was the centerpiece of the exhibit. Among the books on
display were military field manuals and books on military history.

"These military-style books are instruments of war, plain and
simple," said Special Agent Gregory Kahn. "They have no
recreational purpose. They have no legitimate civilian use."

"We're still counting them - we have no idea how many books we're
dealing with," said Detective-Sergeant Gary Knowles, another member of
the task force. "I'm just glad we got them off the street. Nobody
needs that many books. It's scary the kind of stuff people have in their
homes."

On Monday, agents wearing space-age HAZMAT suits were still removing books
from the house. Asked what would become of the contraband, Agent Kahn
stated that it would be destroyed in a specially built incinerator.

The suspect, 43 year old John Benjamin, is being held without bail pending
charges. His arraignment is scheduled for next month.

Neighbors and co-workers described a quiet, polite man.

"I'd never suspect him of something like this," said community
resident Charles Lamb. "He was always so nice. This is a complete
shock."

Sources close to the investigation tell the Times that Benjamin has been
linked to the controversial National Reading Association, an extremist
group which encourages private possession of literature. The ACLU believes
that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to
read and print literature. The Times was unable to obtain a copy of the
Constitution for this article, but is submitting a Freedom of Information
Act request to access the document.

Terrorism expert and author Brian Simmons told the Times that groups such
as the ACLU are magnets for disturbed individuals like Benjamin.

"This interpretation of the Constitution is very common among the
political fringes," said Mr. Simmons. "But history just isn't on
their side. The First Amendment was intended to protect the right of major
newspapers and libraries. It's absurd to think that they [the framers]
would have wanted private possession of word processing software and home
printers."

Book collectors like Benjamin, Simmons said, suffer from a deep rooted
psychological neurosis which drives them to stockpile books.

"Who needs this many books? He couldn't possibly read them all. People
like Mr. Benjamin do it because they feel inadequate. Reading makes them
feel smarter, and publishing their thoughts makes them feel
important."

Raids of this type have sparked a nationwide debate over the millions
unregistered books possessed illegally in the U.S. Under U.S. law, only
deactivated and replica books are available to the general public, though
in some places they are legal for retired librarians and journalists. Until
last year, books printed before 1986 could still be legally possessed by
someone willing to submit to a background check and pay a $200 per book,
per year tax.

One of Benjamin's neighbors, retired army Colonel Vince Scott, questioned
the wisdom of book prohibition.

"When I was a kid, everyone owned a book, most people more than
one," said Scott. "There were book stores on every corner. You
could even go to a library and they'd give you a book."

Judy Bliss, spokesman for the D.C.-based non profit lobbying group Think of
the Children, issued a press release following news of the raid.

"It's appalling that these kinds of unlicensed, unregistered books are
still on our streets," said Mrs. Bliss, speaking from her limousine.
"Books have incited revolutions, led people to depression and suicide,
murder, all kinds of horrible things. Take Romeo and Juliet for example.
That play was definitively linked to teen suicide. Or take Machiavilli's
The Prince, a treatise about political ruthlessness that has been on the
nightstands of tyrants around the world. No civilized society allows
untrained civilians to possess and use books like these. This 'book
culture' needs to be stamped out."

Citizens wishing to report illicit book possession are encouraged to call
the federal hotline at 1-888-ISNITCH.

(Ok folks relax its just SATIRE!  However Fahrenheit 451 doesn't sound so
farfetched now, does it?  Thanks to John T. at www.mythofsisyphus.net who
found this posted on the LPI-Discuss board by El Presidente David Hughes.)

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