Sour Grapes
Of course we're Fair and Balanced!

2004-12-23

An attempt to further erode the 1st Amendment



This is very odd. It might be called "muzzling the enemies of our enemies" [via Bob's Junkmail].


In an apparent reversal of decades of U.S. practice, recent federal Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations bar American companies from publishing works by dissident writers in countries under sanction unless they first obtain U.S. government approval.

The restriction, condemned by critics as a violation of the First Amendment, means that books and other works banned by some totalitarian regimes cannot be published freely in the United States, a country that prides itself as the international beacon of free expression....



Violations carry severe reprisals — publishing houses can be fined $1 million and individual violators face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.




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