GET READY FOR ROVING BANDS OF BOOK BANNERS COMING TO YOUR TOWN.

• Author: Hightower, Jim
• Position: VOX POPULIST

Not so long ago, book burnings were considered a festive group activity by assorted rightwing zealots. Today, though, burning seems so old-fashioned and, well, crude.

Yet the concept is burning hotter than ever among a gaggle of testosterone-driven Republican leaders eager to show voters that they will go to extreme lengths to incinerate progressive ideas and people's personal liberties. Rather than lighting bonfires, though, the new fad for GOP politicians is to simply use government power to ban the offending books--thus saving the expense of matches and lighter fluid.

It might not surprise you to learn that the Lone Star State's extremist political operatives are leading today's book-banning frenzy. One Jonathan Mitchell, for example, is going from town to town pushing Texas Republican officeholders to pass local ordinances that he labels "Safe Library Patron Protection." Yes, patrons, censoring what you can read is necessary to "protect" you.

The proposed GOP ban prohibits libraries from having books, videos, and other material that contain "immoral content," which he defines as depictions of nudity, sexual behavior, mentions of masturbation...