Some offensive CDs

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State Attorney General Henry McMaster could be accused of appointing himself the state's Music Czar for rejecting at least 4,000 CDs from among 77,000 that are to be awarded to South Carolina public libraries this month. Local library staff and board members are far more qualified than McMaster's staff to decide which CDs belong in our public libraries.

McMaster argues that he was involved in the multistate price-fixing lawsuit against the recording industry that resulted in the settlement of 77,000 CDs for the state — and therefore he has the right to reject CDs that contain explicit lyrics. But rather than conferring with state or local library officials, McMaster has assigned the job of vetting CDs to staff attorneys. McMaster's staff has rejected music by rappers Eminem and Outkast, comedians Cheech and Chong and politically tinged band Rage Against the Machine.

A point is some rejected CDs might be no more explicit than some of the books, videos and CDs libraries already carry. No doubt many of the CDs are too explicit for local library shelves, but local control of library materials is far better than statewide censorship by the attorney general.