Scope and Contents Richard Minsky created the bookbinding and box for the poetic text written by Mitch Cullin entitled "Branches." The book was published by The Permanent Press. The illustrations were done by Ryuzo Kikushima. The front cover is punctured with five bullet holes. The cover consists of a sheriff's badge pinned to a shirt pocket and a name badge with the word "Branches." The box is affixed with a black gun leather holster on which the fifth amendment of the constitution is printed in gold, lowercase, italic text. The title of the book refers to the protagonist in the autobiographical poem, I.A.C. Branches, a bigoted Texas Sheriff, who uses his authority and gun without remorse to rape, torture gays, and shoot Mexican border intruders. The fifth amendment states that no person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual...

Scope and Contents The Second Amendment, printed on the book covering label, states "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Minsky has bound a copy of Gathering Storm: America's Militia Threat by Morris Dees with James Corcoran. On his web site, Minsky describes this work as follows: " Morris Dees is the Chief Trial Counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center. This book documents the hate group roots of the militia movement. Dees is intimately familiar with the players. Militia spokesman and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Louis Beam was prosecuted by Dees when he led the KKK intimidation of Vietnamese fishermen in Texas. Dees' office was firebombed, and his commitment to freedom has made him a target of racist assassins. The front endpaper (detail, left: inkjet and gold leaf on Rives BFK) is an image of the author as a target. The halo is gold leaf, as in...

Scope and Contents Richard Minsky bound a copy of The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson with a black leather, left handed glove stained red to resemble blood on the fingertips. The first and last pages contain an illustration of Simpson putting on the glove at his trial. The defense played this as a "race card" that Minsky designed to fit the slogan" If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit." The Sixth Amendment states, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed..."Minsky notes that his was the most public trial in history, with many questions about the jury, witnesses and defense counsel. It occupied the television networks day and night. Before the trial began, the author wrote in The New Yorker that the defense would play the "race card" and claim Mark Fuhrman was a racist who...

Scope and Contents Richard Minsky burnt a paperback copy of The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie and enclosed it within a reliquary he created using photoshop and an Epson inkjet printer to print on paper. Minsky used classical Islamic designs from "The Grammar of Ornament" by Owen Jones. The interlaced patterns relate to Islamic fundamentalism and the opened design spaces were incorporated by Minsky. Also included are two special stained glass windows on either side of the reliquary, through which the burnt book can be seen. Therefore the work becomes untouchable and is martyred like a saint. The first amendment relates to respecting the rights of religions, freedom of the press, the right of peaceful assembling and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. As Minsky noted on his WEB site, upon publication the author lost the freedoms of Press, Religion, Speech and Assembly in some countries. The Fatwah issued on Rushdie, and the...