Crackdown on Porn

[dr_mabeuse]

Just heard on the TV that the government crackdown on obscenity is finally getting uderway. It was always on Bush's agenda, but they got sidetracked with 9/11 and all, and now finally the big gears are starting to turn. We all probably know about what's been going on with the FCC and Janet's Tit and howard stern, but now 50 indictments have been served on adult video producers, and the internet isn't far behind.

I just wanted to bring this up to wave it in the face of all the people who didn't bother to vote in the last election, or who think voting doesn't matter, and who don't plan to vote in the next one either.

Also the people who don't bother to look at the issues but choose their candidate because they don't like the way the other guy talks or where he comes from or how he dresses. Just remember that this is the head of your government you're choosing, not a dinner date.

---dr.M.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I guess it's just easier to go after Janet , Howard and everyone else than catch rapists and child molesters.

 

[tiger_smurf]

Well, it's the police who are supposed to catch rapists and child molesters. Unfortunately, most cops are just high school bullies with badges and a false sense of importance. I wasn't old enough to vote against Bush in the last election, but you can be sure I will this time. I think Kerry, hell anyone, will make a better president than Bush.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I was afraid of such a crackdown and I was afraid that janet's tit would be the catalyst for it. For all those who ridiculed me in the thread for being alarmist all I can say is, I wish you had been right.

-Colly

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I was afraid of such a crackdown and I was afraid that janet's tit would be the catalyst for it. For all those who ridiculed me in the thread for being alarmist all I can say is, I wish you had been right.

-Colly

You are just more observant than most of us love.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

You are just more observant than most of us love.

I think I am just more misanthropic & paranoid when it comes to the grand designs of my former party

-Colly

 

[rgraham666]

Quelle surprise. As they say up here in Canuckistan.

Oh wait! Arrrgh! Does this mean Lit may be in trouble? Damn that rich man's kid!

 

[ABSTRUSE]

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy."
Ernest Benn

 

[McKenna]

.

 

[fifty5]

Dr. M. for president!

Sounds good to me.  Can I get a postal vote from the UK, or do you have to have some connection (other than on-line) with the US?

f5

 

[herecomestherain]

An article that covers a little of the "Crackdown".

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-te.obscenity06apr06,0,3004361.story


John Ashcroft...I've heard he doesn't dance. What he doesn't? He can't? He thinks it's obscene? He hasn't been asked. WTF?

 

[fifty5]

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy."
Ernest Benn

That about says it.

Porn is a complex issue.  Much of Lit is 'hard core' and most (if not all? - don't ask me!) of it is between 'consenting adults' - both writers and readers.

OTOH, there is exploitative, manipulative, abusive porn.

IMHO the 'evil' lies in the modus operandi, not in the material itself - forcing people (mostly women, I suspect) to take part is wrong, but allowing people to take part (again, Lit authors and readers) seems to me unasailable.  I have little faith that federal investigators will get that distinction right - after all, from what that article says, it ain't the means but the ends that matter.

Ho hum,

f5

 

[KenJames]

I think I am just more misanthropic & paranoid when it comes to the grand designs of my former party

-Colly

You've just been watching more closely.

Whatever happened to the party of individual rights, limited government and fiscal responsibility?

Actually, I could tell you, but we'd be here all night.

 

[minsue]

Whatever happened to the party of individual rights, limited government and fiscal responsibility?

Oddly enough, they're called Democrats now.

 

[KenJames]

Oddly enough, they're called Democrats now.

And another for Colly.

 

[Darktouch]

Let them crack down

they can crack down all they want on porn. Th e disgusting filth that goes on in the boardrooms across the nation is nauseating (sp) From Cheny and Halliburton to Lay and Enron...wait thats not porn? well someone is getting fucked

 

[shereads]

Quelle surprise. As they say up here in Canuckistan.

Oh wait! Arrrgh! Does this mean Lit may be in trouble? Damn that rich man's kid!

I knew you pornographers would spell trouble for what might otherwise have been a pleasant forum for scrapbooking enthusiasts to party with Beanie Babies collectors. Now look what you've done!

Colly, I'm not entirely convinced that Janet's breast was necessary to this scenario. After all, the president said long ago that America's children are trapped in the dark dungeons of the internet. And that was before you and Min and Pure started making fun of Attorney General Ashcroft.

(I'll bet Ken Starr would have been disappointed if there had been a ban on internet porn in place when he decided to post the transcripts of the Monica hearings so that my 9-year-old nephew could spend a morning doing keyword searches for "penis" and "vagina" at a dotgov site.)

 

[Colleen Thomas]

You've just been watching more closely.

Whatever happened to the party of individual rights, limited government and fiscal responsibility?

Actually, I could tell you, but we'd be here all night.

Such a party dosen't exist anymore. More's the pity because it's exactly what we need. The old party of fiscal responsibility & small government sold it's soul to the devil in the form of the religious right. In return for grass roots, ground swell support to make sure there was no more Clinton legacy, it brought us the rise of the neocons.

The democrats, long defenders of individual freedoms & rights were just as quick to vote on USA Patriot as the GOP. Infact they have put up less resistance over the past years than a drunk nympho at a frat party.

Sadly no third party has taken advantage of the sickening erosion of both the GOP & Democrats into polarized, ineffective structures with more inertia than the politboro. Where is TR when you need a Bull Mooose to step up and shake them both back to reality? Ralph Nadar just isn't quite the same is he?

-Colly

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I knew you pornographers would spell trouble for what might otherwise have been a pleasant forum for scrapbooking enthusiasts to party with Beanie Babies collectors. Now look what you've done!

Colly, I'm not entirely convinced that Janet's breast was necessary to this scenario. After all, the president said long ago that America's children are trapped in the dark dungeons of the internet. And that was before you and Min and Pure started making fun of Attorney General Ashcroft.

(I'll bet Ken Starr would have been disappointed if there had been a ban on internet porn in place when he decided to post the transcripts of the Monica hearings so that my 9-year-old nephew could spend a morning doing keyword searches for "penis" and "vagina" at a dotgov site.)

Janet, through a thoughtlessly selfish and tawdry stunt on a stage where it couldn't be ignored provided the kind of outrage that let the FCC & government "investigate" indecency under the guise of protecting the public interest, with enough support to seem legitimate.

Doc M had postulated the GOP would take aim at pornography on a scale seen only by Ed Meese's attempts under Regan I think. If the neocons have learned nothing else, 9/11 taught them public outrage is a suitable cover to press for legislation & action that would send up a howl of protest otherwise. Janet didn't plant the seed, she didn't hatch the plan, she didn't even arrange the building blocks, but she gave them the cover they needed to get the ball rolling as witnesed by the immediate senate & house hearings on the matter within a month of the stunt.

She acted stupidly, selfishisly and with a lack of foresight that borders on stupidly negligent, given the atmosphere & designs of the religious right, defacto controlers of the GOP. To increse her record sales she has brought us all the spectre of big brother & the thought police deciding what we should be reading. It's absolutely infuriating to me that someone could be that selfish & self centered.

-Colly

 

[Liar]

After all, the president said long ago that America's children are trapped in the dark dungeons of the internet.

By coincidence, I'm reading a Science Fiction novel based on exactly that. Literally.

On a serious note, will this attempt at cleaning out the media smut have a better chance than the good old Clintonian farce known as the Communicaions Decency Act? Remember that, anyone?

#L

 

[KenJames]

Janet, through a thoughtlessly selfish and tawdry stunt on a stage where it couldn't be ignored provided the kind of outrage that let the FCC & government "investigate" indecency under the guise of protecting the public interest, with enough support to seem legitimate.

Doc M had postulated the GOP would take aim at pornography on a scale seen only by Ed Meese's attempts under Regan I think. If the neocons have learned nothing else, 9/11 taught them public outrage is a suitable cover to press for legislation & action that would send up a howl of protest otherwise. Janet didn't plant the seed, she didn't hatch the plan, she didn't even arrange the building blocks, but she gave them the cover they needed to get the ball rolling as witnesed by the immediate senate & house hearings on the matter within a month of the stunt.

She acted stupidly, selfishisly and with a lack of foresight that borders on stupidly negligent, given the atmosphere & designs of the religious right, defacto controlers of the GOP. To increse her record sales she has brought us all the spectre of big brother & the thought police deciding what we should be reading. It's absolutely infuriating to me that someone could be that selfish & self centered.

-Colly

If it hadn't been Janet, it would have been something else. They were just waiting for an excuse.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

If it hadn't been Janet, it would have been something else. They were just waiting for an excuse.

That's it exactly.

Hey, did you know that Colin Powell's son is the head of the FCC? How'd that happen?

---dr.M.

 

[KarenAM]

Such a party dosen't exist anymore. More's the pity because it's exactly what we need. The old party of fiscal responsibility & small government sold it's soul to the devil in the form of the religious right. In return for grass roots, ground swell support to make sure there was no more Clinton legacy, it brought us the rise of the neocons.

The democrats, long defenders of individual freedoms & rights were just as quick to vote on USA Patriot as the GOP. Infact they have put up less resistance over the past years than a drunk nympho at a frat party.

Sadly no third party has taken advantage of the sickening erosion of both the GOP & Democrats into polarized, ineffective structures with more inertia than the politboro. Where is TR when you need a Bull Mooose to step up and shake them both back to reality? Ralph Nadar just isn't quite the same is he?

-Colly

It seems to be becoming a habit, but I completely agree with Colly here. Even as at the moment the far-right does its best to destroy America by turning against the values of freedom and liberty the USA represents, we must not forget the enthusiastic embracing of censorship and totalitarianism advocated by the far-left. Militant, radical feminists like Andrea Dworkin and the current leadership of N.O.W. also want to control what you are thinking, reading, and looking at, and are more than willing to sell the rights of women and men to the Neocons to further their own grab at power. Together they want to burn the Bill of Rights.

It's strange, in a way, because as these groups try to destroy America, I'm getting more patriotic -- patriotism in this case meaning opposing those like Ashcroft and Dworkin, who have betrayed this country and its values so badly.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

If it hadn't been Janet, it would have been something else. They were just waiting for an excuse.

I agree Ken, they were just waiting for an excuse. That dose not excuse her for giving them one that was tailor made. They didn't have to spin, they didn't have to reach, they didn't have to blow up some minor incident and perhaps more importantly they didn't have to worry about enough people having seen it to create a furor.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, which I am not, but if I were this incident was so perfect for what they wanted/needed to get the ball rolling you almost would have to wonder if it wasn't planned & coreographed by Asscroft & company. It's just too perfect. Blatant violation. Largest audience possible. The right kind of audience too, even the christian right watched football in force. Immideate flow of complaints. Three major corporations playing CYA & willing to "testify" before the congressional subcomittees.

If you are on the Christian right, it was damned near a miracle.

-Colly

 

[Guest]

If I were a conspiracy theorist, which I am not, but if I were this incident was so perfect for what they wanted/needed to get the ball rolling you almost would have to wonder if it wasn't planned & coreographed by Asscroft & company. ...Colly

Colly, I was thinking the same thing for a couple seconds. Wow, Perdita can think like Colly! P.