US pornography industry braces itself for clampdown

[dArKeR]

THE OBSERVER , MIAMI
Monday, Apr 12, 2004,Page 7

America's booming adult entertainment industry is bracing itself for a "summer of censorship" as the government clamps down on pornography.

For nearly 10 years, the resources of the Department of Justice's anti-obscenity division have been allocated almost exclusively to the war on child pornography, leaving those involved in the US$10 billion-a-year adult market to their own devices.

But with producers of adult porn becoming increasingly lawless, according to Andrew Oosterbaan, head of the agency's anti-obscenity department, it is time to "send ripples" through the industry and prosecute those producing and distributing obscene material.

"Nothing will be off-limits as far as content goes," he said. "We'll do everything we can to deter this conduct."

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/04/12/2003136380

[KissMyAsscroft]

1. Wow..another pointless war...

More money well spent.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

21. AGH! I FIGURED IT OUT! THOSE PORN POP-UPS ON LEFTY SITES!

We've been saying for a few years now that the attack on porn will be the cover for the control of the internet to silence the leftist drums against the neocon Nazis!

This is how. Drop in those porn pop-ups and the site gets filtered out!

THOSE FUCKERS!

[0007]

30. God, I was wondering where all those spans on porn was coming

from.

Big Brother set up, 'eh?

THOSE FUCKERS! that is putting it mildly to say the least.

[dusty64]

31. Exactly.

x

[Stephanie]

2. I have a vague recollection that Marriott makes a fortune on porn

And that Marriott is a big RW supporter.

Does anyone think this will actually happen?

[RoyGBiv]

5. Token Prosecutions

Yeah, there will be people taken out and virtually shot, and they'll be held up as examples of the repug's commitment to "family values." The targets will probably be the so-called "independent producers" who by and large make their money from web sites, and they'll probably go after Flynt again. Those backed silently by big money corporations will barely notice.

It's trite but true. This is an election year.

[havocmom]

19. Ah, like prosecuting Martha to appease 'the little guy'

while Lay and Skilling and the Tyco psychos go free?

[daleo]

44. I heard a rumor that Flint has an anti-Bush book coming out this summer

Perhaps this pornography crusade will be used to shut him up. I heard the book corroborates rumors that Bush had a girlfriend get and abortion when he was young. Not that most right wingers would hold that against him - they will say it was before he was saved, so it's ok.

[RoyGBiv]

49. Not just a rumor

Sex, Lies, and Politics: The Naked Truth by Larry Flynt

Due out in July 2004.

[mountainvue]

48. They're also Mormons.

Go figure.

[Syrinx]

3. I don't understand this mentality

Why are "dirty movies" evil? Nobody is forced to make or view them.

[PurityOfEssence]

4. Simple: there's only one acceptable way of thinking

and those who are askew must be destroyed.

[Lorien]

22. My thought as well. I never even seen a porn film

and I'm in my late '30s! I'm no prude, but I guess having very liberal parents who never talked about sex being "dirty" just left me with a lack of curiousity about such material (seems kind of like watching other people eat; I'd rather be the one enjoying the dinner, thanks).The point is; since I never activly looked for porn, I've never seen it! It's really not something someone has forced upon them (like TV violence; change the channel, and quick!) so why try to stop those who want the stuff from having it? We shouldn't deny that sex is happening and being enjoyed....oh wait, I forgot, this is America! All that is natural is BAD!

[JoFerret]

33. Maybe they are evil because

the people who buy the stuff then turn around and rail and legislate against our freedoms. (Think Clarence Thomas.) It's a vast r/w conspiracy!! Buy porn, destroy reproductive health rights etc.

[Democat]

6. Forget terrorism, spend taxpayer money fighting legal adult entertainment!

Bush needs to go back to Texas and let some adults take over in Washington.

[Minstrel Boy]

7. "You're either with us, or you're with the wankers."

Are we sure "send ripples through the industry" isn't a typo?

[mitchum]

8. Election year pandering by the repubs...

in order to shore up the Puritan vote.

[mosin]

51. War on Pornography

<sarcasm>
We won't be able to eradicate pornography until we put the same energy into the War on Pornography that we put into the War on Drugs! We need civil forgeiture for pornography. We need no-knock warrants. Damn the civil liberties! Only then will pornography become as rare as illicit drugs!
</sarcasm>

You're right. It's more blatant election-year pandering.

[DieboldMustDie]

9. I guess now that we don't have Saddam Hussein to worry about...

we can devote more of our nation's resources to really important matters like this.

[rooboy]

10. Ashcroft's appeasing the terrorists again...

after all, isn't this why they hate us?

[Mackay]

11. You can have my pornography

when you pry IT from my cold moist dead hand!

[opihimoimoi]

13. Pubs kill me. If they can't get the terrorists, they get those masticators

Oh well, easy cum, easy spurt.

[truthisfreedom]

12. so i guess the drug industry will be booming this summer.

and the gambling rackets, and prostitution, and a zillion other things...

hmm... how exactly do you "brace" for crackdowns? retain really really really expensive lawyers?

[shockingelk]

14. THIS IS GREAT NEWS! I think

I'm not sure if I get it, but I read it as Ashcroft wanting to clamp down on legal porn. WTF?

It will piss off the porn industry. People who think porn should be illegal already vote Republican. How much porn do male swing voters look at? How many people in the porn industry are going to be putting anti-Bush/Ashcroft messages on their websites?

[Mackay]

16. no kidding

BAD MOVE on the part of the Rethugs...

[nightperson]

23. Maybe not "great news",

but then I'm a skeptic about "maximizing the contradictions", etc.. The Department of Justice saying "Nothing will be off-limits as far as content goes...We'll do everything we can to deter this conduct" does sound like some kamikaze bull @#!%^ ! Bring it you twerps! The country doesn't care about this stuff! Who do you think this is going to impress? You're saying "Nothing will be off-limits"? How crazy does that sound? I did start a whole thread a while back about how this was similar to the Stern debacle in terms of Bush blatantly antagonizing straight white male swing voters. The thread sank like a stone. Oh well. I posted these old articles in it http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/US/porno030828.html and http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=2199 . I'm not really a "swing voter" though I like to threaten and pout like everyone else, but I am a SWM, and this just makes me think "What next? Banning beer?", and remember old Al Bundy lines like "If you knock on my door, you better be delivering a warrant or a pizza"! Leave me alone you freaks! The absurdity of this going on while we're, um, having problems with the "War On Terror", can't be pointed out enough. Bush and Ashcroft can't catch terrorists but they're hot on the trail of Jenna Haze! Hey, ain't we all?! :nuke: :P :P :P :nuke:

[Elwood P Dowd]

15. We're becomming the Christian version of the Taliban

under these Nazis. While most of these hypocrits run around on
their wives, snort coke, and send our troops to kill innocent
civilians in Iraq, they want to force us to live the life of
a monk.

[shockingelk]

17. phrase "American Taliban" is taken already

Bummer.

[Don_G]

39. Texas Taliban?

It seems appropriate.

[Occulus]

42. Talibornagain

[havocmom]

18. Maybe going after Larry Flynn for going after W on the abortion thing?

And grabbing brownie points with the fundies along the way?

We need to put these questions to the puritan radicals:

Do we defeat terrorism or surrender to it when we imitate their rabid moral fundamentalism?

How are we protecting liberty by demanding adherence to a strict code of behavior?

[Gemini Cat]

20. Blah.

If they crack down on naughty pictures and all that, what will the freaky 'pubs look at?

[rooboy]

24. Ann Coulter.

now THAT's indecent!

:puke:

[Gemini Cat]

26. Ann Coulter:

Indecent, inhuman and just plain icky!
:scared::puke:

[Bride of Cthulhu]

50. just plain gross

:puke::puke::puke:

[rooboy]

25. At least this will lower Dr Laura's profile a bit... n/t

[Old and In the Way]

27. WOP: $10BB Porn Market goes to $50BB

No more free porn.

[LibertyorDeath]

28. Andrew Oosterbaan VS Larry Flynt

Flynt will dig the dirt on any and all connected to this and he will put it to good use because it's all about the bottom line.

As long as it does not involve minors or coersion then keep your

Filthy obscene judge mental fucking hands off of my Porn.

For truly obscene material turn on Faux or Cnn Msnbc etc

All outstanding graduates of the Joseph Goebbels school of journalism

[DavidFL]

29. But won't this take away resources from the DoJ...

that it normally expended to prosecute child pornographers? Wouldn't that essentially mean Ashcroft is going to have to let some makers of kiddie porn off the hook because the DoJ is allocating its resources ineffectively by pursuing makers of legal porn?

Although, some conservative Republicans just have that creepy sort of look where I could see them sitting in a car and approaching young boys and girls walking alone down the street and asking if they could help them find their "lost puppy." (joke :D )

[John_H]

32. Boobs and weenies-obscene. Dead Iraqi babies-collateral damage

[74dodgedart]

34. Let the market decide

Funny how the free market, constitution waving, less-gov't regualtion,
personal responsibility, types are so eager to get the government involved when there's something that they don't like going on.

Freedom isn't always easy.

[qb]

35. Repukes are too ashamed to order porn in plain paper wrappers...

They get it at the office at taxpayer expense under the guise of fighting "indecency".

[Ilsa]

36. This is all they have to run on: "morality" issues.

Gay marriage, porn, abortion, etc. Anything to keep the Fraud from having to talk about his failures in domestic issues, the economy, fight against terrorism, and the Iraq war among other things. The sad truth is that many will buy this load of manure. And shame on them.

Bastards.

[ultramega]

40. But I do think whoever said that they are preaching

to the choir is right, all the anti-porn wingnuts already vote republican, so I don't think this will get them anywhere. It may just be an Ashcroft thing, what with his boobaphobia problem.

I never knew how savvy and shrewd Janet Jackson was until now. She had Ashcroft's number when she flashed that boob at the super bowl in front of 90 million people; she went from fading into obscurity to hottest topic on everyone's lips in 2 seconds flat. Genius move, really. The Kerry campaign should hire this woman as a strategist.

[Terran]

37. "producers of porn becoming increasingly lawless"

Just what in the hell does that mean? That seems to be the justification for this whole thing, and yet it's a completely unsupported statement. By what measure are they becoming lawless? If it's an objective measure, you go after the one sthat are breaking the "law" (what law, exactly?) and leave the rest alone!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

53. Exactly what I was wondering...

Don't pornography laws vary from state to state?

I can't understand why they'd "go after" anything but child porn, unless there are non-consensual movies on the market. Or could they be going after a flick that Asscroft didn't realize he made? :evilgrin:

[PassingFair]

38. I must say...

this is the first time I've ever pressed the option "view all" in a porn thread...

[PfcHammer]

41. it's a dirty little secret in the porn war, but much of this has to do

with eliminating the depiction of sex between BM & WF

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

43. Uh... what's BM & WF? (nt)

[daleo]

46. Depictions of interracial sex

You can probably figure out the specifics from the letters.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

47. OMG (KleverKittie, you have more info on that?) (nt)

[Samurai_Writer]

52. They are talking about interracial porn...

BM = black male
WF = white female

[BattyDem]

45. What is it with these people and sex?

:eyes:

I'm a woman and I know a lot of women feel that porn is degrading, sexist, etc. Some of the more hardcore stuff definitely is. However, at the risk of being non-PC, here's my opinion:

If consenting adults create "adult oriented" entertainment and materials for other consenting adults to enjoy, it's nobody's f*ckin' business!

Does anyone watch "Family Business" on Showtime? It's a reality show about the adult entertainment industry. It stars Adam Glasser aka Seymore Butts and from what I understand, he's a pretty big deal in the porn industry. (I never heard of him before I saw the show. I guess I should get out more :) In any case, I think he's adorable!)

Anyway, Ashcroft went after Glasser and his mother (who's his book keeper) and threatened to throw them in jail. They finally ended up paying a fine and he took one of his videos off the market (it contained a sex act that was "obscene" :eyes:)

Glasser started a movement called "Operation Free Speech". They raise money to pay the legal fees of people in the adult entertainment industry who are being harrassed by Ashcroft. They have a web site - there's not much there now because it was originally set up to host a telethon to raise money - but they do have a page that lists the rights we are about to lose. Check it out .. the "Asses of Evil" picture on the main page would make a nice greeting card. :evilgrin:

Main Page - http://www.operationfreespeech.com/
"Kiss These Things Goodbye" page - http://www.operationfreespeech.com/goodbye.html

[bobbyboucher]

54. Politics, pure and simple.

All this shit is an attempt to garner votes from the religious right and others. Just like the crackdown on the radio airwaves. It is nothing more than desperation.

[AngryAmish]

55. Isn't this headline vaguely dirty?

[Maestro]

56. They can start with

Cheney's wife's novel from the eighties and the soft core porn it has within. F'n hypocrits.

[daleo]

57. I wonder if it is too late to arrest her

Maybe a statute of limitations problem. They better look into Dr. Laura, I hear she has some pretty obscene photos out there, too.

They would probably claim Cheney's novel is ok because of its intrinsic artistic merit. Dr. Laura would be public education.