[Desmond]

Assuming that no other laws are broken, I am very live-and-let-live towards these people no matter how disgusting they get. However, they do seem to have broken some laws. "[T]he defendants sold allegedly obscene material over the Internet and distributed videotapes and DVDs across state lines through the postal system, a violation of federal law." Sounds like a dumb law on first blush, though.

Mostly I think, though, doesn't his office have better things to do than fight a losing battle against fringe (adult) porn makers and distributors? This all sounds retarded.

[Wolfie]

Wow, the Director's Cut of "Forced Entry" is finally out? That's great news. Now his true vision for the picture can be appreciated.

[Paleo Conservative]

"[T]he defendants sold allegedly obscene material over the Internet and distributed videotapes and DVDs across state lines through the postal system, a violation of federal law." Sounds like a dumb law on first blush, though.

Perhaps you would prefer these laws be repealed so porno junk mail will fill you mailbox at home the way porno spam fills email inboxes.

[Phantom Lord]

"[T]he defendants sold allegedly obscene material over the Internet and distributed videotapes and DVDs across state lines through the postal system, a violation of federal law."

If they had shipped them by UPS or FedEx would any laws have been broken? If no, then they should have used those services.

And further, what an absolute waste of tax payers money, and limited law enforcement resources this is. Leave them alone.

[Wolfie]

Mostly I think, though, doesn't his office have better things...

You can sum Ashcroft's priorities up in two words: Dopers and Boners.

[dennisw]

Mostly I think, though, doesn't his office have better things to do than fight a losing battle against fringe (adult) porn makers and distributors? This all sounds retarded........


I agree. Legalize hard core, legalize heroin, methedrine and crack. Why bother prosecuting. Yipee!!!

[anniegetyourgun]

I appreciate having an AG who enforces the law of the land...for a change.

[Bikers4Bush]

We've got illegals crawling all over this country thanks to businesses that pay them under the table and he's worried about porn.

Just beautiful.

[Lunatic Fringe]

[squidly]

Just like Ed Meese's "war" on pornography, this is a complete waste of time, money, and effort. How 'bout we use some of that time, money, and effort on our southern border?

[verity]

Libertine Librarian Liberal Libertarian ?

[sakic]

We're facing terrorism the likes of which has never been seen before and this a**wipe Ashcroft and this a**wipe government of ours is spending time and money on stopping porno films.

Your tax dollars at work and your personal safety being disregarded.

[gdani]

"The Sopranos" (and other movies/TV) have featured fictional rapes, not to mention murders. Will Ashcroft go after them?

And - since "community standards" is one of the considerations in determining whether something is obscene or not - who's community standards are we talking about? Where the product was mailed from or where it was mailed to?

[gdani]

Will Ashcroft be raiding Clarence Thomas' collection?

[The Green Goblin]

My 80 year-old grandmother still gets strip-searched by airport security while Achmed and Ibrahim walk by unaccosted, and Asscroft is spending his time going after porn???

[colorado tanker]

I don't mean to defend the porno producers, but this does seem to be a waste of time, given the way the Supreme Court has applied the First Amendment in obscenity cases.

[RogueIsland]

After reading the article, it looks like it all comes down to the Feds and the same interstate commerce nonsense they use when they want to prosecute someone for selling guns/gun parts they don't like across state lines.

[Russell Scott]

Its about time the mob, who runs the porn industry, began feeling some serious heat from the feds. I agree with Mike Savage, that John Ashcroft is one of the best AG's ever. He also has a great reward waiting for him when he stands before Christ on Judgement Day.

[King Prout]

this is silly.

[Revolting cat!]

Kudos to the "the nation's multibillion-dollar pornography industry" for not exporting American jobs to India!

[Revolting cat!]

THIS JUST IN:

Ashcroft to Crack Down on Opera Houses, Says Garth Brooks Is Enough Culture!

[Question_Assumptions]

I think the people here who are thinking vanilla "hardcore porn" or "What's the big deal?" have no clue at how things have ratcheted toward the depraved once Clinton's Justice Department backed off of the porn industry. We aren't talking about showing explicit sex. We are talking about people being defecated on, being beaten until they they bleed, and generally doing things to men and women that would make most civilized people squirm.

You can watch the full PBS Frontline special on the pornography industry and obscenity prosecutions and read the transcript and background material here. Indeed, they interview this couple for the show:

NARRATOR: But it is the very mainstreaming of sexual content on cable that is forcing some pornographers to try to go even further. Over at Extreme Associates, Rob Black and Lizzie Borden are determined to test the limits.

ROB BLACK: We're known for all the taboo stuff that everyone's said you can't do, and we do it. And we sell it, and people are entertained because people are bored with the other stuff.

NARRATOR: Today they're shooting the box cover for Lizzie's new feature.

LIZZIE BORDEN: A girl being kidnapped, being forced to have sex against her will.

NARRATOR: Lizzie's newest film breaks many of even porn's taboos.

LIZZIE BORDEN: Being butchered at the end, and spit on. She's being degraded.

NARRATOR: The actress, Veronica Caine, apparently doesn't know exactly what she's in for.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Just go with the flow, all right? Let happen what's going to happen.

LIZZIE BORDEN: She's, like, one of my best friends.

INTERVIEWER: And you're about to put her through-

LIZZIE BORDEN: Hell.

INTERVIEWER: Why?

LIZZIE BORDEN: She knows me. She's my best friend. I know she can take it. And at the end, I give her a hug. I take her out to dinner. We go shopping.

INTERVIEWER: Is she going to take a beating, a real beating?

LIZZIE BORDEN: Yeah. She's really going to get hit. She likes it. It's good. Sometimes, it makes you more horny when you're getting hit. It makes you more, like, wet. It makes you, you know, more tingly down in your genital area.

NARRATOR: Before the scene is finished, Lizzie's friend, Veronica, will be kicked and beaten. She will have oral, vaginal and anal sex with each of these actors. Then they will pretend to cut her throat and leave her for dead in a pool of blood.

LIZZIE BORDEN: I'm a female director, and it's easy for me to say, "Oh, come on, do it," you know, and not just a man. If a guy asks, they're, like, "Oh, he's a pervert." But if a woman asks, they do it.

NARRATOR: We were here because this is one of the places where porn is now regularly pushing the limits. But this was more than we bargained for. And while it appeared that what was happening was legally consensual, we left. The incident, though, caused us to wonder not just about the content but about the human cost, a cost that even porn producers see every day.

MARK CROMER, Hustler Video Producer: And it never ceases to amaze me what these women are willing to do for money. I mean, why do you have a 19-year-old girl having sex with multiple partners, three, four, five days a week?

No, these are not basic dirty movies. This is very nasty stuff and would be called obscene to anyone with a functional definition of "obscenity".

[onedoug]

We've got all our marital aids.

[BlazingArizona]

If convicted, Zicari, 29, also known as Rob Black, and Romano, 26, also known as Lizzie Borden, each could face as much as 50 years in prison and a fine of $2.5 million. The company could pay a fine of as much as $5 million.

If tis is how the Republicans treat entrepreneurs, I would hate to what kind of punishment the Democratics might impose (I'm sure there's a zoning violation or two in that case, or the actors eat trans-fatty food). Crucifixion?

Your judicial tax dollars at work: that father-son pair of thugs who attacked a baseball player on the field during a game got off with probation

[livius]

Porn viewing has been connected, even in the studies of liberals who love it, to greater violent sexual behavior by the people who watch it. So maybe we should seriously consider the fact that it's just not a good idea. "Bathing suit beauties" were one thing: women being whipped or doing things with animals is completely another.

Still, if they just sent it out to their sick friends, that might be one thing. However, people who never read it or want to read it are being barraged by it now.

My mailbox is swamped with the most disgusting stuff. I have two spam protection programs, and revolting stuff still slips through. It's coming from somewhere, and somebody with bucks is supporting it. Most of the people who actually send porno spam are judgment proof (since only civil penalties apply, at this point).

But somebody's paying them, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it's the big players in CA.

I say,attack 'em. Maybe someday I'll be able to check my email without gagging.

[Revolting cat!]

Somehow, I knew from the beginning that the director's cut of the "Forced Entry" classic would provoke a long, fruitful discussion on the artistic merits of this masterpiece. They (the director's cuts) always do!

[Tempest]

Thanks for reminding me why I'm libertarian.

[John Lenin]

I wish he would crack down on the obscene mail I have been getting for the past year. I'm no prude but when you open up a piece of mail and see some bimbo spread eagled with a cucumber in her hand and you have a young niece looking over your shoulder thats going a bit too far.

[gitmo]

The industry has been bracing for a renewed crackdown since Ashcroft became attorney general in 2001. Film producers took note when the department spent $8,000 on curtains to cover two partly nude classical statues in its Washington offices.

[madprof98]

A glance through the posts tells me this has again come down to the Libertarians vs. the Rest of Humanity. I know which side the ACLU and the LoserDems are on. I can't imagine why anyone else would join them--unless they have "private interests" which would put an Episcopal bishop to shame.

[Jeff Gordon]

I am happy to see that the Federal Agencies have solved the terrorism problem once and for all. It is a relief to know that they can now spare dollars and agents time on this type of issue.

[The Red Zone]

Extreme Associates produces movies such as "Extreme Teen #24" and "Forced Entry — Directors Cut," which depict the fictional rapes and murders of several women, according to court documents.

If it's all fake, then why doesn't the Supreme Court ruling on virtual porn apply to this by analogy?

I'm glad to see this at least is not a set of stings aimed at potential porn consumers. Now THAT would be wicked and antisocial, no matter how legally permissible and rationalizable. Getting one of Satan's catalogues, unbidden, in the mailbox can potentially undo years of painstaking therapy for someone who had formerly been involved in acting out depraved ideas. And even if he or she does not fall for that particular temptation, it can get him or her in a mind to look for porn once more in a legal venue. People like Meese who okay or practice that kind of temptation will have to face the stern judgment of God, just as much as the consumers will.

[johnb838]

How did Rudy G. tame NYC?

[Kevin Curry]

The 10-count federal grand jury indictment against Extreme Associates and its executives, Robert Zicari and Janet Romano of Northridge

Northridge? There was a whole lotta shakin' goin' on there 'round 'bout 1994.

Too bad the whole place wasn't swallowed up whole by sheol.