Posted on 02/05/2009 10:17:14 AM PST by NYer
.- President Barack Obama’s selection of David Ogden to become Deputy Attorney General is being criticized because of Ogden’s links to the pornography industry.
A brief from the Chicago-based pro-family group Fidelis reports that Ogden has represented pornography businesses such as Playboy Enterprises and Penthouse Magazine.
He opposed the Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2000 as counsel of record for an amicus brief supporting the American Library Association in a case that challenged mandatory anti-obscenity internet filters in public libraries.
In the 1986 case American Council for the Blind v. Boorstin, he successfully sought a court order forcing the Library of Congress to use taxpayer funds to print Playboy Magazine’s articles in Braille.
Ogden also successfully challenged laws requiring pornography producers to personally verify that models were over 18 at the time their materials were made. According to the Fidelis brief, he argued that the decision would “burden too heavily and infringe too deeply on the right to produce First Amendment protected material.”
In other areas, Ogden has argued for homosexuals in the military and an unlimited abortion license.
In an amicus brief for the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision which reaffirmed Roe v. Wade’s mandating of permissive abortion laws, Ogden argued that abortion “rarely causes or exacerbates psychological or emotional problems.”
“The few women who do experience negative psychological responses after abortion appear to be those with preexisting emotional problems,” he continued.
He argued that evidence shows abortion is more likely to make women “experience feelings of relief and happiness” and claimed childbirth and childrearing or adoption may pose “concomitant (if not greater) risks or adverse psychological effects” compared to the effects of abortion.
In a Wednesday press release, Brian Burch, President of Fidelis, called Ogden “a hired gun from Playboy and ACLU.”
“Ogden’s record is nothing short of obscene,” he charged, adding: “David Ogden has collected checks from Playboy and Penthouse to fight reasonable protections for parents and children from pornography.”
“He can’t run from his long record of opposing common sense laws protecting families, women, and children. The United States Senate has a responsibility to the American people to ensure that Mr. Ogden’s full record is fully reviewed before any vote on his nomination.”
“A vast majority of Americans support parental notification before a minor’s abortion and protecting kids from Internet pornography in our libraries,” Burch continued. “Yet David Ogden has fought tooth and nail against these common sense laws protecting our children from harm. At a time when America’s families are under increasing assault, Mr. Ogden is a dangerous choice for a position whose responsibilities include the enforcement of our nation’s laws.”
According to a July 2008 essay in New Yorker Magazine Ogden is not the only one with ties to the pornography industry.
The essay reported that Christine Hefner, who then headed Playboy Enterprises, played a role in supporting Barack Obama’s political career as early as 2002. Her support began after she met him at a gathering of an influential Chicago women’s group called Ladies Who Lunch.
“I was very proud to be able to introduce him during the Senate race to a lot of people who have turned out to be important and valuable to him, not just here but in New York and L.A.,” Hefner told New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza.
“I try and think about people who I think should know him,” Hefner said.
Are there any appointees in this administration, with scruples?
Why not just skip the middle man and appoint Larry Flynt?
I only skimmed the first several paragraphs, but this guy seems as if he’s just the kinda guy 0bama likes to hang with.
“..he successfully sought a court order forcing the Library of Congress to use taxpayer funds to print Playboy Magazine’s articles in Braille.”
BWAAH!!!!
Centerfold too?????
Is this Bill Clinton under another name????
Playboy and Penthouse, porn? That’s a bit of a stretch, though your opinion may vary. They are more mainstream than that true porno rag, The Nation!
Soft Porn is still Porn.
Wow, the Obamoron is just a wealth of surprises. Tax cheats and purveyors of porn in his (public) cabinet and rabid racist ministers and domestic terrorists (likely) in his “shadow” cabinet!!
And, before the election people said that all these influences on him didn’t define who he is.
Wanna bet??
They don't NEED no steenkin' scruples!! They're DEMOCRAPS!!!
If all he wanted to do is put braille copies of Playboy and Penthouse into libraries, I wouldn’t necessarily condemn him for that alone.
Eye of the beholder, I guess. I have not "beheld" either publication for thirty years or so.
Um, no. The real question is: Are we surprised none of them have scruples?
The entire idea that porn is somehow a protected right under the constitution is particular absurd.
Particularly when coming from an ACLU type that is so willing to censor political speech with McCain-Feingold or the fairness doctrine.
The idea that the founding fathers established the 1st to protect smut, and smut alone, and were perfectly willing to stifle political or commercial speech is a contortion that I just don’t understand.
Another criminal?
How could there be?
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