Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Santorum Says He Would Enforce US Obscenity Laws That Obama Ignores
MSNBC ^ | March 16, 2012 | Andrew Rafferty and Alex Moe

Posted on 03/16/2012 10:56:03 PM PDT by Steelfish

Santorum Says He Would Enforce US Obscenity Laws That Obama Ignores By NBC's Andrew Rafferty

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL -- Rick Santorum accused President Barack Obama of not enforcing the country's obscenity laws and said Friday that as chief executive he would crack down on illegal pornography.

Santorum found himself answering pornography questions during a stop at an Italian restaurant here after the discovery of a statement posted in his campaign website in which he asserts that "America is suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography." Recent reporting has shed light on the letter in which the former Pennsylvania senator vowed to "vigorously enforce" all the country's obscenity laws, though he said the statement was posted three weeks ago.

"We actually respond to questions that we get into our campaign when they say 'What are you going to do about these issues?' And when we respond we post them up on our website. And the response is, ‘we'll enforce the law,’" said Santorum.

"I don’t know what the hubbub about that is," he said. "We have a president who is not enforcing the law, and we will."

The candidate best known for espousing family values argues on his website that pornography causes changes in the brain to both children and adults, and contributes to violence against women, prostitution and sex trafficking. "The Obama administration has turned a blind eye to those who wish to preserve our culture from the scourge of pornography," he wrote.

(Excerpt) Read more at firstread.msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 1stamendment; 2012electionbias; antiprotestantrick; culturewar; familyvalues; freespeech; how2lose2obama; kenyanbornmuzzie; lostby18forsenate; mittromney; nannystate; nationalissuesricky; newtbotsforromney; newtgingrich; obamassillytwin; obscenity; obscenitylaws; peripheralissues; pornification; pornography; proillegalssrick; prounionsrick; rick4anticondomczar; rick4antipornczar; rick4pope; rick4proillegalsczar; rick4prounionczar; ricksantorum; ricksdebateoncondoms; ricksearch4ridicule; saintsantorum; santorum2012; santorum4censorship; santorum4obama; santorum4romney; search4dumbproblems; senatorsactimonious; tinybrain; tinyideas; tinyiq; tinysolutions
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 481-500 next last
To: cynwoody

Newt is UNELECTABLE. He has baggage heavy enough to sink the QEII; Check his negatives, gender gap, independents desert him in droves, and his so-called “southern strategy” went up in smoke after AL and MS. He was unable to pull 50% in his own home state after massive ad buys and campaigning. What now but to withdraw in grace. It’s not just “The Jobs Stupid” its also “the Culture Stupid.”


21 posted on 03/17/2012 12:14:36 AM PDT by Steelfish (ui)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Steelfish

Santorum made himself provincial and part of the nanny state with his anti-porn crusade. It might have helped if he were running for Pope.


22 posted on 03/17/2012 12:15:52 AM PDT by DaxtonBrown (http://www.futurnamics.com/reid.php)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GeronL
Always amazing how many Freepers have no problem with kiddie porn

Kiddie porn should be about victimizing specific children to make porn. That should be a capital (or at least a castrating) offense.

However, unless the defendant actually did that, it should not be a criminal matter.

23 posted on 03/17/2012 12:17:33 AM PDT by cynwoody
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: GeronL
Always amazing how many Freepers have no problem with kiddie porn

You seriously have your head up your ass if you actually think this.
24 posted on 03/17/2012 12:18:34 AM PDT by LanaTurnerOverdrive ("I've done a lot of things in my life that I'm not proud of. And the things I am proud of are disgus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: GeronL

Funny how you were the 1st and only one to suddenly bring up kiddie porn.


25 posted on 03/17/2012 12:22:28 AM PDT by Utmost Certainty (Our Enemy, the State | Gingrich 2012)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: dayglored
Santorum is indeed talking about enforcing already existing laws. Anybody who is against what Santorum said is against enforcing the law.
26 posted on 03/17/2012 12:22:44 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: GeronL
“illegal” pornography probably refers to kiddie porn.

Clearly, Santorum is not talking about child pornography. Here's what Santorum said:

"Current federal 'obscenity' laws prohibit distribution of hardcore (obscene) pornography on the Internet, on cable/satellite TV, on hotel/motel TV, in retail shops and through the mail or by common carrier," it reads. "Rick Santorum believes that federal obscenity laws should be vigorously enforced."

The article goes on to say that the FBI has announced 38 convictions on child pornography counts this month. Since Santorum says that Obama isn't enforcing the law, the child pornography laws aren't the laws he's talking about.

Santorum wants the federal government to regulate the "mainstream" kind of pornography.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/16/santorum-addresses-pornography-pandemic-position/

27 posted on 03/17/2012 12:22:58 AM PDT by mountainbunny (Seamus Sez: "Good dogs don't let their masters vote for Mitt!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: LanaTurnerOverdrive

LOL, you said in one sentence what it took me a dozen above (post #20). Well done!


28 posted on 03/17/2012 12:23:28 AM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Steelfish

From April, 2011....and OMG, It’s MSNBC....

Obama’s Porn Problem With Liberals

“If you know where to search, it doesn’t take much Googling to find photos of women having sex with farm animals, videos that graphically depict simulated rape, or actresses made to look 13 year olds performing sex acts on adult men....

....But this week, news broke that the Obama administration had quietly shuttered the only Justice Department unit that exclusively fought adult obscenity.....

....Earlier this month, 42 senators signed a letter urging Attorney General Eric Holder to step up enforcement of federal obscenity laws. Among the cast of mostly Republican signers, one name stood out: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a staunch liberal from California, the de-facto porn capital of America.....

....She wasn’t alone: five other Senate Democrats, including Minnesota’s left-wing warrior, Amy Klobuchar, also signed the letter, and they were applauded by feminists, leftist lawyers, and liberal academics. Together, this increasingly vocal segment of progressives is making the case that hardcore porn flies in the face of cherished liberal causes-and that Democrats should be leading the charge to take down its distributors......”

http://powerwall.msnbc.msn.com/politics/obamas-porn-problem-with-liberals-1686434.story


29 posted on 03/17/2012 12:26:04 AM PDT by JoeDetweiler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Steelfish
You make a good argument for Mittens.

If we can't have Newt, I'd settle for Dr. Paul. Or even Mittens! Anybody to oust Obama! Because Obama is who it will be if we nominate Ricky "JFK turns my stomach" Santorum. On the so-called religious issue, Santorum is a moron!!

30 posted on 03/17/2012 12:27:04 AM PDT by cynwoody
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Ozymandias Ghost

Forming a Religious Police.


31 posted on 03/17/2012 12:31:08 AM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Paparazzi mob senior citizen mistaking her for Lindsay Lohan (True Story))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe
> Santorum is indeed talking about enforcing already existing laws.

Actually, it appears he's trying to make anything he doesn't approve of, fit under the broad category of "obscene" or "hard-core", so that he can make it illegal. He wants to enforce the laws dealing with illegal porn in such a way as to include the stuff that is NOT currently illegal, but which he thinks SHOULD be.

That's very different from simply enforcing existing laws.

> Anybody who is against what Santorum said is against enforcing the law.

Ummm, I do not agree. I'm all for enforcing the existing laws, as they are generally understood in the communities where they exist.

I am NOT for letting one bluenose decide what's legal for the entire country, especially when it's quite clear that the vast majority of Americans do not share his self-righteous attitude towards such material.

32 posted on 03/17/2012 12:33:54 AM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: dayglored

Obscenity already has a well established legal definition. Obama hasn’t enforced federal obscenity laws but Rick Santorum will.


33 posted on 03/17/2012 12:52:22 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe
I did a quick search on obscenity laws currently on the books. With the exception of child porn, they seem pretty vague in definition and could be interpreted in many ways.
(I don't think I'll delve into the subject any further for obvious reasons.)

Personally, I think porn is gross. But, amazingly, I have very little problem avoiding it. If this is about kids not viewing porn, I totally get that. That should be parental control...not coming from a governmental level.

However pure Senator Santorum’s statements might be...the media will seize on such statements and turn them against him. He might want to stick to the issues of our economy and world strife. Plenty of topics there. But he seems to let the media define his platform.

34 posted on 03/17/2012 12:59:56 AM PDT by berdie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Steelfish

“Newt is UNELECTABLE. He has baggage heavy enough to sink the QEII; Check his negatives, gender gap, independents desert him in droves, and his so-called “southern strategy” went up in smoke after AL and MS. He was unable to pull 50% in his own home state after massive ad buys and campaigning. What now but to withdraw in grace. It’s not just “The Jobs Stupid” its also “the Culture Stupid.””

My, you really hate Newt, don’t you?


35 posted on 03/17/2012 1:43:01 AM PDT by SatinDoll (No Foreign Nationals as our President!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: GeronL
Think you nailed it. I have no problem with beautiful nude women, but I have no desire to look at a women having sex, and cannot under stand the male perverts that do. And as to those that like kiddie porn, the Romans had a cure for that. Something to-do with a pike.
36 posted on 03/17/2012 1:56:38 AM PDT by org.whodat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: GeronL; Raider Sam
"Always amazing how many Freepers have no problem with kiddie porn"

Can you please, name one?  I am with FR for some time, and never noticed what you mentioned. 

 

37 posted on 03/17/2012 2:05:03 AM PDT by OneHun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Steelfish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7h8NkyrZ8


38 posted on 03/17/2012 2:09:13 AM PDT by Sparky21555
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sparky21555

Link didn’t work, sorry. It was for the Kinks “Shepards of the Nation”.


39 posted on 03/17/2012 2:13:04 AM PDT by Sparky21555
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Ozymandias Ghost

He sure comes up with some off the wall issues.

Certainly after election this could be looked into, but it isn’t something to run on.


40 posted on 03/17/2012 2:16:16 AM PDT by Venturer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 481-500 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson