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U.S. declares War on Porn
Baltimore Sun ^ | April 5, 2004 | Laura Sullivan

Posted on 04/05/2004 9:23:56 PM PDT by Quick1

WASHINGTON -- Lam Nguyen's job is to sit for hours in a chilly, quiet room devoid of any color but gray and look at pornography. This job, which Nguyen does earnestly from 9 to 5, surrounded by a half-dozen other "computer forensic specialists" like him, has become the focal point of the Justice Department's operation to rid the world of porn.

In this field office in Washington, 32 prosecutors, investigators and a handful of FBI agents are spending millions of dollars to bring anti-obscenity cases to courthouses across the country for the first time in 10 years. Nothing is off limits, they warn, even soft-core cable programs such as HBO's long-running Real Sex or the adult movies widely offered in rooms of major hotel chains.

Department officials say they will send "ripples" through an industry that has proliferated on the Internet and grown into an estimated $10 billion-a-year colossus profiting Fortune 500 corporations such as Comcast, which offers hard-core movies on a pay-per-view channel.

(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
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To: Right Wing Professor
Then we can get down to the real work of making everyone say prayers five times a day, outlawing alcohol, and slaying the infidel.

Very much the wrong fundamentalist. But why should the fundamental humanist, fundamental evolutionist, get to make all of the rules as of late. It's all just one religion vs the next.

181 posted on 04/06/2004 11:23:49 AM PDT by biblewonk (The only book worth reading, and reading, and reading.)
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Comment #182 Removed by Moderator

To: antiRepublicrat
"Girls Gone Wild" tv ads and "The Real World" have shown girls that it is culturally acceptable (at least among the MTV crowd) to be a sexual tease, exposing flesh whether it is breasts, buttock, or genitals.

Young girls have taken up this practice and go on the internet. They set up "wishlists" and whore themselves out (some call themselves camwhores). There are adults who engage in this behavior but there are also minors.

It matters not that they produce porn themselves, they are unable to consent legally to the exploitation that they are engaging in. The law cannot distinguish between an adult child porn producer and a minor child porn producer.

As I have stated several times on this thread, while it is not always a crime to engage in sex with someone under 18, it is always a crime to film it.

183 posted on 04/06/2004 11:26:45 AM PDT by weegee (No blood for ratings-CNN suppressed reports of torture & murder in Iraq to keep their Baghdad bureau)
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To: biblewonk
But why should the fundamental humanist, fundamental evolutionist, get to make all of the rules as of late

I don't want to tell you what erotic materials you can and can't look at (barring exploitation of children). That's the 'fundamental' difference.

184 posted on 04/06/2004 11:27:04 AM PDT by Right Wing Professor
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To: ThatsAllFolks2
Again, your "standards" test seeks to define deviancy downwards. There is no possibility for the standard ever to raise under that argument.
185 posted on 04/06/2004 11:28:20 AM PDT by weegee (No blood for ratings-CNN suppressed reports of torture & murder in Iraq to keep their Baghdad bureau)
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To: biblewonk
Yes you can, that's what government and laws are for.

Are we reading the same Constitution?

Man is not an animal and should not be treated as such by the government.

Exactly. We nanny and control animals, make them do our bidding, where a man should be allowed to decide what is best for himself.

When the government starts treating people as if they were animals, very "bad" things happen.

Yes, the current government state of telling people what to do as if they were animals is not resulting in a very free society.

186 posted on 04/06/2004 11:29:08 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: Quick1
AOL's largest source of income is from members sex chat rooms.
187 posted on 04/06/2004 11:29:30 AM PDT by Khurkris (Ranger On..."Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything thats even remotely true.")
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To: biblewonk
All porn should be illegal.

Just like supply-side WOD doesn't work, supply-side WOPorn won't work, either.

Increasingly huge fines for possession is the only way to nip it, nip it, nip it!

188 posted on 04/06/2004 11:32:17 AM PDT by newgeezer (fundamentalist, regarding the Constitution AND the Holy Bible, i.e. words mean things!)
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To: antiRepublicrat
I don't know how long this link will show the correct picture (it may change within a week). The intended image shows Hillary Clinton on the cover...


189 posted on 04/06/2004 11:32:57 AM PDT by weegee (No blood for ratings-CNN suppressed reports of torture & murder in Iraq to keep their Baghdad bureau)
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To: weegee
How many dead junkie porn stars need to be trotted out before you to see just how it kills the life in the performers?

How many dead junkie sports stars needed to be trotted out before you to see just how it kills the life in the performers? I saw a list of dead porn stars once, and I don't remember OD being up there as a cause of death.

190 posted on 04/06/2004 11:33:08 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: biblewonk
there's a big one you are missing regarding enforcement of porn being illegal.

Hmm... Consuming it doesn't make it disappear?

191 posted on 04/06/2004 11:33:55 AM PDT by newgeezer (fundamentalist, regarding the Constitution AND the Holy Bible, i.e. words mean things!)
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To: Right Wing Professor
Some truth is self evident, and requires no proving.
192 posted on 04/06/2004 11:35:20 AM PDT by BSunday (Become a monthly donor. Every little bit helps. Even as little as 3 bucks.)
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To: biblewonk
Yes you can, that's what government and laws are for.

That's not really a conservative view on government's role. Government exists to guarantee our rights. More simply put, IMO, is that government exists to protect us from each other. Your view opens the door for government to ban smoking, drinking, unhealthy foods, sky-diving, motorcycling, running wth scissors etc.

Prostitution, adultary and porn are all "wrong" also. Man is not an animal and should not be treated as such by the government. When the government starts treating people as if they were animals, very "bad" things happen.

We do not give animals a say in what they do with their bodies. By saying that we should ban porn, you are making the argument that consenting adults should be treated like animals in that regard.

193 posted on 04/06/2004 11:35:31 AM PDT by Modernman (Chthulhu for President! Why Vote for the Lesser Evil?)
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To: antiRepublicrat
We nanny and control animals, make them do our bidding, where a man should be allowed to decide what is best for himself.

Actually man can decide to "rise above" the animals and control his base instincts. Animals rape, murder, and eat their young (as well as engaging in same sex rape and interspecies sex).

Civilized man says that these are unacceptable actions.

Domesticated animals (pets and livestock) are controlled to some extent to do our bidding but man hardly controls the life of every animal.

194 posted on 04/06/2004 11:36:58 AM PDT by weegee (No blood for ratings-CNN suppressed reports of torture & murder in Iraq to keep their Baghdad bureau)
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To: cyborg
I got a XXX pop up while visting the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog *LOL*

Are you sure it wasn't the catalog itself? (All the hubbub in the media says it's the same thing ;-)

195 posted on 04/06/2004 11:37:54 AM PDT by StriperSniper (Ernest Strada Fanclub)
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To: weegee
It matters not that they produce porn themselves, they are unable to consent legally to the exploitation that they are engaging in.

Jailtime for taking pictures of yourself is just too wierd for me. I'm sure they could go after her patrons who found themselves in possession of child pornography.

196 posted on 04/06/2004 11:38:11 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: Quick1
Porn Rules!
197 posted on 04/06/2004 11:39:48 AM PDT by FightThePower!
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To: Quick1
I came up with idea 5-6 years ago that every porn site should be .xxx instead of .com.
It would be easy to block, and easier to go after those that broke the rules.
Of course there would always be some very smart kids that could find away around it, but not the vast majority.
I hope they focus on the spam and porn spam, that is the most intrusive mess I have to deal with.
198 posted on 04/06/2004 11:41:06 AM PDT by DayTripper
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To: weegee
WHO is talking about banning porn altogether? Certainly not Ashcroft but his critics are.

Knowing what I know about Aschroft (my best friend worked for him for two years and I've met him on several occasions), I think he would fully ban porn if he could.

And organized crime has been and continues to operate in the LEGAL porn trade. Just because some of their revenue sources are legal does not eliminate them from the picture.

Sure, but big porn companies, such as Playboy and Vivid are publicly-traded corporations. They're subject to various forms of scrutiny. It's much easier to keep organized crime out of a legal business than it is to keep them out of underground affairs.

An analogy can be made to moonshiners- the reason people don't buy their booze from moonshiners these days (even though their product is cheaper than legal booze) is because consumers, given a choice, are more comfortable dealing with a legal, regulated company.

199 posted on 04/06/2004 11:41:21 AM PDT by Modernman (Chthulhu for President! Why Vote for the Lesser Evil?)
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To: Right Wing Professor
I'm waiting for the Bible to be classified as erotic material. At that point I'm sure the Christian moralists here would change their tune.
200 posted on 04/06/2004 11:42:49 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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