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Weblog Archive: March 18, 2007 to Mar 24, 2007 Thursday, March 22, 2007
A federal judge has ruled that the Child Online Protection Act, which would have criminalized much of the sexual content on the Internet, violates First and Fifth Amendment rights. The 1998 U.S. law included both civil and criminal penalties for those who make sexually explicit materials freely available on the Web. U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr., who presided over the trial involving several online publications and the American Civil Liberties Union, ruled that COPA is "impermissibly vague and overbroad" to be constitutional, and that there are other less-restrictive means available for protecting children from content deemed inappropriate. In addition, Reed said, the law would undoubtedly "chill a substantial amount of constitutionally protected speech for adults." Good news, though it's absurd that an internet porn law from nine years ago is still bouncing around the courts. Hasn't the problem of ascii pr0n on gopher pretty much resolved itself? Wednesday, March 21, 2007
One of the last installments dealt with a favorite craigslist cliche, "no drama". Handsome stranger looking for a virgin to deflower - m4w - 28 (East Village) I am tall, handsome, trim, white and ready to do this for you now. No, no sir, I’m not interested in drama at all. I’m just a virgin who happens to want Count Dracula to come over to do some ghetto yoga with me. Nope, no drama here. AT ALL. Also worth reading: 2004 Gothamist interview with Amy Blair. Jesus, you've immersed yourself in Craigslist's polluted, disheartening content for so long now, how do you wash the stink off of you after a hard day's work perusing those boards? Like George Thorogood said: One bourbon, one shot, and one beer. With all due respect to John Lee Hooker, she's my kind of woman.
In June 2003, five years after Garner and Lawrence were arrested, the Supreme Court ruled in their favor 6-3, striking down not just Texas' anti-sodomy laws but similar laws in 13 other states as well. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, stating that "When homosexual conduct is made criminal by the law of the State, that declaration in and of itself is an invitation to subject homosexual persons to discrimination both in the public and in the private spheres. . . . The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime." While gay-rights advocates cheered, Garner went back to his normal life. He ran a barbecue truck and liked to go dancing, until he became sick with meningitis in January 2006. He eventually lost the use of his legs and had to be cared for by his brother. He died Sept. 11 in Houston, at just 39 years old. Also: NY Times obituary and Austin NPR segment. Tuesday, March 20, 2007
As a girl, Sunny Lane wanted to be a professional ice skater. Her mother, Shelby, decorated her glittery competition costumes, and her dad, Mike, cheered for his only child from the sidelines. Years later, they're still at it — only now they're helping their daughter chase her dreams of becoming a porn star. Primetime ratchets up the creep factor with scenes of mom and dad providing logistical and moral support. On a recent afternoon, Shelby answered the phone while Mike sat nearby in the living room. Upstairs, Sunny packed a suitcase for an evening full of appearances and outfit changes. Shelby helped, filling small plastic bags with costumes, makeup and music. Once Sunny has worn an outfit, Shelby puts it — unwashed, of course — back in a small plastic bags to one day auction off on their Web site. Sunny's underwear can bring in a lot of cash. "They'll pay $50 to $100 for panties," her mother said. [...] Mike and Shelby are proud of Sunny's success. Mike said that when he first saw Sunny on the Playboy channel, his reaction was, "Well, dreams do come true, I guess." [...] At the adult video convention in Las Vegas in January, Sunny was there to market herself, and her parents were right there beside her. But Shelby and Mike seem to have taken their support to a whole new level. While at the conference, they looked into getting life-size, anatomically correct sex dolls molded of their daughter. OK, even I'm a bit creeped out. Ick. But also a bit curious to check out her star turn in Cream Pie for the Straight Guy 3. She made the box cover! Mom and dad must be so proud.
The Lynn segments follow a more typical "cautionary tale" narrative about a girl who "comes from a devout Christian family and only got into porn to make some extra money", but who eventually "realized that I let a lot of my morals that I thought I had go" and left the biz. But not before perfecting that "gee I'm dumb, wanna fuck?" look. Adult Video News responded with a lengthy rebuttal to Primetime's biases and factual errors. "It's probably pointless at this late date to suggest that those who aren't well-versed in the tricks mainstream reporters use to make porn stars look bad probably shouldn't talk to those reporters — but it is helpful to know that mainstream reporting on the industry, even after more than a decade, is still the same old crap." For those interested in researching this topic further, try GameLink's star pages for Sunny Lane and Sophia Lynn. We report, you decide. Monday, March 19, 2007
The head of a Justice Department task force targeting obscenity, Brent Ward, complained last year that U.S. attorneys in Arizona and Nevada were resisting filing charges in obscenity cases forwarded by the task force. Both U.S. attorneys were eventually fired by the Justice Department, part of a purge of eight federal prosecutors that now has Congressional Democrats demanding accountability from the department. "We have two U.S. attorneys who are unwilling to take good cases we have presented to them," Brent Ward, the former U.S. attorney for Utah and head of the obscenity task force, wrote to Kyle Sampson, then-chief of staff for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. "In light of the A.G.'s comments . . . to 'kick butt and take names,' what do you suggest I do?" The Arizona Republic has more on Charlton's firing. An administration official told a House subcommittee last week that Charlton was asked to resign because of policy clashes with Washington officials over when to seek the death penalty and whether to tape all FBI interviews with suspected criminals. But the only complaints about Charlton in the dozens of e-mails between top Justice officials and White House lawyers focus on his being "unwilling" to prosecute an obscenity case and his decision not to prosecute most marijuana-smuggling cases near the border unless loads of more than 500 pounds were seized. This excellent bit of investigative reporting by Adult Video News looks at one obscenity case filed by Charlton (which may or may not be the case discussed in those dozens of emails) against a local porn shop. The document in question was a Motion to Dismiss filed by Richard Hertzberg, attorney for Five Star and others, on Aug. 31, 2006. Note the date, because it's significant. The Five Star defendants have been under indictment since last May 23rd for selling four sexually-explicit DVDs, all manufactured or distributed by JM Productions, to FBI agents perpetrating a sting operation based in Virginia. Five Star has one retail outlet and an Internet sales division, both located in Tempe. But Five Star isn't the biggest or best-known adult retailer in Arizona. That honor goes to the Castle Boutique, part of the Castle Megastore chain, which currently consists of 19 adult stores in several states. A few years ago, the Castle Megastores had financial problems, and eventually declared bankruptcy, along with another adult distribution company called Dexter Distributing. While undergoing reorganization under the U.S. bankruptcy laws, Castle has been and continues to be, according to Hertzberg's motion, "under the supervision of the U.S. Trustee's Office of the Department of Justice, and the United States Bankruptcy Court of the District of Arizona." "During its tenure in bankruptcy," the Motion continues, "it purchased from wholesalers, and sold and rented, multiple copies of the four indicted titles in this case. Evidence adduced at the hearing will reveal that Castle ordered and sold: "29 copies of the herein-indicted item Filthy Things 6 in 2005 and 2006; "It is believed that Castle also rented out the indicted items. Although the shelf-life of the four indicted items had expired by the time these indictments came down, Castle was, after the indictment in this case, still selling one of the indicted items — Filthy Things 6. An investigator working for Defendants' lawyer was able to purchase one from Castle's store at 8802 N. Black Canyon, Phoenix, Arizona on May 28, 2006 and one from Castle's store at 21815 N. 26th Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona on June 1, 2006." In other words, while U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton was busy indicting Five Star and JM and their employees for interstate transportation of obscene materials – "obscene" under the community standards of the District of Arizona – trustees employed by the U.S. Department of Justice were selling and had sold those exact same titles ... and not just in Arizona, but had also shipped those titles to other Castle stores in Oregon and Washington state. Sounds like a reasonable argument to dismiss the case, no? But more than six months later, the indictment against Five Star still stands. No word on whether the Justice Department has indicted itself for selling the same four DVDs. Link snagged from Reason Hit & Run, where my fave political blogger, Radley Balko, writes, "It shouldn't be surprising that the White House would expect its prosecutors to share its priorities. The real scandal here is what those priorities are. This Justice Department seems particularly interested in investing lots of federal resources on nonviolent, victimless crime. Think drugs, medical marijuana, 'Operation Pipe Dreams,' and Internet gambling. Oh yes, and porn." Balko earlier criticized these screwed-up priorities in his Fox News (yes really) column. |
