According to the Washington Post, the new anti-obscenity squad, which will consist of eight agents, a supervisor, and assorted staff, will be responsible for accumulating evidence to use against those that produce and distribute criminally obscene content. So what constitutes criminal obscenity, and how does that relate to our first amendment rights? Under current American law, the Miller test is the means by which the courts determine if content is obscene and consequently not eligible for first amendment protection. The Miller test evaluates the literary, artistic, political, and scientific value of content as well as contemporary community standards. If content or expression is well within accepted community standards or it has intrinsic value, it does not constitute criminal obscenity. According to an electronic memo from FBI headquarters, established legal precedents indicate that conviction is most likely in cases where the content "includes bestiality, urination, defecation, as well as sadistic and masochistic behavior."

The War Against Porn rages on, to the dismay of anyone with a realistic view of civil liberties and free expression. I'm all for hanging folks from the trees that exploit minors. Sure, lets pull the stockades out of the basement, line them on both sides of the DC Mall, and stick the child pornographers in them. Of course, we do have the 8th amendment, so I'm not about to hop into the car with a bushel of tomatoes and head to DC..

Someone at the Justice Department needs to read over the 1st. Wait, correction.. Several people at the Justice Department needs to have sessions similar to what they did to the guy in A Clockwork Orange. Rather than pure scenes of violence, they need to be shown cops breaking up raves, the Waco raid, feds seizing fetish pornography collections, all manors of law enforcement doing illegal searches, et cetera, you get the idea.. Occasionally the soundtrack of explosions and screeching metal would stop, some heavenly music would start, the 1st and 4th amendment would scroll on the screen, they would be given a chance to blink, and then the cycle would repeat. After their "session", they would be forced to sit in a room for an hour to contemplate, its walls lined with plasma displays showing the events of September 11th, the Oklahoma City bombings, rooms filled with meth heads, et cetera. Maybe they would come out the other side with an image in their heads of what's important.

If you want to post pictures of yourself getting peed on, go for it. I have nothing against consenting adults doing nasty fetish crap, and neither should anyone else. Its a form of expression. Granted, its one focused on sexuality, rather than the more palatable ideas we are used to defending. Its still a form of expression, that many consider art, and the people's right to do it and share it should be protected. I just don't want to look at it, and I don't have to. Last I checked, no one was forcing anyone to look at fetish pics. Where are the victims?

In this age of real problems and bad spending policy, the feds seem to think it is a priority to police pornography. The only S&M allowed now, is by the feds, to the people. Bend over and prepare for the ball gag. Gonazalez and Meuller are wielding the crop now. Get ready to submit... And there is no safety word.

In the most recent blow against evil pornography, the feds have pointed the chilling effects laser at SuicideGirls, forcing them to take down a number of photo-sets and individual photos.

So, I apologise heartily for having to do this, both to the SuicideGirls whose art is being fucked over and the members who are being treated like babies, but we really don't want to get shut down and sent to jail. As soon as legally possible, the photosets and pictures about to be taken down will come back. Until then, bid a fond farewell to your favourite blood-bathing beauties, rope-bound babes, and handcuffed honeys. Apparently they've no place in today's society.

Is this really important? Is this what people want the Justice Department to be using its resources for? Did we ever find out anything of substance out about the anthrax attacks that followed September 11th? Where is the War on Phishing?

Justice Department in War Against Porn, chilling effects hit SuicideGirls