COLUMBUS, Oh. - Phil Burress of Ohio-based right wing group Citizens for Community Values (CCV) is calling for a federal investigation of movie supplier LodgeNet Entertainment Corp., claiming that the adult content the company supplies to hotel rooms across America is obscene.
"Why is LodgeNet permitted to deal in hardcore, sexually explicit, clearly prosecutable material?" Burress asked in a CCV press release. "Much of the contents are prosecutable under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Miller vs. California."
CCV plans to meet with the Dept. of Justice next month to formally request the investigation into LodgeNet.
Attorney Paul Cambria responded to CCV this morning in an Adult Freedom Foundation press release, calling the campaign against LodgeNet "just another blatant attempt at censorship and a total waste of taxpayers' money."
"Mr. Burress fails to recognize that the Miller test protects adult expression," Cambria said. "It does not condemn it. He confuses sexually explicit with obscene."
Burress claims more than 60 percent of LodgeNet's profits can be traced to pornography.
"It will take a jury trial to determine whether the material in question actually violates community standards, but we believe the content is clear enough to warrant an investigation at the very least," said Daniel Weiss, "senior analyst" for a family values group affiliated with CCV. "Based on state and federal law, if the material distributed by LodgeNet was brought to trial, many communities across the country would clean up overnight."
Cambria responded, "Under the Miller test, entertainment can be sexually explicit and hardcore and nevertheless not be illegal. This is particularly true when it enjoys widespread acceptance by the average adult as a form of entertainment. What better acceptance can you have than widespread consumption by adults?
"The hotel room is an extension of a person's home while they are traveling. And, we need to keep the government, the police and the prosecutors out of our homes and away from our choices of entertainment," Cambria said.
Pictured: Phil Burress
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