CYBERSPACE—First, a right-wing blog actually posts a column taking Republicans in Congress to task for browbeating Attorney General Holder for not prosecuting enough "illegal pornography." Now, a prominent left-wing blogger—an attorney, no less—has devoted a column to asking why, with so many problems facing the U.S.—like joblessness, the shitty economy, tax cuts for the rich—the Justice Department is bothering to indict internet gambling companies on charges of running illegal online casinos (and fraud and money-laundering) and religious conservatives are ginning up anti-porn fervor among federal legislators.
After reproducing the notice of FBI seizure of online gambling sites—not unlike the one found on Max Hardcore's seized websites—attorney Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com blogger extraordinaire, proceeds to make several excellent points.
"First, imagine how the brain functions in a person who spends years and years flattering people and trolling for money in order to get to the Senate, then arrives and, after surveying all of America's problems, decides they're going to focus on stopping adults from viewing pornography and playing poker online," Greenwald sagely ponders. "What does it say about the character and judgment of someone who has those priorities and wants the U.S. Government to adopt them?
"Second, Americans in general—and the Right in particular—love to boast about what a freedom-loving, liberty-demanding people we are. Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. The Rugged Individualists. Yet one finds not a peep of protest from virtually anyone—and especially not our small-government, restrained-federal-power 'conservatives'—over this attempt by the Orrin Hatches and Dianne Feinsteins of the world to get together and use the coercive force of law to dictate to adult citizens what they can read online and how they can spend their money for entertainment or profit. If you're someone willing to let Orrin Hatch and Dianne Feinstein make decisions like this for you—ones that are about as personal, private and consensual as it gets—then on what basis do you claim to oppose invasive federal government power and rail against 'politicians who think they know what's best for us'? Tellingly, it's a liberal Democrat, Barney Frank, who has been the most outspoken opponent of online gambling bans on the ground that it's none of the government's business how adults choose to spend their money on entertainment."
"Third, how can any politicians be taken seriously when they claim that Terrorism is some sort of grave threat meriting multiple wars and civil liberties abridgments—homegrown Terrorism and sleeper cells and all that—while they simultaneously demand that scarce FBI and DOJ resources be devoted to adult porn and online poker?"
But Greenwald saves one of his best points—and one to which adult industry members in California should pay particular attention—for last.
"Fifth, one of the most reliable rules in Washington is this: whenever there is some liberty-abridging, pernicious, authoritarian action taken in the nation's capital, one finds the pro-war, ossified establishment oligarch Dianne Feinstein lurking behind it," Greenwald charges. "And that, of course, highlights the truth of the fourth point quite vividly. That Donald Trump is a leading presidential candidate is an excellent symbol of America's political culture in this era, but the image of Dianne Feinstein and Orrin Hatch gathering together to decide which websites adults should be allowed to visit and how they can entertain themselves is an equally appropriate one."
Greenwald's always worth reading, but this particular blog entry is one that should cause everyone, and especially those involved in California's adult industry, to sit up, take notice ... and get angry.
