The American Family Association (AFA) is at it again, soliciting its members for donations to "fight pornography."
The latest excuse is that Adelphia Communications, the bankrupt cable company that was AFA's darling in the late 1990s because it removed all adult content from its cable offerings, has put adult back with a vengeance. It will offer XXX material allegedly harder than is shown on any other cable system.
The reason, of course, is economics. Most adults want to watch porn, or at least want to be able to watch it if they choose to do so, and coupled with the fact that Adelphia has recently been trying to reschedule its debt to creditors, there's no doubt the company is hurting – and those sweetheart loans the companies made to several of its board members, which are unlikely ever to be paid back, didn't help.
But economic reality isn't something the AFA can easily grasp, and considering that the economics involve adult material, they probably don't want to do so – and when one adds in the recent abdication of John Ashcroft from his Attorney General job, and the Department of Justice's failure to bring even one adult manufacturer to heel during his tenure, the AFA is just a little upset.
And when the AFA gets upset, they ask for money.
"During the past 12 years the distributors and retailers of obscenity have had an open door to distribute their product while DOJ looked the other way," wrote AFA president Rev. Donald Wildmon in a solicitation to AFA members. "The first eight years were under the Clinton administration. We can understand why there were few prosecutions, and those only of child pornography. The last four years were under the George W. Bush administration which simply followed Clinton's lead."
Let's stop right there for a second. "Followed Clinton's lead?"
Ashcroft was installed specifically because of his fundamentalist philosophy, because one of the platforms on which the Bush administration ran in 2000 was its intention to destroy the adult industry. The industry had every expectation that Ashcroft would attempt to do so. The fact that Ashcroft was not successful in doing so is hardly something that anyone but the AFA and its fellow religious conservatives would attempt to blame on Clinton!
"Back in 2000, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, whom I consider a friend, promised he would begin prosecution of obscenity," Wildmon continues. "He did not. He even appointed Drew Oosterbaan, a holdover from the Clinton administration, to head the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. The CEOS section of DOJ has the responsibility to prosecute obscenity."
What Wildmon doesn't mention is that Oosterbaan was incredibly successful in busting child pornography fans, if not its producers, who have proven incredibly hard to find despite worldwide efforts. Oosterbaan spearheaded Operation Avalanche, which resulted in the prosecution of over 200 subscribers to a particular kiddie porn Website – though many of those caught in the DOJ's net wound up pleading guilty to federal obscenity charges. (The DOJ apparently felt it would be difficult to prove that the youngsters depicted in some of the photos were actual minors, so it took the easy road of a plea bargain to obscenity.)
"DOJ has given a green light to every pornographer in America to trade their wares without worry," Wildmon claims. "The laws to protect our children from obscenity are in place, but Oosterbaan and DOJ refuse to enforce them."
And, of course, the final pitch: "It is time for parents to take a stand for their children and demand that DOJ enforce the law. Because of the addictive nature of pornography, the pornographers know that if they capture the children they will have customers for many, many years."
Yes, it's the same horseshit pro-censorship types have been spouting for years; just the "hook" – in this case, Adelphia and the change of Attorney Generals – is different. The message, however, remains the same: Send us money and we'll make your children safe, even if we have to gut the Constitution to do it.
Readers may want to check out the AFA's video: www.afa.net/videos/dojinaction.wmv before signing their petition:
www.afa.net/petitions/takeaction.asp?id=118
Or, perhaps, just give the whole thing a pass.
