--- Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2002 14:32:17 -0500 From: "Bruce Taylor" <BruceTaylorat_private> Subject: National Review article with kudos for us and our allies. Below is an excerpt from the full National Review online column by Jay Nordlinger, NR's Managing Editor. The link to the full column is: http://www.nationalreview.com/impromptus/impromptus010702.shtml ( I think Jan LaRue of FRC made us look good, among the warriors for decency through law. Thanks, Jan! ) Helen Thomas, leftist style, heroes of anti-porn, &c. January 7, 2002 8:50 a.m. NRonline.com In the previous Impromptus, I mentioned pornographic e-mail spam, and how I hated it. I said that this spam had a particular predilection for pedophilia, incest, and bestiality. I also praised the anti-porn activists, who come in for so much abuse: They're called prudes and killjoys; anti-Constitutionalists and enemies of the Bill of Rights. I also pointed out that their work is often lonely, because the subject is so disgusting — especially where young children are concerned — that most people would rather turn away, would rather not know about it, much less try to do anything about it. (Incidentally, I explored this subject at length in a piece titled "Getting Aroused" in the Nov. 19 National Review). The item provoked a torrent of e-mail, much of which said, "I would like to help — who are the people laboring in this vineyard?" There are many, I'm happy to say, and they're truly doing the Lord's work, and not just the Lord's, but ours: In a significant way, they're doing it in our stead. It's the kind of work most of us would like to see done, but we lack either the time or the will to do it. Let me mention a few workers in the field: There's Pat Trueman of the American Family Association. There's Jan LaRue at the Family Research Council, and Miriam Moore of that same organization. There's Bruce Taylor, president of the National Law Center for Children and Families. There are Phil and Vickie Burress at Citizens for Community Values. There's Jay Sekulow at the American Center for Law and Justice. There's a marvelous California group called Enough is Enough (in which Donna Rice — of Gary Hart scandal fame — has participated). There is Morality in Media. And so on. I'm sure I'm forgetting important ones, to my shame. But at least I've presented a few for the honor roll. Let me repeat one thing I've learned in studying this issue (particularly in preparation for that magazine piece I mentioned): It is one of the pornographers' best allies, most potent weapons, that so many people think that nothing can be done about the worst of the porn, that American law and American values tie our hands — that we just have to abide it, else we hate Thomas Jefferson. It's not true, y'all. Not true at all. Get aroused, if you dare. Note this interesting letter from a reader: "A couple of years ago, I wrote a book on networking. In the chapter on domain-name service, I wanted to give an example of an Internet domain name that was objectionable but not yet used. It was very hard to find one: boyrape.com, kidsex.com (registered to one Lee Myun Jong), boysex.com (registered to a company in Switzerland), and so on are all real domains that are open for business. When we're finished with the terrorists, I hope we have a few daisy cutters left for these bastards." And how about the following? "Remember 'sin' taxes on alcohol and tobacco? Why not apply them to pornography? Say at the rate of 100-1,000 % of gross billing. Subject financial intermediaries to, oh, a 20 % tax on their top line even if only one single dollar was derived from that industry. And of course, dedicate 100 % of the tax revenue to fund health care for the children. As a side benefit, after a little tinkering, this tax could be true payback to the Hollywood crowd." That's using the old noggin. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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