A View From Riverside Drive
Commentary by Ed Hynes
June 2005
Memories of a time of honor
On this Memorial Day weekend 2005, the “poetry-on-deadline” writing of Associated Press reporter Kirke Simpson 84 years ago is worth remembering because it tells us something important about a time of honor in our past, decades before a porno-chic subculture reared its ugly head to tempt us from the honorable.
It was November 1921. America’s Unknown Soldier of World War I was brought home from the battlefields of France and entombed in Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington.
Mr. Simpson won a Pulitzer Prize for his stories about the entombment on the 11th day of that November and the events leading up to it. Here are the lead paragraphs from a few of this gifted reporter’s stories that week.
(From Night Report, Wednesday, November 9)
WASHINGTON, November 9 – (BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS) – A plain soldier, unknown but weighted with honors as perhaps no American before him because he died for the flag in France, lay tonight in a place where only martyred Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley, have slept in death.
He kept lonely vigil lying in state under the vast, shadowy dome of the Capitol. Only the motionless figures of the five armed comrades, one at the head and one facing inward at each corner of the bier, kept watch with him. But far above, towering from the great bulk of the dome, the brooding figure of Freedom watched too, as though it said "well done" to the servant faithful unto death, asleep there in the vast, dim chamber below. . . .
(From Day Report, Thursday, November 10)
WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 – (BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS) – Great and small folk moved in endless procession today through the rotunda of the Capitol to pay tribute to the Unknown Dead lying in such state there as only Presidents have known. . . .
(From Night Report, Thursday, November 10)
WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 – (BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS) – A river of humanity, American men, women and children, Americans by heritage, Americans by election, flowed all day today and far into the night past the bier of the unknown soldier, under the great dome of the Capitol. It flowed as the life blood of the nation itself -- a slow but overwhelming torrent of humanity, gathered to attest the valor of America's dead in France. . . .
(From advance matter sent to a member by mail for publication in evening papers of Friday, November 11)
WASHINGTON, Nov 11 – (BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS) – The National capital led the nation today in doing homage to the unknown soldier from France. . . . As the troops gathered for the march to the grave, the first far throb of minute guns at Fort Myer over the river broke the morning silence. Through the hours that followed the distant, dull note of sorrow sounded in measured interval, growing closer and closer, louder and louder as the cortege wound its way up to Arlington. The knell of the guns marked the way of the funeral train step by step and culminated in the three crashing salvos that signaled the last soldier farewell.
(From Night Report, Friday, November 11)
WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 – (BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS) – Under the wide and starry skies of his own homeland America's unknown dead from France sleeps tonight, a soldier home from the wars.
Alone, he lies in the narrow cell of stone that guards his body; but his soul has entered into the spirit that is America. Wherever liberty is held close in men's hearts, the honor and the glory and the pledge of high endeavor poured out over this nameless one of fame, will be told and sung by Americans for all time.
But your honor… I was defending the constitution. Really.
A man in Michigan contended – with the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union – that exposing his penis on late night cable television was an exercise of his First Amendment rights of free speech.
The Detroit Free Press reported May 12 that the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected the argument. The court said, “any ‘incidental restriction’ on the First Amendment is ‘no greater than is essential to the furtherance of the governmental interest in promoting public morality by prohibiting public nudity.’ ”
Wrapping himself in the flag (the preposterous posture of pro-porn activists everywhere), the man told the Free Press, “I'm truly trying to stand up for the constitution. It's a matter of principle.”
Sure. Just like the Unknown Soldier from France and his thousands of comrades who gave their lives standing up for our rights. To suggest they died so some idiot could wave his penis around in public with First Amendment protection mocks the memory of those fallen heroes. The First Amendment does not protect obscenity and public indecency.
Morality in Media’s legal department submitted an amicus curiae brief in this case in support of the State of Michigan.
Not to worry: cell phone porn is no problem, say spokespersons for the companies that produce and distribute pornography
Spokespersons for pornographers seem to think that self-righteous posturing can create public goodwill for this contemptible business.
When The American Family Association’s Donald E. Wildmon warned recently that the porn producers are planning to tap into the vast new market created by Internet-capable cell phones, Adult Video News Online (April 28, 2005) was predictably indignant, not at the report of the cell-phone market planning – which they not only admit but boast of – but at the notion that (in the words of Don Wildmon) “pornographers are going after our children at a younger and younger age.” The very thought!
They want the world to believe that porn is okay for adults, and that they are protecting children from it.
They must know that pornography has been shown to be addictive and destructive for adults, that just as children were exposed to pornography by means of stationary telephones, so children will now be exposed to pornography by means of portable cell phones, and that adult pornography is used by pedophiles to seduce and desensitize their young victims.
AVN Online quoted “industry legal expert” Mark Kernes who told AVN Online that the Wildmon warning is “horsexxxx.” and continued in that vein. “If anything, adult industry members (and most particularly Free Speech Coalition members) are going out of their way NOT to send their stuff to kids – and besides, whatever Playboy does will be subscription only, and if kids are subscribing to Playboy, no matter in what format, it suggests that their parents are being derelict in their duties.”
So it’s “derelict parents” we have to worry about, not the appearance of erotic and pornographic material on millions of cell phone screens around the world. When this flag-draped man (from the Free Speech Coalition, no less) speaks of “horsexxxx,” he knows what he’s talking about.
AVN Online also quoted Joan Irvine, executive director of something called the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP), formerly Adult Sites Against Child Pornography – also known by the letters ASACP. The name change doesn’t change the reality that ASACP is still working for pornography businesses.
Here’s a description of ASACP “members” found on the organization’s web site:
Over 5800 adult sites, including some of the largest and most prominent ones including: AVN Online, XBiz, Epoch, ATKingdom, National Net, Adult.com, ARS, MaxCash, SilverCash, TopBucks, Traffic Cash Gold, Video Secrets, Southern Charms, Hot Movies, AdamEve.com, CyberAge, Cybersocket, Klixxx, Mansion Productions, Gallery Traffic Service, Sleazy Dream, Nichebucks, OrgasmCash, PlatinumBucks, Sex Key, FasterBucks, FTVCash, Web Air, Club Jenna, and Playboy.com have joined our cause in raising awareness about this subject.
Even assuming that ASACP members were serious about curbing child pornography doesn’t mean they are also serious about keeping children away from pornography, including the pornography persons of all ages can view without proof of age on many “adult” websites.
And it certainly doesn’t mean that the “adult” pornography they peddle is legal.
In a softball interview with Joan Irvine, Newsweek magazine (January 14, 2003) concluded that ASACP “will soon start reviewing their members’ sites and – if no child porn is found – bestow what [Joan] Irvine [of ASACP] calls a ‘Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval’ so visitors know there’s nothing illegal on the site.”
The words “nothing illegal on the site” were volunteered by Newsweek, not Ms. Irvine. Remember, this is the publication that got the Koran-down-the-toilet story wrong.
Newsweek should have given its readers certain facts about obscenity laws that can be enforced against persons who distribute hardcore “adult” pornography. Like these:
- Federal obscenity laws prohibit, among other things, distribution of obscene materials by means of a common carrier, a facility of interstate commerce, an interactive computer service, radio communications, a telephone, a television and the U.S. mails.
- 40 of the 50 states have their own statewide obscenity laws.
- People have gone to jail for obscenity law violations, on the Internet and elsewhere, and have had their property confiscated through criminal forfeiture laws and the application of RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) law to obscenity crimes.
- Under the leadership of Attorney General Ashcroft, the Justice Department resumed enforcement of federal obscenity laws against commercial distributors of hardcore “adult” pornography, and new Attorney General Gonzalez has indicated that he intends to “strengthen” the Justice Department’s “hand in prosecuting obscenity.”
Defense lawyers carve out a sex crimes specialty
In a disturbing sign of the times, Imhoff & Associates, PC, of Los Angeles make it known on their web site (www.molestationattorney.com) that they specialize in defending clients charged with the following sex crimes:
UNLAWFUL SODOMY
SEXUAL BATTERY
UNLAWFUL SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ASSAULT
INDECENT EXPOSURE
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
UNLAWFUL PENETRATION BY A FOREIGN OBJECT
SOLICITATION
- PANDERING
- CHILD PROCUREMENT
INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY
LEWD ACT WITH A CHILD UNDER 14 YEARS
LEWD ACT BY A CARETAKER UPON A DEPENDENT ADULT
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