The Sex Police State

There's been talk lately that Bushco is alienating its base for the first time by throwing money at hurricane relief rather than putting it solely toward tax cuts and the military. But while fiscal conservatives have one more reason to hate Bush (and really, could they have avoided noticing the consistent deficits anyway?), there's good news for more fundamentalist wingnuts:

Early last month, the bureau's Washington Field Office began recruiting for a new anti-obscenity squad. Attached to the job posting was a July 29 Electronic Communication from FBI headquarters to all 56 field offices, describing the initiative as "one of the top priorities" of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and, by extension, of "the Director." That would be FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III...

The new squad will divert eight agents, a supervisor and assorted support staff to gather evidence against "manufacturers and purveyors" of pornography -- not the kind exploiting children, but the kind that depicts, and is marketed to, consenting adults...

Popular acceptance of hard-core pornography has come a long way, with some of its stars becoming mainstream celebrities and their products -- once confined to seedy shops and theaters -- being "purveyed" by upscale hotels and most home cable and satellite television systems. Explicit sexual entertainment is a profit center for companies including General Motors Corp. and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (the two major owners of DirecTV), Time Warner Inc. and the Sheraton, Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt hotel chains.

But Gonzales endorses the rationale of predecessor Meese: that adult pornography is a threat to families and children. Christian conservatives, long skeptical of Gonzales, greeted the pornography initiative with what the Family Research Council called "a growing sense of confidence in our new attorney general."

For Gonzales, this is a perfect way to get in the good books of the religious right to try to win their approval in the event of a SCOTUS nomination. But for Mueller, as well as the congressional leaders who voted to fund the group, this can only be seen as a bad joke. As pointed out by the article, there's absolutely no mainstream movement against pornography - and indeed prime Bush donors and supporters profit from the industry.

But let not consistency stand in the way of pandering. The Republicans will solidify their standing among their most staunch supporters with the project. As for the rest of the country, hopefully it's paying attention to the fact that Bushco is more interested in interfering with consenting adults than in dealing with child porn or child endangerment.

Think about the children indeed.

(Via Kos.)