Ban Porn on Base?

[Athena]

http://www.skylighters.org/famouspinups/sentimental.jpg

...But, Playboy is as American as apple pie! And, since when have we denied our boys their pinups?

Apparently, Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga) could care less. He's introducing a bill that will close loopholes in the Defense Authorization Act of '97 that bans "sexually explicit materials" from being sold on military bases. His reasoning?


“Allowing sale of pornography on military bases has harmed military men and women by escalating the number of violent, sexual crimes, feeding a base addiction, eroding the family as the primary building block of society, and denigrating the moral standing of our troops both here and abroad,”

Article (http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/04/military_pornography_stores_042208w/)

Wow, dude...Wow.

It looks as though Rep. Broun thinks that porn causes violent sex crimes, that those who read it are addicts and that it undermines the integrity of the family nucleus. I think Rep. Broun is full of shit.

What do YOU think? Is pornography detrimental to society?

[TheMorningStar]

“Allowing sale of pornography on military bases has harmed military men and women by escalating the number of violent, sexual crimes, feeding a base addiction, eroding the family as the primary building block of society, and denigrating the moral standing of our troops both here and abroad,”

Does he have the numbers to back this up? Probably not.

I guess going overseas and getting killed is not "eroding the family".

According to his website: http://broun.house.gov/about.shtml

Paul Broun participates in many diverse organizations and activities ranging from politics and religion to cooking and sports. Some of these are: the NRA, Gideons International, Rotary International, Trout Unlimited, Gun Owners of America and University of Georgia President’s Club. He was the founding President of the Georgia Republican Assembly, and President of the Georgia Sport Shooting Association (the NRA state affiliate).


He is a big advocate for the Second Amendment.
Forget about that pesky First Amendment.

[dop]

What a retarded thing, they go there to kill or die but a few nuddie mags are gona fuck up their minds... Sure.

[Pete Bondurant]

What do YOU think? Is pornography detrimental to society?

Well, that depends upon the quality of the work. There are few things more annoying and frustrating than bad pornography. For instance, if you're watching an internet clip featuring a very attractive woman and you start getting aroused only to discover that when she removes her panties, she has a penis...well that just can't be good for anybody, now can it?

[gprime]

Exchange officials noted that tax dollars are not used to procure magazines in the system’s largely self-funded operations.
But Broun’s spokesman John Kennedy contended that taxpayer dollars are involved — “used to pay military salaries, so taxpayer money is, in effect, being used to buy these materials,” he said.


And taxes pay the salary of every public official, including many who use it on hard drugs, prostitutes, and other things with much more serious consequences. Yet I don't see him proposing a law requiring every government employee list how every dollar they earn is used. Of course, he knows he'd get booted out of DC if he tried that. So instead he goes for the easy target, telling soldiers that it is fine that they die for this country, so long as they don't jack off to pictures of naked women. Real nice.

[CPL CHUD]

The only people up in arms against porn are doing so for religious reasons, nothing more. Increased porn exposure to society has shown inverse relationships to violence in some objective studies. Millions have been spent trying to find a link between porn and violence and nothing has ever proven a positive correlation, ever.

[ThreeOnAMeathook]

I'd hate to imagine our poor troops without porn.

I'll bet Paul Broun has a 'support the troops' sticker on the back of his car...This isn't very supportive, Paul.

It's a base addiction. You know what addicts do when they don't get their fix? Crazy stuff. Stuff that they wouldn't normally do.

Bad move, Paul, bad move.

[gprime]

I think Greg Piccionelli (Piccionelli & Sarno) said it quite well:


May I remind the congressman that our troops honor stems from their willingness to lay down their lives to preserve the very freedom that he is so willing to take away from them. They are defending our way of life, which fortunately includes our ability to read Playboy and Penthouse magazines. How dare he insult our brave soldiers by claiming they can be sullied by viewing ink on a page.


And Gary Kaufman (Kaufman Law Group) was similarly correct:


It’s ironic that a congressman is actually advocating that the men and women of our armed forces should have fewer rights than the people back home who they are risking their lives on a daily basis for. Our brave soldiers should have at least equal, if not more, rights.

Full text of the proposed legislation (http://www.xbiz.com/docs/xbiz/news/92916_MilitaryHonorBill_042308.pdf) (warning: PDF)