Pass The…
The Porn Plot Against Prosecutors
Max BlumenthalThe Justice Department and the White House offered a scattershot of alibis for firing Charlton. The Bush Administration’s case against Charlton rested ultimately on the account of a little-known Justice Department official named Brent Ward, who claimed in a September 20, 2006 e-mail that Charlton was “unwilling to take good cases.” Ward’s allegation was vague in its claim, mysterious for its submission and vacant in context.
What accounts for this bizarre e-mail? And who is Brent Ward?
Ward first came to prominence in Utah, where as US Attorney during the Reagan era he cast himself as a crusader against pornography. His battles made him one of the most fervent and earnest witnesses before Attorney General Edwin Meese’s Commission on Pornography; he urged “testing the endurance” of pornographers by relentless prosecutions. Meese was so impressed that he named Ward a leader of a group of US Attorneys engaged in a federal anti-pornography campaign, which soon disappeared into the back rooms of adult bookshops to ferret out evildoers. Ward returned to government last year as the chief of the Justice Department’s newly created Obscenity Prosecution Task Force, where his main achievement has been the prosecution of the producer of the Girls Gone Wild film series.
[…]
According to the source, Ward’s accusation against Charlton stems from a case he filed in June 2006. That month, Ward ordered Charlton to prosecute Five Star Video, an adult video store that registered on Ward’s radar when it mailed copies of the DVD’s Gag Factor 18, Filthy Things 6, Gag Factor 15, and American Bukkake 13 to customers across state lines. Charlton agreed to take the case, but as the source told me, Ward implored him to attach an additional US Attorney to it. Concerned about wasting the already limited resources at his disposal on a case of dubious value, Charlton hesitated. Despite his misgivings, he assigned the additional prosecutor–a key fact missing from the White House e-mails.
So if it has blowjobs, is it a serious matter yet?
What, that whole scandal is because some numbnut is offended by some not so good porn (to judge from the titles)?
Oi.
I have nothing of substance to say except that the graphic cracked me the hell up. Anagrams are freakin’ hilarious at 5AM, I guess.
a little-known Justice Department official named Brent Ward, who claimed in a September 20, 2006 e-mail that Charlton was “unwilling to take good cases.�
Because Brent definitely only likes to give it, and he was peeved that Charlton wouldn’t take.
Boom boom (ting!)
he urged “testing the endurance� of pornographers by relentless prosecutions.
Seriously, did you guys write this article? This is just the sort of thing that Kenny Everett would have enormous fun with.
“Testing the endurance” of pornographers indeed…
So… That’s the asshole I have to thank for all those hassles I get when I try to buy porn and sex toys during my visits home. Great job, you stupid uptight hypocrite.
I hope Brent doesn’t have access to the Internets. If he learns there is porn on the internet tubes he may have them sealed shut. How will I get my mail then?
After a night of heavy drinking and a brief lapse of morality, I once woke up in a Dads Gone Wild T-shirt…
Well, I’ll admit that the guy who does Girls Gone Wild is an immature, puerile and entitled exploitation artist. He does shady things that may well deserve prosecution. Don’t prosecute because he produces pornography; prosecute because he misrepresents the girls as having given consent, despite the fact that 1) they may have been underage; and 2) they were definitely drunk at the time.
Gag Factor 15 and 18 both cross the line, but 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 and 17 are going to be pretty hard to build a case on.
Wait–there’s porn on the Internet?
As usual, nobody tells me anything.
Chan: Also the rape thing.
Gag Factor 13 is actually pretty good, if only for the car chase…
The prequels to Gag Factor were terrible.
Didn’t Olivier get an Oscar nomination for his work in the original Gag Factor?
Does anyone else picture Robin from the 1960s Batman show when reading the name “Brent Ward?”
The Gag Factor series is where the vision of director Buck “Savage” Analingus found its truest expression. The earlier “Blowjobs Good” series is generally regarded as uncharacteristically self-indulgent, and the “Men Violently Ramming Their Cocks Down Women’s Throats” series is badly dated by Analingus’ momentary infatuation with the ideas of Foucault.
Didn’t Olivier get an Oscar nomination for his work in the original Gag Factor?
Actually, I believe that was Milton Berle.
What’s wrong with American Bukkake 13? What, are just supposed to let the Japanese defeat us in the bukkake race, just as they did with home electronics, cars, and cartoons? Why oh why does Brent Ward hate America?
We can’t have a Bukkake Gap!
Uh, sorry. Couldn’t help it.
I tried watching the Gag Factor series, but I just couldn’t swallow it.
Wait, is the Gag Factor series those books written by LaHaye and Jenkins?
Well, we can’t have bukkake crossing state lines, after all.
[…] to either made dismissive fun of this otherwise enormously popular porn pogrom (best line: “What’s wrong with American Bukkake 13? What, are just supposed to let the Japanese defeat us in th…“) or to characterize the smut crusade as a sleazy footnote to the wider Gonzales US attorney […]