Activist Questions GOP's Commitment to Curtailing White-Collar Porn
by Rusty Pugh
June 27, 2005
(AgapePress) - An Ohio family advocate says he can't understand why the Bush administration, while claiming to be the party of the so-called "values voter," has failed to secure even one conviction in the area of so-called "white collar" pornography.Phil Burress, president of the Cincinnati-based group Citizens for Community Values, is outraged that the Republican Party allowed porn actress Mary Carey and her producer to attend a party fundraiser not long ago. The "adult" film star recently ran for Governor of California in 2003, becoming the first active porn star to campaign for a high office in the U.S.
The way Burress sees it, Carey is a prostitute because she gets paid to have sex, and her invitation to the RNC function is just one example of a trend that makes the pro-family activist furious. He says he is outraged at the way GOP members talk about family values but fail to practice them.
What point is there, Burress wonders, in the Republican National Committee and other GOP officials vowing to take a hard line in enforcing decency standards and bringing violators of obscenity laws to justice, "If they're going to invite the very people to the White House and the RNC is going to embrace them?"
The CCV spokesman finds it all rather dubious. "I am starting to suspect here that maybe money is the problem," he says, "that the Republican National Committee can be bought by the people who have the money, and maybe this is why the laws are not being enforced. This is strictly my opinion, but this stinks to high heaven."
Had former President Bill Clinton invited a porn actress to a Democratic fundraiser, Burress believes Republicans would have reacted with outrage. But if today's Republicans have no problem allowing a pornography producer and his star to attend a Party function, the Ohio family advocate wonders what that implies about the genuineness of the Bush administration's commitment to crack down on obscenity.
"This is sending a message, to me, that apparently they have no intentions of going after what we call the white-collar pornographers," Burress says. These are the major players in the adult entertainment industry, he notes, such as "On Command and Lodgenet -- two companies that supply hardcore pornography to the hotels across America."
Also, the head of CCV adds, there are companies like DirectTV and Time Warner that distribute porn to individuals and families via cable and satellite. "These people are pumping hardcore pornography into our homes across America and making a fortune from it," he says, "and yet we are now six years into this administration, and they have not prosecuted one of these [porn providers]."
Burress says he can think of no other explanation as to why the Republicans allow this outrage to continue, other than perhaps money. However, he notes, he has a meeting scheduled to talk with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales next month -- and he says he intends to ask Gonzales why the Bush administration has failed to prosecute and convict even a single white-collar pornographer in the past six years.
Rusty Pugh, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
