July 2, 2004

There are many ways to abuse a child.  And porn fits right in there with the biggies.  It is a sad day for parents when the supreme law of the land is unwilling to protect our children from porn.

Thanks to five of the nine Supreme Court justices, child abusers are free to practice their “business”.

Why?  If you take out the mumbo-jumbo and use plain-speak, the answer is simple.  The law is too restrictive on the rights of pornographers.

Wow!  I don’t know about you, but I feel so much safer in America now that I know smut peddlers are free to do business in “the least restrictive” manner.  Never mind child abuse.

We surely wouldn’t want pornographers to use some of their billions of dollars in revenue to pay for computer software that ensures children can’t access porn.  Heaven forbid.  Those dastardly restrictions!!

If upheld, the COPA law would impose criminal penalties of a $50,000 fine and six months in prison for the knowing posting, for “commercial purposes,” of World Wide Web content that is “harmful to minors.”

Under COPA, websites pushing porn would have been required to verify the legal age of their clients.  Users would verify age using a credit card, adult personal identification number or other similar technology.

The “Supremes” have a better idea.  Parents all over the country are advised to go out and buy $40 filters for their computers…filters that will be outdated within six months because smut peddlers can use all that money they save in criminal fines to wiggle around them.

Wow!  Imagine that.  Parents, who are already taxed to the limits, who scramble daily to keep up with the ordinary job of being parents, will now have to fit in one more teeny tiny chore to protect their kids.

Imagine this.  Parents will subscribe to Consumer Reports, analyze all computer filter equipment known to man, pick out the absolute best product available, go to the store, charge it on their credit card, install it, learn it, monitor it…and just when they think they have it down…technology will change…and they will be back where they started.  Consumer Reports, the store, the credit card…well, even if the “Supremes” can’t get the picture…parents can.

Or…we could tell smut peddlers to spend their own money on software that keeps porn out of the hands of our children.  But that’s too restrictive!  That’s right.  Restrictive.

I thought that was the point of laws…to restrict the ability of abusers to abuse.

Well, I must be truthful.  The “Supremes” were concerned with bigger issues.  They didn’t want adults to be embarrassed.  That’s right.  Embarrassed.

You see, we have perfected porn on the internet.  No more slinking around dirty bookstores, ordering magazines in brown paper wrappers, or embarrassment.   Under the COPA law, entering our credit card number on a computer screen…well…that’s embarrassing.

Really?  Would that we had a few embarrassed adults for the sake of protecting our children from abuse!

Well, to be totally and absolutely truthful, the “Supremes” are hoping our children will be safe…eventually.  Looking into their collective crystal ball, they know that eventually, if we spend enough money, we might be able to devise some incredible software that might perhaps protect our children from abuse by porn.  Eventually.

Wow!  Imagine that.  A new governmental Department of Computer Technology, funded by rebates on all the filtering software parents are buying to protect their children.

Eventually, years down the road, if all things go well, maybe, and hypothetically, our children might be safe from abuse by porn.  But today, immediately, in the here and now, our children have been sent out to play on the internet freeway with no guardrails in sight.

The Supremes should be defrocked.  And if they are, they won’t have to worry what they wear under their robes.  If it’s indecent, if they’re standing there in their collective birthday suit, they have nothing to fear.  It may be porn.  But it’s protected by law.

Alas, instead, we must fear for our children who are still at risk, under assault and abused by the freedoms of those who don’t care.

Supreme Court Decision, June 29, 2004:  Comment by Congressman Todd Akin

CNET News, January 21, 2009:  Supreme Court deals death blow to antiporn law

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