XXX marks the spot kids (and politicians) should avoid
On any sane politician's don't-do list, being photographed with a porn star ranks right up there with crossing state lines for a rendezvous with a high-priced prostitute. 
So with former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's career-ending sexcapade fresh in everyone's memory, it was no surprise that there wasn't a member of Congress to be found when adult-film performer Stormy Daniels (at right, photographed at the Grammy Awards earlier this year) appeared in Washington on Thursday.
Although she came to the nation's capital to highlight the adult entertainment industry's efforts to protect children from inappropriate online content (e.g., the stuff the industry produces), and lawmakers love to tout anything that helps keep kids safe when surfing the Internet, appearing with Daniels at the National Press Club was rated NC-17, as in: No Chance a politician would get within 17 miles of it.
Daniels was showing off, as it were, two new public service announcements for the industry's Restricted to Adults website label. Unveiled last year by the Assn. of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) -- a group largely funded by the adult entertainment industry -- the label tags sites as inappropriate for anyone under 18 years old, allowing them to be blocked by filtering software.
"I do not want children viewing my site or adult-only content,'' said Daniels, who for this occasion was dressed like a politician ...
... in a black business suit and French blue shirt.
"We neither want nor need their business," said Daniels, a performer, writer and director with Wicked Pictures who displays the Restricted to Adults tag on her website, as does the Canoga Park, Calif., company.
That's her message in the public service announcements. They're available on YouTube, and ASACP is paring them down to 30 seconds in hopes of getting cable networks to run them, said Joan Irvine, ASACP's chief executive.
The small L.A.-based organization, founded in 1996, works on children's issues, including running an online hotline where people can report child pornography. Irvine noted that studies have found a third of children under 18 have reported viewing inappropriate sexual material online. The Restricted to Adults tag is designed to help stop that, with more than 4 million Web pages displaying it, she said.
The group has received awards for its work, including certificates of recognition from the California State Assembly and the City of Los Angeles. Irvine said she's met with staffers for about 30 members of Congress and they've been supportive.
"We're all on the same page," she said.
Even though the Senate passed a resolution last week declaring June "National Internet Safety Month," Irvine admitted that she didn't ask any lawmakers to attend Thursday's event. They may be on the same page when it comes to protecting kids, but politics makes it dicey to be in the same place at the same time.
-- Jim Puzzanghera
Photo credit: Liz Baylen/L.A. Times
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Posted by Don Frederick on May 30, 2008 in California , Domestic policy , Web/Tech , YouTube | Permalink
Don Frederick has served as an editor helping guide coverage of every presidential election since 1984. He is a third-generation Washingtonian, so watching the political world comes naturally to him.
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000.
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One of my favorite parts in the book The Scarlett Letter is when the narrator talks about how the townsfolk cast their eyes away from Hester and her scarlett letter because it makes them feel ashamed, not because of Hester's sins but because of their own. Hester's brazen display of the intricate and hauntingly artful scarlett letter she is condemned to wear also creates an odd envy and admiration for Hester becasue she is not laboring under hypocrisy in secret like they are.
That's what this story reminds me of.
Posted by: kat | May 30, 2008 at 06:37 AM
"former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer" ... Why is it that, when a Republican politician is involved in scandal, the word Republican is always associated with the name in news reports, but, when it's a Democrat, that fact is rarely acknowledged?
-Wm Tate,
http://www.atimelikethis.us/
Posted by: Wm Tate | May 30, 2008 at 06:41 AM
Tate,
The reason is because it's way more interesting when a republican is in a sex scandal than a democrat (yawn) and it's worth noting when a Republican is involved in a sex scandal because of the high handed, pious, self rightious, judgmental ivory tower that republicans make part of their family values platform.
It would be like if a democrat got busted for, say, making a racist comment.
Posted by: kat | May 30, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Interesting post here. Glad to see how broad the coverage can be on this blog, veering away every now and again from the omnipresent campaign coverage.
Posted by: Andrew | May 30, 2008 at 11:22 AM
If you confess that Jesus is Lord you will have eternal life
Does God truly forgive sin when we confess it to him?
Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them.
I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the LORD."
And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Psalm 32:5
God does not play games with us.
When we confess, he forgives.
be blessed, sdg, tjm
Posted by: traachim | May 30, 2008 at 10:10 PM