I really have to laugh at some of the shit that so-called "moral" people (a/k/a right-wing bloggers) manage to get their panties in a twist about.
Let's take the case of Judge Alex Kozinski, shall we? Judge Kozinksi is chief judge of the U.S. Court Appeals for the 9th Circuit (doing a trial court rotation), and is a known defender of First Amendment rights. He is currently overseeing an obscenity trial where the defendant, Ira Isaacs, is a self-described "shock artist" whose videos feature bestiality and defecation.
So the LA Times uncovered the "shocking" news: Judge Kozinski has, on a semi-private website that he maintains, "explicit" material. I'll pause here for everyone to go "OOOOOOO"... What could this terrible material be?
Well let's ask the LA Times...
The sexually explicit material on the site was extensive, including images of masturbation, public sex and contortionist sex. There was a slide show striptease featuring a transsexual, and a folder that contained a series of photos of women's crotches in snug-fitting clothing or underwear.
That is truly horrifying isn't it? "snug-fitting clothing or underwear"?
Before the site was taken down, visitors to http://alex.kozinski.com were greeted with the message: "Ain't nothin' here. Y'all best be movin' on, compadre."
Only those who knew to type in the name of a subdirectory could see the content on the site, which also included some of Kozinski's essays and legal writings as well as music files and personal photos.
So if you go to his website, you don't actually see any of this stuff - unless you happen to guess the subdirectory name - and I'm assuming he didn't use the obvious: "smut" or "stuff-that-could-get-me-in-trouble" for instance.
So we can't actually see this stuff for ourselves to see how horrible it really is. But wait - right-wing blogger Patterico to the rescue:
Last night I spoke to Cyrus Sanai, the tipster for that L.A. Times article about the porn on Alex Kozinski’s web site. I called Mr. Sanai at the telephone number indicated for him on the California State Bar web site. I spoke to him for over two hours. During our conversation, Mr. Sanai e-mailed me images that he says he downloaded from Judge Alex Kozinski’s web site on December 24, 2007.
I warn you that many of these images are pornographic, perverted, and/or disturbing. You should definitely not view them while you are at work. Depending on your sensibilities, you may not want to view them at home.
I dare you to take a look at the posted pictures and tell me that you don't have something just as bad (or worse) hanging around your hard-drive or your email inbox. It's the kind of stuff that get's emailed around by adults. Is some of it in bad taste? Probably - but I find that shit that tells me to "forward this email to 10 people and God will do good things for me" to be in bad taste, so what do I know?
Jesse Walker on Reason Hit & Run puts it in pretty good perspective:
It seems Kozinski has been accumulating viral Internet humor, some of it X-rated but none of it any less mainstream than a Farrelly Brothers movie. The L.A. Times' descriptions of the material were rather misleading: The "slide show striptease featuring a transsexual," for example, turns out to be a quiz where you guess whether you're looking at a natural woman. In the words of Wonkette, this is "the sort of naughtiness you'd find in the dirty birthday cards section at Spencer Gifts."
So it's not that big a deal, right? Well not according to the Concerned Women for America. (For the record, I would like to say that as a Woman who has, at various times, been known to be Concerned for America, the Concerned Women for America does not represent me or my views and they can kiss my ass.)
The Concerned Women for America have issued a press release and they are not asking for Judge Kozinski to recuse himself from the obscenity case. No, that would not be nearly enough punishment for having this stuff on his computer. They are actually demanding Judge Alex Kozinski resign.
Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, has admitted to the Los Angeles Times that a website he maintains contains sexually explicit pictures and videos. His severe lack of moral judgment demands that he either resign or, if he refuses, that Congress begin impeachment proceedings.
Impeachment proceedings...seriously? Seriously? What the fuck kind of stick do you have to have up your ass to over-react to something that hard? Who the fuck are these women?
Let's go to their website and see...
We are the nation's largest public policy women's organization with a rich 29-year history of helping our members across the country bring Biblical principles into all levels of public policy.
Aaaaahhhh - it's becoming clearer now.
