U.S. Attorney's Porn Fight Gets Bad Review

[Mark E. Smith]

Obscenity Prosecution Task Force will focus on Internet crimes and peer-to-peer distribution of pornography.

Daily Business Review 8/30

When FBI supervisors in Miami met with new interim U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta last month, they wondered what the top enforcement priority for Acosta and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would be.

Would it be terrorism? Organized crime? Narcotics trafficking? Immigration? Or maybe public corruption?

The agents were stunned to learn that a top prosecutorial priority for Acosta and the Dept of Justice was none of the above. Instead, Acosta told them, it's obscenity. Not pornography involving children, but pornographic material featuring consenting adults.

Acosta's stated goal of prosecuting distributors of adult porn has angered federal and local law enforcement officials, as well as prosecutors in his own office. They say there are far more serious issues in a high-crime area like South Florida, which is an international hub at risk for terror, money laundering, and other dangerous activities.

"Compared to terrorism, public corruption and narcotics, (pornography) is no worse than spitting on the sidewalk," said Stephen Bronis, a partner at Zuckerman Spaeder in Miami and chairman of the white-collar crime division of the American Bar Association. "With so many other problems afflicting America this is absolutely ridiculous.

(Article then goes on to discuss the influence of the American Family Association and other Christian conservatives, and how they have the Bush administration by the balls (so to speak) on this issue.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1125318960389&rss=newswire

[Ian David]

1. They hate us for our kleenex. n/t

[Dora]

3. That's the first laugh I've had today.

You funny.

[wli]

2. fundies wasting more tax dollars n/t