Legislation aims to jack soldiers' 'off time' reading materials

[Hobarticus]

Source: Raw Story

"Pro-family" organizations and members of Congress are continuing the push to limit the range of reading materials available to members of the military. House Rep. Paul Broun (GA-10), with 15 co-sponsors and the support of organizations such as the Alliance Defense Fund and the American Family Association, recently introduced a bill that would strengthen the ban on sales of adult-themed publications on U.S. military installations.

-snip-

Rep. Broun has introduced H.R. 5821, also known as the Military Honor and Decency Act, which would close what he calls a loophole that allows the continued distribution of pornography to soldiers, to their moral detriment, with the help of taxpayer funds.

"As a Marine, I am deeply concerned for the welfare of our troops and their mission," Broun said on April 17. "Allowing the sale of pornography on military bases has harmed military men and women by: escalating the number of violent, sexual crimes; feeding a base addiction; eroding the family as the primary building block of society; and denigrating the moral standing of our troops both here and abroad. Our troops should not see their honor sullied so that the moguls behind magazines like Playboy and Penthouse can profit. The ‘Military Honor and Decency Act’ will right a bureaucratic--and moral--wrong."

-snip-

"We're asking these people to risk their lives to defend our Constitution's principles," said law school professor and ACLU head Nadine Strossen to USA Today last November, "and they're being denied their own First Amendment rights to choose what they read."

"Let me get this straight," The Carpetbagger Report's Steve Benen added. "U.S. troops are fighting two wars, neither of which are going well, and the American Family Association’s biggest concern is what kind of magazines the troops can purchase on base?

"Here’s a radical idea: maybe those who wear the uniform and put their lives on the line for their country should be able to read whatever they want."

Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bill_seeks_to_jack_soldiers_off_0426.html

---

Stuff just writes itself, doesn't it?

[Red Zelda]

1. Jack off time?

Say what?

[Hobarticus]

2. Must be the writer's attempt to be "street"...

Jack, as in, steal. Still, can't help but notice the word association...

[Alexander]

9. Reading materials?

[mitchum]

3. That posturing idiot Broun is now my Representative thanks to some crafty gerrymandering

lucky me

[CottonBear]

14. He's mine too. I will scream if I get another letter from him. His postage bills must be HUGE!

:( :grr:

[mitchum]

17. Because of his endless mailings, OUR postage bills ARE huge

he has never met a franking privilege he couldn't abuse
We the people foot the bill for all of those letters

[crimsonblue]

24. Official congressional correspondance is free.

At least the letters I've received from my congresswoman have been. Or does it get deducted from their budget?

[CottonBear]

32. The congress gets "free" franking (postage) but we utimately pay for it. n/t

[crimsonblue]

38. thanks for clarifying that up for me

[LiberalFighter]

39. THere are limits on how much they can mail.

Just like they receive a budget for their office which they can spend as they see fit. Meaning one member might have more staff than another even though they represent nearly the same number of people.

[Joe Bacon]

31. Hey, I know another book Broun needs to ban

Yeah I know of this book that tells the story of a guy with two daughters. They got him drunk and had sex with dear old Dad and they both got pregnant. Hmmm, what's the name of that book, slips my mind, wait a second, has something to do with something called a...Bible??????

[Ian David]

4. If they'd spend more time in their barracks masturbating, maybe there would be LESS rape.

Maybe even endorse a rule that says you can't go on leave until you've ejaculated twice.

[Djinn]

26. presumably that's a flippant comment

and you don't mean to propagate the myth that men rape because they've not been able to ejaculate recently, blue balls takes them prisoner.

Men do not rape because it's been so long since they had a wank

[Ian David]

27. Yes, I know. n/t

[angrycarpenter]

5. Did you ever see an army VD training film

Now that is indecent.

[ladywnch]

6. "Let me get this straight,"

The Carpetbagger Report's Steve Benen added. "U.S. troops are fighting two wars, neither of which are going well, and the American Family Association’s biggest concern is what kind of magazines the troops can purchase on base?



that pretty much too the words right out of my mouth!!!!!!!!!!!!!


:wtf: :crazy: :banghead:

[pattmarty]

7. Let me get this right, if you enlist in the armed forces.............

......risk your life, and if this POS bill passes you won't be able to read porn if you want to. I believe that's censorship, and really pretty stupid to boot.

[RantinRavin]

28. You just won't be able to buy it on base

There is nothing preventing you from walking outside the gate and buying any magazine or video you want and bringing it back on base with you.

[pattmarty]

30. Ok, technically not censorship, but still a pretty religiously stupid law.

[hunter]

35. Depends where "base" is and what you are buying, doesn't it?

In some parts of the world it's probably easier and less dangerous to pick up a hooker.

[LiberalFighter]

40. Or buying a subscription which would save them money.

[bushmeister0]

8. Killing is moral; not stroke mags. . . hmmm

"Allowing the sale of pornography on military bases . . . (is) denigrating the moral standing of our troops both here and abroad."

Abu Ghraib hasn't harmed the moral standing of our troops at all. Torturing people is A-Okay, but being allowed to look at pix of naked chicks has "sullied" the reputaion of our service people.

Is there anything going on in Rep. Paul Broun's district he might want to pay more attention to?

Would he like to perhaps volunter for a stint in Iraq?

[xxqqqzme]

37. the irony meter stays at 0

when it comes to publicans.

[Orsino]

10. Onward, Christian soldiers. n/t

[Indenturedebtor]

11. Maybe if this guy had a good session every now and again...

What the hell is wrong with these people?

[Indenturedebtor]

12. Maybe if this guy had a good session every now and again...

What the hell is wrong with these people?

[truthisfreedom]

13. "You can die for your country, but you can't view pictures of the human body while doing it."

[mitchum]

18. And Broun was a physician before he got into the republican politician racket

astonishing,isn't it?

[booley]

15. If my time in the Navy is any indication

then he will not get a lot of support from the military.

[underpants]

36. NO SKIN MAGS?!?!?! hahahaha

these people clearly have never seen an Army unit in "the field"

THese people have no idea who they are dealing with

[KamaAina]

16. By George, I think I've got it!

Let's all show how much we support our troops — by buying boxes and boxes full of non-hurtful pr0n and shipping them off as CARE packages to our boys and girls on the front lines! Call it "Operation Endless Cheesecake" or something.

This came to me while reading some most excellent rants on the subject here:

http://gentillygirl.com/2008/04/27/thou-shalt-kill-but-not-look-at-skin

[Prophet 451]

21. Seconded!

I'll happily kick in a few bucks to that! Strictly softcore girlie mags, of course. Oh, and Playgirl for the women.

[dysfunctional press]

19. "to the moral detriment"...of people trained to kill?

:crazy:

[Prophet 451]

20. Oh, what?!?!?!

It's not enough that the poor bastards could get their brains blown out in a pointless meatgrinder of an elective war, now they're not even allowed to look at girlie mags either? Forgive me if I'm missing the bigger picture here but I fail to see how squaddies having a crafty wank over Playboy harms anyone, especially since Broun's charges are unproven in one case and flat wrong in the rest. To wit: A connection between porn and violent sexual crimes has never been proven and in the case of softcore porn (such as Playboy), the research suggests the opposite; addicition is only applicable if you believe that people can be addicted to anything just by using it whereas the word "addiction" normally implies some level of compulsion; "eroding the family" is just plain crap since porn is as old as civilisation itself and, I hate to say it, but with the Iraq War, the Military Commissions Act, Gitmo and legalised torture, the US doesn't have any moral standing to be denigrated.

[AwakeAtLast]

22. Someone's got a basement full of porn

We need a search party to infiltrate Mr. Broun's reading material. Something tells me there's not a lot of "quality" reading material in his collection!

[IronLionZion]

34. I bet he does a lot of "research" on the effects of porn.

most Republicans are hypocrites. Like someone else said, thou shalt kill, but not look at skin.

[snot]

23. K&R'd

[baldguy]

25. First its Penthouse and Hustler

Next its Naomi Klein and Howard Zinn

[Judi Lynn]

29. You've got THAT right! This move just opens the door for what the guy really has in mind. n/t

[onager]

33. "When morals go down, morale goes up."--Gen. George S. Patton

He was talking about another idea spawned by a bunch of clueless, meddling do-gooders: the "non-fraternization" policy at the end of World War II.

That policy said GI's were not allowed to..."fraternize" with their former enemies in Germany and Japan. Technically, an American soldier couldn't even give part of his rations to a starving child. But everybody knew it was really meant to keep Our Boys from having S-E-X with furrin' women.

Patton thought it was a stupid policy and said so.

Over in Japan, Gen. Douglas MacArthur reportedly looked over his copy of the new policy and laughed. Then he tossed it into a trashcan and said: "My father taught me to never give an order I couldn't enforce."

I'm just disappointed that the Raw Story article wasn't written by that great American, Mr. Jack Meoff.

[LiberalFighter]

41. Obviously the prevalence of smut during his time in the military has harmed him.