Backsides to the Future: Iran Not Safe for Porn

If you were looking for a place to shoot your next "adult" movie, forget about Tehran - REALLY.

According to this Article at CNN, Iran's Parliament has voted for a bill that could lead to the death penalty for anyone involved in making a pornographic movie

With a 148-5 vote in favor and four abstentions, lawmakers present at the Wednesday session of the 290-seat parliament approved that "producers of pornographic works and main elements in their production are considered corrupter of the world and could be sentenced to punishment as corrupter of the world." ...

The bill also envisages convictions ranging from one year imprisonment to a death sentence for the main distributors of the movies and also producers of Web sites in which the pornographic works appear.

Besides videos, the bill covers all electronic visual material, such as DVDs and CDs. Other material, such as porn magazines and books, are already banned under Iranian law.

To become law, the bill requires an approval by the Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog in Iran.

And considering that the Guardian Council is the band of old farts who see to it that a "reform" candidate is even more repressive than your average, American Evangelical Republican, chances are good this will get all the approval it needs.

I'm not really surprised by this action, but I am amused to think of the blowback it will cause in the American Right. Are we prepared to condemn Iran for doing something that, if they had their druthers, a lot of Virtuecrats would run through over here, too? Are we going to fight for Iran's right to fuck and film?

Let's all keep an eye on the usual "bomb Iran" suspects. Watching them make talking points out of this is going to be amazing comedy.

Oh, he DID? (And he's NOT?)

Remember back in April, when I did a somewhat surreal post concerning A Certain Right Wing "Cyberjournalist" Who Shares A Last Name With Edgar Allen Poe?

Well, I made a prediction that he wouldn't post THAT on his net chatter thing on his site because, well, I said a lot of weird things. And he did, anyway.

I find that really funny.

I also find it funny that, in the meantime, he's left his position at Vanguard.org.

Well, it was short and sweet. My tenure as editorial director of TheVanguard.org (TVO) came to an end last night, having lasted only three months, from February 1 to April 30, 2007.

Following a candid discussion with TVO Founder and Chairman Rod Martin last night, we agreed to end our association, due to our differing and strongly-held views concerning organizational priorities and strategy. Honorable men can agree to disagree, and so Rod Martin and I have done.

CYA? Apparently not - Mr. Martin later chimes in on the comments, so it looks like it's still love/love all around, there.

I wonder what they disagreed on. I'm betting our friend wanted to take it in a direction that was too extreme or 'out there,' but for all we know it might have just been someone breaking toys and stomping off.

DEVELOPING...

McJobs, Big Business and the OED

We all know what a McJob is, right? The OED defines it as "an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, especially one created by the expansion of the service sector."

However, taking a hint from 1984, those who control the money control the language. So it comes some surprise, but not a lot of shock that, according to this article in Time, "(McDonalds) is currently lobbying dictionary publishers to change the meaning of the word McJob - or remove it altogether - on the grounds that it denigrates the company's employees."

Read the rest here.

Paris Libby & Scooter Hilton

Just a thought ... But wouldn't it be kind of funny if Scooter Libby went to prison screaming and calling for his mother, while Paris Hilton kept her cool AND had the likes of Donald Rumsfeld et. al. writing letters in her defense and asking for leniency?

There's been some suggestion that she was removed from prison due to a deteriorating psychiatric condition. I think the real nuts here are the folks who want Scooter pardoned.