an unhealthy preoccupation with sex

When Alberto Gonzales was installed as our Attorney General, he let it be known that cracking down on porn was one of his “top priorities”. In the shadow of 9/11, it seemed odd to a lot of us that the administration would be reallocating precious resources from the War on Terror to crack down on acts of consensual sex, but that’s exactly what they did. Prevailing wisdom is that they made the move to placate the fanatics on the religious right, who were still in a tizzy after having caught a terrifying glimpse of, and being driven wild by, Janet Jackson’s super-erotic right nipple, but I suspect that it’s more than just politics.

And, while I guess it would be hard to prove a causal link, one wonders if perhaps there might be some connection between the priorities set by the administration and the recent actions of the men leading the charge at the Department of Homeland Security. First, it was news that Frank Figueroa, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security’s program to stop child predators – Operation Predator — had been charged with taking his cock out of his pants and showing it to a 16 year old girl. Then came word today that Brian Doyle, Deputy Press Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, had been apprehended for soliciting sex from what he thought was a 14 year old girl. I’m not sure what to make of it, but I wonder if perhaps this could have something to do with the Republican preoccupation with sex and porn, their fear of female sexuality, and their need feel dominant.

(While we’re on the subject of porn, I thought that I’d mention that the smart-n-snarky kids over at Metafilter are, at this very moment, having a heated conversation about Kami Andrews, the adult film acress who, at least for a while, was leaving comments here at MM.com… And, for the most part, they aren’t being too kind.)