Mark Kernes Writes:

1) Covers are not paid for by advertisers.

2) If you’d looked inside over the past year, you would have gotten an idea how badly we wanted him out.

You might also think about the concept that the adult industry, of which you are a part, is headed for a fucking, the likes of which neither you nor I
can conceive.

Kernes

In all fairness to AVN that IS the official policy, but we all know theres more than one way to “buy” a cover. I guarantee you that if I approach AVN and offer to buy ay 5 full Page ads every month for a year I can negotiate a cover or two. I am not saying this is wrong, it isn’t it is smart business. But the bottom line, the covers, just like everything else in the magazine IS paid for by advertisers…

Austyn Moore Writes:

Hi Mike. I spent 6 hours yesterday waiting in line to cast my vote. I watched the voting coverage for 8 hours last night only to become completely shocked and outraged at what was happening. Yes I wanted Kerry to win and I am disapointed at that outcome. However I am outraged to read the exit polls and the reasons people voted for Bush. 81% of people polled who listed “morals” as the prime reason for the way they cast there vote, voted for Bush. More than 70% of people who listed “the economy” as the prime reason for the way they cast there vote, voted for Kerry. My “morals” are just that mine, and I do not want others teling me what is morally correct. Morals do not pay the bills, and if people keep voting on morals we will soon have a Government Issued Set Of Morals that we will HAVE to abide by! Sound far fetched? Hardly, Bush says its against his morals to let gay people marry, so guess what the “followers” agree and vote on morals. Now the government can say you will abide by this set of morals and not marry if your gay. Who cares if your gay and want to get married, other than offending the “morally correct” who is it hurting? So hunker down we have 4 more years of a government that will be run on their opinion of what is morally correct. The future holds good things for us, a “free” country will hopefully help us liberate the US and not be forced to abide by the religious beliefs of others! May God Bless The United States of America and forgive those who have forced there beliefs on us! Wait aren’t we in Irag liberating a nation because of a dictator who forced beliefs on them and punished if they didn’t follow his beliefs? Go Figure!—-Luv Austyn Moore

Melissa Writes:

Its truly sad Mike. I am terrified to be in this business any longer. With the Republicans having the majority and the Presidential office, they will continue to spend and the deficit will be much larger. Jobs are down and will continue to decline.

But as far as the state of porn, we still have a shot of hope. Not with Bush, but with who counts the most…our customers. How? Simple. Include something of value (political, educational, public service) in our productions.

Can you imagine it now? A video opens with a nude model with her hands over her naked breasts. With her school girl smiles, she looks into the camera and informs the viewers and urges them to protect their rights to view material they wish in the privacy of their own homes. She tells the viewers that the government is trying to limit their enjoyment and entertainment and are using child exploitation laws to take away an adult’s right. She then tells the viewer to do their part and register to vote and more importantly, to keep porn out of the hands of children. She says to the viewer, if you dont, (while removing her hands to expose her bare breasts), you run the risk of losing the right to see me entertain you. Or have talent give a quick explantion on how to do a math problem or explain something biological. Something more than just the routine gonzo.

Granted I just threw that together, but you get the idea. Nows the time to include heavy political messages in our porn. That serves a double purpose. It continues to educate the viewers about the governments repression of our rights and it makes us defensible in a court of law. Afterall, The Miller Test says that it must contain some political value doesnt it?

We try to educate listeners and viewers through raido shows (i.e Stern) but most arent taken seriously especially when the interviewers are just looking for shock value or to embarass the talent. Why not hit America where we can make the biggest impact? We need to fight harder than ever before. Bush has proven that there is no separation of church and state. Its time to fight fire with fire.

I urge and make a plea to the porn community to step it up. Its up to us to step up and fight against the relgious right. If we do, then we wont have to rely on fuck heads like Rob Black to be acquitted to save our business.

Melissa

Steve Writes:

I’d like to thank Exotic Dancer. The only adult magazine I received in October with a get out the vote cover.

Do ya really think rags like AVN are going to forego the money they get for a cover in order to remove Bush from office? They didn’t want him out THAT bad….

Did I Lose A Friend?:

The Girl I wrote about yesterday read the peice and certainly recognized herself. She thought that I was “mean” and “vicious” and that the whole bit was just something to fill space on my site, funny how all fuckups always think it’s all about them. She has vowed to never speak to me again. Remember this is someone I love dearly. Oh Well.

Several of you have suggested that I should name her, the thought is interesting, after all if you are going to continue to be a moron at least you should be a proud moron. But because she is no longer associated with the biz I will respect her wishes to remain anonymous.

The Satyr Has Some Comments On Libertarianism And Resposibility:

Dear Mike,

I am glad to hear your friend survived.

Libertarianism…
The main problem with it is that not only do people have a responsibility to themselves, they have a responsibility to others and the society in general.

People not only have to take responsibility for their own actions but, to some extent, have to be responsible for the actions of others and that is where government and legislation enters the picture.

Self-regulation is actually a bad thing (so is excessive government regulation but that is another story). People, no matter how smart or intelligent, should not determine the morality and legality of their own decisions. I will give you a broad example from my own experience. I was involved in a medium sized research project to investigate how pathogens move through the environment into the drinking water. People use laboratory-based models to mimic the real world but they are flawed. In the USA researchers have released polio virus vaccine into the environment to study how it moves. Fucking bad move IMO and I don’t care if the virus is meant to be “dead”. In my project they wanted to release “live” cryptosporidium cysts.
One of the major stakeholders in the project was the organisation that actually administers ethics approval for this sort of stuff and the idea was not going to be subjected to the normal assessment process but simply “green-lighted”. The prevailing attitude was that ‘we are all intelligent enough to make moral and ethical judgements on this issue, we don’t need critiquing from others.’ What abject bullshit. This is extremely dangerous thinking. Whether we like it or not, the world needs checks and balances and they come in the form of internal and EXTERNAL regulation.

Most people like to think they are intelligent, most organisations would like to think they do the best they can by their employees and customers. However, without checks and balances all hell would break loose. It doesn’t matter if you think you are acting responsibly and ethically, the fact is sometimes you are not. Often this is not due to bad intentions but nothing more than ignorance of a few salient facts.

Another example. Mike, you are in the porn industry. It is littered with irresponsible, antisocial individuals who I would go out of my way to avoid. A
lot of these people wouldn’t have a clue how to take care of themselves let alone care for others. To say that they are capable of self-regulation under
libertarian ideals is scary. They are already fucked up enough under the current rule of law. Many of the directors are lucky not to have been prosecuted by now. Take TT Boy, from the smattering of information about him, my guess is he should be in jail being cornholed by some 6’6″ preop transexual.

Also, do you think that many companies, if given the chance to self regulate, would treat their employees like slaves? The corporate culture in America is verging on this attitude anyway and the dollar is the bottom line after all. In Sydney, foreigners are paid shit wages ‘under the counter’ or ‘cash in hand’ if you like but still get the same or more pay than a low level employee in WalMart even allowing for the exchange rate. Dig a little deeper into WalMart’s business practices if you want to open your eyes.

Mike, I am not sure I should raise this but here we go… your friend was actually a danger to society. What if she had been driving a car in her condition? It is not unusual for someone strung out on drugs to drive anyway. If she was on the road with other motorists and pedestrians around who knows what might have happened. The government has a responsibility to the community at large to make efforts to ensure that this doesn’t happen. This necessitates intervention.

Darwinianism is for lawless, uncultured societies. The rule of the jungle? We are meant to be civilised.

That doctor should not be practicing. If you feel this is correct and his actions are irresponsible you should be able to do something about it but tread
carefully re: involving you friend if you do. The doctor also demonstrates that legislation is only as good as its practioners/enforcers. He also highlights
the general arrogance of that profession.

The opposite of unfettered libertariansism is also galling – excessive government rule. I lived in Sydney for 2 years and they have a rule for everything (and matching exhorbitant fine). It drove me nuts. It was like living in a police state. The best thing I did was go to Bangkok for a long holiday. The Thais have living downpat IMO and I’m not talking about Buddhist ideals.

The Satyr.

Good to have ya back man, and your points are dead on the money. I think that of all the porn news/op ed/gossip sites my readers are the most intelligent.