bob_dobalina

its beginning to seem like the residents of the san pornando valley are faced by evil on all sides. then again, perception really ain't reality and adult entertainment is never short on detractors or those that would see us cast down to the lowest levels of chez dante.

it all started about two weeks ago when it was reported that adult performer darren james contracted HIV. within days the news spread like dog shit on a hot sidewalk and media outlets from headline news to national public radio were carrying the story with their regular pick-ups. people started to shift uncomfortably and i couldn't help but cringe when my phone started ringing. and ringing.

there was even a thread started on the sg boards about the matter. it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that my contribution was summarily ignored, as usual. if the pope takes a dump in the woods and nobody is around to smell it, does it still make a stink?

more news on the infectious diseases that can afflict your naughty bits - the center for disease control announced the rise in the number of drug-resistent strains of gonorrhea. man, if they should totally use gonorrhea as a word in the national spelling bee. i'd kill to see a 12-year old stumble over the spelling, ask for the meaning of the word, and demand it be used in a sentance. little sally got a mean case of drug-resistent gonorrhea because she's a triflin' ho.

what does this all mean? there may not be an evil troika that's plotting the demise of all who fornicate but there is a lot of action taking place behind the scenes that's cause for alarm. but what the hell, i ain't gotten laid in like 2 months so at least my ass is safe. however, some of the moves being made by a few public servants and elected officials is making my nipples tingle, and not in a good way.

first off, the government has always looked for ways to expand its revenue through things known as sin taxes. those stupid stamps on packs of cigarettes, special 'licenses' for strippers, or regulatory fees for the trafficing of alcohol are all examples of sin taxes. the state of california has been trying for years to figure out how to milk the saline-enhanced teat of the san pornando valley. and of course, there's the ever present threat of the bible thumpers who want to shut everything down for good. that may not be realistic but the impact of the relgious zealots can be felt in obscenity prosections or fears that some companies have about shipping product to unfriendly areas of the country.

with this whole HIV scare, the los angeles city department of health and cal-osha (occupational safety and health) have decided to get involved because they're so concerned about the well-being of adult performers. they started by seizing the records of the disease testing facility that serves the straight porn biz and have been busy churning that bureaucratic bullshit. proposals have been floated such as making all on camera fucking 'condom-only' or eliminating internal cumshots. anal sex is thought to have provided the initial exposure of HIV to the industry so maybe all butt fucking should be ruled out too, sez the wisdom of cal-osha.

this whole HIV issue has provided a very convenient avenue for the powers to be to circumvent a little something we like to call the bill of rights and the guarantee of the freedom of expression. porn is art and therefore a protected form of speech. as stated by the supreme court, the work of art must be taken as a whole when it comes to deterimination of obscenity so even though there's 5 seconds of some really hardcore fucking, other elements must be taken into account. these provisions have by and large succeeded in preventing the powers from be from making your little stash of pornos illegal. where obscenity prosecution has failed to prevent the dissemination of product that features material that some may find objectionable such as anal cream pies or simulated rape, the disease issue may very well succeed.

with fears of regulation comes the danger of taxation. with california just having passed a bond measure that puts the state in debt until the year buck rogers, there isn't any funding available to pay for the big bureaucratic machine to give stamps of approval for the thousands of dvds that are made each day or the monitoring of the health of the performers. and where else is this money that the bureaucratic machine needs to survive going to come from other than the very industry that's being forceably penatrated in the first place.