Thursday, November 30, 2006

Marin Activists Plan Global Orgasm For World Peace


Marin, CA--A pair of California peace activists are calling for a different kind of protest this Solstice season.

Donna Sheehan and Paul Reffell want everyone on the planet to have an orgasm on Dec. 22 while focusing all that feel good energy on world peace.

"The orgasm gives out an incredible feeling of peace during and after it," Reffell said on Sunday. "Your mind is like a blank. It's like a meditative state. And mass meditations have been shown to make a change."

(See the study done in 1993, where mass meditations were linked to a dramatic drop in violent crime in Washington, D.C.)

The event, The Global Orgasm for Peace, is attracting world-wide attention. The couple claim their website is receiving more than 25,000 visitors a day.

"Religion, science, art, medicine-you name any great accomplishment that the human race has made and none of it has stopped war and aggression," Sheehan said. "We thought, 'What's the next unbelievable, untested biological gift that we've all been given?' The orgasm."

Sounds good to me.

The truth is, we choose our beliefs; rarely are they based upon facts. If people can choose to believe that their pastors are heterosexual, or that George Bush and the stock market are real, then why can't we believe that a whole bunch of earth shattering orgasms can change the world?

"The dream is to have everyone in the world (take part)," Reffell said. "And if that means laying down your gun for a few minutes, then hey, all the better."

Monday, November 20, 2006

Extreme Associates To Launch Publishing Venture


Extreme Associates owner Rob Black is joining forces with iconoclast publisher Shane Bugbee to release The Extreme Times, a free periodical focusing on the adult industry, extreme art, music and entertainment.

"The Extreme Times will basically have everything, with a focus on Extreme and all the whacky bullshit that goes on with us," Black said in a report from AVN.

"This is just another step for us to expand and get back out into the world, as well as get back to basics."

Bugbee, a twenty year veteran in the war against censorship, said he jumped at the chance to work with Extreme "because the company's owners Rob Black and Lizzy Borden facing 10 charges of obscenity for their films."

Bugbee has been promoting extreme free speech since he was a teenager, and has worked with such artists as Jello Biafra, cartoonist Mike Diana, filmmaker Ryan McPherson and author Jim Goad.

Black plans to rollout the premier issue at this year's Adult Entertainment Expo in January. The magazine will be published 4-6 times per year and will be distributed through events, tattoo shops, independent music and bookstores, and anywhere Extreme Associates' films are sold.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Texas Porn Stores Raided


Beaumont, TX--Police in southeast Texas raided three adult novelty shops last week resulting in the arrests of several employees and one store manager.

Sunrise Records, Krazy Kat and Bare Necessities came under police scrutiny after an anonymous citizen complained that the shops were selling obscene material.

According to a report in the Examiner, an undercover agent purchased several items from the stores and presented the materials to a local judge. The judge found the items to be in violation of Texas' strict obscenity laws and issued a warrant to search the shops.

During the raids police arrested several store clerks and one store manager who was just returning to work from lunch. According to one report they may find themselves facing fines of $4000 and up to one year in jail or both.

In the meantime, police have been busy confiscating the inventory of all three businesses.

"Officers are gathering items within the stores, both videos and devices," said Lt. Jim Clay of the Beaumont Police Department. "Each will go under judicial review based on obscenity laws."

Under Texas obscenity law an "obscene device" is "a device, including a dildo or artificial vagina, designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs."

Friday, August 04, 2006

Eon McKai & Company Kick Off Vivid-Alt Website


Cyberspace (and beyond)--Director, producer and alt-porn darling Eon McKai wants to put the punk back into porn. And with his recent partnership with Vivid Video to create Vivid-Alt, he and his deviant buddies plan to do just that.

"There's tons of kids who listen to emo, punk rock, goth or drum and bass and there's no smut for us," McKai says.

McKai launched a promotional website for the new Vivid brand last week. The site features info on upcoming releases, Vivid-Alt starlets and directors Dave Naz and Octavio Winkitiki.

"This website sells you nothing," says their mission statement. "We just want you to know who we are and what we are doing."

Check it out.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

No End In Sight For 2257 Inspections


Chatsworth, CA--According to a report by Mark Kerns in Adult Video News, Robert Hill Releasing has become the third company in 10 days subjected to the FBI's ongoing 2257 record keeping investigation.

Robert Hill Releasing owner Lynton told AVN that agents showed up at his office and began verifying the ages of performers from apparently random titles in their extensive specialty catalog. The agents did not show Lynton a warrant.

"They just showed their badges and indicated what they were here for," Lynton said.

Preliminary reports have suggested that the FBI has compiled a list of up to 23 adult video companies who they intend to investigate over the next several weeks or even months. Lynton told AVN that agents said they expect established adult companies to be in compliance with the federal record keeping laws.

"Ours are in order, as far as we can tell," Lynton said. "Everything seems to be going as smooth as possible right now. The gentlemen weren't coming in here busting doors down. They were very pleasant. They brought their copy machines and they're copying IDs and all of the paperwork."

Graphic shamelessly stolen from Adult Video News.

Friday, July 28, 2006

FBI Continues 2257 Inspections


Bethlehem, PA--The FBI conducted it's second 2257 inspection this morning in what now appears to be a methodical nationwide investigation of U.S. porn producers.

JJ Ruch, sole proprietor of Sebastian Sloane Productions, was visited by a squad of four Federal agents earlier this morning at his home office in Bethlehem, PA.

According to Ruch, agents inspected all of his model release forms, copies of model IDs, computers, cameras and even searched his kitchen and living room.

"They arrived in a big black SUV with government license plates, got out of the car and knocked on the door," Ruch told X-Biz online. "Once I opened the door, they moved forward inside and said, 'We'll do the search ourselves.'"

There has been no mention in any reports that the agents showed Ruch a warrant.

"I was a complete nervous wreck," Ruch told Adult Video News. "They were just taking pictures of my model contracts and model IDs. They had a machine that they put the model information in and it tells them whether the model is 18 or not."

During the four and a half hour inspection, agents told Ruch that the FBI has 16 inspection squads who will be investigating adult content producers throughout the nation for the next several months.

"The agents said they've compiled two years worth of research on the adult industry, using Whois and reviewing video-on-demand sites to see whose producing what," Ruch said.

Ruch told both AVN and X-Biz that he passed the inspections.

"I've always kept the books in line just because of the possibility of an investigation like this," Ruch said.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

For the full text of the document that Eleanor Roosevelt called the "Magna Carta for all mankind," click here.