I don't see how the first one is political at all. If these men had been calling for government censorship, it would be, but the edited movie market in Utah was completely a private enterprise solution that merely provided edited videos that people voluntarily chose to watch instead of the unedited versions. Of course, the men are hypocrites and deserve to be punished for their crimes. I just don't see why you think it's political.

Political in the sense that this is another of the seemingly endless litany of conservative political and cultural figures caught out in deep sexual hypocrisy. (For example, I considered the Ted Haggard scandal essentially political.) Not directly connected to government or the electoral process, but it is conservatives themselves who have made sexual values and character a key metric in the political game.

It's political. I live in Utah, and the copyright theft movie resale business was enormous. There is still a clean pirate shop operating in my town, unhampered by local officials, even screening edited movies at $5 a head. Politicians and editors in papers were calling for the dismantling of copyright law to facilitate Utah's "moral" piracy. But our politicians are astounding in their corruption and stupidity. If you'd like examples, Utah is a treasure trove of news stories along these lines.

Example: Look up "Noel and Tilton" and you'll find a tale of corruption involving state reps. colluding using their power to get a license to build a nuke plant (for resale at a profit) at rate payer expense after hamstringing environmental law. Oh, and the failed restaurantuer and online Viagra salesman Tilton plans this on California's water supply.
http://www.slweekly.com/index.cfm?do=article.details&id=5F83A651-9A0A-2E8A-A38D5EB69D4B37EF&page=2

Edited at 2008-01-27 11:39 pm (UTC)

You mean these stores sell their edited copies without compensating the producers? Analogous to someone buying an author's books, editing out the "naughty bits", and then printing and selling those on their own without any compensation to the original author/publisher? I had not realized. I suppose I should not be surprised. That is political indeed if officials turn a blind eye to that and such businesses operate publicly just like any other business.

Yup, it was organized piracy. The largest edited movie company claimed that they were buying one legitimate copy for each pirated dvd they sold or rented, but there was no way to verify that. The people here generally failed to comprehend the difference between buying a dvd and buying rights to what was on the dvd. The fight got ugly to the point where anyone who believed in copyright protection was at risk of being called a pornography pusher. Much of the rabble of Utah genuinely believed they had the high moral ground because Hollywood "has no morals" so they really couldn't be stolen from.
Senator Orrin Hatch facilitated an agreement with movie makers not to challenge the legal alternative, "Clear Play", which is a programmable player that you put an unaltered dvd into which skips "objectionable" content. Hollywood came down easy on the pirate stores and allowed them to sell off their stock and close in a set period of time. But some stores still linger. Others switched to dealing in "Clear Play" and still others only carry "wholesome" movies now. The most astounding part of this was that the thieves declared themselves to be the ones with high morals and anyone who challenged them was immoral or supported immorality. As an artist who believed in copyrights, you can imagine my reaction to the local newspaper editorial crying for an end to copyrights because they are the refuge of pornographers.
You have to have a taste for human folly to enjoy living in Utah...heheh. Fortunately, I do. :P

Wow. Boggle. Thanks!

I suspect the US hasn't been a superpower since the fall of the Soviet Union. If I'm right, there can't be a lone superpower; there need to be two at minimum.

"Clean" Movie Maven Arrested For Teen Sex — Offered without comment, only sadness and an uncomfortable sense of irony.

I agree it is political.

Deep sadness is a good response. However I long have believed that people who got upset about the sexual overtone of songs, movies and the like, and wanted to regulate it for others were listening/watching to their own pornographic song/movie in their head.

I have a longer post on my own journal.