NEW LAW FOR THE "UTAH-WIDE-WEB"
SALT LAKE CITY, UT -- Republican Governor Jon Huntsman has signed a measure into law which will require anyone creating or hosting Internet content in Utah to rate their own content for its suitability for minors (see “Legislature Passes Flawed Internet Law,” X-Press, 3/11/05). Once an official list of Web sites with material deemed “harmful to minors” is established, Internet providers in Utah must provide their customers with a way to disable access to sites on the list or face felony charges.
        Technology companies had urged Huntsman not to sign the bill. The lobbying group NetCoalition, whose members include Google, Yahoo and CNET Networks, had written a letter to the Utah Senate saying the legislation could affect search engines, e-mail providers and Web hosting companies. Legislators, apparently unimpressed with these arguments, passed the bill by a vote of 71-0. The law is certain to be challenged.
        “I am having a hard time seeing how this law will survive a constitutional challenge, given the track record of state anti-Internet porn laws -- which are routinely struck down as violating the First Amendment and the dormant Commerce Clause,” said Eric Goldman, a professor at the Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
        A federal judge invalidated a similar law in Pennsylvania last year.
From Mark Kernes, AVN.com, 3/14/05
http://www.avn.com/index.php?Primary_Navigation=Articles&Action=View_Article
&Content_ID=219679
And from Alicia Caldwell, The Denver Post, 3/15/05
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2762873,00.html

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LIBERTARIANS JOIN LIBERALS IN COALITION
WASHINGTON, DC -- A new coalition of liberals and conservatives has formed, calling itself Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances. The group includes liberal civil-rights advocates, conservative libertarians, gun-rights supporters and medical privacy advocates. The coalition hopes to curtail some of the more egregious law-enforcement provisions of the USA Patriot Act.
        The group has no objection to many parts of the Patriot act but is specifically urging Congress to reconsider the three sections of the act which allow federal agents to conduct secret “sneak and peek” searches of a home or business, demand records from institutions like libraries and medical offices, and use a broad definition of terrorism in pursuing suspects
        Bob Barr, a former Republican congressman, is leading the coalition. Barr actually voted for the Patriot Act, but now has grown uneasy -- along with some other conservative libertarians --over the expanded powers in the law.
        Keeping the law intact “will do great and irreparable harm” to the Constitution by allowing the government to investigate people’s reading habits, search their homes without notice and pry into their personal lives, said Barr.
From Eric Lichtblau, The New York Times, 3/23/05
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/23/politics/23patriot.html
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A VOICE OF REASON IN CONGRESS
       WASHINGTON, DC -- Representative Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is gathering Congressional co-sponsors in order to introduce legislation that would prevent the government from censoring the content on cable TV and Internet websites. The proposal is in response to recently approved House legislation increasing Federal Communication Commission (FCC) indecency fines for broadcast television and radio. The Senate is considering companion legislation and some in the Senate, led by Senator Ted Stevens, (R-AK) have proposed imposing these same indecency regulations on programming provided over cable, satellite, and the Internet.
       “We don’t need the FCC bleeping Tony Soprano or Jon Stewart,” said Sanders. “Allowing the FCC to regulate these venues would, in affect, permit the government to control what content people can purchase. That offends basic American principles of freedom and liberty that are the foundation of our democracy.”
From a congressional press release, 3/17/05
http://www.house.gov/formbernie/forms/contact.html
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STORE OWNER TAKES THE BULL BY THE HORNS
CRYSTAL CITY, MO -- When Don Kleinhans opened his Pure Pleasures adult book and video store here recently it was without a business license after weeks of wrangling with City Hall. Police served Kleinhans with a cease-and-desist order within two hours.
        Why did Kleinhans open without a license? On advice of counsel. Grant Shostok, Kleinhans’ attorney, argued that the city ordinance is unconstitutional because it doesn’t specify a given time in which decisions must be rendered, thereby allowing a council to stall indefinitely. After a months-long battle to secure a license he advised Kleinhans to open without one.
        Mayor Tom Schilly initially denied the license in February because of what he said were “technical problems” with Kleinhans’ application. Kleinhans then filed an appeal that Schilly subsequently rejected.
        Recently, the issue went before the full City Council on appeal; and now Circuit Judge Gary Kramer has granted Crystal City a ten-day temporary order against the opening in order to give the city time to complete the appeals process.
        Dozens of protestors have attended council meetings to oppose the business, and several church groups have threatened to picket the storefront and/or photograph customers.
        The council said a decision regarding the appeal could be expected shortly. However, Kleinhans and Shostok have little confidence in a favorable outcome. As for protests, Kleinhans says he welcomes them.
        “It’s free advertising,” he said.
From Chris Campbell, Jefferson County Journal, 3/24/05
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/neighborhoods/stories.nsf/jeffersoncountyjournal/
news/story/4B8EE977429E527386256FC9004C7171?OpenDocument
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ENTREPRENEUR CHALLENGES MORATORIUM
       SEATTLE, WA -- The city’s 16-year-old “temporary” moratorium on new exotic dance clubs is being challenged by Robert Davis, a businessman who wants to open a new club. Davis has filed a legal claim against the city, alleging that the city’s “moratorium on adult entertainment licenses is unlawful.” He claims $5 million in lost potential revenues as damages.
       A moratorium, by definition, is supposed to be temporary. When it goes on and on it amounts to a de facto ban, and a ban of protected expression is constitutionally indefensible. The city has been saying since 1988 that it can’t change the law until it “develops and evaluates” a study on the impact of exotic dance clubs. To date, neither a study nor new proposed zoning regulations have been forthcoming.
       According to City Attorney Tom Carr, a claim such as the one Davis has filed is often the first step toward a full-blown lawsuit against the city.
From Erica Barnett, The Stranger.com, 3/23/05
http://www.thestranger.com/current/city.html
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NO FUNERALS FOR GAY BAR GUYS, SAYS BISHOP
       SAN DIEGO, CA -- Roman Catholic bishop Robert Brom has denied funeral rites to John McCusker, 31. The decree applies to all 98 Catholic churches in San Diego or Imperial counties.
       Brom’s big sin? He owned a bar and a dance club popular with gays. That clashes with the church’s moral teachings. However, the Bishop’s decision was not related to McCusker’s sexual orientation, according to Chancellor Rodrigo Valdivia. Brom’s business was “adult entertainment,” said Valdivia, “which is inconsistent with Catholic teaching.”
      John McCusker died of congestive heart failure at a ski resort, according to his family.
From the Associated Press, 3/19/05
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/03/19/a5.nat.ritesdenied.0319.html
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MAJORITY OF INTERNET FAMILIES USE FILTERS
       WASHINGTON, DC -- A recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project of 1,100 youth -- those ages 12 to 17 -- and 1,100 of their parents, shows that 54% of Internet-connected families now use some sort of internet filter or monitoring software, up from 41% of internet-connected families who used filters in 2000, the most recent time the Pew Project surveyed on the issue. In all, about 19 million youth live in homes with Internet connections and the number of children living in homes with filters has grown from 7 million in 2000 to 12 million today. The filters tend to be used by parents who themselves are frequent users of the internet and who have middle-school-age children. Parents who have older children and who are less tech-savvy are less likely to use filters.
From a Pew Internet Press Release, 3/17/05
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/152/report_display.asp
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VEGAS COPS UNDERCOVER IN TAMPA
      CLARK COUNTY, NV -- The Clark County Commission, acting as the Liquor and Gaming Licensing Board, has voted to deny a liquor license for Jack Galardi’s exotic dance club, Leopard’s Lounge. The denial was based on police reports of violations in other establishments, according to Commissioner Bruce Woodbury. Investigative reporters for the Las Vegas Review-Journal said Las Vegas police detectives had uncovered numerous exotic dance violations at Jack Galardi’s dance clubs in Tampa, Atlanta and elsewhere, in an investigation which involved direct undercover police work with exotic dancers, under no doubt trying circumstances. In 2004, Las Vegas police made several trips to investigate Galardi’s out-of-state clubs -- particularly to Tampa, judging from Las Vegas Review-Journal accounts.
       Police also investigated Galardi’s other Las Vegas clubs, Cheetah’s and Jaguars. Detectives reported issuing 55 citations during “compliance checks” at Cheetah’s between January 2003 and October 2004, as well as four citations at Jaguars. (Cheetah’s, located within the city limits of Las Vegas, is not regulated by the County Commission.)
      The police investigations were at the request of the commission, which was concerned about the elder Galardi’s reputation when Leopard’s Lounge was sold to him in 2003 by his son Michael, who had pled guilty to federal corruption charges.
      Galardi’s attorney, Dominic Gentile, said the dancer activities Las Vegas detectives witnessed in the Tampa and Atlanta clubs are acceptable in those locations. Gentile also noted that most of the Galardi employees charged in Tampa were never convicted.
From Richard Lake, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 3/24/05
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Mar-24-Thu-2005/news/26145352.html
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RIBALD CHEERLEADERS UPSET LEGISLATOR
       AUSTIN, TX -- State Representative Al Edwards (D-Houston) has introduced a bill here which would clamp down on bumping and grinding in high school cheerleading routines. Under the bill, if a school district knowingly permits “sexually suggestive” performances at athletic events and other extracurricular competitions, funds from the state would be reduced in an amount to be determined by the education commissioner.
       Edwards said he filed the bill as a result of his having seen several instances of ribald cheerleader performances in his district.
      “We say to them, ‘Don’t get involved in sex unless it’s marriage or love, it’s dangerous out there’ -- and yet the teachers and directors are helping them go through those kind of gyrations,” said Edwards.
From the Associated Press, 3/19/05
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/03/19/a5.nat.ritesdenied.0319.html

UpComing Events

MAR 31-APR 2 – The Phoenix Forum, Tempe, AZ http://www.thephoenixforum.com/

APR 11-13 International Lingerie Show, Las Vegas, NV www.spectrade.com

APR 18-19 – Celebrate Free Speech Lobbying Days, Sacramento, CA, 800-476-7813

MAY 1 – Adult Con 8, Los Angeles Convention Center, www.adultcon.com

MAY 19-21 --  Erotic Expo., Hotel Pennsylvania, N.Y., NY www.Eroticexpony.com

JUNE 6-10 -- Lifestyles 2005, Las Vegas, NV, www.lifestyles-conventions.com

JUNE 10-12 -- Erotica L.A., www.adultconx.com


JUNE 12-15 -- Cybernet Expo, Shelter Point Hotel, San Diego, CA, www.cybernetexpo.com

JULY 11-13 – ANME, Mandalay Bay, Vas Vegas, NV

JULY 18-20 – AVN Adult Novelty Expo, Pasadena, CA. www.adultnoveltyexpo.com

JULY 26-28, -- VSDA's Home Entertainment 2005, Bellagio Resort, Las Vegas, NV, http://show.vsdahomeentertainment.com

AUG 5-6 – Internext, Hollywood, FL., www.Internext-expo.com