LA obscenity case nauseates some potential jurors

[sweet baby jesus]

Source: The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- What violates community obscenity standards in the nation's reputed pornography capital? Federal prosecutors think they have a case.

Ira Isaacs readily admits he produced and sold movies depicting bestiality and sexual activity involving feces and urine. The judge warned potential jurors that the hours of fetish videos included violence against women, and many of them said they don't want to serve because watching would make them sick to their stomachs.

"It's the most extreme material that's ever been put on trial. I don't know of anything more disgusting," said Roger Jon Diamond _ Isaacs' own defense attorney.

The case is the most visible effort of a new federal task force designed to crack down on smut in America. Isaacs, however, says his work is an extreme but constitutionally protected form of art.

"There's no question the stuff is disgusting," said Diamond, who has spent much of his career representing pornographers. "The question is should we throw people in jail for it?"

Isaacs, 57, a Los Angeles advertising agency owner who says he used to market fine art in commercial projects, calls himself a "shock artist" and says he went into distributing and producing films about fetishes because "I wanted to do something extreme."

"I'm fighting for art," he said in an interview before his federal trial got under way. "Art is on trial."



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061002449_pf.html

[Skittles]

1. bestiality is animal abuse, not art n/t

[MidwestTransplant]

11. I agree but this is about obscenity. Bestiality is cruelty to animals, not obscenity.

They are trying to get an obscenity conviction because it's been so hard to get them to hold up in the past. Then they can build more cases once they have one as precedent.

[nosmokes]

14. If bestiality is abuse, what the hell is the commercial meat industry?

If Isaacs goes up the river for that, then shouldn't the colonel and the clown and everyone else that profits from an industry that's based on torturing animals so they can get to your plate cheaper and quicker, even if it means pumping 'em full of steroids to do it and antibiotics to keep 'em alive long enough to get big enough to slaughter?

Just asking, not endorsing bestiality.:puke:

[NickB79]

24. Is it abuse if it's male animals with female humans?

Not that I'm in any way defending this type of porn, but our old dog used to hump legs all the time and we didn't consider that abuse. If anything, he was abusing us :-)

[Carnea]

2. 57 is a little old for a midlife crisis.

One of the foreign films on Netflix has woman committing horse fellatio which needless to say came as a surprise during an otherwise fairly normal 1970's Philippine zombie film.

[Growler]

3. :(

[Lakerstan]

4. Can't be much worse than 2 girls 1 cup

That was just plain gross....

[sweet baby jesus]

5. eeew.

[Mongooseflies]

16. I Believe he is the creator of 2 girls one cup

That is how this case got started if I'm not mistaken.


:freak:

[TroubleMan]

6. Nasty and disgusting, but shouldn't be illegal.

Just cause I don't like it doesn't mean that other people can't.

[Mojorabbit]

7. Not the bestiality

that is animal abuse. The other stuff I could care less about.

[Prophet 451]

8. "should we throw people in jail for it?"

For beastiality? You betcha. For man-on-woman violence (assuming we're not talking about BDSM here): In a heartbeat.

The rest is pretty disgusting but not actually illegal, those two are crimes regardless of whether you're filming them or not.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. While I agree there's a right to free expression in art.

That doesn't mean there's a right to commit cruelty to animals, abuse children or engage in any non-consensual sexual acts between adults.

Other than that it's not the laws place to judge what a person does in the privacy of their bedroom or what type of porn they prefer.

[DS1]

10. Isaacs is doing the classic "is it erotic or not" legal defense

Isaacs pushes that limit. The problem with his argument is in the hands of his actors. If people were doing they weren't comfortable with, then certainly those people have a class-action lawsuit against him. If they were manipulated into filming those scenes, then yes again Isaacs is going to get sued. And lose.


I can't watch the videos because they are illegal here, so I can't honestly pass judgment. This case rests on whether or not people were coerced into doing things they didn't want to do. If they were, then some jailtime is in order. If they weren't...


edit: I just caught the Bestiality reference. If he's doing that, then he can go to jail. Animals are not consenting adults.

[surf]

12. Ive heard of some of his fetish films.

Stuff like women eating semen covered dog food. Art my ass. Hes just trying to make money.

[AllHereTruth]

13. Why is this even on trial?

Were talking about freedom of speech here people. Take that away. Put that on trial and we have nothing.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Had to find a photo, to know what a man looks like who chooses to spend his time/life this way:

Ira Isaacs

http://www.pr-inside.com/prospective-jurors-in-la-obscenity-trial-r636309.htm

[riverdeep]

20. Yeah, that's what I wonder about, too.

Artist, my ass.

[riverdeep]

22. Also, I wonder about who the consumers are.

They may be even more demented.

[LanternWaste]

17. Yeah... I think I'd have to refuse to sit on that jury, too.

Yeah... I think I'd have to refuse to sit on that jury, too.

The world is getting too weird (and full of too many weird people) for me to make any comments on it any more...

[AlphaCentauri]

18. I guess prostitutes were involve in the films

prostitution is illegal, why is has to be tolerated for porn?

make it legal.

[riverdeep]

19. Prostitutes?

Great, people already on the edge. I guess they feel they have nothing to lose at this point.

[riverdeep]

21. Get used to material such as this becoming more commonplace.

Both in cultural awareness and actual practice. Our culture can be conceived of as being like a drug. As more and more of the drug is consumed, tolerance goes up, and the dose/purity must increase to get the same effect. Things that used to shock, no longer do. And shock is still the easiest way to get attention. These things then filter into mainstream society. 'MILF' has now become a commonplace term.

I recall reading an article that said something like 'anal is the new oral'. Basically, that as oral sex is losing all taboo qualities, anal sex is replacing it, and women are now routinely expected to 'be down for that'.

My take on the reason why this dynamic is in place is too lengthy to go into here, just suffice it to say, I don't think it's healthy.

[sweet baby jesus]

27. I am concerned as well...

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

28. What does the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have to do with sex?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_Islamic_Liberation_Front

Unfortunately I have some family that is involved with this industry, they are the biggest shitheads you will ever meet, I am astonished that someones daddy hasn't hunted them down. How the porn industry hasn't come under attack from RICO laws is beyond me.

I just can't comprehend the extreme risks taken by women who participate in this for extremely small sums of money.

[Az_lefty]

23. I'm really tired of these sick bastards hiding behind "Art"...

this is about profits, pure and simple.

[Carnea]

25. If a dog is humping my leg is that consent?

:hide:

































as if I need it :sarcasm:

[Wink]

26. Conservative Judge In Case Caught W/Porn On Computer

"Alex Kozinski, who is presiding over an obscenity trial in L.A., acknowledges that he had posted sexually explicit photos and videos. He says he didn't think the public could access the site."


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-me-kozinski12-2008jun12,0,7817399.story