The Jeff Booth Show

Internet Radio with Pictures

Show Transcripts

October 7th, 2007

You can contact us at:

Jeff@eroticuniversity.com

(818) 613-9248

Political News

He wanders the corridors of power. There is no stopping him. They can’t get rid of him. This fall, their worst nightmare comes back to life, in Return of the Living Dead Congressman, starring Larry Craig. Everyone’s favorite Idahomo has announced that he is going to stay in Congress despite his vow to resign if he could not get his conviction overturned. The judge said no, but apparently what Craig meant is that he would resign himself to being a Congressional embarrassment, and embarrassment to his state, and a continuing problem for Republicans. Chair of the Senate Republican Campaign Arm, John Enzin, announced he just wanted Craig to go. Craig has no intention of going, just as in the bathroom he had no intention of going. Even comedians are beginning to tire of him, as they are running out of bathroom jokes. The whole thing has stalled, even with a crack Congressional investigation, Craig just wants to put it behind him, even I’m getting tired of it. Its too easy.

What Attorney General to be fought for the rights of a dial-a porn company? Call him Mukasey, Bush’s nominee for the position. He listed the case as one of the 10 most significant of his private practice as an attorney, along with representing the New York Daily News. Protecting porn and free speech? And he quit the University Club in New York when it refused to admit women, so he is not a misogynist. And he seems to be competent with strong credentials. How did he ever get past Bush’s veting process. True, he is extremely right-wing, but he just does not seem to be of the caliber of the usual Bush nominee.

Speaking of the Justice Department, a very clever new front has broken out in the 2257 battle. 2257 refers to a series of blisteringly complex documentation regulations that the adult industry must comply with, so burdensome and complex that they have been in litigation for years and no lawyer can completely tell you with certainty how to comply with them. However, 100 percent compliance is mandatory, as any breach can send you to prison fro seven years. Just for a paperwork violation. It crazy, but it is designed to be crazy, to make it more difficult to produce adult movies. The supposed intent of the law is to protect children from being used in adult films- but here’s the deal- the law doesn’t actually do that. If the performer has a good enough fake ID, the producer can’t be prosecuted for not knowing as long as they keep the records. And no adult producer is going to knowingly use underage performers. That is already illegal, and stupid because when its discovered you have to recall all of your product.

One of the very few underage performers to appear in porn, Traci Lords, came in with a fake ID when she was underage- 2257 would have had no impact, and it cost the producers a fortune recalling all of her movies. There is no financial incentive to intentionally use underage performers and tons of reasons not to, so it just does not happen.  I’ll tell you who use underage performers- child pornographers. And instead of these endless rounds of records inspections by the FBI, maybe they should be spending their limited time and resources  going after the people who actually do exploit children- child pornographers.

The latest salvo from the lawyers trying to overturn some of the more burdensome aspects of these regulations takes advantage of a law most anti-porn politicians would support. It is called the Regulatory Flexibility Act. You see, many politicians are against burdensome regulations- so they enacted this law to deal with it. You’d be hard pressed to find a law as unjustifiably burdensome as 2257. It would take a couple of hours just to explain some of the more nonsensical requirements, such as requiring this paperwork about performers by people who did not actually make the video or shoot the pictures. And requiring regular business hours for inspection, a tough burden on home businesses, which are also required to print their home address on the product.

The Justice Department can choose to ignore the RFA claims, in which case, the 2257 regulations would be enjoined under the law. Or, they can do the required economic impact study they have avoided. If they do, they will learn that the majority of businesses in adult are small businesses, and that the burdens of 2257 are significant and unjustifiable to meet the stated goals of the law. Even besides the fact that 2257 also puts an undue burden on free speech (which adult material is until a court rules that it is obscenity). No one argues that good records should be kept on the performers used in adult productions- but 2257 goes way beyond that often into absurdity. I can tell you personally that these regulations are a huge burden on Erotic University, curtailing some of the things we had planned, causing us to throw out some work because they changed the regulations, and creating difficulties we still have not figured out how to resolve. By using the Regulatory Flexibility Act and with a new Attorney general, perhaps these insane regulations can finally be modified into something that makes sense. There is no disagreement about the need for record keeping- but it should be about that, and trying to run small adult businesses, which comprise the majority of this multi-billion dollar industry, out of business through burdensome regulations, just does not seem very, well, Republican.

Regular listeners know that we comment frequently on what has been the breakdown of the wall between the separation of church and state in our schools. Now we have “Secret Keeper Girl- The Bod Squad Tour”. It’s an evangelical Christian outreach aimed at schoolgirls in grades three through six. Sponsored by a group called Pure Freedom, the program aims to get youngsters to dress modestly and to remain sexually pure in keeping with “the will of God.” It includes the exciting Christian Modesty Fashion Show- what well-dressed girls will be wearing 50 years ago. But was it really an appropriate show for Kimberly High, a public school in Wisconsin, with public school funding? The ACLU got it moved to a church, where it belongs. But does any third grader need to hear about a “vibrant life of sexual purity?”  If the event were really about teaching girls about better body image, as they claim, it would be great. Instead, they flip it into an evangelical anti-sex crusade. Now you may feel better about your body maybe, but you’re terrified to ever have sex. Not much of a trade off.

An in more abstinenece education stupidity, The PEERs program, federally funded of course, sends ignorant kids out to teach kids how to be ignorant about sex. I guess they feared that someone who actually was educated with a degree and all that might spill the beans that all of this is bullshit. They have an interesting version of dirty dice. According to an article in the Lafayette Journal and Courier, “The die, which had two safe sides and four representing the possible consequences of premarital sex, was not so kind to Desree. Her first roll made her a teen mom. She was safe on the second roll, but contracted an STD on the third. It was enough to make up her mind to not take chances.” “I’m waiting until I get married” she said. Well, maybe Desree should have put a condom on the die before throwing it. But, being federally funded, they can’t tell you about stuff like that, except to say that condoms don’t work. Nor can they tell you that the odds of your keeping that pledge are worse than playing Super Lotto. This dice game, besides being statistically irrelevant, its unrealistic. If the most you get out of sex is the word “safe”, of course you don’t want to play. How about a side labeled “incredible mind-blowing orgasm?”  and another that says “You discover your clitoris- wow!”.  Of course, this game is rigged and while a die may have six sides, they only want you to see one side. It’s a gaffed carnival game for suckers, and ironically, that’s something else they don’t want them to do.

In New Hampshire, the folks who help decide early on who the  presidential candidates are going to be, if you are 17, you can get the crap beat out of you, require stitches, and the adult who did it to you gets simple assault, a misdemeanor. You, however, get tried for felony sexual assault as an adult and face a year in prison, and then get to register as a sex offender for the rest of your life. But not for assaulting the man who beat you up. No. For having consensual sex with your 15 year old girlfriend. Ah, young love. The Dad beat up the 17 year old after learning that his daughter and he had sex. Most states recognize that this is something that has gone on since time immemorial and find reasonable ways to deal with it grounded in some sort of reality. But, as with their often odd choices for president, they deal with this the old fashioned way- put a young teen in adult prison to be raped by larger inmates for having consensual sex with his girlfriend. That’ll teach him, the little bugger.

Speaking of condoms not working, the head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique is not claiming that they can kill you. The Archbishop claimed that condoms distributed in Africa are infected with HIV, as are some anti-viral drugs, in a conspiracy to depopulate Africa. Anti-condom attitudes like his are doing the job quite well by themselves, thank you. . There is a huge AIDS crises in Mozmbique, affecting some 16 percent of the population. That is apparently not enough for the Archbishop. Hey, if people have to die in order to be saved, what the hell. So far, no comment from the Vatican or the Pope. Maybe its just a long moment of silence for all those who are dying due to idiotic statements like his. 

Entertainment

Bombing middle eastern countries into democracy doesn’t seem to work. Maybe an Israeli company has a better idea. Porn. Since they translated their porn site into an Arabic version, they have gotten massive hits from Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. They are selling the idea that it is more fun to watch Israli’s fuck than think about wiping them off the map. Salman Rushdie made an appropriate observation "Pornography exists everywhere, of course, but when it comes into societies in which it's difficult for young men and women to get together and do what young men and women often like doing, it satisfies a more general need; and, while doing so, it sometimes becomes a kind of standard-bearer for freedom, even for civilization.." Ratuv, which means wet, is more than a porn site, though. It also has political parody. And the next step is to bring Arabic and Israeli performers together who will literally make love not war. AT least someone has managed to imagine a better world for the middle east. Too bad our world leaders can’t see it. Ironically, being against porn is one of the things that Bush and those he refers to as America’s enemies clearly agree on.

This is like one of those games where you pair famous people together to imagine what their children will look like. In this case we have Rick Solomon, who paired with Paris Hilton in one of the most famous sex tapes of all time. Then you have Pamela Anderson, who paired with Tommy Lee in one of the most famous sex tapes of all time. Now they are a powerhouse couple, and from the fruit of their loins may come the next truly great celebrity porn tape. Maybe make it a threesome with some as yet unexposed celebrity. I’m talking huge potential.

There is only one reason this video was released on DVD, and that is because of its permanent link to a member of the Supreme Court. Otherwise, it is pretty forgettable, featuring a black man with an 18 ½ inch dick, watched by a black man with perhaps not so big a dick. And we know this because reporters got Clarence Thomases video rental records. The law has since been changed so that now only the NSA can get your rental records, so privacy is now protected.  The name of the video- Long Dong Silver, the title of which came up at the Thomas confirmation hearings. The original is now available on DVD from bijouworld.com, a great companion to Thomas’s just released bitter, angry and hate filled auto-biography. This DVD may give us a clue as to one of the things he is so bitter about.

Adult superstar Jenna Jameson has retired, but she is not putting her oral skills to waste. She’ll be making regular appareances on Playboy Radio on Siruius channel 198. She’ll be part of the Playboy Radio Morning Show,” co-hosted by Kevin Klein and Andrea Lowell. Her segment will be the Pa-Jenna party, and take calls, play games, talk about her life, and wear lingerie, I imagine, but I can only imagine since its radio.

I’m a guy. I’ve always taken it for granted. You just whip it out, aim, and pee. Alright, their may be some argument about the accuracy of the aiming part, but its pretty instinctual. But only if you’re a guy. Inventer and artist Kiki Curry has changed that, with her Shenis. It’s a 12 inch gold penis shaped device a woman can put between her legs and aim. Sure, I have heard family stories of the great grandmothers who trekked across the wilderness and had their ability to aim unassisted. We’re just not as hardy as they were. Actually, I’d love for a chance to nag her about leaving the toilet set up and having appallingly poor aim. Sleepy and in the dark, they’ll learn its harder than it looks.

The Sex in the City girls always insisted on fashion accessories that seemed way beyond  their actual lifestyle situation. Now the classic Vibratex Rabbit made famous in the series has been deemed to low-brow for the movie. It has been replaced by custom designed luxury vibes from Myla London. Only designer sex toys for these girls.- its living beyond your means in the city.

In Whose getting naked now, our look at the movies, the answer is, at least for the new movie Feast of Love directed by Robert Benton, just about everybody. Most notable are the full frontal nude scenes with Radha Mitchell. But we also get nudity from Selma Blair, Stana Katic, and Billie Burke. And maybe Gred Kinnear. It was kind of dark. The film also stars Morgan Freeman and Jane Alexander. It’s a multiple story line family drama with lots of sex, which is good, because that is how we get families.

One of the things I always wanted to do when we ran Erotic University downtown was to have an open to the public erotic Haunted House. Never happened, although we did have a great massively decorated private party there last year shortly before everything was shut down. It was amazing, and so cool if we could have opened it to the public for tours. The decorations were amazing, with several theme areas in the huge facility, and the costumes outrageously sexy. But we couldn’t even keep things open by keeping it private. In Southwest Houston, though, they are giving it the college try. The Haunt XXX is billed as being an adult-themed haunted house, where women in nothing more than body paint replace the monsters. I’m not sure that a naked body painted woman jumping out at me is going to be scarier than one of the classic monsters. Sure, maybe some places in the midwest, but Texas Girls are pretty attractive.  They have 20 scenes with live actors, with the slogan, sexy yet horrifying.

When we were kids, Kris and I used to travel the country in ma sideshow as magicians. This show appeared on carnival fairgrounds, so we got to know them pretty well. Never, though, had we encountered a contest along the likes of that at the Iowa State Fair. Its an erotic corn dog eating contest. Or it was, until the fair’s board started talking about banning it because, according to fair manager Gary Slater, “I just heard it was kind of disgusting” Okay, Gary, but that can be said about almost all of the food on the midway. My problem with it is its sexism. Only women signed up. Maybe they need something equivalent for the guys- maybe a deep fried twinkie eating contest.

Word is out that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, in the creepiest celebrity marriage since Tiny Tim married Miss Vicky, are reportedly taking sex lessons from 'an intimate relationship guide', who will analyse their lovemaking and suggest improvements." These are, of course, Scientology approved lessons. There was also a story out that when Tom and then wife Nicole Kidman made Eyes Wide Shut, they had to have some sex coaching. My theory is that they have a hard time convincing skeptical Tom that a vagina is the best place to put his penis. The other way doesn’t make more Scientologists.

Sexvestigation 

A recent Supreme Court decision not only makes no sense, it could wind up giving people cancer. The reason is complicated, bt first, we need to look at the Supreme Court decision.

The Supreme Court this last week turned down a challenge to Alabama's ban on the sale of sex toys, ending a nine-year legal battle, and giving store owners a short amount of time to remove such items from their shelves or face arrest. For selling sex toys. In Alabama, a 1998 law bans the distribution of "any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs for anything of monetary value." In other words, you can give them away- you just can’t sell them. If you want a sex toy in Alabama, you have to purchase it from out of State. Selling a vibrator can get you a year in jail and a $10,000 fine.  A second offense can get you 10 years in prison. For selling a sex toy. You will do less time in Alabama for stealing a sex toy than you will for selling one.

There are currently 7 states that have some sort of sex toy ban. But there is a way around it. First, the sex toy must not be too phallic, and secondly, you can’t call it a sex toy. It has to be a novelty. That is why the boxes on most sex toys say that the item inside is “sold as a novelty only”. Call it a novelty, and you can get around the ban.  Except, that is not true. The reasons people buy these things is often so that they can put them inside their bodies.  In the vagina. In the anus. It comes into contact with skin. Rather intimate contact.

We know that children’s toys come into rather intimate contact with them, as they often put things in their mouths. We know this, We don’t sell children’s toys marked for novelty use only- not for actual use by children. We don’t have state laws banning childrens toys. So there are regulations. You can’t sell toys with stuff in them that might kill people. Like children. When this happens, there are recalls, potential lawsuits, and all sorts of nasty repercussions. Just ask Mattell.

But by ignoring the fact that people use sex toys for sex, by allowing unbelievably stupid laws banning them for sale that make little sense in a free society and are easily by-passed, you create a situation where sex toys with potentially dangerous materials can be sold. And since they are mere novelties, good luck trying to sue a manufacturer to clean up their act.

Amazingly, though, it is starting to happen. Many manufacturers are starting to clean up their acts, even though they are selling mere novelties. Because they know how their products are really being used.

So, what goes into sex toys that could be dangerous? The major concern right now is something called phthalates. This is a plastic softener that has been used in children’s toys and sex toys for quite awhile.  Many countries have banned its use in children’s toys. The science is not all in, and there is no definitive scientific study that shows direct harm from using sex toys made phthalates. But, based on the research, it can not be ruled out these using these products is harmful. That is the sticking point, and why Topco, for example, has pledged to remove all phthalate based toys from its sex toy product line in 2008.  

We are also seeing more companies listing the ingredients of their toys, and even having them sent out for independent testing. That was the case with Greenpeace. They tested Topco’s Cyberskin, a soft material that feels like real skin, and confirmed that it does not contain phthalates. It is made from a thermo plastic resin.

Some materials that sex toys are made from that we know are non-toxic include glass, steel, pure silicone, acrylic, and hard PVC- essentially a hard plastic. Thermoplastic rubber and elastomers seem to be okay, although they are porous and require more thorough cleaning.

Right now the major concern is Phthalates, and there is an effort to get them out of toys by the major manufacturers. But because the Supreme Court failed to recognize a right to sell sex toys, they have deligitimized an entire industry. How can you regulate an industry you have forced to label their own packaging that the product is not for its intended purpose. Yes, there should be government clinical studies showing that the ingredients in sex toys are safe for their intended usage. Yes, companies should be required to be honest with their labeling as to what they are made of or face penalties. The adult toy industry is not fighting safer products- but they need an even playing field where everyone has to produce safe products and not have to compete against companies who mislabel and use potentially unsafe ingredients without penalty. And this can’t happen as long as the government doesn’t even recognize the right of the industry to sell its products.

The Supreme Court essentially said that the right of privacy does not include the right to sell products intended for sexual stimulation. They look at it as a commerce issue. But why should states get to pick and choose what stores are allowed to sell based solely on a religious interpretation of the bible? Throw out the fundamentalist anti-sex biblical argument, and you have no reason to ban the sale of sex toys. And hw are you protecting morality when purchasers can just go on the Internet, buy out of state, and not pay you any sales tax, or contribute to your local economy by helping pay wages. Its interference with commerce, it costs jobs and money to flow out of the state, and this seems like a cause that Republicans should be taking up. And if they weren’t beholden to religious conservatives, they would.

In the meantime, this bizarre Supreme Court decision leads directly to potential injury and harm. It is the opposite of good government, both from protecting commerce and protecting health. It seems like an issue that would bring both sides together- but not in a society as sex-phobic as ours.

Whacko of the Week

How many times have we heard this story? A far right conservative activist noted for their anti-gay rhetoric turns out to have a gay child. The list includes Sadie Fields, state chair of the Christian Coalition of Georgia, and her gay daughter Tess, or anti-gay and anti-abortion activist Randall Terry, and his gay son Jamiel, and William J. Knight, the author of California’s proprosistion 22 outlawing gay marriage and his gay son David, or recent presidential entry Alan Keyes and his gay daughter Maya. The list goes on and on. Seems like you could make a case that having right wing parents makes you gay.

And contrary to what you might think, many of these people still have relationships with their gay offspring. They don’t turn them out, even though they have spent their lives opposing their freedoms and rights. And sometimes, these gay offspring even work for the organizations their parents founded that are actively trying to deny their rights.  It makes little sense- but here is our latest example- Beverly LaHaye- Founder of Concerned Women for America and the Beverly LaHae Foundation, and her gay son Lee. AT least, that is the common belief, it is widely said that he is openly gay, and it has never been denied. Lee serves as Chief Financial Officer for Concerned Women for America. And yes, I think that is pretty crazy.

But having your gay son work for your organization attacking his rights is part of what makes Beverly Lehae this week’s choice for Whacko of the week.

First. Lets look at her group Concerned Women for America, and what they believe about homosexuality. They oppose hate crimes legislation that includes gays as a threat to religious freedom. They are terrified that their constitutional right to preach hatred might be infringed, even though it will only be infringed when they turn that hatred into violence. They believe that a belief in Christ can turn you not gay. Hasn’t seemed to work for Lee, who works for them.

They organized a national effort to remove the teaching of tolerance for homosexuality, stating “"There is no legitimate rationale for giving or implying endorsement of homosexual, bisexual or gender-variant behaviors among children of any age." They call homosexuality  a high-risk and often lethal behavior, and state that homosexuality increases the risk of anal cancer, smoking, domestic violence, breast cancer and promiscuity. They get their made up statistics from the anti-gay fake quote machine Dr. Pauil Cameron, our August 19th whacko of the week. They are going after schools that offer diversity days, or have anti-harrasment or anti-bullying policies against gays, or have tolerance programns, or teach about families headed by gay couples, or have HIV/safe sex curricula, . And Lee is managing the money to pay for these efforts that promote violenece and ignorance against gays. Wow.

Concerned Women for America thinks college health clinics shouldn’t provide contraceptives and that young women should marry early and make “their husband and children their priority.” CWA funds a program to "debunk" the findings of Alfred Kinsey on human sexuality. They have opposed condom ads on television, and successfully pressured the Department of Health and Human Services to cancel research on teenage sexuality. They have fought against the availability of emergency contraception to rape victims, and promoted the physical bloackade of abortion clinics.

The leader of this 600.000 strong organization beleieves in a biblical theocracy, that only Christian values should dominate government.   She has spoken at numerous events sponsored by Unification Church and cult leader Sun Myung Moon, a church which arranges mass marriages and also believes in theocracy- as long as he is the theocrat in charge..

She believes that women should stay at home, and spends most of her time out on the road teaching that important message. And for her tireless work living the opposite of what she teaches while promoting hatred, misinformation, and violence, and somehow wrapping her own son into her warped world of cruelty, much directed right at him, we can think of no one better for this week’s honor of whacko of the week.