October 09, 2005

Picture posting site busted for obscenity, but there's much more to it

The site nowthatsfuckedup.com is one of those "post pics of your wives and girlfriends" type of sites, run by one Christopher Wilson out of Lakeland FL. He's a 27-year-old former cop, and the servers for the site are located in Amsterdam. The site has at least one affiliate banner, active forums, and the membership is $10. But, that's waived if you send in a photo.

On Friday he was charged by Polk County officials with hundreds of counts of obscenity.

According to Sheriff Grady Judd:

"In my 33 years in law enforcement, this was the most horrific, vile, obscene material that I have ever seen... It is beyond the normal person's wildest imagination."

He also chimed in with this:

"It is the most horrific, vile, perverted sexual conduct... It is as vile, as perverted, as non-normal sexual conduct, which rises to the level of obscenity, as we've ever investigated"

Dayuumm! That's what I call an endorsement. Now, at this point in time you might think this is just a bunch of Christian Crusaders from central Florida. But, there's much, much more to this tale.

See, that site was also hosting gruesome pictures of war dead sent in by U.S. soldiers in Iraq. In fact, the site's owner had created a special deal for those soldiers: prove you're serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, or send in a gruesome photo (instead of a wife/girlfriend shot), and get a free subscription.

Needless to say, the resulting popularity of these horrific photos didn't sit too well with the Pentagon, leading them to start an investigation. Even the Council on American-Islamic Relations got involved, complaining about this to the military.

Despite that, the local officials claim that the obscenity charges (which, of course, is just for the sex pics) have absolutely nothing to do with the war dead pics, which are in their own section. Even if I went to the National Suckers Convention, I think he'd have trouble finding people who'd believe that one.

In fact:

Judd said his agency will share its findings with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division.

Judd said Wilson... was warned a few months ago about the content of another Web site he operated. No charges were filed at that time, he said.

The sheriff's office began an investigation after news reports about Wilson's Web site and its posting of apparent war zone photos surfaced...

Judd and Polk officials have waged a long campaign against pornography in the Central Florida county.

But, wait, there's more:

Judd said none of the 20 films and 80 photos that brought about the charges involves pictures of war dead. But Judd confirmed that his detectives did speak with officials with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division before arresting Wilson on Friday.

At this point in time, I think it's worth pointing out that I opposed the reelection of George Bush because I thought he'd be far worse than divided government under Kerry. I believe that at some point in time just about everyone else will admit that, yes, I was right.

It would be nice if the ACLU would spend their days handling cases like this, rather than defacing historic city seals and trying to keep the borders as open as possible.

Posted to Privacy at October 9, 2005 02:06 AM

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