Home

Back to Essays



Thursday, August 19th, 1999

British Wankers Rejoice

Things are looking up for U.K. masturbators! Britain’s Video Appeals Committee last week ruled in favor of two video-porn enterprises which had challenged the British Board of Film Classification’s refusal to grant the certificates permitting sale of seven porn vids. Emphasized the ruling, "We do not, in general, prevent adults from having access to material just because it might be harmful to children if it fell into their hands." This decision comes as a stinging rebuke to the get-tough-on-smut British Board of Film Classification--which had shrewdly endeavored to present the matter as a question not of “obscenity”, but of “child endangerment”. It is also a dramatic breakthrough for Brit porn merchants--whose wares can now be sold in “licensed” sex shops.

Drew Carey Admits Watching Porno

From New York Post's Page Six column: DEVIANCY has been defined down far enough that Drew Carey is unashamed to admit he watches porno films. He tells Maxim magazine he once returned the wrong tape in the right box to Blockbuster, prompting a call from an irate manager. "It was called 'Sodomania 4,'" says Carey, "which leads you to believe I'd watched 1, 2 and 3."

Homegrownvideo.com

Homegrown says: Getting Homegrownvideo.com up and running has been no easy task, thanks to unscrupulous webmasters. After two victorious trips to court to recover our domain name, content and income from webmasters who didn't live up to their promises, Homegrown Video CEO Moffitt Timlake decided to keep homegrownvideo.com in house. "Doing our website ourselves gives us complete control over the purity of content and the regularity of updates and adding new sections. We're no longer at the whim of some Webmaster who does updates when he feels like it and doesn't bother to send us our profits. We've learned the hard way that if you want something done right, you do it yourself," said Moffitt.

Annie Sprinkle Journey

From today's Dallas Morning Herald: No matter what you're expecting, you're probably not ready for Herstory of Porn: Reel to Real, Annie Sprinkle's video-assisted diary of her career as an adult-film star. Come to the McKinney Avenue Contemporary expecting comedy, and you might find moments of piercing sorrow. Show up ready for an erotic free-for-all, and you may find that you're more squeamish than you knew.

It'd be hard to be less squeamish than Ms. Sprinkle herself, who hops onstage looking like a cross between Mariah Carey and Roseanne, and sports an ever-changing array of trash-glam togs. Luckily, the vice cops in attendance at Wednesday's opening didn't add handcuffs to her ensemble.

In a baby-doll voice, on a screen-centered set decorated with fringed purple curtains and movie-theater seats, she breezily presents clips of her astonishing, sometimes nauseating on-camera escapades. Co-stars include men, women, midgets, amputees and transsexuals.

Apocalypse Art in the Final Fall

Dr. Susan Block writes: Brothers & Sisters, Lovers & Sinners…Artists & Exhibitionists, Voyeurs & Connoisseurs: In the Final Fall of the Old Millennium… Dr. Susan Block’s SPEAKEASY GALLERY is pleased to present E r o t i c A r t o f t h e A P O C A L Y P S E Opening Festivities: Saturday Night, November 13, 1999 8 P M - U n t i l t h e E n d o f t h e W o r l d.

As we journey into the brave new world beyond the present, we know only that there will be change. But what kind of change? It’s sure to be sexy; change usually is.

But will the new millennium bring us some fresh form of Sodom and Gomorrah, climaxing with a Big Bang of Y2K Chaos and X-rated Firewire, swing clubs, porn sites and abortion clinics burning in an Apocalyptic Blaze of Wrathful Fundamentalist Fury, all covered by the New Media in breathless, ratings-grabbing detail? Or will the Apocalypse (assuming, in the spirit of millennial madness, that there will be one) usher in a New Jazz-Age Jerusalem, an era of ethical hedonism, tolerance and tantric bliss, heralded by multi-cultural, transgendered cherubs blowing their horns, reviving our passions along with our spirits? Will the turn of the 21st century turn us toward erotophobic Neo-Puritanism? Or will we become more like our kissin’ cousins, the bonobos, who actually use sex to keep the peace?

No one really knows, of course, but everyone has a point of view. Especially artists. And in the Final Fall of the Old Millennium, Dr. Susan Block’s Speakeasy Gallery has invited some of the finest artists in LA (plus a few from out-of-town) to create Apocalyptic Erotica in all media for a new show, “Erotic Art of the Apocalypse,” opening Saturday night, November 13, 1999.

Artists exhibiting new works include Skee Goodhart, Ashley Lawrence, Viktor, Rick Dante, Barbara Mendes, Doug Johns, Glenn Campbell, Jolie Barry, Lanning Gold, Tom Zimmerman, Julie Carlson, Lars Stewart, Joseph Franklin and Morrie Cramer.

On Opening Night, in the spirit of the old-time apocalyptic preachers, Dr. Suzy, as the Irreverend Doctor Susan Block, will lead an Old-Time Sexual Revival Meeting to celebrate the power and the glory of Sexual Revelation (Amen! And Awomen too!).

Founded in February, 1999 by Dr. Block and her husband/collaborator Pr. Maximillian R. Lobkowicz, along with art curator Kim Mendoza, the Speakeasy Gallery is located within the Dr. Susan Block Institute for the Erotic Arts & Sciences on the second floor of a beautiful old brick building that used to be a genuine speak-easy and bordello in the 1920s.

The location, on 1235 S. Hope Street, is in the center of downtown LA’s burgeoning art, fashion, financial and convention district, down the street from the Neon Art Museum and the LA Fashion Center and just around the corner from the LA Convention Center and developing Staples Sports Arena. It is also one of the few art galleries in the world with its very own bar, a stunning 25-foot oakwood, leather and marble-tiled structure left from the building’s historic Prohibition Era days of illicit drinking, gambling and sex.

Next to the Gallery are studios where Dr. Block broadcasts her television shows and tapes her videos, including a burlesque stage from the building’s original speak-easy days. There is also a retail space for books, tapes, erotic toys and cards, a dance floor, offices, and areas for seminars and private therapy sessions.

The Speakeasy Gallery extends into cyberspace via Dr. Block’s 2000-page website, and several hundred images can be viewed and purchased at eroticsgallery.com. Additional pieces may be seen at drsusanblock.com. The site includes works from the Speakeasy Gallery’s first two exhibitions, “Ethical Hedonism: The New Morality for the Next Millennium,” to be spotlighted on “Real Sex 25” on HBO, and “Foot Art (currently on display),” featuring the first Foot Fetish Art Exhibition & Salon, as well as images from the upcoming show, “Erotic Art of the Apocalypse.”

One thousand years ago, when Medieval Christians forecasted an Apocalypse, they studied the Book of Revelations and prepared for a complete collapse of the old order led by four ominous horsemen. Some became or pretended to become extremely pious, forswearing basic pleasures, hoping to be spared the wrath of God upon a world of sinners. But others deliberately engaged in acts of great debauchery, fracturing medieval propriety, celebrating the Last Days with joyous, sensuous abandon. Still others who called themselves “flagellants” traveled from town to town, like touring fetish performance artists, beating themselves and the locals into Christ-cherishing ecstasy with long, iron-tipped whips.

The erotic aspects of the Medieval Apocalypse are perhaps best represented by the late 15th-early 16th century masterpieces of apocalyptic erotica in triptych oils like “The Last Judgment,” “The Hay Wain” and “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” Real or surreal, an Apocalypse is a revolution and a revelation of what seems to be the Truth, overturning the old order, replacing tradition with passion, until new traditions are forged. Since sexuality, in some form, is always a part of that passion, erotica is a vital element of apocalyptic art. This is evident in Bosch’s magnificent, deeply spiritual yet wildly carnal paintings, as it is in works featured in the Speakeasy Gallery’s eye-popping, upcoming show, “Erotic Art of the Apocalypse.”

For more information, viewings or interviews, or if you are an artist who would like to submit your work for this show, please call Kim Mendoza at 213.749.1330.

Kid Vegas vs. Mike South

Kid Vegas writes Mike South: "Oh redneck, Redneck, where are u....????This is Kid Vegas just checking in again, I wanted to say, you need to keep things steady like me like keep a job in one place, for longer than a year. I am with three companies & still working for them. You are with 1, & have been with about 10 in the last year. Keep steady work, it will be good in the long run, if you want I will hire you to be my P.A. if you are looking for work again soon. Realize & think hard, how I have come to where I am now, in the short period I have been around, & you may realize, some things will never become turned around for me, & may go bad for you....Think....Peace out Fan!"

Sexual Adventures of Melanie Stone

Melanie's hubby Hunter writes: "Hey Luke, I just wanted to let you know what has been going on lately with Melanie and I, and invite you to our Grand Opening of the new site www.LivePorn.com on Saturday, August 21st. You can call me at the office tomorrow for directions to the shoot, we are going to shoot five (5) sex scenes "LIVE" on the Internet. 1. Melanie's series [The Sexual Adventures of Melanie Stone, "Live Sex Party"] is doing better than we ever expected, the first of the new series went out on the streets on August 11th. Seymore Butts is doing a great job of distributing it for us. I have attached a copy of the box cover for you. 2. Atlas Multimedia has been doing an incredible job of marketing Melanie's site, the member base has doubled. 3. Don at Atlas bought me a truck to drive for the business venture we have together, www.LivePorn.com, we broadcast "LIVE" porn shoots as they happen, and record the footage for another series called LivePorn.com. I am attaching some pictures of the new truck, it's a blast to drive around town, we have been getting nothing but great responses to it."

Truck

Box cover

Brandy Alexandre

A couple of weeks ago, porn star Bianca Trump put up the site www.brandyalexandre.com ridiculing her internet rival Brandy Alexandre. Brandy however has pulled some strings, had Bianca's caricature of her taken down, and www.brandyalexandre.com now redirects to Brandy's site www.kamikaze.org.

For Russia With Love

Russki Business? Paraplegic porner Larry Flynt is launching a Russian edition of Hustler! According to publishing insiders, Flynt’s two trial editions did bang-up business on the Moscow newsstands--reportedly selling almost 100,000 issues priced at approximately $8 per. These figures, of course, cannot be confirmed, owing to the political and social upheaval wracking the former Communist republic. Nevertheless, Flynt’s own career-long turf battles with the mob and censorship battles in American courts gives his publishing enterprise a decisive edge in this emergent, if Dostoyevskyan, free-market of corrupt bureaucrats, Kalishnokov-toting Igors and compulsive masturbators.

Luke on the Dr. Susan Block Show

Luke appears on the Dr. Susan Block Show Saturday night. It will be broadcast from www.radiosuzy1.com starting about 10:30 PM.

Darren Star Update

Krash writes: How many millions does it take to exorcize a dead blond’s restless spirit? Consider the plummeting valuation of The New York Observer--venue for the factually challenged report on the teenage overdose victim found “naked and dead in the Mayflower Hotel after a wild night.”

Consider the sudden about-face of Canadian media magnate Conrad Black, who pulled out of negotiations last month to buy the troubled Manhattan weekly, which was already losing $2 million a year.

Gossip insiders blame Rolling Stone’s recent "Summer Hotlist", which featured both Luke F-rd and “Sex and the City” skin siren Kim Cattrall...attracting to l-keford.com untold thousands of Kim Cattrall fans--including the entire editorial staff of Rolling Stone and several members of Conrad Black’s Hollinger International, Inc.

None of this has been lost on Kim Cattrall fan and former New York Observer senior editor Jay Stowe--who vanished inexplicably from the publication’s masthead soon after his role in the Darren Star cover-up was exposed by l-keford.com.

New York Observer editor-in-chief Peter W. Kaplan did not return Luke F-rd’s calls regarding Jay Stowe’s termination specifically, and the Darren Star matter generally. Of course, it was Kaplan himself who signed off not only on Candace Bushnell’s “Sex and The City” column, which was soon to be a Darren Star Production, but also on Jay Stowe’s published efforts --in the Observer’s notorious puff piece---to deepen the already egregious conflict-of-interest...by recasting Leigh Zermuhlen’s death as a source of cheap special effects meant to glorify the George Rush/Joanna Molloy gossip franchise. It is therefore with a poignant sense of fare-thee-well that l-keford.com expunges Jay Stowe from “The Gang That Couldn’t Write Straight” Active Files.

Taking the publicly discredited Stowe’s place in this proud pantheon is “Page Six” gossipist Jared Paul Stern, the transparently closeted, fedora-wearing homosexual and Brett Easton Ellis groupie whose fiction-posing-as-journalism account in NY Press of the late Leigh Zermuhlen as a stalker has earned Stern an enduring place in the canon of Darren Star studies. Summarized a June ‘98 Details magazine profile of Jared Paul Stern: “As surely as velvet ropes drop and P.R. girls flutter at his approach, the epithet “asshole” seems to bubble up to people’s lips whenever his name is mentioned.”

Meanwhile, the ghost of Leigh Zermuhlen-- dead at 19 of Darren Star-related causes--continues to haunt the necropolitan purlieus of “Sex and City” in a way that perhaps only Edgar Allen Poe or H.P. Lovecraft fans can appreciate.

"Is it any wonder that the self-absorbed, the promiscuous, the drugged and the drunk ... lead lonely, empty lives?" speculated The Wall Street Journal, hitting almost clairvoyantly close to home, or at least The Mayflower Hotel, in a review of the Emmy-nominated, morbidity-steeped Darren Star/Candace Bushnell creation. Observed Daily Variety, “After the announcement that “Sex” was nominated for the nom, some high-profile critics stated the show was not worthy of the nom.”

And the Washington Post had this to say about vixenish “Sex and The City” star and Emmy nominee Sarah Jessica Parker: "She's in love with the camera. Unfortunately, it's unrequited." Stay tuned for more icy-fingered objectivity from beyond the grave...when Bowery Bar Babble-On continues. Exclusively at l-keford.com

We're Nambla

The National Association of Man Boy Love takes out a full page ad in the latest issue of Paul "Barely Pubescent" Fishbein's Adult Video News magazine. The ad, on page 173, features Luke F-rd cradling a young hispanic boy struggling to get away. The copy reads: "Meet Luke F-rd, a member of the National Association of Man Boy Love. We're your brothers and fathers and husbands. We believe that there should be no age barriers to love."

The Case For Censorship

David Lowenthal makes the case for censorship in the latest edition of The Weekly Standard. He writes:

The case for regulating the mass media today rests on several premises: that the mass media are the prime educational force in the country; that their effect is, by and large, pernicious–running counter to the education of the young in schools, churches, and synagogues and to the qualities required of mature citizens in a civilized republic; and that government, and government alone, has a chance of blocking this descent into decadence. The argument to be overcome is that censorship is dangerous, ineffective, unconstitutional, and inconsistent with liberal democracy.

...But a graver question is whether enough is left of our moral character and understanding as a nation to allow us to frame and apply laws that will curb the most baneful aspects of the mass media. No one knows. The picture of America we see on television is not necessarily an accurate depiction of our urban and rural heartlands. And while our moral corruption has other sources, including excessive wealth, the mass media, which propagate the ideas and images we use to picture ourselves, are the most obvious and most important. A sick man is often helped through his illness by his will to prevail, as well as by the measures taken to make him well. Recourse to a reasonable but rigorous system of censorship will signify that the country understands what has happened and is determined to survive as a civilized and free society.

As for the final complaint–"I don't want anybody telling me what I can and can't see"–the answer is simple: That is exactly our situation now, where a few hidden figures in movie studios and television networks, motivated primarily by profit, decide what will be available for our viewing. With few exceptions, the viewer is offered a variety of bad alternatives, whatever their technical wizardry, for inch by inch, yard by yard, the mass media have lowered the standards of their productions, appealing increasingly to animal appetites that, once released, give little quarter to the nobler elements of freedom and civilization.

Rodger Jacobs Writes Luke

Hey gun boy. In a short period of time you have been threatened with a myriad of lawsuits, beaten up in public by Marc Starr, taken for a joy ride to the bowels of Los Angeles by Mike Albo, and now you buy a piece and wave it around on your website like some demented redneck. Luke, does the phrase "racing toward an apocalyptic conclusion" mean anything to you?

Seymore Butts Pee Pee

Speelie writes on RAME: I recently saw this latest Seymore Butts title. I had seen a posting about a website running photos from the filming showing Bonita Saint taking a leak on a tennis court. I can confirm that this is true. In the video Bonita (I think) and Alisha K. are playing tennis with some parolee. When they win, Bonita gets so excited that she accidentally pees a few drops, and then shows them to Alisha and Seymore. Alisha then decides to let loose with a standing piss, right onto the court. Bonita then says what the heck and lets loose her own stream while standing. Lish and Bonita then screw their defeated opponent (calling him a loser is too easy, especially when he gets to fool around with those two).

Earlier, Seymore went to the airport to pick up Alisha. She has come back with a surprise, the wonderful Monique, who she met at Logan Airport in Boston. Monique of course needs a ride, so Seymore takes both women home. As they arrive at his place, Alisha announces that she desperately needs to pee, and races for the bathroom. Seymore follows her, and catches her pulling down her pants. When she realized that he is going to film her, she raises herself a bit, to give the camera the best possible view. Seymore films her taking a fairly long, powerful squirt. He soon after films himself f---ing and sucking with Lish and Monique.

The video on the whole is quite good, especially by Seymore's recent standards. Lish is not overused, and Tommy Byron is nowhere to be seen. I suspect that the Lish peeing scene in Tushy Girls Play Ball was a test of what the consumers think, and they must want more peeing. I know I sure do, since I am a fan of solo girl peeing. Those who don't care for it can easily fast forward through it, and I suspect it will never appear in more than a small percentage of movies anyway. It is good to see a US producer not shy away from this kind of thing.

As an aside, I recently saw My Secret Toybox, from Puritan Video. My guess is that this was edited for the US market. In the first scene, we get a clear view of Dave Hardman taking a leak. This is fine in theory, but since the video seemed to aimed at the male viewer, it could perhaps have been left out. It is one thing to include male peeing in adult documentaries which will be viewed by all sorts of people, but I don't think too many women are Puritan customers. So we get to see Dave let loose, but no women do. Perhaps something was left out of the US version.

Luke on Seattle Radio

I appeared on a Seattle radio talkshow on station FM 100.7 on Monday morning. The conversation with the female host named Kennedy went in all directions including politics and the ACLU.

Kennedy: "What were the results of your research?"

Luke: "I found that the porn industry was as sleazy as most people think it is..."

Kennedy: "Did you expect that?"

Luke: "No, I hoped to come up with some original observations..."

Kennedy: "Like, hey this isn't so bad, everybody needs sex... Why not have pornography?"

Luke: "The years that I've been writing on the industry have worn me down and I've come to the sobering conclusion that the way most people's grandparents think of pornography is correct...

"I first found pornography at age eight. My friend and I got into his older brother's collection. And I found it fascinating. About the only sex I had as a teenager was with magazines. Pornography has long haunted me, here is everything that I've longed for but could not achieve in reality."

Kennedy: "If you're in a relationship and are having frequent relations with your partner, why do you need to look at porno websites, see strippers, etc... And men say that it's totally different from the sex they have at home."

Luke: "The male animal is built to go from flower to flower, to inseminate as many women as possible... Men are naturally promiscious... Monogamy runs counter to male nature. So even a guy who has good relations with his partner is still going to be out in the world seeing all sorts of women that he wants to schtup..."

Kennedy: "But is it really wanting to have sex with them? Can't it be a completely different experience, just looking at somebody's naked body and feeling a sexual thrill?"

Luke: "It's the brutal male sex to couple."

Kennedy: "It has to be something different from that. You can look lustfully at something and not think, I want to have sex with that creature."

Luke: "I disagree. Men don't look at pornography and strippers for aesthetic reasons... Look at the lighting and texture..."

Kennedy: "They look at it because it makes them feel a certain way... It makes them feel sexual and it fills some need... I don't think every time a man looks at a stripper or at a Playboy, he thinks, I want to have sex with that woman. I want to put my pee-pee in there."

Luke: "I think about every other time... If he's getting aroused by the picture, he wants to complete the deed... Looking at pornography is not looking at pornography... It's using porno for masturbation... Men don't look at an X-rated videotape and say what an interesting plot and story..."

Kennedy: "They want the experience of watching a tape and getting off in the privacy of their own room. Just for the sake of that experience. I don't think that they're looking to score, that I want to have sex with that... It's just for the experience of what they're doing, not for the possibility of having intercourse."

Luke: "There is no possibility of having intercourse with the object on the screen."

Kennedy: "Do you think pornography is responsible for rape and sexual aggression?"

Luke: "Pornography exacerbates male tendencies to be sexually aggressive. I don't blame pornography for rape... I do think porno breaks down moral boundaries, inhibitions and it coarsens and makes vulgar our culture which will inevitably lead to bad behavior."

Kennedy: "So you really think that pornography will cause the decline of our society?"

Luke: "No... There are many things that will cause the decline of our society. I think that the Democratic Party has done far more to cause the decline of our society than pornography. Or the ACLU, or Hollywood. I have a long list of forces causing the decline of our society and I would not place pornography among the top five. But somewhere between number five and number 50."

Kennedy: "Do you consider yourself to be open minded or someone who is coming from a fervently religious background or socially conservative, so your findings were how you felt earlier about this industry?"

Luke: "I am all of everything you just said... I see things from many perspective. I frequently write about the porn industry as just another industry. Most of the moral judgements that I just made I do not make in my book."

Kennedy: "Do you think pornography is wrong?"

Luke is stumped. He's never been stumped for so long before answering a radio question. After about ten seconds:

Luke: "Well, hmmm, huhhh... I couldn't say that. I think it is dangerous. I think it is a vice like smoking or drinking or chasing women... If it's use is controlled by good values, it is harmless... I agree with what Adam Smith wrote in his 1776 book The Wealth of Nations that there are many vices that the middle class can indulge in that would ruin someone of a lower class. Porno is just a reflection of the male libido, it is just an acting out of what men naturally think about..."

Kennedy: "Are there pornographic movies with imagination and good plots?"

Luke: "Yes, there are pornos with imagination and plot, like Misty Beethoven, The Devil in Miss Jones..."

Misty phones: "I think porn can help a relationship. My boyfriend and I go to strip bars all the time... It's a healthy way to add another dimension to the relationship... It's a way to talk about things you fantasize about..."

Luke: "I think Misty's man is lucky to have a woman who's willing to explore these things with him... Most women wouldn't... Male sexuality is so frightening to the way most women feel about sex. They feel that sex should only be conducted with someone you really like while men want to sleep with everyone they can."

Kennedy: "I don't think all men do."

Luke: "No, only 99%."

Kennedy: "I have more faith in men than that."

Luke: "I don't."

Scott the engineer: "I wouldn't say that men have a desire to sleep with as many women as possible but a lot with the same woman."

Kennedy: "Good point."

Luke: "I totally disagree. The basic male drive is promiscious."

Kennedy: "I know a lot of women that are promiscious... Look at the show Sex in the City, it's dominated by women in New York City who have very promiscious empowering attitudes about sex."

Luke: "Yeah, but they're the freaks. That's not the way most women operate."

Kennedy: "That's judgemental..."

Luke: "If women were as desirous of seeing male flesh and men are for women's flesh, there would be a huge industry making pornography for women."

Kennedy: "Why isn't there more pornography for women?"

Luke: "Because women don't care about this stuff."

Kennedy: "Women call the show and complain that they don't want to see two nurses making out, they want to see the wieners."

Luke: "They can go out there and buy gay porn and see all the wieners they want. But in dollars spent, there isn't an industry because women won't spend dollars to look at pictures of naked men."

Kennedy: "We talked to an editor at Playboy magazine and she said that 20-25% of the people who subscribe to Playboy are women and those numbers are growing."

Luke: "They may well be subscribing under their names for their men. If there was a demand by women to see naked men, pornographers would provide that... But we know that most of the readers of Playgirl are male homosexuals."

Kennedy: "So you think that men are the only ones who are visually stimulated and that's why the cover of Men's Health always features some buffed man...whereas women's magazines are littered with sexual images of women..."

Luke: "I think that women prefer to look at sexual pictures of women than of men because the female body is more interesting."

Kennedy: "Maybe that's why so many women are subscribing to Playboy.

"...Do you feel guilty when you look at pornography?"

Luke: "Umm, uhh, no, I don't feel guilty... There's an echh effect after a while. I've seen so much that it is one of the last things I want to look at... I'm porned out..."

Caller: "Was Boogie Nights accurate?"

Luke: "Essentially though not everyone in porn is an idiot."

Kennedy: "Was that the most annoying thing about porn? Dealing with idiots?"

Luke: "That was annoying but just the product itself is really annoying..."

Kennedy: "Then why dedicate so much time to it?"

Luke: "I'd rather write about porn than work as an administrative assistant."

Doug calls: "What do the guys do on the side? Do they dance?"

Luke: "There isn't much of a demand for men to dance naked... The few guys who can perform effectively on camera work constantly... And some of them probably sell drugs on the side to supplement their income..."

Kennedy: "Are most straight sex video stars, the guys, gay?"

Luke: "About half have had homosexual sex, some of it on camera... Pornography generally breaks down sexual inhibitions and all orifices start looking the same."

Rick phoned to decry my calling ACLU an enemy of society.

Luke: "It's the March of Dimes syndrome says political commentator Dennis Prager. When the March of Dimes found a cure for polio, they didn't go out of business. They kept raising money and went on to new causes. America does not lack for civil liberties. I wish that the ACLU would simply go out of business or admit that what they really are is a leftist radical organization and stop posing behind civil liberties."

Caller: "I read Larry Flynt's biography... Middle class America is so sexually uptight... The churches try to restrict people's sexuality so they can control them... There's nothing wrong with sex... Anyone who wants to stop other people from engaging in what they want to do, so long as they are not hurting anybody, has a big problem."

Luke: "I used to be much more libertarian where if people don't hurt anybody and do things in the privacy of their own homes, what is the big deal?"

Kennedy: "What is the big deal?"

Luke: "There are certain activities [like homosexuality, drug use] that have a corroding effect... And we're not islands..."

Caller: "You're not corroding anything except for uptight people's standards..."

Kennedy: "People are bent out of shape by the idea that porn is bad. Porn is sacred in this country..."

Luke: "To some people... We all have our hot button issues and what we some people believe is their right to pornography is sacred to some people..."

Kennedy: "Do you believe that we should outlaw pornography?"

Luke: "I wouldn't support that but I don't oppose it either."

Caller: "Have you considered doing a follow up book on Savannah and the history of some of these people... What their family life was like?"

Luke: "I do that on l-keford.com... There is a spectre of death that haunts the porn industry... The porn industry has left a long line of body bags... It's only been an industry since the 1960s but there has just been suicide after suicide..."

Kennedy: "What is the solution to the problem of pornography?"

Luke: "I have not thought much about that... I am suspicious of outlawing pornography... I do know that we can change the moral climate in a society. The porn industry definitely went into decline under Regan and Bush and it has boomed under Clinton."

Kennedy: "Should prostitution be legal?"

Luke: "I think it should be decriminalized..."

Kennedy: "Then why possibly ban pornography?"

"Hmm... I'm ambivalent on both... I think we should be honest, that pornography to men is very appealing on a visceral bodily level and that it can be destructive."

Kennedy: "Is it necessary?"

Luke: "Yes, I think it is inherent in the male psyche. The male imagination pumps out pornographic images all day long, even if they don't look at a hardcore video. And so, what do we do that? I think we need a sense of God and return to religion. Without the sense of a moral judge..."

Kennedy: "What do you think Jesus would do, if he came back today and saw all this pornography? If Jesus was holding a press conference right now, what do you think he would say?"

Luke the Jew stumbles: "I think he would say clean up your lives and repent and have a sense of God... And that God is at hand and the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and that people should look at each other as made in the image of God and not just as objects for our amusement."