by Rog of RogReviews.com
comments/history of bill AB2914
According to Shelley Lubben’s MySpace page, the insane porn tax proposed by Assemblyman Charles Calderon has made it out of his Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee by a vote of 5-4. As you may recall, Shelley and some other disgruntled ex-porn stars and prostitutes testified in favor of the bill which will tack on 25% (Read that three times slowly and let it sink in) on gross receipts of adult sales. (DVDs, Magazines, drinks in strip clubs, so on, so on.)
I’m not going to get TOO upset, because a 5-4 vote in committee means it barely scraped by and it has not a snowball’s chance in Santa Monica of making it through the entire Assembly. That is not to say that we shouldn’t be worried and upset. Shelley and her friends are celebrating because A. They think the money raised by this tax will go to help "victims" of adult entertainment. If she is actually silly enough to believe that then she should probably do a little digging. And B. Because they want to ban all porn. All this talk of victims and paying their fair share is, excuse the expression, complete and utter monkey crap.
I would like to thank Shelley for posting a list of the five nutters who actually voted for this unfair, illegal and unsound money grab. Unfair? Yes, targeting a legal product because some people think it is "bad for people" is unfair. After all, ice cream is bad for me. Some people would argue that religion is bad for people as well. I doubt if Shelley and the misguided sheeple giving her "me too" comments would care to have their churches fork over 25% because some priests decided that Michael Jackson has the right idea on human sexuality. Illegal? Selective taxation is not likely to stand challenges from higher courts. Especially since there is no definitive proof that adult business directly causes harm. Unsound? Yes, bad bad economics. Tax porn 25% at every step of the way in California and the multi-billion dollar industry leaves for Florida or Nevada or Texas. So instead of bringing IN money, the tax will cost the state money. This of course fits Shelley’s real agenda just fine but probably won’t sit well with the loony socialists in the Assembly.
So here they are folks. The fire who voted against freedom and for unfair taxation are as follows. Charles Calderon (D), Juan Arambula (D), Mike Eng (D), Mike Feuer (D) and Mary Hayashi (D). The four who voted for freedom and against the illegal money grab are Chuck DeVore (R), Fiona Ma (D), George A Plescia (R) and Anthony Adams (R). Once again the numbers are amazing. The Dems voted 5-1 in favor. This makes half sense. They are all for taxing everything under the sun, but they are supposed to our best defense against the conservatives. The Republicans voted 3-0 against the tax. They are fighting the tax increases on every front, but can’t be too happy to come down on the side of the porn industry.
Where do these folks come from? The bad guys? Calderon is from the 58th District-Downey. Arambula 31st- Fresno, Eng 49th Monterey Park, Feuer 42nd- Beverly Hills and Hayaski 18th- Alameda. And on our side? Devore 70th- Newport Beach, Ma 12th- San Francisco, Plescia 75th- Escondido (My old district) and Adams 59th- San Bernardino.
If you live in California please visit the State Assembly Roster Page find your district and send an email to your assembly member. Let them know that you oppose AB2914 and ask them to vote against it.
Oddly enough, Shelley and I share one thing. The desire to pray that the Assembly does the RIGHT thing. We just disagree on what the right thing is.
Thank your for listening.
Just what the porn recession needs.
Shame on Democrats on this one. People love their porn. Just ask hotels how much profit they’re raking off it. This sin tax bill is stupid… and Shelley, with all due respect, so are you. You’re head is a like a gaping cunt. You can drive a monster cock through it like a mac truck and ask “Is it in yet?”. Porn and sex and life is what you fucking make of it unless you choose to constantly scream victim and blame it for all your problems. There’s actually a few people who have done well for themselves because of porn. There are many more victims from people who drive cars, but no one’s trying to ban them or charge a 25% tax on already artificially jacked gas prices. Go do something useful and protest a war.
If any female entertainers see any of these democrats you should flash your tits at them.
What concerns me the most about this whole idea of a new tax on the industry is the motive. I am not a political person by any means however this is what is bothering me about this. Shelley happens to be “friend” on my page because I actually applaud her efforts to help those that want to get out of the adult industry. I did some research on Shelley and discovered the same old story that I hear from many women within the industry about her childhood yada yada. I too was a performer and had my time with alcohol and drug abuse etc. However, there comes a time within a persons life that they must take responsibility for their own actions. I believe that once you turn 18 you can do what ever you like. There is noone to blame anymore. Your parents, your BF or GF that treated you badly etc. Making services to the men and women within this industry that serves as an oasis or safe place to share and deal with theses traumatic events that may or may not have happened could be a better way to “help” those WHO ASK FOR IT. If it was available and known to performers then maybe they can make informed decisions for themselves. Running around with bibles and forcing your belief systems on others is not what I call being helpful. There seems to be a hidden agenda to that for me. I have faith in God and I pray personally but I don’t force others to see things my way. If I can lead by example so be it but I am in no position to brainwash others to see a one-sided biased version of what I think an adult performer should do with their lives.
One thing that really upset me was one of Shelley’s blogs stated that she had attended a convention and had homosexuals asking her if God was mad at them. She told them that God loved them but hated homosexuality. WOW! When did she become an authority on what God loves or hates? Another Bible thumper who claims not to judge……..I sent her a message asking her why she said this and she never answered however she was happy to answer me regarding what links there were to see who was saying the bill was shot down so she could see them for herself.
This bill states that the monies raised by the tax would help negate the secondary effects of porn i.e. crime rates, performers mental health etc. Where is this statistical information? Shelley has collected a group of pictures of fallen porn starts that have passed away over the years but what does this prove? They made their choices. I too could have been there with them but I chose to leave and live a normal life whatever that means lol normal job, budgeting money etc. I don’t know what else to say except I am disappointed that Shelley has once again shown her true colors and her fight against porn in the name of God is very presumptuous and egotistical, like the laws we create the Bible and other religious books are subject to the individuals interpretation. There is no black and white Shelley and you cannot say that you are right with absolute certainty.