Cleavage yes, Playboy no.
by Jerry Policoff, April 28, 2008

The National Defense Authorization Act of 1997 bans the sale of “sexually explicit material” on any property under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense, but until now the Defense has limited the ban to “an audio recording, a film or video recording, or a print publication with visual depictions, produced in any medium, the principal theme of which depicts or describes nudity or sexual or excretory activities in a lascivious way.”

In other words, Playboy yes, hard core porn no.

Read more...

Ever vigilant to protect our troops from having their morality tempted by exposure to pictures of naked women, our own Joe Pitts has signed on as a sponsor of HR 5821 which would extend the ban by amending the definition to include  “nudity,” defined as “human genitals, pubic area, anus, anal cleft, or any part of the female breast below a horizontal line across the top of the areola with less than an opaque covering but does not include the exposure of the cleavage of the female breast exhibited by a dress, blouse, bathing suit, or other apparel.”

In other words:  Cleavage yes, Playboy no.

Heaven forbid our troops in the field should be distracted from their mission by lascivious thoughts brought on by exposure to photos of scantily clad or even – heaven forbid – “naked”  females.  As the sponsor of HR 5821 observed recently: “Our troops should not see their honor sullied so that the moguls behind magazines like Playboy and Penthouse can profit. The ‘Military Honor and Decency Act’ will right a bureaucratic--and moral--wrong."  Joe Pitts obviously agrees.

But while Joe is focused on morality issues, perhaps he might consider introducing a bill that would help the dozens of women who have reportedly been raped by co-workers at Halliburton/KBR facilities in Iraq.  The victims have been denied the right to file criminal charges or even to sue, and no charges have been brought by the Justice Department against any of the alleged rapists.  The only remedy available to the victims is “private arbitration” “as provided under the terms of the employment contract.”

So Joe, how about introducing legislation that would subject our contractors overseas to the same laws that apply to our military and to our private citizens here at home.   After all, if looking at Playboy is morally reprehensible to you, surely rape is as well.  Maybe you should even  write a law that would make it criminal and subject it to due process.  What a concept!