Georgia City Passes Adult Business Moratorium

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Love Shack Remains Open Despite Legal Opposition

By David Sullivan , AVN Media Network

Posted: 12:00 AM PST Dec 11, 2006

Adult retailer John Cornetta has won the latest round in the battle over his new 10,000 square-foot Love Shack emporium.
“They [Fulton County authorities] were going to arrest me this morning and padlock the doors,” Cornetta told AVN.com. “But the state Superior Court judge sided with me. Anybody who knows me knows that when it comes to censorship and First Amendment rights, I love a fight."
Cornetta opened the Love Shack on Nov. 29, despite the county’s refusal to grant him a business license. “There’s a law that gives you 30 days in which to apply for a license, so we’re in compliance with the law,” he explained. “I’ve also made sure that only 17 percent of my retail space was [devoted to] adult material – magazines, videos, toys. But they still refused to give me a license.”
The county plans to prosecute Cornetta in federal court, while the city of Johns Creek has indicated it will also take action to shut down the store. “I’m expecting another round of motions,” Cornetta remarked. “Johns Creek was just recently declared a city [on Dec. 1], and they still haven’t established all the rules. If I can prove that the store has been open prior to the establishment of the city, I might get grandfathered in.”
Cornetta notes that public reaction has been overwhelmingly in favor of the store – and business is brisk.
“We have a million dollars in inventory in this store, and a half-million in build-out,” he said. “It’s the largest store of its kind in Georgia. I’ve been all over the country to many different adult stores, and a lot of them are really impressive, but this one is the nicest I’ve seen.”


http://www.avn.com/index.cfm?objectID=DB7BBEFF-C67D-019B-6AB90044834F1E0A&slid=324399

Adult Store Owner to Reapply For License Despite Denial

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Gay community protests violent porn bill

PINK News
By Marc Shoffman
September 7, 2006


Sections of the gay community have joined protests against proposed legislation which would make possession of violent and extreme pornographic material a crime.
The controversial law has been put through consultation by the Home Office after a campaign from family and friends of Jane Longhurst who was murdered in 2003 by a violent porn addict.
Graham Coutts was convicted of her murder in 2004 after Ms Longhurst was found strangled to death a year previously in West Sussex, during the case jurors were told of his obsession with strangulation and websites dedicated to the fetish.
Under the government proposals, it would become an offence to possess pornographic images depicting scenes of extreme sexual violence and other obscene material punishable by up to three years in prison.
But groups involved in bondage, domination and sadomasochistic (BDSM) activities claim the law is too vague and could lead to innocent people being prosecuted despite consenting to activities.
Louise Morris, a member of the BDSM community, told PinkNews.co.uk: "I could well be an innocent victim of this new bill if it is made law.,,,read more

Decriminalize Prostitution Now Coalition

Your Tax Dollars Are Being Wasted Ruining Citizens Lives
Instead of fighting real crime

COPYRIGHTED 2000-2006 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - MAY BE REPRINTED OR QUOTED FROM ONLY IF CREDIT IS GIVEN Decriminalize Prostitution Now Coalition with URL given

Sandra Day O'Connor warns of rightwing attacks says US risks edging near to dictatorship
Guardian
Sandra Day O'Connor, a Republican-appointed judge who retired last month after 24 years on the supreme court, has said the US is in danger of edging towards dictatorship if the party's rightwingers continue to attack the judiciary. In a strongly worded speech at Georgetown University, reported by National Public Radio and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Ms O'Connor took aim at Republican leaders whose repeated denunciations of the courts for alleged liberal bias.

Ms O'Connor, nominated by Ronald Reagan as the first woman supreme court justice, declared: "We must be ever-vigilant against those who would strong-arm the judiciary." She pointed to autocracies in the developing world and former Communist countries as lessons on where interference with the judiciary might lead. "It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings."

Ms O'Connor singled out a warning to the judiciary issued last year by Tom DeLay, the former Republican leader in the House of Representatives, over a court ruling in a controversial "right to die" case. After the decision last March that ordered a brain-dead woman in Florida, Terri Schiavo, removed from life support, Mr DeLay said: "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behaviour." Mr DeLay later called for the impeachment of judges involved in the Schiavo case, and called for more scrutiny of "an arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at Congress and the president".

Such threats, Ms O'Connor said, "pose a direct threat to our constitutional freedom", and she told the lawyers in her audience: "I want you to tune your ears to these attacks ... You have an obligation to speak up.
"Statutes and constitutions do not protect judicial independence - people do," the retired supreme court justice said.

Although appointed by a Republican, Ms O'Connor voted with the supreme court's liberals on some divisive issues, including abortion, making her a frequent target for criticism from the right. After announcing that she intended to retire last year at the age of 75, she was replaced in February this year by Samuel Alito, who is generally regarded as being more consistently conservative.


http://www.sexwork.com/coalition/SandraDayOconnor.html