Them Damn Perplexin’ Interweb Tubes
So, for about the eight billionth time, the whole cockheaded idea of making an “.xxx” domain for porn sites (as opposed to .com or .net) has come and gone. Except this time, the proposal was formally rejected by ICANN as being incredibly stupid and impossible to enforce, although they were a lot nicer about all of that than I’m willing to be. Basically, the idea was to “allow” porn sites to use a .xxx domain, because that would make it easier for, uh, well, that way they’d all be in one place. If they wanted to. But they didn’t have to. And, um, something about protecting children, which is all you have to say to justify any stupid, pointless exercise in byzantine regulation.
Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (one of those censorship-happy Democrats that really piss me off) proved either that she’s embarrassingly ignorant about the internet. . . and I’m talking Ted Stevens ignorant. . . or she’s just full of shit. “These top-level domain names are the first signal to parents as to what their children are viewing online. For example, when we see ‘.gov’ we know we are visiting a government agency, and ‘.edu’ tells us an educational institution is about to appear.” So, what she’s saying is that she can’t figure out what she’s going to find when she goes to www.crackwhoreconfessions.com (yes, seriously, that’s a real site). Congratulations. Either you’re too stupid to be a Senator or you think your constituents are too stupid to breathe.
The fact is that an xxx domain would serve no viable purpose at all. If it was voluntary, it could be ignored. If it was compulsory, you would have endless micromanagement over what should be listed there and what should not. Every other domain suffix is handed out (more or less) based on the nature of the site in question, and really, the only ones that are adhered to with any sense of regularity are gov, mil and edu. The very act of demanding such a thing either proves that you are too incompetant and uninformed to be taking part in the discussion, or that you are blatantly pandering to what you thought was your political base – except even that fails.
Liberals don’t like the idea because it’s censorship. Conservatives don’t like the idea because it could actually make porn easier to find on the internet. And I don’t like the idea because it’s just plain dumb. Isn’t there something better these people could be doing with their time? For all the trouble this nation is in, where do people like Landrieu get off worrying about internet pornography? I mean, sure, it’s a break from her voting for flag burning ammendments, religious monuments in public buildings, John Bolton as our UN ambassador, and the doughnut hole money pit that was Medicaid Part D, so that’s a plus. But she wasn’t too busy to vote against tax breaks for people that were impoverished by Katrina. . . so go figure that out. How the hell can you be the Senator from Louisiana and not vote for that?
People shouldn’t have to put up with logic this stunted or pandering this blatant. The good news is that her seat is up for grabs in 2008. Considering the embarrassing mismanagement that is Louisiana, she should be swiftly punted in the primary. Heads up, Netroots. This is a weak Democrat that needs to be replaced by a strong one. Get cracking.
