Quote Originally Posted by Lee View Post

"This is exactly why we are introducing the Surrogate Stalker Act," Smyth said, referring to the water polo photos. "(The photos) show that this issue goes beyond one incident with McClellan.

"This is why we have to enact some stricter laws to protect our kids."
Ugh. I fucking hate it when a few fucked up people cause laws and regulations and so forth to be enacted that restrict the freedoms of the 99.99999% of Americans who are decent, sensible people.

I agree that something needs to be done to keep the creeps from taking and misusing pictures such as that, but that bill, by its description, sounds like a frightening restriction of speech. Perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised, but it seems like it would be nearly impossible to write regulations that narrowly limit the ability of pedophiles to take and use such photos without having the collateral damage of affecting tens of thousands of innocent people (coaches, parents, friends of athletes, etc) who take and use images of athletes or other kids for non-nefarious purposes.

One of the things that's a real blessing about Obama's election is we will now have a president who is a constitutional scholar and really understands the purpose and majesty of our constitution. I doubt Bush had ever even read the damn thing; he certainly didn't give a crap about it.

Not that Obama will intercede to protect pedophiles, but perhaps he will, among his many initiatives, initiate a dialog with the American public and our public servants about the importance of upholding the Constitution.