Bush Grows Slack Concerning His Promise to Prosecute Pornography

The president of an Ohio-based pro-family group says the Bush administration needs to do more to crack down on pornography. Phil Burress is president of Citizens for Community Values, a Cincinnati-based group that has been instrumental in educating people in Ohio and across the U.S. about the harmful effects of porn.

Five years ago, when President George W. Bush was elected to his first term, Burress was hopeful the new administration would take a harder stand against obscene material. He even met with then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to discuss the problem. But the CCV leader says progress has been slow.

“I’m very disappointed,” Burress says bluntly. “On July 13 I met with [Ashcroft’s successor] Attorney General [Alberto] Gonzales (pictured speaking with President Bush looking on). He promised to really crack down. It’s been five years. They’ve been doing virtually nothing.”

And while Burress says the recent creation of a task force dedicated to prosecuting illegal pornography is a hopeful sign, he believes grassroots citizens are the most effective weapon against obscene material.

“People need to remember that you cannot depend on law enforcement to clean up the pornography problem,” Burress counsels. “In Cincinnati back in the early 80s, there were 2,800 stores that sold magazines — and 95 percent of them sold Playboy. Today 90 percent of them do not sell any form of pornographic material.”