Earlier this week, I was scanning an ariticle from CNN.com in which the Supreme Court reversed an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals judgment on whether a man was “pandering” child pornography. The 11th Circuit said he was not. The Supreme Court reversed that, and said “Yes, he was”. Thus, a Mr. Williams will go to jail 5 or more years. Good. But, in the midst of reading it on Monday, I noticed that one of the backers of the child pornographer was Amazon.com. I was somewhat shocked. After thinking about this, I interpreted from the brief reference that Amazon.com likely makes a LOT of money off of pornography, maybe borderline hard-core pornography, and perhaps even child smut innuendo.
I rechecked the CNN.com article today , but noticed that Amazon.com had been deleted from the list of those supporting the defendent. This is the line where the Amazon.com reference was:
“A coalition of free speech and commercial interests were supporting Williams’ constitutional claims, including the Free Speech Coalition and National Coalition Against Censorship.”
Why the Amazon.com reference was deleted, I don’t know. So, I did a little more searching and found a more detailed version on USAToday.com. So, after reading the USAToday.com, I am not sure where I stand with Amazon.com. After reading the initial CNN.com article, I was ready to completely boycott them. Now I am not sure. Anyhow, it was disappointing to see such a useful retailer possibly supporting child destructive activities. I suppose it the end it could be just naked capitalism — no morals needed, thanks. Or, on the flip side, a secular organization will not respect anyone’s beliefs in particular. So, I am still deciding whether to jump from the Amazon.com ship; my support is wavering for sure.
Johnson\'s Junction 
I stopped supporting Amazon when I learned that they peddle animal fighting materials, around the time that the Michael Vick situation came to light. So if they sell dog-fighting stuff, I’m sure child porn can’t be far behind. It’s unfortunate since Amazon has such a great selection, but that selection includes absolute trash.
Jennifer Lehto from Knoxville (remember me?)
Yes, I do. I am surprised from time to time about who sees this blog! Interesting about Amazon’s other shady dealings; it doesn’t really come as a surprise now. Thanks for the thought.