Actually, the bill of rights gives you basic INDIVIDUAL freedoms that the government CAN'T take away. So any law that takes those freedoms away can be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and therefore blasted into nothingness. I don't see where u get this "freedom to take away freedoms" crap. Countries like that where they can take away any freedom they want are called totalitarian dictatorships, you know, like nazi germany way back then.

lol whoops clicked wrong reply button, this was meant for the post bellow
V V V V V

Not quite. The kiddie porn charge was ruled invalid by the courts. Now only the obscenity charges are in question. Considering how subjective the process of determining what constitutes obscene material is, it is hard to fault anyone for purchasing something deemed obscene in one area and simply distasteful to others.

Valid or not, the guy is innocent until proven guilty and we ain't the jury. It's up to the knuckleheads in the court to do that. That said, if he is ruled guilty, I do hope he gets the twenty years just to illustrate how fucked up the system in Iowa is.

I've always been a proponent of the "clear and present danger" rule regarding free speech and art. So long as it doesn't cause an immediate hazard, it is fine.

As for protecting kids, that's what good parenting is for. Saying you can't watch over your kids all of the time is too often used as an excuse to explain away failures instead of working to try to prevent and fix them.

I wouldn't bother. Idiocy like this happens everywhere. Best to fight it out first and then flee the country if things don't work out. Preferably to a place that doesn't have extradition treaties with said country of origin.

Omfg ffs wtf?! This is ridiculous... Regardless of what he's reading, 20 yrs in prison for reading MANGA?! We're talking about made up stories, black and white, on paper, non moving, NOT REAL, DRAWINGS and letters... F*CKING INK AND PAPER! 20 f*cking years ppl, think about it. People get less for killing someone or rape in REAL LIFE. Bureaucracy has gone MAD and is in a SAD state. Obscenity my ass. It's entirely subjective. This is laughable. Before you know it, another war is going to start between two countries, i think you can guess which two... The cause? F*cking manga... Shit, what has the world come to these days... What are they going to do next? Launch an international investigation to hunt down mangaka and chuck em in Guantanamo or something?! This is ludicrous...

There's plently of disgusting no-way-is-it-art porn out there (2girls....). Are there laws against that? Or is it just America's messed up view that if it's a 'comic', kids must be reading it?

When is this trial? We should get people to protest. Someone tell Anonymous.

I was agreeing with you jijey sorry I didn't word it right

well, being valid doesn' mean hes guilty; its simply valid charges, but if he gets 20 for obscenity that'd be quite messed up -_- like i said before, with a charge like that you don't deserve more than a night or two... and then it HAS TO BE PROVEN that it was heavy, sick, disgusting shota/loli/rape manga that he ordered, not something like Cherry x Cherry <--- perfect example of what he better not be getting arrested for

also, even if the "kiddie" charge was dismissed the obscenity charge has to be directed at the same area, there cant be much room to charge obscenity over a h manga if its not about the h

Technically, only the arrest was valid, not necessarily the charges. If he is judged guilty, then the obscenity charge is valid.

As for what they may be holding against him, I wouldn't discount anything. We have no idea what books, much less what panels, are being used to prosecute him.

For all we know they are trying to hang him for a Gunsmith Cats tankobon published by Dark Horse Comics. It had quite a bit of drugs, rape and murder. "Minnie" May Hopkins, a lead intentionally designed to look like she was an elementary school student, had lots of explicit sex.

They don't have to prove he has "heavy, sick, disgusting shota/loli/rape manga." They have to prove the stuff he had fails the "Miller test." If the stuff offends the average person in the community and every juror sees no literary, artistic, political or scientific value in the work, it's obscene. And no, porn (a.k.a.- H) by itself is not obscene.

Comic and manga are different comic mostly contains comedy or action while manga is somewhat wide in many perspective. If the manga contains nudity or same sex relations its should be for adults only unlike in japan yaoi manga are for young girl and etc..

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So what have we learned people? Reading illegally online won't do you any harm, but legitimately buying yourself copies will get you 20 years in prison. I really love the US, but sometimes they really live in the opposite world.

Obscene or not, manga should never get you 20 years in prison period.

I agree that kids should not be reading yaoi and hentai and stuff (even though I did myself). But if someone is of legal age to buy adult material, that should be perfectly fine.