And all of it courtesy of the adult entertainment industry, thank you very much.
I have nothing against tough prosecutors — Lord knows we need someone to keep an eye on Wall Street (please) — but Buchanan, who was appointed U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh by George W. Bush in September 2001, has made a very special name for herself above and beyond the call of duty, especially in her assault on free speech and adult entertainment in particular.
It is Buchanan who is personally responsible for bringing obscenity charges against Extreme Associates in 2003, and also that same year against Tommy Chong for selling bongs online, cases for which she was rewarded by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft with high profile positions such as Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. Her involvement in the now infamous firings of U.S. Attorneys by Ashcroft's predecessor, Alberto Gonzales, occurred while she was in that position.
Industry attorneys who know her say she is not a true believer, but a reasonable person who really cares about protecting women and children, but her actions and zeal over the years belie those reports. Buchanan has in fact distinguished herself as a partisan employee who has embraced her mission to deny adults the breadth of constitutionally-protected speech with a missionary's dedication.
She's also the one who went after Karen Fletcher, who wrote disturbing stories on her site that involved depictions of child sexual abuse. As vile as those stories may have been, did that clearly disturbed woman deserve to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law by this other disturbed woman?
The worst part is that she wants to stay on because her work isn't finished. Be afraid, be very afraid. ;-)
