CCV Preparing For Election Year

I guess with no anti-gay, anti-lesbian agenda on this year's ballot, the Citizens for Community Values is feeling a little need for attention. Which would explain why they called for a press conference in front of City Hall denouncing CityBeat for accepting money from legal customers in return for gasp publishing ads! What is this business they call "advertising," and why has nobody ever told me it was illegal before?

This is wrong on so many levels, it's comical. Allow me to enumerate.

1. CityBeat is guilty of nothing but accepting payment for ads, which of course lots of people do. Even if their customers were not legal, wouldn't the job of arresting and prosecuting them fall onto the shoulders of law enforcement? Why would anyone expect CityBeat to police its advertisers? Wouldn't that be the job of, um, the police?
2. The letter sent to CityBeat from CCV is lacking. As CityBeat points out, there is no where to send a reply as they request. Also, it is signed by 39 people, most of whom are reverends and pastors I've never heard of, the chief of police, county sheriff, and some random attorneys. I wonder if any of those reverends and pastors have ever told their flocks that the federal government introduced AIDS in the black community.
3. I'm not fan of prostitution. I think it's exploitative and a general drag on neighborhoods, but as they say it's the oldest business in the world. But if I was a fan, I certainly would not look in CityBeat to get my kicks. If the CCV was really concerned about this, they should target the Yellow Pages, the internet, and the late-night TV ads that run while I watch syndicated episodes of Friends at 11 pm at night. They should work with the law enforcement privately, perhaps with CityBeat's help. Vice squad usually doesn't hold a press conference at City Hall when they are preparing a bust. To this point, this line from the letter is laughable:

   "...it has been brought to our attention that the adult classified ad sections of both your weekly print edtion and your online edition have become primary avenues through which the sex-for-sale industry in greater Cincinnati markets their destructive services."

Many good comments over on Cincinnati blog about this (this one in particular). Also, see the Cincinnati Dealer's take.