Mr. Kelly's porno factory

In times of world tribulation and upheaval, many souls around the globe will seek spiritual rejuvenation through a universal form of expression: music. One musical artist is rising to the occasion by paying tribute to American soldiers with the release of a tune called "A Soldier's Heart."\n"Some of these young men and women are just 18- to 20-years-old," R. Kelly said in a statement about his new single. "This song is my way of saying thank you to everyone protecting us and allowing us to … send our children off to school in the morning."\nKelly's concern for children in today's world is so intense he has often volunteered to pick them up after school himself to ensure their safety from exposure to evils. \nThe release of "A Soldier's Heart" is just in time to prelude his trial in Cook County, Ill., where, if convicted, he could face 21 counts of child pornography. Videotape evidence reveals his alleged participation in sex with a 14-year-old girl. Along with those charges, Kelly faces trial in Florida on 12 more counts regarding alleged possession of child pornography on a digital camera.\nAccording to Reuters News Service, Kelly, though arrested, has been out of prison on bond and has filled his schedule with a charity concert and a photo opportunity with a bus load of children. He asserts that he has a genuine cause.\n"The old statement 'music can calm the savage beast' is true in so many ways," Kelly said.\nAstonishingly, Kelly's skeptics criticize the sincerity of his recent "selfless" efforts, although most agree that every savage beast should be forced to watch his "I Believe I Can Fly" music video.\nHowever, Kelly's words provoke the quintessential question: What truly defines a "savage beast" these days?\nWhile America is distracted with the strife in other nations, it has forgotten that even in this country, there are occasions of child exploitation. Kelly has used the war as a diversion from his supposed link to child sexual abuse, and the topic has been smothered by the domination of war news.\nAs the media downplay any other concerns affecting this country, Congress has been writing a bill to crack down on pedophiles, child abductors and child pornographers.\nThe legislation submitted last Tuesday is a revision to a 1996 law that was limited to only prohibiting virtual, explicit child pornography. The new bill will expand the law to prohibit computer-generated images resembling child sex acts or any material related to the advertisement, distribution or description of these lewd interactions.\nMeanwhile, Kelly's album "Chocolate Factory," released in February, hit the number one spot on the Billboard 200 for R&B/Hip-Hop music. Nielsen SoundScan reported 1.18 million copies have been sold thus far. Kelly's sales are definitely not suffering from his alleged association with crimes our government obviously opposes and outlaws, so why does the public continue to support him by buying his albums?\nPerhaps this is proof that people aren't as concerned about these crimes as they should be. When children are having sex with adults and being photographed or recorded nude for the purpose of sales and entertainment, they are being raped and exploited. \nThe extent that child pornography is proliferated, particularly with the use of Internet, is drastically increasing, and the only way of preventing its persistent growth is by maximizing punishments to all persons involved. Even the viewers of the child pornography who aren't involved in the actual sex are contributing to the crime. By involving oneself in the trade of these obscenities, the demand rises, the black market is sustained and children continue to be abused for profit. It's a double-standard to condemn the action but not condemn the participants.