This post is written and contributed by Mike Romeling in response to the outgoing FCC Chairman's call to rid the Internet of porn. Apart from freelance writing, Mike is a practicing singer & songwriter.

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We seem oddly obsessed with porn on the internet. The stupidity, the hate, the dangerously false information, the bomb instructions, the poison instructions, the drug dealing (both legal and illegal), all seem to merit less scrutiny and concern.

Why do I say oddly obsessed? Well, because we use sex to sell everything from cars, to beer, to Viagra and just about all else in between, including the news. The news? Yes, absolutely. You don't really think it's a coincidence that 90% of all the newswomen and weather girls are babes, do you? Just recently on one of the major 24/7 "news" stations, one newswoman clad in a short and clinging fire-engine red dress was leading a heated discussion on how disgraceful it was that Eliot Spitzer-former attorney general of New York State-had not been prosecuted for purchasing sex from a prostitute. Tsk, Tsk! But I'm sure if you told her that sex appeal had played a major role in gaining her employment, she would angrily deny it. Maybe we are supposed to believe every woman who comes out of journalism school looks hot.

Sex has permeated communications of all kinds-always. Before technology, it could be found in rituals and dance. Later it came to theatre and print media, then television and film, and now, of course, the Internet. Some cultures-many actually-are fine with this, while some, like here in the ol' USA, struggle with our Puritan heritage and religious taboos. We fill up our courts' dockets so that generally old, white men and women-lawyers in silly robes-can decree what is obscene and what isn't, whether localities can impose their "standards" on everyone else, and who gets carted off to jail for defying the sex "rules."

Too Late. Way too late. The genie is out of the bottle when it comes to the Internet and if you searched hard enough you could probably find a site that would allow you to virtually disrobe the genie and command her to spank a lesbian mermaid covered in whipped cream. We're all only one click away what the movie rating system likes to call "strong sexual content," one click away from making contact with potential sex partners, and one click away from even the most esoteric and far-flung sexual practices with such few practitioners that, before the Internet, it would have been difficult to find information or make contact with other like-minded individuals.

The morality police of course are out there in full force proposing various strategies to protect us (or at least our children) from x-rated material. Scores of companies advertise their "filters" that work okay in some cases but may also filter out great literature or sex education and health sites. One filter some years ago was found to filter out the company's own website from the customers who bought and installed the software. Others have proposed forcing our ISP providers and search engines to keep customer e-mail and browsing records for years so that snoopers from law enforcement or other folks can peep into our bedrooms and our libidos. There has been some limited success with this technique and the courts (them again) are still in the process of sorting through the thorny legalities of it. The fear (often overblown) about terrorists and sexual predators may eventually win the day on this one.

Perhaps the most sensible and non-invasive idea floating around is to have all sex oriented sites identified with a separate domain name, perhaps dot xxx or something similar. This idea at least recognizes the futility of ever "controlling" the Internet; for better or worse, anything and everything is just waiting for our finger to tap the mouse (and by the way, mice are extremely sexually active). It's not just the Internet either. The "adult" film industry has been thriving of late years. They even have their own annual award show which at least does not saddle us with a tacky, dreadful opening song-and-dance production like, say, the Oscars do.

And so sex will live and thrive on the Internet and elsewhere as it always has. We can pretend to be shocked and concerned for various reasons but the fact is we are all fascinated, enthralled, titillated, curious, ambiguous, hungry, disappointed, thrilled...well the list goes on and on about sex. Some of the "religious" bluenoses often end up being the worst hypocrites with their clandestine affairs, closeted homosexuality, or even tragically, pedophilia.

If you have genuine concerns about your children on the Internet, try out a filter, or better yet, check out the song, "Teach your Children Well" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Perhaps the great songwriter John Prine should have the last word here:

"From the bells of Saint Mary's, to the Count of Monte Cristo,

Nothing can stop the sins of Memphisto."