Now Winfrey has squared off against Coburn, who has blocked S. 1738, the Combating Child Exploitation Act.
Winfrey asked her viewers Monday to call and write the Senate to demand their support for the legislation, sponsored by Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden (Del.).
Winfrey, herself a victim of sexual abuse, has asked viewers to sign and send a letter posted on her website calling for action on the bill.
Coburn is going to fight Winfrey by forcing the addition of a poisoned pill to this bill in the form of increased police powers to snoop on suspected criminals (ie. anyone). Both Alaska Republican Senators are cosponsoring the bill, as is Norm Coleman and Kay Bailey Hutchinson.
It establishes a Special Counsel for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction within the Office of the Deputy Attorney General to fight child predators. Here's what Coburn is resisting.
The images and videos being trafficked typically depict sexual assaults that are both graphic and brutal. The same research indicates that 80 percent of known child pornography possessors have images of children being sexually penetrated and 21 percent have images depicting children bound, gagged, blindfolded, or `otherwise enduring sadistic sex.' Just 1 percent restricted their collecting to images of simple child nudity.
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