(8/23/99)
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (UPI) - Actor Mickey Rooney has joined lawmakers and animal rights activists to decry what are being called "crush videos," a type of pornography in which women wearing boots or open toed shoes crush small animals and insects beneath their feet.
At a news conference today in Simi Valley, Calif., Rooney displayed still photos showing women in stiletto high heels squashing a mouse, rabbit and what appeared to be a guinea pig or hamster.
"It's deplorable," Rooney said, adding that "the right of free speech does not include crushing small animals to death, unless those small animals are ugly ones that I don't have a fondness for."
Also at the news conference was Rep. Elton Gallegly, who has introduced a bill in Congress to impose a prison term of up to five years for sale of the videos. Gallegly has previously been an active spokesperson in the crusade against overgovernance.
Republican frontrunner George W. Bush displayed disappointment at the newly introduced bill. "I really enjoy watching small animals get crushed. It reminds me of how my father deals with political opponents."