The day before Ted Bundy was executed in Florida's electric chair, religious broadcaster James Dobson emerged from an interview with the convicted serial killer and announced that Bundy's crimes were all the fault of dirty pictures. "Pornography . . . was the fuel for his fantasies to do the things he did," said Dobson.

This was an arresting revelation, explaining as it did the actions of the premier serial killer in American history, who may have murdered 36 women in all. You can be sure that before his corpse was cold-of course his probably took longer than most corpses to cool, having been warmed up beforehand-religious broadcasters, anti-porn evangelists and assorted right-wing groups were already rushing to get out fund-raising letters trumpeting the dangers of pornography, as so appallingly illustrated by the case of Ted Bundy.

A videotape of the interview, released after the execution, more or less confirmed Dobson's account. "I've lived in prison for a long time now, and I've met a lot of men who were motivated to violence just like me," said Bundy. "And without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography." He warned, "Pornography can reach out and snatch a kid out of any house today."