Regulations destroy jobs, the x-rated version:

Some government bureaucrat was watching porn on his computer at work and, unwittingly, said aloud: I wanna do to her what that guy is doing to her. And somebody else overheard him.

Some of the most prominent purveyors of porn say they’ll start packing up their sex toys and abandoning the nation’s porn capital if authorities carry through with a nascent effort to police adult film sets and order that every actor be outfitted with a condom.

That effort took a serious leap forward Tuesday when the Los Angeles city council voted 9-1 to grant final approval to an ordinance that would deny film permits to producers who do not comply with the condom requirement. The measure now goes to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for approval.

…”Ultimately I think what they will find is people will just stop shooting in the city of Los Angeles,” added Hirsch. “That’s a given.

And from the “jobs that better pay well” file:

“It’s going to be interesting to see how in fact they do try to enforce it and who’s going to fund it, and all of the time and effort they’re going to spend,” said Steven Hirsch, co-founder and co-chairman of Los Angeles-based Vivid, one of the largest makers of erotic movies.

I suppose that’s at least one example of regulation creating jobs. Somebody’ll have to staff…um, I mean work in…the “Condom Use, Pornography Division” office.

UPDATE - Linked at The Linkiest.

UPDATE II - I’m reading that this is a reaction to some porn actor testing positive for HIV a while back (caution: SFW news video starts automatically at the link). That little happening “shut down” the porn industry in LA until the guy then tested negative.

That, at least, removes some of the random “we’re doing this because we can” feel…um, I mean, uh…quality…from the story. Still, though: do people who have sex for a living really have to be told about the dangers? Doesn’t the porn industry perform…ugh, I mean require…regular testing of its actors?

And if so, is that testing required by the government?

Somebody else research that, please. I have to scrub my computer now before the kids use it again.