The porn is violence industry rally in Edinburgh

From The Scotsman see full article

Marchers will "reclaim the night" when they take to the city's streets for a rally highlighting violence against women.

Both women and men will take part in the event to raise awareness of domestic abuse and a culture in which women feel unsafe walking alone at night.

The march, which will be led by Commotion Women Drummers, will start in Lothian Road at 7.30pm on October 11 and then journey to the Meadows.

Reported crime in the area of Middle Meadow Walk has risen from 68 incidents in 2003-4 to 166 last year.

A rally will then take place involving speakers from Rape Crisis Scotland, the White Ribbon Campaign and victims of abuse.

A spokeswoman for organisers the Edinburgh Feminist Network said: A woman is more likely to be attacked by someone she knows in her own home than by a stranger, and yet the walk home after a night out is one that most women fear. Why do women still feel the need to be chaperoned home, and what can we do about this?

White Ribbon - an organisation backed by Amnesty International that urges men to stand up to violence against women - will also join the march. Scottish co-ordinator Iain Wallace said it was crucial men supported the march. He said: We will be holding a discussion at the Wash Bar on The Mound, where we want men to talk about various issues, from matters like rape and assault all the way to the prevalence of things like soft porn and lap dancing clubs, and how it impacts on our perception of women.
 

Beyer Recommends: Fanny Hill

 
Fanny Hill

From the Telegraph see full article

Written by Andrew Davies, the Bafta-winning dramatist of Bleak House and Pride and Prejudice, the programme sticks closely to John Cleland's 18th-century tale of a country girl who finds sexual fulfilment through a life of debauchery and promiscuity.

15-year-old Fanny is played by the 22-year-old unknown Rebecca Night. Fanny is shown naked, losing her virginity and fighting off a rapist. Fanny and several of the other female characters appear topless during the drama and scenes of orgies that follow.

John Beyer, the director of Mediawatch-UK accused the BBC of investing in sleaze so it could raise the profile of BBC4, the digital channel on which the programme will be screened.

He said: At a time when resources are short I am surprised that the BBC wants to invest in this kind of sleaze. It is just a promotion for prostitution.

Update: Lock 'Em Up

1st October 2007

The noxious John Beyer again calls for porn viewers to be locked up for 3 years. Advocating such extremes of punishment for such a minor issue is surely inspired by some of the more barbaric chapters of whichever religious nonsense he follows.

ACTION ON PORNOGRAPHY!

On Monday 8 October 2007 the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill is to have its Second Reading in the House of Commons. This Bill includes provisions to make the possession of certain categories of extreme pornography illegal.

This is good, however mediawatch-uk (and many others!) believe the list of pornographic material listed in the consultation is too limited and should be extended to include ‘R18' films. It should also be extended to include images of any sexual activity with animals.

We do not believe there is justification for anyone to be in possession of pornographic imagery. There is plenty of evidence of the negative effects associated with pornography. Research concludes that pornography contributes to the incidence of marital breakdown, the growth of sexually transmitted infections and the annual increase in sexual offences.

Update: More Fanny

6th October

John Beyer continues his rant about Fanny Hill in Kent News

John Beyer was dismayed licence fee money was being “wasted” on the programme, Fanny Hill

Fanny Hill is recognised as being a very sleazy book about prostitution and a life of vice. I just wonder whether this production is appropriate for the BBC to be spending licence fee money on. It is as I understand it quite explicit and I feel this is something that the BBC should not be doing.

There are plenty of other novels that were written at the time, so why have they chosen this one?

Clearly, they want to do something a bit controversial so the BBC Four gets on the map and draws attention to it. The BBC hasn't got as much money as it wanted, so the future of BBC Three and Four has been in the spotlight. This is one way, they feel, and wrongly in my view, they can draw attention to the channels.”

 
Store indicted for novelty fancy dress costumes

Based on an article from The Kansas City Channel see full article

A grand jury has indicted a Johnson County store for displaying supposedly obscene costumes.

According to the indictment, Spirit Halloween is accused of promoting obscenity that is harmful to minors. The store, which caters to both children and adults, is facing four misdemeanor counts.

KMBC's Maria Antonia reported that some of the costumes available at the store include a well-developed woman in a wet T-shirt contest, a giant version of the male organ, a snake charmer with a snake coming out of a man's pants, and one called Country Lovin', which shows a man with a sheep on his front side and what looks like an exposed rear end.

Two other businesses in Johnson County were also indicted this week for promoting obscenity: Hollywood at Home for possessing and intending to sell supposedly obscene videos; and Priscilla’s for possessing and intending to sell an supposedly obscene video claiming to involve teens and sex toys.

The grand jury was called after an anti-pornography group, the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, successfully petitioned and requested a grand jury to investigate local businesses.

 
District attorney relents on store selling dickhead costumes

Based on an article from X Biz see full article

A business ludicrously indicted for obscenity last month has been cleared of charges in Johnson County District Court after the district attorney's office signed an order to dismiss the case.

Spirit Halloween, a nationwide chain affiliated with Spencer Gifts stores, was charged with four counts of obscenity Sept. 26 for selling four adult costumes that allegedly were harmful to minors.

This indictment was one of three that were the result of a citizen's petition initiated in July by the Kansas City nutters of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families to investigate adult businesses of promoting obscenity.

Defense attorney Tyler Garretson told the Kansas City Star that he was surprised when he received a copy of the indictment and immediately worked with Spirit Halloween to correct the problem.

“We immediately took our own steps … and removed the costumes that were complained of and put them in a separated back portion of the store...and once we were able to demonstrate that to the district attorney’s office they agreed to dismiss the indictment against us.

 
Jack Thompson in trouble for filing real gay sex pictures on public record

From Game Politics see full article

That gurgling sound you hear could be Jack Thompson’s legal career swirling down the ‘loo.

The frequent video game critic, already facing professional misconduct charges from the Florida Bar which could see him stripped of his license to practice law, has outraged a U.S. District Court judge by including images of men having sex in a document filed with the court last week.

Norm Kent, who publishes the National Gay News website, was criticized by Thompson in last week’s court filing for distribution of hardcore porn to anyone of any age. Not content to make that alleged point in writing, Thompson attached several gay porn pictures to his motion with Judge Jordan. The pictures apparently do not come directly from the National Gay News site, but rather are contained on sites linked from NGN’s adult links section.

In any case, His Honor was not amused. In an order issued on Monday, Judge Jordan directed Thompson to show cause as to why he should not face sanctions, including possible contempt charges.

Judge Jordan wrote: The attached exhibit, which includes several graphic images of oral and genital sex between adult males, was filed electronically in the docket in this case, without prior permission from the cout… there was no need for Mr. Thompson to file these graphic images in the public record. A simple reference to the website and its alleged links would have sufficed…

Through his actions, Mr. Thompson made available for unlimited public viewing, on the court’s docketing system, these graphic images.

For this reason, by October 5, 2007, Mr. Thompson shall show cause why this incident should not be referred to the court’s Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review, and Attorney Grievance for appropriate action.

Update: Thompson's Underage Son Admits to Buying Mature Games

From Game Politics see full article

In a press release, Thompson claims that his 15-year-old son has once again purchased an M-rated (17 and older) game at a South Florida retailer.

Readers may recall the September 13th story in which Thompson claimed that Junior purchased BioShock at a local Best Buy.

This time around Thompson says it was Halo 3: Miami attorney and anti-violent video game activist today did a successful sting on Target Corporation. His fifteen-year-old son, on the first try, was able to buy the “Mature-rated” Halo 3 without producing any age ID at the Dadeland Station Target.

 
Jack Thompson tries to get Halo 3 blocked as a nuisance

From Game Politics see full article
See more about Halo 3

Nutter Jack Thompson is seeking to have Halo 3 declared  a public nuisance in Florida.

With the video game event of the year - the Halo 3 launch on 25th September, game-hating attorney Jack Thompson is apparently seeking to re-create one of his greatest non-triumphs.

Although he failed miserably with a similar bid against Rockstar’s Bully in 2006, Thompson hopes to have a Florida court declare Halo 3 a public nuisance and block its sale.

Once again, Thompson is basing his claim on a Florida statute which defines public nuisances as that which: …tend[s] to annoy the community, injure the health of the citizens in general, or corrupt the public morals

As with Bully, Thompson clearly hopes the court will grant him a hearing. Although after last year’s well-publicized Bully performance, which earned Thompson a Bar complaint from presiding Judge Ronald Friedman, that seems unlikely.

Belgium bishops whinge about TV advert

From the BBC see full article
See also offending advert

Catholic bishops in Belgium have protested against a TV ad depicting Jesus as a pot-bellied hippy picking up half-naked women in a nightclub. The Catholic Church says this sort of portrayal of Jesus is disrespectful to believers and that it is wrong to use him for advertising.

The advertisement is being aired on the country's main TV channel to promote youth channel Plug TV. The TV advertisement shows a long-haired hippy Jesus grooving along as he tries to get into a nightclub and is refused entry by the bouncers. Jesus makes the sign of the cross and sweeps aside the bouncers, shrinking them so they are left in his wake as dwarves.

This Plug TV version of Jesus then drinks whiskey at the bar and magically turns two brown haired frumpy women into blonde babes wearing bikini tops and red horns like devils.

The Jesus character then disappears into a huge limousine with the women but his attention is distracted by an advertisement for Plug TV before he is recalled by God who is standing on a cloud, wearing a T shirt with "Number one dad" written on it.

The God figure tells Jesus off for wanting to watch Plug TV as well as everything else - saying "you still want more".

The Catholic Church has expressed its disapproval to the TV channel - saying advertising is not the same as journalism and should not share the same concerns about freedom of expression. The Church believes this advertisement crosses the limits of respectability.

Plug TV however argues it is not blasphemous but contains a message about a laid-back Jesus addressing youth.

 
Iran protests to Sweden over cartoon of dog Muhammad

From The Local see full article

Iran summoned a Swedish diplomat to its foreign ministry on to protest against a cartoon in a Swedish newspaper depicting the head of Prophet Muhammad on a dog's body, Sweden's foreign ministry said.

Gunilla von Bahr, Sweden's charge d'affaires, was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry today where she received a protest from the Iranian government, foreign ministry spokeswoman Anna Björkander told AFP.

The Iranian government told Von Bahr the cartoon was offensive to Prophet Muhammad, Björkander said, refusing to disclose any further details of the meeting.

The cartoon was drawn by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, whose series of drawings of the prophet as a dog have sparked a controversy in Sweden. The sketches were inspired by Sweden's recent 'roundabout dogs' craze. Several art galleries refused to display the sketches amid fears of angry reactions from Muslims.

The Örebro local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published one of the drawings on August 18 to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of religion.

The editorial was critical of the fact that so many had turned down Vilks's drawings for fear of the reactions they would provoke, Nerikes Allehanda's chief editor Ulf Johansson told AFP.

This is unacceptable self-censorship, the newspaper continued in an editorial on its Web site on Wednesday, referring to the reluctance by galleries to exhibit Vilks's drawings: The right to freedom of religion and the right to blaspheme religions go together.

On Saturday, a week after the publication, a group of about 60 Muslims held a demonstration outside the newspaper's office to protest against the publication of the sketch.

Update: Pakistan Gets All Offended

31st August

Pakistan's foreign ministry said it had summoned the Swedish charge d'affaires to condemn in the strongest terms, the publication of an offensive and blasphemous sketch of the Holy Prophet.

Update: Swedish Protest

1st September

About 300 people rallied outside Nerikes Allehanda's offices on Friday, demanding an apology and saying the cartoon was insulting to Muslims.

We want to show Nerike's Allehanda that Muslims in this city are upset over what happened, Jamal Lamhamdi, chairman of the Islamic cultural center in Orebro, told Swedish public radio.

 
Christ roundabout dog unveiled but it soon ascends to heaven

From Google News see full article

A Swedish artist unveiled Tuesday a sculpture depicting Christ as a well-endowed dog, saying he wanted to stimulate debate about religion and freedom of expression in the wake of a row over cartoons of the prophet Mohammed.

The artwork showed Jesus as a dog with a bloodstained head under a crown of thorns and an "enormous sexual organ".

However, within hours of the sculpture being installed on a roundabout in Skaanes Fagerhult, a town in the south of Sweden, it disappeared.

I want religion to stop taking society and the vulnerable for idiots, the artist, Stig Ramsing, told the online version of Helsingborgs Dagblad newspaper: It is my turn to follow [artist] Lars Vilks and provoke a sensible discussion about religion.

In Nordic countries the display of outlandish sculptures of dogs on roundabouts is a familiar art form which has become common in the past decade.

YouTube cedes to nutters armed with DMCA takedown notices

Based on an article from The Inquirer see full article

YouTube seems to be thinking that it is better to censor videos that talk about evolution than it is to deal with all the nutters demanding that they take them down.

Latest in the purge was a group called the Rational Response Squad which is incandescent with rage that bible bashers managed to shut them down with spurious DMCA claims.

Shedloads of copyright requests were sent in by the good Christians of the Creation Science Evangelism Ministries. This bunch are headed by the currently-imprisoned tax evader Kent Hovind.

According to Richarddawkins.net the outfit has made it its mission to send shedloads of take down request to anyone who does not agree with Hovind's interpretation of the Bible. Particularly those Evolutionists who quote Hovind's own words as evidence of what they believe. Hovind is on record saying all the material at his site is not copyrighted. But when the evolutionists quote him in their YouTube posts his followers claim that it belongs to them.

Hovind's disciples are exploiting a loophole in the DMCA which forces a takedown without any review. It becomes up to the defendant to prove that it is their copyright and that is a long and expensive process.

Rationalresponders.com is getting so hacked off with the state of affairs that it is preparing to sue Creation Science Evangelism Ministries for unfair practices.

Swiss nutters call for nationwide media censorship

From the Swiss Info see full article

The Swiss Pro Juventute foundation has launched a petition demanding better protection of children and youngsters from violence in the media.

The organisation is calling for the creation of an independent body to set nationwide age limits on content provided by the entertainment industry, such as DVDs or computer games.

At a news conference in Bern on Thursday Pro Juventute pointed out that children and teenagers have almost unlimited and uncontrolled access to violent images via television, their computers or mobile phones.

The proposed national certification board would evaluate films, videos, DVDs, computer games and other media content and determine nationwide age limits.

Currently, 26 different cantonal authorities take on this responsibility.

This can lead to absurd situations, according to the head of canton Basel City's justice department, Guy Morin: It makes no sense to limit entry to a film to those over age 18 in Basel, and then set that limit to 12 in other places. We lack credibility.

Jolanda Bertozzi of Pro Juventute said: Our concern is the daily repetition of violent images, and the extended periods of time spent playing a computer game. If you add news and films to the mix, it becomes difficult for a child to understand the nature of violence.

Limiting access to content is only part of Pro Juventute's proposal. It says that youngsters and parents must be educated about violence in the media. It's difficult for parents to educate their children because rapid changes in technology mean that they can't keep up, said Bertozzi: Parents often have little idea of the content that is proposed to youngsters.

The computer gaming industry lobby group, the Swiss Interactive Entertainment Association has rejected the proposal. It said further rules are unnecessary because existing measures have proven sufficient to protect youngsters. The association's guidelines set out age and advertising limits for entertainment software.

Background: Pro Juventute

As background about the Pro Juventute foundation, it seems that they made a name for themselves by dealing with a previous social problem, namely gypsies

From  Voices Unabridged

In its effort to erase the nomadic way of life of its gypsy population, Switzerland kidnapped almost 600 Yenitsche children from their parents over a 50-year period, from 1926 until 1973. Pro Juventute, a foundation created in 1912 with the stated goal of working for the good of children, young people and their families, placed such children with host families and in orphanages, psychiatric hospitals and even penal institutions.

Parents who opposed the abduction of their children were themselves put under legal guardianship and the Society systematically erased all traces of such proceedings, so that parents could not find out where their children had been placed.

 
Offended by Ibiza art exhibition

From News.com.au see full article

The Roman Catholic bishop of Ibiza has demanded that a collage depicting the late Pope John Paul II being sodomised be removed from an exhibit held at a former church.

The work is one of three collages by Ivo Hendriks that are part of a showcase of art by 15 Dutch artists with ties to Ibiza made over the last 50 years that opened on September 7 and is due to run until the end of the month. The other two collages also depict religious figures in homosexual positions.

Bishop Vicente Juan Segura said the works "offended Catholic sentiment'' and he called for their: immediate and urgent withdrawal. He threatened to take the issue to court if his demand was not met. The bishop claims that Ibiza town hall had violated the terms of the 1997 agreement which allows it to use church buildings since it had not informed the church of the contents of the exhibit as required.

Ibiza's town hall, which approved the exhibition, said it would not remove the works. Ibiza has never and will never exercise any form of censorship of artistic expression,' the town's councillor for culture, Sandra Mayans, was quoted as saying.

 
Bangladeshi cartoonist arrested

From The Peninsula see full article

Baton-wielding police broke up a protest by hundreds of Islamists in the Bangladeshi capital yesterday against a magazine which published a cartoon they said hurt Muslims’ religious feelings.

Police waded in to halt a march by about 500 demonstrators chanting “death to the editor” and “hang the cartoonist” near Dhaka’s national mosque.

The protest came two days after the offending cartoon was printed in Alpin, a weekly magazine published by Prothom Alo, the country’s leading Bangla-language daily. The Prothom Alo has published an apology.

Police arrested the cartoonist, Arifur Rahman, at his Dhaka home on Tuesday, after Muslim religious leaders complained.

The Information Ministry said it had seized copies of the offending magazine issue. The interim government has pledged to punish the offenders, but urged the people to remain calm and show patience. Predominantly, Muslim Bangladesh, however, does not have any blasphemy law.

The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Party in a statement yesterday said the left-leaning daily had intentionally printed the cartoon to hurt Muslims.

Meanwhile, an international press freedom body yesterday called for the immediate release of the Bangladeshi cartoonist detained for allegedly insulting Muslims. Reporters Without Borders appealed to the military-backed government to release Rahman, who was detained following the publication of his cartoon in a satirical weekly magazine: The government should not yield to pressure from extremist leaders who are trying to politicise the case. Rahman should not be made a scapegoat. He must be freed.

Update: Unknown Fate

5th November 2007

The fate of Rahman, who has been languishing in a Dhaka central jail for more than a month now, remains unclear, though there have been rumors that he could be freed at anytime.

Ironically, the cartoonist had recently been given an award from the government for a sketch depicting Bangladesh's anti-corruption drive.

Rahman's arrest', raises some serious questions about the judiciary and press freedom. The cartoonist was taken into custody under Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which authorizes police to make arrests without orders from a magistrate and without a warrant. Rahman also has no right to legal representation.

 
Australian nutters look to organise their vote

From News.com.au see full article
See also www.australiavotes.org

Poltical parties fielding candidates in the election have been asked by the Australian Christian Lobby to reveal their positions on issues such as abortion, gay marriage, cloning and pornography.

A letter sent by the nutter group to all parties last week asks for a response to 25 policy questions, which will be included on a website soon to be launched, www.australiavotes.org.

Evangelical Christian churches, which have rapidly grown in popularity, have indicated they are prepared to be active in the election, particularly in Queensland, western Sydney and Tasmania. Parties that don't reply to the letter have been warned that their lack of response will also be noted on the site.

As well as parties' stances on gay marriage, adoption and a national ban on X-rated pornography, ACL also sought position statements on industrial relations and climate change.

ACL also asked parties about their views on the Lord's Prayer.

The preamble to Australia's constitution states that our nation is 'humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God', the letter said: Does your party commit to maintaining the convention of opening parliament each day exclusively with the Lord's Prayer?

Parties have also been asked whether they would overturn a ban on sending aid money to countries where it could be used to pay for abortion devices, services or drugs.

Australian National University professor of political science John Warhurst said the religious lobby had not played such a public role in an election to date.

It's an attempt to be more organised along American lines but with a distinctly Australian flavour to it, he said.

 
Feminists meet the great Tarantino

Based on an article from charliegrrl

This week feminists in Glasgow and Liverpool demonstrated against the great Quentin Tarantino.

Before protesting the film screening of Death Proof, SWAP (Scottish Women Against Porn) picketed Tarantino doing a signing at Virgin

Feminists in Liverpool also held a demo outside the film screening a few days later, and managed to get people in the Question and Answer with Tarantino, probing him about the ethics of his film and the rapist doll.

Comment: But All Porn is Rape

From Dan

Whether showing rape as entertainment and erotic is right or not is something that should be questioned.

But since most of the groups protesting believe that all porn is "rape" and "violence against women" (even soft core R18 porn) we have to assume they are protesting against Tarrentino to push their own agenda.

 
New Zealand Salvation Army whinge at Maxim Babes

More religious nutters imposing their nonsense on others

Based on an article from Scoop see full article

The Salvation Army is whinging about a decision by Vodafone to sell 'adult' material on its mobile phone network.

The Dominion Post reported that Vodafone was offering adult material to mobile phones through its Vodafone Live portal. The newspaper said that Vodafone planned to donate the income, less costs, to charity.

The 'adult' content is merely lads mag stuff such as Maxim Babes.

Salvation Army spokesperson Mrs Chris Frazer says Vodafone appears to have crossed a moral boundary and urgently needs to clarify what kind of content is being delivered.

Vodafone has been reported as saying it would restrict sale of its adult content to those over 18, but their website has been promoting material for the UK-based 'Maxim' men's magazine to ages 16 years and above.

The Salvation Army is concerned that age restrictions on mobile phone content do not prevent vulnerable children from also gaining access to adult-only material. It questions the need for any telecommunications company to actively target consumers with this kind of material.

Those who begin by viewing soft porn may move on to harder-core and more addictive material, says Frazer. Pornography is exploitative, objectifying women and, in its worse form, children as well. Those who become obsessed by or addicted to pornography risk damaging the intimacy of real-life relationships.

The Salvation Army encourages Vodafone to rethink the provision of adult content on its New Zealand network.

 
A proposal that the media should respect religious nonsense

A much simpler and more realistic charter would read: Responsible religions shouldn't inflict their beliefs on others, and then the media will not need to ridicule nutters and their nonsense.

Based on an article from Christian Post see full article
See also Charter to Respect for Religion or Belief

A recent cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad published by a Swedish newspaper and condemned in Islamic countries demonstrates the need for a journalistic code of standards when depicting religion, says a US-based nutter group that has now developed such a set of standards.

A charter developed by Institute on Religion and Public Policy in Washington DC, takes into account the paramount principles of freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief, and attempts to strike an appropriate balance that preserves both of these fundamental freedoms, said Joseph K. Grieboski, the institute's president.

Among other things, the charter's four-part declaration states, A responsible media never promotes religious hatred. It scrupulously avoids engendering hostility towards religions and their members likely to lead to imminent violence or systematic deprivation of human rights.

The Institute on Religion and Public Policy said its charter also states, A responsible media does not refer to religions or religious institutions in a prejudicial, biased or pejorative context; when religious references are essential to the reported matter or facilitate understanding, they are made accurately, fairly, impartially and respectfully.

Beyer Recommends: Secret Diary of a Call Girl

 
Beyer Recommends: Secret Diary of a Call Girl

Thanks to Dan
Based on an article from The Mirror see full article

Billie Piper is set to prove she's a big girl now by using the word, "cunt", on TV.

She is set to shock the usual nutters with her saucy antics in a role as a high-class hooker, and her use of strong lnguage.

Billie, who made her name as an actress in Doctor Who, is about to star in ITV2's Secret Diary of a Call Girl based on the bestselling book.

In the first episode on September 27, Billie's character Belle utters the rude word as a prank goes wrong.

John Beyer, director of Media watch was predictably outraged. He said: This is likely to cause considerable offence. ITV and Billie Piper have displayed poor judgement.

ITV said it was acceptable as the show will be screened late.

 
And see how the nutters get wound up

Based on an article from the Freethinker see full article

Comic Kathy Griffin wound up the nutters when she took the stage to collect her Emmy for best reality programme, her Bravo channel show My Life on the D-List.

She commented: A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Suck it, Jesus. This award is my god now.

Asked about her speech backstage a short time later, an unrepentant Griffin said: I hope I offended some people. I didn’t want to win the Emmy for nothing.

The remarks about Jesus at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards will not be seen by TV audiences, the US Academy of Television Arts and Sciences said.

The speech drew fire from a leading Roman Catholic group, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which condemned Griffin’s remarks as “obscene and blasphemous”.

It is a sure bet that if Griffin had said, ‘Suck it, Mohammed’, there would have been a very different reaction, Catholic league president Bill Donohue said in a statement posted on the group’s website.

He called on TV academy president Dick Askin to denounce Griffin’s “hate speech” and on Griffin to apologise.

Griffin’s reaction to the controversy, according to a statement issued by her publicist: Am I the only Catholic left with a sense of humour?

 
Australian nutters watch by candlelight

Based on an article from News.com.au see full article

Australian TV advertisers have supported Channel 10's new program Californication despite religious groups yesterday calling for a boycott of the show.

Ten maintained that advertisers had not complained about explicit sexual, drug and moral references.

The Australian Christian Lobby’s managing director Jim Wallace had called for advertisers to be “held accountable” for their support of the show: There will be calls to boycott sponsors of the show. And I’ll be leading the calls. (If they are concerned about standards) they should not be sponsoring this show. He said that he had organised someone to record last night’s episode in order to identify all advertisers.

The show, starring David Duchovny as a sex-addicted novelist and father suffering a mid-life crisis, features nudity and the opening scene saw a nun performing a sex act during a dream sequence.

Catholic priest Father John Fongemie led a candlelight vigil with 40 parishioners outside Ten's Sydney studio during Monday's episode.

 
Nutters to litigate on the basis of 'erotoxins' causing  physiological harm

From AVN see full article

A new blog has been established at www.familyfragments.com to serve as the informational portal for the Lighted Candle Society, an anti-porn activist group formed in 1991 by former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III and former California Lieutenant Governor John Harmer.

The LCS intends to attack the porn industry via civil litigation, using the blog to garner support for its cause and keep porn opponents informed of its progress, according to the American Family News Network.

The suits being drummed up by the LCS will largely be based on state and federal obscenity laws, but there is also talk of presenting "scientific evidence" that pornography causes "physiological harm," as determined by the likes of Dr. Judith Reisman.

Formerly a singer on the Captain Kangaroo show, Reisman subsequently re-diverted her professional life toward media studies and is best known for attempting to debunk the work of Alfred Kinsey. Among her claims are that Kinsey's research was the basis of a "child molestation protocol," and that watching pornography causes the brain to emit "erototoxins" which have a toxic effect upon the viewer.

LCS spokesman Justin Hart commented, We now have the scientific fodder to throw on the fire. We also have done a lot of strategic legal research into specific state statutes that are favorable to plaintiffs in this regard.

Reisman’s 'research' is that pleasurable experiences produce endorphins, noted AVN's Mark Kernes. If that’s their scientific basis for banning porn, eating chocolate will be next.

 
Revamp their website

Thanks to DarkAngel

John Beyer's Mediawatch-UK have now revamped their website. Check it out on www.mediawatchuk.org.uk

Now an organisation that advocates locking up all porn viewers for 3 years has surely lost its grip on humanity, but the "What the Papers Say" section can actually be quite useful

 
Up for an Australian arts prize

From the Daily Mail see full article

This year's entries for the coveted Blake's Prize £6,000 award have caused a chorus of outrage from Christians and Muslims.

They include a portrait of Osama Bin Laden which, viewed from an angle, morphs into an image of Christ.

And just for good measure there is a figure of the Virgin Mary, hands clasped in prayer, with an Islamic burqa concealing her upper body apart from the eyes.

The decision to place them on show at the National Art School in Sydney has caused deep upset in Australia, whose 20million population is predominantly Christian.

The choice of such artwork is gratuitously offensive to the religious beliefs of many Australians, said Prime Minister John Howard.

And Labour Opposition leader Kevin Rudd said: I accept people can have artistic freedom ...BUT... I find this painting off, off in the extreme. I understand how people would be offended by it.

In an astonishing defence, the chairman of the Blake Society, the Rev Rod Pattenden, denied that they were likely to cause harm because the Christian community doesn't look at art a great deal.

Queensland lawyer Priscilla Bracks, who painted the Bin Laden portrait entitled Bearded Orientals: Making the Empire Cross, said it was not meant to compare Jesus to the terror leader but was a commentary on the way Bin Laden had been treated in the media.

Sydney artist Luke Sullivan, creator of the Virgin Mary entry, entitled The Fourth Secret of Fatima, said his work was intended to pose the question of what was the future of religion.

Glynis Quinlan, spokesman for the Australian Christian Lobby, said: It's really unfortunate that people take liberties with the Christian faith that they wouldn't dare take with other religions.

 
Pipex censors quick to pull the plug on Christian Voice

From the Freethinker see full article

One of Britain’s most hate-filled websites, Christian Voice, was temporarily silenced last week following a complaint to Pipex, which hosts the website via a subsidiary company.

The homophobic website, run by Stephen Green, was closed down for four days pending investigations by Pipex into a complaint lodged against it by the Brighton-based gay newspaper, One80News after it had been contacted by a reader, Angie Rowland-Stuart.

She told the paper that she was disgusted by the “spiteful lies” on Green’s website. She said: I do think that Christian Voice has broken the rules of the ISPs (Internet Service Providers) they use. The site should be pulled or become a subject for investigation by the police.

The paper revealed that, following Ms Rowland-Stuart’s complaint, it emerged that Pipex supports the sexual health charity The Terrence Higgins Trust, which is described on Green’s website as a homosexual AIDS charity that promotes homosexual perversion.

In a statement posted on the CV website, Green said: Initially, a Sarah Cooper said Pipex had received a letter of complaint ‘of an official nature’ requesting removal of the website, which suggested some Government involvement. It also spoke of ‘the defamatory material’ on the site without specifying it, so we didn’t have a clue what their problem was.

But now Pipex are speaking of ‘a number’ of individual complaints, which would be consistent with us accidentally ruffling the feathers of some humourless gay activists.

Pipex are under notice of legal action as a result of the down time. A commercial company cannot act as judge and jury unilaterally cutting off valuable web traffic on a whim or because of behind-the-scenes politicking. If they get away with it, every politically incorrect website is at risk.

Church opts to facilitate the transmission of pornography

From The Telegraph see full article

Churches have been given permission to rent their spires and steeples to mobile phone companies despite concerns that they could be used to relay pornography to children.

The highest church court in the country yesterday overturned a ruling banning dioceses from hiring out their buildings to telecommunications companies, on the grounds that restrictions exist to protect children from seeing indecent images on their phone handsets.

The decision paves the way for more churches to profit from telecoms firms, who find the height of the spires ideal for mobile phone masts. Several parishes already supplement their income by charging mobile companies thousands of pounds a year to put antennae on their towers or steeples.

Earlier this year George Pulman QC, Chancellor for the Diocese of Chelmsford, banned the St Peter and St Paul Church in Chingford, east London, from erecting a T-Mobile base station in its spire, saying it would be wrong in law for churches to facilitate the transmission of pornography, even in a slight or modest way.

His ruling was yesterday overruled by the 800-year old Court of Arches, which allowed an appeal headed by the Rev Tom Page, rector of Chingford, and backed by QS4, which puts aerials on churches.

The Court of Arches ruled that protections are in place to prevent children viewing pornographic images on their phones.

It found that while the mast may lead to some adults receiving improved access to pornography on their phones, it must be remembered that human beings are "imperfect" and to refuse the mast on that ground would be an "unbalanced approach".

 
Malaysian paper forced to take a break over Jesus picture

From the BBC see full article

Malaysia has shut down a newspaper for a month after it published a picture of Jesus holding a cigarette and what appears to be a can of beer. It appeared with the paper's daily spiritual message on its front page with the caption if someone repents for his mistakes, then heaven awaits him.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi himself stepped in to admonish the editors of Makkal Osai, a Tamil-language paper.

The country's publishing laws allow politicians to close any publication without judicial approval.

Sensing perhaps that it has to be even-handed between all of Malaysia's many faiths, the government moved quickly to punish Makkal Osai.

Makkal Osai had already said sorry, explaining that a graphics editor had inadvertently downloaded the picture from the internet.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Murphy Pakiam, expressed surprise at the paper's closure, saying that Christians believe in reconciliation and that the paper had indeed appeared to have sincerely repented of its mistake.

John Beyer: violently assaulting our intelligence

 
Dumbed down by television

Thanks to Dan
John Beyer letter published in the Belfast Telegraph

Far too much violence on TV

The news that three teenagers have been charged with the murder of a father-of-three shocks us all.

But we must ask ourselves what influenced these youngsters to act in the way they did? We frequently see violence on television and reality footage of similar scenes, and we are all now aware of the phenomenon of 'happy slapping' and such images appearing on social websites.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently expressed concern about all the violence 'that kids can see so easily now' in the media. For more than 15 years, Mediawatch-uk has monitored over 1,000 films shown on the five main TV channels, and the most frequently portrayed violence involves firearms and violent assaults.

More and more people now recognise that media violence has contributed to social violence just as the late Mary Whitehouse CBE, warned over 40 years ago.

For three years running, the Office of Communications, the regulator, has found that the majority of people believe there is too much violence and swearing on television but has done little to respond to these expressions of public concern.

For these reasons, we have launched a new online petition to the Prime Minister calling for a substantial reduction in violence and swearing on TV. If you would like to add your name please, sign our petition at: ViolenceonTV.

We aim to get one million signatures by January 2008.

John Beyer, Mediawatch-uk

   
Nutters whinge at New York billboard

From Christian Post see full article

A New York company has angered anti-abortion activists by using the contentious issue to advertise its storage business, by showing a wire coat hanger and the slogan: Your closet space is shrinking as fast as her right to choose.

It's trashy and its vulgar and it's in your face with its crudity, Kiera McCaffrey, of the Catholic League said about the Manhattan Mini Storage billboard.

The Roman Catholic group, a vocal opponent of abortion rights, has been urging people to complain to the company.

Mary Alice Carr, of NARAL Pro-Choice New York, which advocates abortion rights, said such advertisements reminded people to stay active, even in a city like New York, where the majority of residents support abortion rights.

   
New Zealand nutters want to be treated like shit, just like Australian aborigines

From a press release by nutters of the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards

The Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announcded a package to deal with the growing problems of internet porn and dissemination of, and availability of, objectionable content to minors via ISPs. The Society is asking whether our New Zealand government has taken any similar action. It most recently raised its serious concerns with the Minister of Justice, the Hon. Mark Burton, in a letter dated 1 June 2007, and has received no response to questions it has raised about Government policies addressing the problem.

The tough measures adopted by the Howard government to stamp out two evils - accessibility to hardcore porn and alcohol abuse in Northern Aboriginal communities - because of their injurious effect on the "public good" and links to child abuse, has been matched by his latest measures. Every Australian public library as well as individual family will be provided with free software to filter internet content to prevent children downloading pornography and other offensive material, service providers will work alongside the government to filter pornography at its source, a ‘black list’ of pornographic sites will be established, and privacy laws will be altered so that sex offenders cannot ‘hide’ on the internet and chatroom sex predators will be rigorously hunted down and prosecuted. In addition a seven-day-a-week hotline will help parents put filters on their computers to block material that is passed on to home computers via ISPs.

   
Religious censors attack "gay Jesus" exhibition

From the National Secular Society
See also gay Jesus images

A fight involving as many as 30 people broke out at a photographic exhibition in the Swedish city of Jonkoping. The controversy surrounds the Ecco Homo exhibit, which portrays Jesus Christ as a gay man. Ecco Homo has long been a source of disagreement among Swedish Christians.

The series of 12 images was exhibited at the nation's leading cathedral in Uppsala with the permission of the archbishop and toured the country. The Local, a Swedish paper, reported that on Sunday a group of young people tried to set fire to a poster at the Jonkoping cultural centre where Ecco Homo was on display.

The paper said the city is a centre for evangelical Christians. Staff intervened and a fight broke out, according to the centre's director, Tony el Zouki: If this is some Christian group, then I really do not understand them. The message of Christianity is that people should understand and love each other.

The previous pope cancelled an audience with the Protestant Archbishop Hammar of Uppsala for supporting the exhibit – which has been touring for ten years – and allowing it to be shown in churches across Sweden.

   
New Zealand catholics lose their case against South Park

From the National Secular Society

New Zealand Catholic bishops have lost a legal challenge over a television channel's screening of the South Park cartoon series showing a menstruating Virgin Mary. A High Court judge awarded costs against the Catholic Bishops Conference – even though the bishops might see this as adding insult to deep injury.

The bishops lodged an appeal to the High Court after the Broadcasting Standards Authority rejected their complaint against the so-called Bloody Mary episode aired last year, claiming it breached standards of good taste and decency.

The judge dismissed the appeal, saying the bishops' sense of outrage was not shared by the wider community. Brent Impey, chief executive of Channel 4 owner MediaWorks, told the paper, It's a victory for freedom of speech. He said it would claim costs estimated at about 8,000 New Zealand dollars (about £3,000) from the Catholic Church.

   
US Government funds nutters to report obscenity

Based on an article from X Biz see full article

A Justice Department program to fight supposed obscenity on the Internet, funded by a $150,000-a-year earmark in a spending bill and operated by antiporn nutters, has resulted in no prosecutions for obscenity.

The Justice Department website routes citizen complaints about obscenity to ObscenityCrimes.org, a website run by antiporn group Morality in Media, which receives the grant money.

Two retired law enforcement officers check the reported sites for legally definable obscenity. A reported 67,000 complaints have been forwarded to the Justice Department and federal prosecutors through this program.

None has been prosecuted.

Any program that fields public complaints on a matter as complex as obscenity can never be expected to play a meaningful role in the decisions of what is to be prosecuted and where, 1st Amendment attorney Jeffrey Douglas told XBIZ. Lay people will simply call in about something that they are offended by. Individuals' offense could hardly be less relevant to the criteria for obscenity as defined by the Miller opinion.

It's even worse when the entity requesting such calls is an ideologically extreme entity, Morality in Media, which is attempting to alter the definition of obscenity into one in which if they can see genital penetration, somebody ought to go to prison. Expecting that the calls that they stimulate will be meaningful is ludicrous.

The fact that we're spending money on this program is, in fact, simply welfare to extreme political organizations that some ideologues in the White House want to subsidize.

The president of Morality in Media, Robert W. Peters, is disappointed with the Justice Department’s failure inaction on any of his group’s complaints.

Stephen G. Bates, a Harvard-trained lawyer and journalism professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, discovered the ObscenityCrimes.org program through a Freedom of Information Act inquiry. He said he was appalled when he discovered that the Justice Department was outsourcing a search for obscenity.

 
Australian church campaigns against legal business

Spotted by Adele Haze
From News.com.au see