What's a Nazi to do? We're condemned when we ban free speech, and condemned if we don't

Video-sharing website YouTube has been condemned for showing video clips showing Nazi troops. The scenes, accompanied by militaristic music, have drawn millions of hits.

YouTube, which hosts film clips from the public, has 2,880 items on the Waffen SS, the most fanatical of Hitler's soldiers who were indicted for war crimes throughout WW2.

The entries have a string of Sieg Heil comments and praise for the fighting prowess of the Waffen SS, recruited for their unswerving loyalty to Nazism.

The videos, some from Nazi propaganda news reels, have angered Jewish organisations who have called for YouTube to remove the hugely offensive postings, including one that features the headline Hitler Was Right directly below the YouTube logo.

Senior Liberal Democrat MP Susan Kramer was shocked by the content and the amount of SS video on YouTube.

Glorifying the Waffen SS or Hitler in any way is sickening, she said: YouTube must understand its responsibilities. They should be hunting this type of material down if they want to maintain any credibility.

She added that YouTube has grown from fringe influence to mainstream source of content and that many young people view it alone where extremist views cannot be challenged by parents and teachers.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it continues to be very concerned about the level of racist and anti-Semitic content on the internet.

Dr Rona Tutt is a former president of the National Association of Head Teachers. She has been whinging about the violent content of children's books.

She claims that children's books are becoming so violent and sexualised they should be accompanied by explicit content warnings. The guidance would be in addition to the current age brackets displayed in shops.

Her warning follows two recent high-profile children's book awards in which violence loomed large in the shortlisted novels.

In last month's Booktrust Teen Prize, all six shortlisted efforts featured a striking amount of violence and blades, judges said. Two had 'knife' in the title - Patrick Ness's winning effort The Knife Of Never Letting Go, and Anthony McGowan's The Knife That Killed Me. Both books were aimed at the 12-plus market.

Meanwhile, the seven novels nominated for the Carnegie Medal, the country's most prestigious children's book prize, were also predominantly histories about violence for the ten-plus age group.

Tutt said: The level of violence and adult themes in children's books is a worrying trend. People didn't used to write for young children in this vein. It is a new problem. Some children will be protected because they won't have the reading ability to cope. You will have others whose reading is extremely advanced but they don't have the maturity to cope with the themes.

Amanda Craig, who was chairman of the Booktrust Teen Prize said: We are all worried about violence, but I think that picking on books is the last thing someone in Dr Tutt's position ought to be worrying about. I'm far more worried about film and TV. We all grew up reading some pretty violent stuff, whether it was The Lord Of The Flies or Stephen King horror novels.

Another spat has broken out at Harrow Arts Centre over censorship in public exhibitions.

Harrow Council has been criticised for allowing a picture depicting a Muslim woman dressed in a Hijab pointing a gun to be hung in an exhibition open to the general public.

Marion Davey, an artist who takes classes at the centre complained to managers when she saw the picture had been included in the exhibition, which is made up of artwork by Nower Hill High School pupils.

She said: I couldn't believe it was there, I was speechless that someone would hang this up. I find this very disturbing and shocking, and totally inappropriate to be on the wall.

The council came under fire in October when it ordered five paintings depicting nudes to be removed from the walls of the centre, fearing they could offend children and members of faith groups.

Davey accused the council of hypocrisy for allowing the painting of the Muslim woman but censoring the nudes.

Ghulam Rabbani, general secretary of Harrow Central Mosque, called for the council to take the picture down: I am shocked and dismayed. It should not have been allowed. I can't understand why people allowed this to hang in the arts centre. It shows a Muslim woman as a terrorist, and they should have thought about Muslim women who have to go out on the street, go into their jobs, and how this picture will make people look at them. The council hasn't done any favours to Muslim women, I think it should be taken down because it could create race hate.

Councillor Chris Mote, in charge of culture, defended the decision to hang this painting: This picture is about the theme of journeys, and is a comment on the cultural pressures that impact on young women. The figure with a weapon and Arabic script is a direct reference to the work of famous Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, whose own work often explores the cultural impact of the Islamic revolution on women. This is a thoughtful comment piece by a talented Harrow teenager and there is clearly no intention to upset anyone viewing the exhibition.

The exhibition of artwork by the school pupils is showing until January 4.

The saga all started in October when Washington State gave a permit to an atheist group to display its sign alongside a Christian Nativity scene in the state’s Capitol in Olympia. 

The lengthy message on the sign states in part: At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.

Since the atheist sign went up on December 1, Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire’s telephone switchboard has been flooded with calls voicing complaints, up to 200 calls an hour. Calls mushroomed following a Fox News show highlighting the controversial sign. O’Reilly calls it political correctness gone mad.

Freedom of speech was never meant to be a license for fringe groups to insult and antagonize the rest of us, says Larry Stickney, President of the Washington Values Alliance: While we must all do our best to respect the opinion of those we don’t agree with. The 1st Amendment also guarantees our constitutional right to carry on our nation’s religious culture and traditions and we should be able to do so without petty harassment.

Outraged by this sign that they say mocks religions, 500+ demonstrators rallied on the steps of the state Capitol to protest. Five days after it was placed near a large bust of George Washington, the placard created by the Wisconsin-based organization, Freedom From Religion Foundation, vanished. It reappeared later in the day when a man turned it over to a Seattle radio station.

Gov. Gregoire is passing responsibility to state Attorney General Rob McKenna. She said Republican McKenna advised her that the Constitution’s First Amendment free speech rights keep her from interfering with the atheist’s message.

Update: A Christmas Message

23rd December. Thanks to Dark Angel on the Melon Farmers Forum

The fuss started after Fox News host Bill O'Reilly started complaining that the sign was offensive to christians and posting the governor's phone number during his show so people could complain.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xADKtEHjixI

The governor did later say in response that whilst she did not agree with their statement, she agreed they had they right to express themselves and if they were going to allow a nativity scene displaying a christmas message, she saw no right to censor an athiest message.

But it didn't end with the atheists sign getting trashed, after the sign was replaced all these other fringe groups started applying for permission to put up Xmas messages, some pro-christian, some pro-atheist and some anti-atheist. But THEN things started getting really silly, one group got permission to put up a festivas pole, the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster got permission to put up a festive message then the final straw came when The Westboro Baptist Church (you know, the God Hates Fags bunch) asked permission to put up a sign saying Santa Claus is going to send you to Hell, at which point the governor's office said they would not be accepting any more requests until they had reviewed their policy on allowing groups to display signs and messages.

The Atheist Experience, a public access show that goes out in Austin Texas, did a very good slot on this which can be seen on YouTube.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mLfpgwoJiZo

Nutters have expressed their revulsion at the cards, which they say are an example of how far vulgarity has affected British life.

Most of the offending cards make liberal use of the word 'fuck'. One shows a traditional image of Jesus beneath which is printed a crude joke involving genitalia. Another shows a pensioner standing next to a Christmas tree with the message: Have a fucking miserable Christmas.

Ann Widdecombe MP said: These cards are profane. Christmas is a Christian festival and should not be associated with swearing and vulgarity. Furthermore it's rotten for parents whose children can see them on open display.

Christmas is a time when everything should be innocent. This just shows the decadence we have slipped into and I would urge people not to buy them.

The Christmas cards are sold in Scribbler, a prominent chain of stationers which specialises in edgy cards by young British graphic designers, as well as the fashion store Urban Outfitters and Selfridges on London's Oxford Street.

A few customers at Scribbler's branch in Kensington High Street gave a few sound bites to the Telegraph silly story writer.

Miranda Francis, a professor at the Royal College of Music, said: I think they are dreadful. I'm not a humour fascist and I've even sent some pretty crude cards to friends for their birthdays – but Christmas is different. These are far too offensive. It's not just offensive for Christians, I think a lot of other religions find these cards offensive. I know a lot of my Muslim friends do.

Antonia Major, a student, said: I don't like them at all. They aren't in the spirit of Christmas at all. Nobody I know would send them and I wouldn't like to get one.

But Lisa Yates, a sales account manager, said: It's really down to the individual whether they are suitable or not. Some of my friends would appreciate them, but I'd never send one to my Nan.

One of the cards, produced by graphic designer Dean Morris, shows a woman carrying an armful of Christmas presents and declaring: fuck off, these are mine.

Morris said: They aren't to everybody's taste I admit, but if everybody in the world hated them I would have gone out of business a long time ago. In fact they sell very well, even if it's a tiny percentage of the overall market. They appeal to young people.

Jonathan Ross is at the centre of a silly Daily Mail story after giving a television interview in which he made a lewd joke about a pig in remarks to chef Jamie Oliver.

His comments - made a month before the Radio 2 'uproar' over Sachs - were included in an early version of a Channel 4 show Oliver will present on the British pig industry next month.

Earlier this month, staff at agency Off The Kerb, which represents Ross contacted the programme’s producers and requested the scene be removed.

A Channel 4 spokesman said: Jamie interviewed Jonathan Ross, who owns pigs himself, as a possible segment for Jamie Saves Our Bacon, which looks at pig welfare. The programme is currently being edited, so we cannot yet confirm exactly what will make the final cut, but it [the interview] is currently not due to be part of the programme.

Tory sound bite nutter, MP Philip Davies, who sits on the Commons Culture Committee, said: Either what Jonathan Ross said during the making of this programme was appropriate or it wasn’t. If it was appropriate in September, why are his representatives trying to suppress it now? If it wasn’t appropriate in September, why has it taken them so long to do something about it?

The BBC is planning to show a gory version of Hansel and Gretel on Christmas Day that shows dummies of dead children hanging by ropes.

The Royal Opera House production, which it has described as perfect family fare for everyone at holiday time will be aired at 3pm on BBC2.

Nutters have criticised the BBC's decision to broadcast it at a time when young children will be watching. The Royal Opera House has recommended that children younger than eight should not see the two-hour show, which culminates in a final scene in which the wicked witch is eaten by the captive children.

Margaret Morrissey, of Parents Aloud, said: There are lots of wonderful children's operas that would be delightful on Christmas Day. If we can't keep out such horrible, gruesome scenes I think we have come to a very sad state of affairs.

But knowing the BBC they will show great delight in broadcasting this, and saying that people like me are Mary Whitehouse fuddy-duddies.

Michele Elliott, founder of the Kidscape charity, described the decision to broadcast it at 3pm as absolutely appalling: Children could be really scared or even traumatised by watching this.

A BBC spokesman said it was within editorial guidelines and would be preceded by an advisory warning. She said it was no different from the darker elements in Roald Dahl or Harry Potter. This is on BBC2 not CBBC. It's a perfect family treat. I think modern audiences will see that it isn't a realistic drama, it's a stage production.

A spokesman for the Royal Opera House said: There is only one particular scene that's a bit gory, that shows dummies of dead children hanging in the fridge. Very shortly afterwards they all come alive and sing and dance and eat the witch.

She said it was recommending children younger than eight did not watch the live performance, but mainly because it was three hours of German opera.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference delegate for media issues, Bishop Peter Ingham, said other countries were miles ahead of Australia when it came to keeping the internet as safe as possible for children.

Comparable western countries, such as the UK, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland already have ISP filtering in operation, Bishop Ingham claimed.

In many of these countries, the ISPs themselves have initiated the filtering in order to live up to the community's expectations that illegal material or material that is harmful to children should not be available on the Internet.

It is disappointing to read reports that Australia's largest Internet provider, Telstra has said it will not participate in trials of the federal government's national internet filter.

Bishop Ingham said the ACBC held the position that whatever could reasonably be done to filter out illegal sites at ISP level, should be done: Arguments that civil liberties will be infringed by internet filtering are absolutely spurious, as the government's proposal simply aims to ensure that the material accessible on the internet is in line with the restrictions already in place in regard to DVDs or publications.

Pornography of any kind is harmful to human dignity and often degrading to women. Research shows that internet pornography is also becoming more and more harmful to marriages and relationships. In particular, every parent knows that much of the pornographic material that can be found on the internet ought not to be accessible to children.

We call on the community to get behind the federal government on this important issue and support its attempts to keep pace with the rest of the world when it comes to cleaning up the Net in a fair and reasonable way.

Thursday was a good day for democracy in Wales. Patrick Jones came to the Welsh Assembly to read from his controversial book of poems, 'Darkness Is Where The Stars Are', whilst 250 Christians sang and prayed outside.

As one of the sponsors of this reading I felt that I had a moral duty to arrange it. Patrick Jones may have sought debate with Christian Voice and others over poems that they consider to be blasphemous and obscene but that does not justify them seeking to shout him down or forcing the cancellation of the launch of his book in Waterstones.

This was never about the poems. I did not set out to upset anybody of any religion. However, I could not stand by and allow a small minority to trample over basic rights to freedom of speech and expression. The National Assembly for Wales is the home of Welsh democracy, it has responsibilities for culture and literature, so it is the ideal place to stage a reading.

...Read full article

Hamsarchat.com, an Iranian dating site which promises to help users find husbands and wives, was fined and ordered to pay back money collected from clients, the Guardian reports.

The move came after a judge consulted senior ayatollahs, known as sources of emulation, following a complaint from Teheran's public prosecutor.

The site marketed itself as Iran's most complete spouse-finding website an promised to link members with the closest person or persons to your standards in return for a 25,000 rial (£1.66) fee.

Potential clients were asked to complete a questionnaire about their, age, height, weight, occupation and invited them to state their attitude towards religion. One option was free of religion.

Morality in Media President Robert Peters has sent a letter to Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) calling on them to stop providing visitors to the www.fosi.org website with direct links to websites that traffic in hardcore pornography and to stop providing these hardcore pornographers with special recognition and benefits for using the ICRA labeling system.

That letter states in part:

What prompted this letter was the discovery that the www.fosi.org website provided visitors with links to commercial websites which pay FOSI to become Associate Members. Many of these websites promote live sex webcams, phone sex lines, pornographic DVDs, and sex toys. Some of the sites also display hardcore pornographic photos and video that can be viewed free of charge and without proof of age. Of its Associate Members, the www.fosi.org Associate Members page says:

FOSI's Associate Membership exists to allow smaller companies...to support FOSI's twin aims of protecting children from potentially harmful material and protecting free speech on the Internet. FOSI is proud to count many companies...as Associate Members.

Mr. Balkam, I do not fault FOSI for attempting to encourage online sex businesses to use the ICRA rating system. I do fault FOSI for a program that is intended to confer respectability on these sordid and often criminal businesses and to imply (assert) that its voluntary rating system is preferable to and an adequate substitute for vigorous enforcement of federal obscenity laws against hardcore pornographers.

Around 250 nutter activists have protested outside the Welsh assembly building about a poetry reading. Protesters sang hymns and some held placards

Patrick Jones was invited by two assembly members to read from his collection Darkness Is Where The Stars Are, which has already led to claims it is obscene and blasphemous.

Stephen Green, director of Christian Voice, said: This turnout shows the strength of feeling of people.  We're seeing the Christian faith attacked on all sides. Now it's under attack in a seat of government in the UK.

Protesters sang hymns and some held placards before the ticket-only event inside the Senedd building.

Nick Bourne, leader of the Welsh Conservatives was at the demonstration, and was asked if he was showing his support. He replied: Yes, essentially. Our group opposed this {reading] at the home of Welsh democracy, promoting something which is anti-Christian and we would say that if it was any recognised religion.

Jones was asked by Labour AM Lorraine Barrett and Liberal Democrat AM Peter Black, who said he wanted to make sure the poet was not gagged. I think this is a good day for democracy. We've head both sides - Patrick has had his poetry reading and it's also important for people to be able to make their views known.

One of the poems that has offended Christians, called Hymn, includes a reference to Mary Magdalene having sex with Jesus.

The nutters campaign group Christian Voice is planning to hijack a controversial poetry reading in the National Assembly.

Patrick Jones, brother of Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire, is reading from his new book in an Assembly committee room at noon.

He was invited to do so by AMs Peter Black and Lorraine Barrett after a Cardiff bookstore, Waterstone’s, cancelled a scheduled reading last month.

Another Cardiff bookshop, Borders, has also invited Mr Jones to read.

But in a notice to members, which has also been posted on other Christian websites, Christian Voice leader Stephen Green said: Well, Borders are inviting Patrick Jones to read his blasphemous poetry at 8pm on Thursday at their Cardiff store.

That is on top of Jones doing a reading in the Assembly T Hywel building the same day at noon, at the invitation of Peter Black AM and militant atheist Lorraine Barrett, against the rules of the Assembly itself, which prohibit material likely to cause offence.

We are holding a Christian witness outside T Hywel from 11.30am and we shall hold another outside Borders [he gives the full address] at 7.30pm.

Religious hatred laws

Based on article from dailypost.co.uk

Tory Assembly leader and nutter Nick Bourne has objected to a controversial poetry reading in the Senedd which he claimed could be illegal under religious hatred laws.

Bourne, on behalf of Tory AMs, wrote to presiding officer Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas to complain that the poet was being given a platform for his poetry: Clearly, the group don’t agree with censorship of people’s views and free expression...BUT...we feel that it is inappropriate for anyone to be given a platform to attack Christianity or any other religion in our National Assembly.

Bourne pointed to section 29 of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 which makes threatening behaviour on religious grounds unlawful.

But Assembly Commission chief executive Claire Clancy said that something more than expression of ridicule, insult or abuse was required under the Act.

She said: I am well aware by now that the works of Patrick Jones contain elements which very many people regard as obscene and insulting. But as far as I am aware there is nothing in them which could be construed as “threatening” to Christians or other religious groups.

The mother of a young woman whose life was wrecked by heroin has called for a new iPhone drug-dealing game to be banned.

Underworld, which will be available to download on the Apple phone later this month, allows players to peddle virtual narcotics in real-world locations.

The free game, previously called Drug Lords but renamed in a bid to get it past Apple’s censors, has been branded outrageous by Thelma Pickard whose daughter Amy has been in a seven-year coma since experimenting with heroin at the age of 17.

Leading drugs charities have also condemned the game, saying it trivialises the harm caused by Britain’s illegal drugs trade.

Thelma said: My daughter’s life has been ruined by drugs. If this game is allowed to come out, impressionable kids will play it and Amy’s mistake will be repeated over and over again. Youngsters like Amy are exactly the people who download and play games like this on their mobiles. I just want to help other families avoid the nightmare that’s wrecked mine.

Church leaders have criticised the BBC for paying millions on Jonathan Ross while failing to invest in the 'equally popular' Songs of Praise.

In a joint submission to Ofcom, the broadcasting watchdog, bishops from the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church call the corporation inconsistent for spending far more on the controversial chatshow host than the religious programme, even though they have similar viewing figures.

The Rt Rev Nick Baines, the Bishop of Croydon, and the Rt Rev John Arnold, the Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, made their comments to Ofcom as part of its review of public service broadcasting.

The bishops say: This is not an obscure or technical issue, but one which affects us all. The survival and flourishing of public service content is not just an economic or political question; it has implications for the kind of society we want to be.

They say that although broadcasters claim public service programmes are unprofitable, the BBC spends far less on programmes dealing with religious and ethical issues than on entertainment shows that attract the same size of audience.

The bishops say: There still remains both confusion and inconsistency about how religious output is viewed and its value to audiences, mostly around the definition of religion on TV.

It is clear that one programme gaining an audience of around four million weekly is regarded as a wild success meriting an £18 million star (Friday Night with Jonathan Ross) while another with a similar audience is regarded as part of an unprofitable genre (Songs of Praise). This seems to be a striking lack of consistency.

The Maldives Ministry of Islamic Affairs has announced  that it would block sidahitun.com, a website promoting Christianity aimed at Maldivians.

Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari said the ministry had consulted experts to find ways to block the site, which was both in Dhivehi and English.

Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed Ahmed, known for his inflammatory sermons, agreed that all anti-Islamic websites should be banned: Although this is an Islamic society, some Maldivians’ faith in Islam is not very strong. If they have access to these websites because their belief in Islam is weak, there might be a negative impact.

A similar view was upheld by scholar Sheikh Usman Abdullah who said that as the Maldives is recognised as a wholly Muslim society, all anti-Islamic activities, including websites promoting Christianity, should be banned.

Samuel Wallace, International Christian Concern’s regional manager for South Asia, said he was alarmed to hear officials in the Maldives were seeking to block Christian websites: As a member of the United Nations, the Maldives has an obligation to protect the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Right. This includes in Article 18 the ‘right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Family First national director Bob McCoskrie is calling on Shell and BP service stations to follow their Australian counterparts' lead and ban porn magazines from their stores.

A year and a half ago Australian petrol stations sealed adult glossies and have now gone a step further and banned them completely.

McCoskrie says it is a precedent New Zealand ought to be following.

The national Freedom From Religion Foundation is filing a lawsuit in federal court against the City of Rancho Cucamonga, California, for taking actions which led to the censorship of its Imagine No Religion billboard.

The nation's largest national association of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics) and a state/church watchdog, said City violated the Foundation's rights under the Establishment Clause and Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Foundation's pretty sign, which was evidently destroyed by General Outdoor Co. after its removal on Nov. 21, had a stained-glass window motif asking viewers to Imagine No Religion and advertising the Foundation's name and website, ffrf.org.

The Foundation had prepaid for the board and contracted for a two-month run beginning in mid-November. The Board had been up for less than a week when it was removed at the apparent instigation of Linda Daniels, Rancho Cucamonga Development Director.

The Defendants' actions conveyed a message that religion is favored, preferred, and promoted by the City of Rancho Cucamonga and its officials, despite subsequent attempts to cover up the Defendants' involvement in sending an objectively understood message disapproving FFRF's billboard, said the Foundation.

The Foundation is seeking reasonable compensatory and punitive damages and attorney's fees.

Nutters of Family First NZ say that family television viewing is saturated with strong language and sexual content.

A Family First investigation of 15 programmes on four free-to-air channels between 6pm and 8.30pm over a period covering November 4 - 13 found a saturation of strong language, sexual innuendo, and promotion of Adult Only programmes.

We were appalled at the constant diet of sexual content and foul language on free-to-air television during times when families should feel safe when watching programmes, says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

Words featured during supposed family viewing times included bitch, fuck, ass, piss, bastard, bloody, and included expressions such as holy fuck, sex with your mother, and shove bottle up his ass

Among the worst offenders was Two And A Half Men which screens on TV2 at 7.30pm. Language included son of a bitch, damn hell, ass, and constant sexual talk including references to licking, stiffy, orgasms, and masturbation.

Also of huge concern was the number of programmes which are rated for Adult viewing only screening well after the watershed time of 8.30, yet were promoted between 6pm and 8.30pm.

Television viewing is an integral part of family life but the so-called family watershed time is being called into question. Broadcasters are normalising the use of foul language and sexual content to children and young people.

This study has revealed that the term ‘broadcasting standards’ is a complete oxymoron. Parents do not want their children bombarded with foul language and sexual content – yet broadcasters are pushing the boundaries with little to no retribution, says McCoskrie.

Family First is calling for television networks to take seriously their responsibility to protect families and children from material that is offensive and disturbs or adversely influences young people’s attitudes and behaviour.

They are also calling for the development and enforcing of higher standards for TV, film, radio and advertising content including levels of violence, sexual content and objectionable language, and a complete overhaul of the BSA, ASA and Censorship Board with regular changing of board members after limited terms of office to avoid desensitisation or lack of accountability.

Standards should be developed according to a family perspective, not an individual rights or freedom of expression perspective, says McCoskrie.

Nutters of the Society for Promotion of Community Standards are calling on the new government to dismiss Chief Censor, Bill Hastings and the Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA), Dominic Sheehan, for their role in commissioning a market researcher, Colmar Brunton, to pay children as young as 14 [to be] subjected to footage of rape, sadism and domestic violence as part of research directed by [these] two broadcasting watchdogs.

In a newspaper report Hastings admitted that the teens had indeed viewed attempted rape and graphic violence, but that much of it went over their head as they practiced a type of self-censor.

Society President John Mills responds Yeah right Bill! and asks: So if children are so skilled at self-censorship and are so oblivious of objectionable content and so unaffected by it, then why are you paid from the public purse over $220,000 per year to censor such material and demand that no adult allow it to be screened to kids, when these same kids can self-censor effectively - so you claim?

Hastings told the Dominion Post that he believed the research on child viewing of rape etc. had proved that parents paid attention to film classifications and were trusting us [the Office of Film and Literature Classification and the BSA] to make a sound call.

Kids under 18 were shown scenes of attempted rape, graphic assaults and domestic violence in the movies Sin City (R18) and 8 Mile (R13), as well as television show Heroes. Violent scenes from episodes of R16-rated Mafia Show The Sopranos, the Adults Only TV Programme Crime Scene Investigation and the R18 Brad Pitt film Fight Club were also shown to the 14 year olds.

An advert featuring the word 'porno' has been criticised after it appeared on Edinburgh's buses.

Nutters whinged at adverts for the film Zack and Miri Make a Porno for exposing young children to the word "porno". And they were further enraged when their complaint to the local authority was blocked by a firewall – because of the word "porno".

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) – which has received 149 complaints over the issue – ruled the posters are acceptable as neither they, nor the film, promote pornography.

Andrea Becquemont, an Edinburgh parent, said she was shocked to see the word emblazoned across Lothian buses. She described the ASA's decision as outrageous. It is an offensive word because it relates to pornography and the sex trade. I'm disgusted they would find it acceptable for children to see that word on a bus which could travel past schools and nurseries.

She e-mailed a complaint regarding the adverts to City of Edinburgh Council, as the major shareholder of Lothian Buses, but it bounced back: If it is acceptable, why won't the council accept an e-mail which contains the word porno, and why is it bleeped out on the radio during the day? Children shouldn't be asking their mum or dad what does porno mean? It's too much.

Iain Coupar, the Lothian Buses marketing director, said: We received one e-mail complaint, which we shared with our advertising agency CBS Outdoor, who are responsible for commercial advertising on our buses. He said the company believed the advert conformed to the British Code of Advertising, and stressed that it had been approved by the ASA and the Committee of Advertising Practice (Cap).

He added: We regret that the advert may have caused some concern. However, we can confirm that all the adverts have now been removed from our buses.

A spokesman for CBS Outdoor said it had consulted Cap on the advert before sanctioning its use across the UK. He said: Cap judged the advert would conform to ASA guidance, which has proved to be the case.

A spokeswoman for ASA said 149 complaints had been received about the posters for the 18-certificate film. She said: It was considered that whilst the word porno and its connotations might be distasteful to some people, the actual film and advert itself contained nothing explicit and that it was not promoting pornography.

A spokesman for Edinburgh council suggested use of an asterisk in e-mails when complaining about an offensive word would get them through the council's firewall. He added: Words like casino, porno and Viagra are blocked by most office e-mail firewalls to stop spam clogging up employee inboxes.

A leading Catholic cleric has launched an attack on Disney, claiming it has corrupted children and encouraged greed.

Christopher Jamison, the Abbot of Worth in West Sussex, has accused the corporation of exploiting spirituality to sell its products and of turning Disneyland into a modern day pilgrimage site.

He argues that it pretends to provide stories with a moral message, but has actually helped to create a more materialistic culture.

In a guide to helping people find happiness, the abbot, who starred in the hit-BBC series The Monastery, warns that society is in danger of losing its soul because of growing consumerism and the decline of religion.

He suggests that many people have become obsessed with work, sex and eating in an attempt to ignore their underlying unhappiness, and criticises corporations and industries that have benefited from promoting false notions of fulfilment.

Jamison, who has been tipped as a contender to succeed Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor as the next Archbishop of Westminster, targets the behaviour of Disney in particular, which he says is a classic example of how consumerism is being sold as an alternative to finding happiness in traditional morality.

While he acknowledges that Disney stories carry messages showing good triumphing over evil, he argues this is part of a ploy to persuade people that they should buy Disney products in order to be a good and happy family.

He cites films such as Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians that feature moral battles, but get into children's imaginations and make them greedy for the merchandise that goes with them.

The message behind every movie and book, behind every theme park and T-shirt is that our children's world needs Disney. So they absolutely must go to see the next Disney movie, which we'll also want to give them on DVD as a birthday present. They will be happier if they live the full Disney experience; and thousands of families around the world buy into this deeper message as they flock to Disneyland.

Where once morality and meaning were available as part of our free cultural inheritance, now corporations sell them to us as products."

Welsh Assembly officials said that they could not stop a reading by a writer whose poetry has angered Christian nutters.

Liberal Democrat AM Peter Black asked Jones to read from his book, Darkness Is Where The Stars Are, to make sure the poet was not “gagged”.

Independent AM Trish Law wrote to Presiding Officer Lord Elis-Thomas to ask him to stop the event on December 11, saying: I am disgusted that, two weeks before Christmas Day, it is proposed to proceed with the reading of blasphemous poems which are an insult to Jesus Christ and to all his followers. She was bitterly disappointed her plea had been turned down.

Assembly Commission chief executive Claire Clancy said: Neither officials nor the Assembly Commission make judgments on the nature or purpose of these events, except to ensure they would not give rise to any legal problems.

Assembly buildings are public buildings, and secular in character. It is our responsibility to ensure that events sponsored by any Assembly Members are always allowed to take place without fear of disruption or intimidation, while respecting the right to peaceful protest.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation's Imagine No Religion billboard, which went up late last week in Rancho Cucamonga, California, for a two-month run, has been censored by General Outdoor Co., which took down the Foundation's vinyl message.

While the Foundation has encountered billboard companies unwilling to lease boards in several locations, this is the first time one of its billboards has been censored after going up.

The colorful billboard carries the Freedom From Religion Foundation's name and website, and boasts a John Lennon-esque statement, Imagine No Religion, against a stained-glass window background.

Foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor called such censorship unprofessional and cavalier: Are religionists so thin-skinned they must squelch free debate? One small freethought billboard in the immense state of California is such a threat to insecure religious egos that it must be censored?

There is nothing insulting in our message. We simply invite the public to think, to imagine a world free from religion. Think of the history of believers warring over their imaginary gods, the fact that more people have been killed in the name of religion than for any other reason! The human race needs to grow up. We should concentrate on improving this world, and stop worrying about the next.

Patrick Jones, the poet who has wound up the nutters of Christian Voice with his atheist poetry has updated the current situation:

Three Welsh AM.s are now trying to get the reading cancelled at the Welsh Assembly due to blasphemy and profanity in the poems and that the UK is a Christian country and believe in freedom of speech ...but - and I promise I have not sent an email or invited them or anything!!! I think it goes to show the knee jerk reactions that abound.

Also Borders have stepped in and we will be launching the book on Dec 11th at the Cardiff store with a further reading in London's Borders - which I hope will show the way that it should have been handled and that the issue was not how Christian Voice heard of the book but their reaction and their destruction of free speech. The venues I am reading at (and I could be reading any poem - even Rowan Williams!) are being bombarded and threatened with calls and emails from CV members and some are quite upset and anxious about this.

Update: Naming the Guilty

21st November. Based on article from freethinker.co.uk

Trish Law, the independent AM for Blaenau Gwent has written to the Assembly’s Presiding Officer, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas to complain about the planned reading of Jones’ poems in the Assembly:

I uphold freedom of speech [...BUT...] I cannot condone the reading of blasphemous, obscene and perverted poems in the National Assembly. We are still a Christian country, yet one that acknowledges and readily accepts other religious beliefs and values. So while we would not tolerate other religions and religious leaders being insulted through verse or deed neither should we expect Christ and Christianity to be subjected to a tirade of anti-Christian rhetoric and profanity.

I implore you to put a stop to this reading on December 11 in the name of decency and humanity.

The line of attack from Conservative Jonathan Morgan is not the same but the upshot of his argument is: the reading - hosted by two AMs, Lorraine Barrett and Peter Black - should not happen:

Patrick Jones seems to think that the freedom of speech is a convenient shield to be used when under attack for being offensive. In exercising that freedom, and in respecting it, we should do so responsibly. [...BUT...] I do not believe that AMs should be wading into the debate by hosting a reading. It is a mistake and opens up the institution to the accusation that it is siding with one opinion without giving the other the same chance of expression.

When a little-known computer software firm created a seemingly harmless virtual internet universe called Second Life five years ago, it had little idea the game would become a global phenomenon.

Today more than 15million users have created their own characters to roam around a virtual world interacting with each other.

But while celebrities and politicians fell over themselves to endorse it and the corporate world queued up to grab a slice of this brand-new market, it also started to be cynically abused and exploited by paedophiles, adulterers and porn addicts.

For behind the hype and the headlines, there's a profoundly worrying underbelly to Second Life.

Far from being a harmless fantasy world, it is a cyber-society where conventional morality has been set aside in favour of a far darker and more worrying pattern of behaviour.

Obsessed with sex and awash with pornography, it is a 'place' where the behaviour of some of its 'residents' is so deeply unedifying it beggars belief that it could ever have been hailed as a lighthearted retreat from the real world.

...Read full article

The decision by Peter Black Welsh Assembly Member to invite the poet Patrick Jones to read his poetry in the National Assembly has been condemned by nutters.

Christian Voice described the event, due to be held on 11th December, as a disgrace to the Assembly itself.

But Peter Black, who is the LibDem's culture spokesman, has now invited Jones, an atheist, to read his poems, which call for an end to Christian worship, in Committee Room 24 of the Assembly at 12 noon on Thursday 11th December.

Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, said:

'This is a creepy event at which Jesus-hating AM's can swoon over poems packed with hatred for Christianity and which speak of Mary Magdalene and the poet having sex with the Lord Jesus Christ. They will also hear Jones' unfettered hatred of Christianity, which he has somehow managed to convince himself is indistinguishable from Islam.

'What they will not hear is Jones insult the prophet Mohammed. He dare not do that at all, let alone in the sexual way he insults Jesus Christ, whom he sees as a soft target.

'Christians in Wales must not take this lying down. We need to stand up for our Lord against this attack on His honour and on the Church itself by Peter Black. He has gone out of his way to show contempt for Christians in Wales . As he is the LibDem Culture Spokesman, that means insulting Jesus Christ is now official LibDem policy. The LibDems have thus become a political party Christians can no longer in conscience vote for or take any part in.'