Free Republic

Recently, a colleague of mine tuned into the local sports-talk radio station, expecting to hear an analysis of the previous Sunday's NFL games. What he got instead was a lesson on how technology and cultural decay have poisoned our public discourse. As part of its Monday morning NFL postmortem, the program went over the predictions made by sportscasters and other experts. It then compared their results to that of a "control" group comprising people with no particular expertise in pro football. What made this "control group" noteworthy was their occupation: They were porn stars affiliated with Vivid Entertainment, one of...

<p>Mary Carey (search), the porn actress who ran for California governor in the recent recall election, is among the hosts, joining fellow adult-film stars Tabitha Stevens and Ginger Lynn.</p> <p>Silhouette Productions (search) announced plans Monday to shoot seven one-hour shows, with plans to start broadcasting on iN DEMAND Networks and other pay-per-view channels on Jan. 8.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON — Efforts to shield children from pornography, obscenities and other materials inappropriate for young eyes continue to hit legal obstacles that raise questions about how much online smut is protected by First Amendment rights (search).</p> <p>The Supreme Court earlier this month agreed to hear arguments over the 1998 Child Online Protection Act (search), a law that criminalized online transmission for commercial purposes of material harmful to minors. First-time violators face six months in jail and $50,000 in fines.</p>

Fox's smutty and wildly hyped "Skin" is bombing, along with most of the rest of the new television season, and Tinseltown execs just can't figure out why. Gee, why wouldn't people want to see a TV version of "Romeo and Juliet" set in the porn industry, a story where the pornographer is depicted as the ideal family man and the prosecutor is a villain? Obviously they have better taste. Only 6.3 million people in the entire nation watched the debut of "Skin," which scored a dismal 2.7 rating in the prized demographic of adult viewers under 50. The plunge in...

Morality in Media: FOX's Fake 'Skin' -- In Reality, Hardcore Pornography Business is Debased and Illegal 10/20/03 4:54:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Patrick McGrath of Morality in Media, 212-870-3217; http://www.moralityinmedia.org NEW YORK, Oct. 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Robert Peters, president of Morality in Media, had the following comments in response to tonight's launch of "Skin" on FOX TV Entertainment: "'Skin' pits a Los Angeles-based hardcore pornographer against a Los Angeles District Attorney charged with enforcing state laws against obscenity and child pornography. "According to TV critics who have seen the program pilot (see, e.g., Frank Rich, 'Finally,...

After a 21-year ban, the Cosmo girl is set to return to Singapore, although only in a shrink-wrapped, body-hugging cover to prevent undesired peeping, government officials announced this week. Keeping the Cosmo girl company will be the Sex and the City quartet of strong-willed New York women whose exploits in and out of bed have attracted an army of fans around the world. The move to allow the woman's magazine Cosmopolitan back on the shelves - it was banned two decades ago for "unhealthy values" - and Sex and the City on cable TV after 10pm is part of a...

If children read anything in the newspapers anymore, it's still the Sunday comics section -- that inviting spread of colored cartoon art, that staple of Silly Putty advertising. One of the industry's best-known cartoonists is Garry Trudeau, the envelope-pushing baby boomer creator of "Doonesbury." He's now delivered controversy again with his signature. He sent to his syndicate a Sunday strip with a new topic: masturbation. "There's a new study that suggests regular masturbation prevents prostate cancer," says one of the strip's characters, the oh-so-relevant Reverend Scot Sloan. A few panels later, slacker Zonker arrives to announce "self-dating prevents cancer." Trudeau...

<p>THAT steam coming from your TV set this fall isn't a mechanical malfunction. It's the sizzle from the sexiest season in broadcast history.</p> <p>Smarting from the notion that cable is stealing viewers through salacious content and overall changing attitudes about what is acceptable to American audiences these days, broadcast network executives have decided to push the limits when it comes to sexual content.</p>

FOX TV's 'Temptation Island' Is Not Only Sleazy, Exploitative, and Mean-Spirited -- It's Playing with Fire, Says Morality in Media 8/27/03 4:27:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Patrick McGrath of Morality in Media, 212-870-3222 Web site: http://www.moralityinmedia.org NEW YORK, Aug. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Robert Peters, president of Morality in Media, had the following comments regarding tomorrow's onset of the third season of FOX TV's "Temptation Island." "When I first heard about FOX TV's 'Temptation Island,' four thoughts came to mind: sleazy, exploitative, mean spirited (or sadistic), and playing with fire. Now in its third season, Temptation Island's...

Even as the leftist American Library Association continues to denounce anti-porn Internet filters, librarians in Minneapolis have settled their lawsuit over workplace exposure to Web smut for $435,000. "We believe the financial settlement in this case sends a strong message to libraries around the country that they must take the concerns of their employees seriously," the 12 librarians said in a joint statement. "The agreement includes changes or potential changes in several operating areas, chiefly the beefing up of penalties against Internet violators. A violator could be suspended from all city libraries for up to one year after repeated violations,...

I was saddened to see that the local FOX affiliate had stooped to playing a homosexual-centric movie on a Sunday afternoon. If you live in the area, or even if you don't, why not give FOX-13 WHBQ a call and voice your concern? Here's a link to WHBQ's website:FOX13 WHBQ MemphisHere's a link to the movie description at IMDB: Love! Valour! Compassion!

Penthouse Publisher Files for Bankruptcy August 12, 2003 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - General Media Inc., a subsidiary of Penthouse International Inc. (OTC BB:PHSL.OB) and the publisher of the racy adult magazine Penthouse, on Tuesday said it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection so it can restructure its operations and debt. General Media said it made the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. It has closed on a $5 million debtor-in-possession line of credit from some of its secured bondholders. The parent company, Penthouse International, was not included in the filing. General Media said it still plans to...

Larry believes that while he may be the American poster boy for sleaze; he openly portrays himself as a “smut peddler,” Californians will overlook his penchant for pornography. WorldNet Daily reports Larry as saying, ‘“California is the most progressive state in the union,’ Flynt told the Los Angeles Times. ‘I don't think anyone here will have a problem with a smut peddler as governor.’”

It's June 30, an otherwise bland, sunny Monday, and Washington, D.C., area commuters fiddling with their radio buttons are about to get drenched in audio smut again. It's one thing to go looking for gutter-wallowing shows like Howard Stern's. It's another thing when nearly every morning radio show is pushing sex, sex and more sex -- and the more outrageous, the better. Imagine you have your 12-year-old daughter with you in the car. You turn on the radio to catch the "Sports Junkies" on WHFS, a 50,000-watt station covering both Washington and Baltimore. What's the top sports story of the...

The American Library Association (ALA), our librarians, are entrusted with the books and reference materials chronicling the world’s development. Basically, if you are a librarian you have seen it all. Unfortunately, the librarians want everyone else to see it all also, even our children

You know the old joke, "I went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out." Well, the other night, I tuned into a hockey game and smut broke out, all over. A confession: I don't ever watch 'regular' TV at home. It's not just that the quality of programming is poor (it is), or that I despise the politics of most of those involved in the industry (I do), it is the constant visual and verbal barrage of smut, sleaze and sex – and that's just the commercials. Having grown up in the '60s I am...

DO NOT ENTER THIS THREAD!!!! It will contain vulgar materials in moments. We have a disrupter on the forum. We have alerted the management and they will be taking down some very inappropriate materials ASAP. This is more than likely a federal crime. It will be reported. I appologize on behalf of the forum management. Sadly, there are some pretty sick people out there. DoughtyOne

This Media Life You've Got Sex Or rather, dear America Online, you had it. But as the suits at Time Warner prudishly looked away, you squandered your lead as the nation's leading purveyor of dirty chat. By Michael Wolff The theatrical effort to revive America Online is not just a business soap opera but one of those great, almost poignant instances of the culture going one way and a heroic, albeit oddly out-of-it, ragtag group thinking it can hold fast against the tide. Here's the real rub: AOL's fundamental business -- which has always been a level or two down...

SUN 12/22, 8 pm, MTV -- This witty 2002 cable comedy drama satirizes the abstinence only sex education program promoted by the federal government. Lizzy Caplan turns in a nuanced performance as Angela, a high school student who is considering losing her virginity to her boyfriend. She returns home after a summer out of town to discover that her school has instituted a "just say no" approach to sex ed, and soon questions the wisdom of a class that she says relies on "scare tactics." Brook D'Orsay plays Caroline, a fellow student who tries to win points with teachers by...

<p>The Supreme Court is not testing the limits of free "speech" so much as it is obliterating them. The latest example is Ashcroft v. The Free Speech Coalition, a decision holding that Congress may not prohibit child pornography created by using adults who look like minors or by using computer imaging. Justice Kennedy's majority opinion described the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 as "proscrib[ing] a significant universe of speech" that fell "within the First Amendment's vast and privileged sphere." Since such speech was not "obscene" under the court's prior definition and did not involve real children in its production, the court found that the government had no constitutionally adequate grounds to suppress it.</p>