“The Club” = Cancelled

With great excitement, I write to tell that NBC’s “The Playboy Club” has been cancelled!  After only three episodes, NBC chose to quietly cancel the show.  It goes to show that those of us with concern for conservative values can still cause good things to happen in this country.  The show was cancelled due to low ratings and lack of sponsorship; sponsors were dropping left and right after receiving lots of feedback from concerned Americans.  They did the right thing and pulled their ads.  Thanks to organizations like The War on Illegal Pornography, headed up by Morality in Media, this is a victory.

I continue to receive lots of criticism for writing about this show and asking for support in helping shut it down.  People have been complaining left and right about it and quite frankly, I couldn’t disagree more with their comments.  This show was garbage and propagated the exploitation of women.  It glamorized clubbing and pornography, casual sex and money.  This show highlighted the “cultural manliness” lifestyle.  Those in support of this show and others like it need to take a long hard look at the garbage they are ingesting.  You are welcome to write more comments to me in favor of this show, where you try to tell me how ridiculous I’m being and so on.  They won’t be approved, so I recommend you don’t waste your time.

You cannot disregard moral issues by simply saying “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.”  That doesn’t cut it.  That doesn’t answer the problem.  That’s moral relativism to the nines.  We get that kind of feedback when we protest sexually oriented businesses.  In fact, I got it the other day from a lady driving by in a minivan, with children in her backseat.  She said to me from the turning lane, “Are you guys serious?  Haven’t you guys heard of the saying ‘If you don’t like it, don’t watch it?'”

I responded, “Ma’am, do you have kinds in your van?”  She said yes.  I said, “Protect them from pornography, please!”  She asked again, “Why don’t you just not watch it?”  I said, “That’s not enough.  Pornography is an insidious problem, this is real and this is important.  Are you against drugs?”  I asked her.  She responded, “Of course.”  I said, “Then I couldn’t possibly say to you to tell your children, ‘Then just don’t use drugs’.”  They are more problematic than that.  There is no place for them in our society.  (Same with porn and crap like “The Playboy Club”.)  Anyway, she drove off and I yelled out, “Please protect your children from porn!”

And then I prayed for her.

TrueMan up!

“The Playboy Club” is Bombing!!!

Here is an update from Executive Director Dawn Hawkins of The War on Illegal Pornography on NBC’s “The Playboy Club”.  Great news!

“NBC and Playboy were ALMOST convincing last night as they struggled to portray that life as a bunny was everything BUT being treated as an object to be exploited by men. This week, the episode followed the bunnies and their opportunity to be featured on the cover of Playboy magazine.

The bunnies were asked why they wanted to be the new cover girl. I found the answers almost comical with responses like, “In my bunny suit, I’m in total control,” or “I want to show people that I can do big things,” and “I always dreamed of finding some place where I belonged… so, here I am.”

What type of woman would buy into that? Playboy doesn’t show the world that these women are smart and independent.Instead, they show women that their role is to just be a visual, sexual object to be used and discarded by men.

This has been Playboy’s stance on women since their first issue in 1953. We recently found this text from the first issue. “If you’re a man between the ages of 18 and 80, Playboy is meant for you… We want to make it clear from the very start. We aren’t a ‘family magazine.’ If you’re somebody’s sister, wife, or mother-in-law and picked us up by mistake, please pass us along to the man in your life and get back to your Ladies Home Companion…”

Playboy has made it clear that their brand is not about making the world a better, more accepting place for women. It was a man’s world and that is exactly how they want “The Playboy Club” on NBC to be – a man’s world where women just look pretty and keep the scotch pouring.

Since our efforts last week of contacting advertisers, already SEVEN companies have pulled their ads and refused to support the Playboy brand – Kraft, Sprint, Lenovo, UPS Store, Subway, PF Chang’s China Bistro and Campbell’s Soup.

The show also bombed in their ratings – a 19% decrease from their already low ratings last week! We see this as a huge victory and are continuing the effort this week. The contact information for the current advertisers is updated on www.CloseTheClubOnNBC.com. Contact these companies weekly and tell them how exploitive and objectifying “The Playboy Club” is towards women and why it should be closed!”

“How Many Performers Must Become Infected?”

There are many things seriously wrong with this article (below) from the LA Times.  Not grammatical errors, or sentence structure problems – real problems, with the content and the attitude.  I am sickened by the lack of respect for human dignity that our society demonstrates over and over.  As if the other proven problems with the pornography industry aren’t enough (abuse, STDs, rape, domestic disputes, failed/troubled/destroyed marriages, damaged children, and so on) they are spreading killer diseases like HIV around.  Obviously, this is not the first case of a porn actor/actress with HIV.  How degrading to be “a generational partner.”

I have so many problems, I have to respond below in RED.  The article is in GRAY italics.

(LOS ANGELES TIMES) After an adult film performer (performer? – these are far from performances) tested HIV positive, production has ceased for the billion dollar porn industry (let’s be clear… it’s not the billion as in one billion, but as in 100+ billion dollars. No small potatoes) across Los Angeles until further testing can confirm the results, an industry trade group said.

“Until we know for sure, we’ve asked the industry to have a moratorium on production,” said Diane Duke, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, a Canoga Park-based porn industry trade group. (Free Speech – laughable!  Porn isn’t free speech, it’s addictive, harmful and detrimental to society.  It should not be protected under the 1st Amendment.  In fact, all production and distribution of hardcore pornography is ILLEGAL!  It’s just not regulated, nor is it prosecuted.)

Duke’s group became aware of the possible HIV case Saturday. Duke would not say how her group learned about the possible HIV case.

Adult film production companies across the San Fernando Valley were notified Monday morning that a performer had tested positive and they were urged to temporarily halt productions until further tests were completed.

Duke said company officials she spoke with agreed to the temporary shutdown.

The performer’s name, age or gender has not been released and further testing will likely be completed within a week.

Currently, performers who had sex with the potentially infected person are in the process of being notified. (Again, how degrading!  Pray for the men and women involved in this horrible industry.)

“Retesting and confirmation is underway as is the process of identifying and testing first- and second- generation partners,” Duke said, referring to those who had sex with the person who tested HIV positive or with one of that person’s sex partners. (This should be disturbing to everyone.  People should realize that sexual involvement, at any stage and in any fashion and with anyone, is serious and should be kept sacred.  It’s not about just one or two, but continues on with everyone else that those one or two are sexually involved with in the future.  When someone is bouncing around from bed to bed to bed, they are not only effecting that person, but everyone who comes after them and on down the line.  Marriages are being negatively affected because of this snowballing momentum.)

Adult film performers must be tested every 30 days and show proof of a clean test before they perform, according to voluntary industry standards. (I cynically doubt that the industry is regulating itself like this in all locations.  In fact, I am so cynical about any regulation within the industry that it’s an outrage that they even have “industry standards”. Sickening.)

Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said the latest possible HIV infection showed an “outrageous disregard for the health and safety of performers and the community at large” and demonstrates why testing is not an adequate substitute for condoms. He called on L.A. city officials to pull all adult film permits until condoms are mandated. (The only adequate substitute is CHASTITY!  Not condoms.  Living chastity is the one and only answer to our culture’s sex issues, which translate into many other areas and issues.  Chastity is the key.)

“How many performers must become infected with HIV and other serious STDs before the industry will clean up its act and government will do the right thing?” he said. (That’s right… when is the US GOVERNMENT going to do the right thing?!?!?  It’s already in our laws as ILLEGAL!  When is the US Attorney General (Eric Holder) going to do something about this industry that is negatively impacted our world?!)

TrueMan up!

“Skirt Covering the Knees, Leg Warmers, Boots, a Half-Sleeved Shirt…”

These are words that have never come out of my mouth as to something I was wearing.  Other than the boots part.  Skirt?  Leg Warmers?  Geez.  I thought this story was a joke when I first saw it about two weeks ago, but apparently, it’s not.  This guy actually exists.  I looked up his “art”… very disturbing.  I don’t recommend it.  In fact, I suggest you don’t.  It’s a bit pornographic and very sacrilegious.  There are very clear and problematic issues with this male’s stance… it is the same problem that we see often in our culture; the oxymoron of feminine-men and masculine-women.  Put plainly, when men and women lose their gender roles and responsibilities, there is a disorder happening and things get all out of whack.  As I’ve written several times before, our Church and many of Her leaders (including Blessed John Paul II) emphatically teach “equal in dignity, difference in roles.”  It’s the only thing that makes sense.

I’m glad the Vatican stands up to this sort of behavior.  If an institution in America did this, they’d be sued, all over the lib-media and denounced as intolerant and judgmental.  The Vatican plays by different rules.  Thank goodness.  Here’s the story…

“Mumbai-based artist Julius Macwan has felt strongly about women’s causes for a long time — in solidarity of which he wears skirts, a statement that he feels underlines his connection with and sympathies for the fairer sex. But this very ‘rule breaking’ got him into a bit of a conundrum in Rome last week.

Julius, a Roman Catholic by birth, inspired by Italy’s greats Michelangelo and Bernini in his art, named after Roman emperor Julius Caesar was ironically stopped at the very gates he was longing to pass through for a very long time — he was forbidden from entering the Vatican because he was in a skirt.

“I was in a state of shock, my mind was numb,” Macwan, now back in Mumbai, recalled. “My most famous work is inspired by the Pieta, it is also called the Pieta/The Death of Magic. I wanted to see the Pieta in the Vatican, had dressed formally for the occasion — skirt covering the knees, leg warmers, boots, a half- sleeved shirt. You can say my outfit was inspired by Roman warriors of the past.”

It might be interesting to note that Macwan’s Pieta/The Death of Magic depicts a self portrait of Julius himself, in a skirt, holding the body of a woman in a bikini, representative of the magic of womanhood dying in a male-controlled world. Macwan’s Pieta is now part of Harsh Goenka’s collection.

The original Pieta, (which has four versions, the most famed being in the Vatican) sculpted by Italian genius Michelangelo depicts the Virgin Mary distraught as she holds the body of Christ.

Despite his knees being covered, Macwan was stopped at the gates and asked if he were Scottish (because his attire resembled the kilt).

“I didn’t know till I reached the Vatican that the dress code requires shoulders and knees to be covered. Mine were covered, though I was in a skirt, but when I said I wasn’t Scottish, the person at the gate wouldn’t let me through,” he said. The person seemed to be a priest – he was in a white buttoned smock. “I was thrilled to be at the Vatican, I’m Roman Catholic, named after the Roman Caesar, I was in his city, my work deals with the Pieta, I was wearing Roman-inspired clothing, thinking in this visit, destiny completes itself.” Clearly, it was not to be. The person at the gate pointed to his skirt, and said, ‘You cannot go in. If you argue, I’ll call the police.”

Macwan didn’t go in. He feels, however, that “more than racist, the episode was chauvinistic.” “I was stopped because I wore a skirt, not because I was showing my knees. There was another guy going in later, in what appeared to be swimming trunks, his knees were showing. But he was let in.”

Though he didn’t get to see the Pieta, Macwan says he feels ‘strangely empowered’ by the incident. “I was in a skirt, I was not allowed in – my work deals with this theme.” And he is not registering any complaints against what he calls the ‘fundamentalism’ of religion. “Though I was humiliated, I am not complaining.” Macwan will instead, channel his experience into another Roman inspired work of art – this time depicting the scene outside the Vatican!”

Porn Shop Shuts Down Near Buffalo, NY

Lots of people ask us if we believe that we can make a difference with our protests of sexually oriented businesses.  We always answer “Of course!”  When we’re out there, it’s easy to question our effectiveness, but we do make a difference.  The Catholic men’s group in Buffalo, NY knows this well, too.  They call themselves The Men of Jesus Christ.  I suggest you check out their website.  Here’s a recent story from them about a porn shop they were instrumental in shutting down.

Now this isn’t news from the Wall Street Journal, but for us in this small town of Kenmore NY, it is a tremendous victory.  I am talking about the Village Books and News adult shop located in one of the most densely populated family areas in Buffalo.  It is a full fledged porn shop and has been in the town for over 30 years.  Indecency laws have been passed to ban pornography shops in the town, but since this the shop was established before the laws were passed, they were grandfathered in, and has remained the eye-sore of the community.  The other day as I was passing by I noticed that the neon sign that says “Adult Video” has been turned off for the first time in 30 years, and a sign that says the store is closed.  A shop that was open 24 hours a day is now gone.

The last time people protested the establishment was in the days of its inception back in the late 70’s and since then it has been tucked in a plaza that most people don’t pay attention to, not because they feel it isn’t harmful, but because it has been there for so long, and its reign has finally come to an end.

It wasn’t until a couple years ago when a couple of us guys decided to pray out there on a weekly basis when a revival began, and it was met with a fight.  We decided to engage in prayer and nothing else in front the place.  Peaceful and prayerful.  We were met with the police threatening arrest, to people screaming and shouting at us, to engaging conversation from people wondering what we were doing.  This one time we were praying as we usually do, and a guy was walking toward us.  When he passed us, there was no eye contact, no conversation, and he planted himself right next to us and started praying with us. When we finished, he kept on his way.  It was simply an amazing act of the Holy Spirit.  It is difficult though.  There was a time when a couple of girls were passing by and asked us what we were doing. We told them and they were shocked, only because they felt there there is nothing wrong with it. After a long conversation. the one girl admitted that her father had a huge porn addiction and went on to explain how that affected her as a female and her relationships with other men.  It was touching, but at the same time devastating.

I have a tendency to think we were doing good out there, but when it comes down to it, it was God’s will that lead the way. I cannot help to think that it was prayer that led to the shutdown of this joint, and it was difficult, to say the least to keep it going.  In Buffalo, when its cold, well, its COLD.  And during prayer we got in the habit of kneeling as we sung the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, which needless to say was not pleasant to listen to when you hear voices like ours.  We know it had an effect though.  There was a night when we started singing, and the clerk as he heard us, would increase the volume of a movie playing in the shop.  As he raised the volume inside, we raised the volume outside. You just knew there was a spiritual battle taking place.  We would start with the St. Michael prayer and then entrust the closing of this place to Mary, a living sign of purity, the real Woman, followed by a rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  It was our Mother that guided the closing of this place.  It is Her that is leading this mission.

I want to simply conclude that anyone reading this can make a difference in your area.  All you need to do is say YES!  Say yes to going to a place to pray in public even if it makes you feel incredibly uncomfortable.  Christ knows that, and all He asks is for you to be His vessel and He will do the rest. Christ has allowed us to be disciples in His mission and He is calling you too!  You just need to answer the call.  Three guys joined together in prayer in front of multiple indecent shops and this is what God has brought from it:
1) We prayed out in the warmth and the cold for such a long time, and this book shop shuts down after over 30 years.
2) We prayed once outside of the hamburg strip club, the place shuts down a few weeks later
3) We prayed and acted on the pornographic building with a cover sign facing all traffic of a major turnpike, the sign was removed within 2 weeks after the owner said it would never come down.
4) Family Video has yet to get a tenant to their building, which is the cornerstone to them staying economically viable.
This was achieved with a small number of guys. You men reading this can do the same.  What if there were 10 guys?  What if there were 20 guys?  What if there were 100 guys? What of there were teams scattered around the city protesting these places?  We could change an entire community!

You are being called as men to organize and shut these places down, which includes porn shops, strip clubs, and abortion clinics.  If you have not been out, get motivated to change this culture, and in return God will take care of the rest. We will be engaging in more battles to come so stay tuned to the site.  Stay strong brothers and God Bless

Close ‘The Club’ on NBC

Many groups, including Morality in Media, The Pink Cross Foundation and the Coalition for the War on Illegal Pornography, are working hard to fight a new show that is supposed to begin airing on NBC in the fall.  “The Playboy Club” will glamorize and celebritize pornography – this is not a good thing.  Many people are in denial, or more perfectly stated, are simply ignorant, to the facts of the dangers of pornography.  Study after study show the negative effects, and the law is already in place (ALL hardcore pornography is illegal) but little-to-nothing is done about it.  Please support these groups and get Attorney General Eric Holder and the rest of the Department of Justice involved and prosecuting illegal pornography!  Our obscenity and decency laws must be enforced.

Here is an article written on just part of the battle.  (From Fox News.)

NBC’s new series “The Playboy Club” hasn’t even aired its first episode, and some people already want it off the air.

First, NBC’s Salt Lake City, UT affiliate, KSL-TV, refused to air the show, saying that their station is “completely inconsistent with the Playboy brand.”

Now an anti-porn foundation is determined to shut down the show completely

“What’s shown in ‘The Playboy Club’ is not real—Playboy definitely damages people. It’s pornography, it’s sex trafficking and it exploits women,” the founder of Pink Cross, ex porn actress Shelley Lubben, tells FOX411.com. “The series looks like it’s all cute, taking place back in the old days—it seems harmless, but then they show a quick clip of three people going at it in the bathroom. NBC is breaking the law with this show—they’re not meeting FCC standards.”

The nonprofit group Morality in Media agrees.

“We’re launching a big effort with our web site, closetheclubonnbc.com,” Dawn Hawkins, executive director, Morality In Media, tells FOX411.com. “We’re asking supporters to sign the pledge to and to contact their local NBC affiliates and ask them not to air the show. And as soon as we discover who is sponsoring the show, we’ll ask our supporters to contact them as well.”

Hawkins charges that “The Playboy Club” glamorizes pornography. “We know now, years later, that pornography is very harmful to society. It leads to addiction in children and adults, increased sex trafficking violence against women—and ‘Playboy’ is really the root of all of this. We just don’t want to see it glamorized any further, which it will be if it’s aired on NBC.”

With NBC in fourth place among broadcast networks, new president Steve Burke is under intense pressure to increase ratings. “When he was appointed, Burke said he was going to push the envelope,” Hawkins explains. “They want to get their ratings up, and they know that controversy surrounding this show might help.”

While “The Playboy Club” might help NBC’s sagging ratings, it could also run afoul of federal law.

“We don’t know the specific content of ‘The Playboy Club’ yet, but reports are that it will include simulated sex and nudity,” attorney and president and CEO of Morality in Media Patrick A. Truman tells FOX411.com. “Simulated sex can be prosecuted by Department of Justice as obscene and nudity, so long as it is not obscene, can be prosecuted by the FCC. The U. S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit struck down FCC’s indecency regulations, but that ruling has application only in that circuit. The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear an appeal of that ruling. We will file an amicus brief.”

In addition to Morality in Media’s filing, Truman is issuing a warning to the network—and to Playboy.

“Every advertiser on The Playboy Club will be boycotted, every local affiliate of NBC will be bombarded by a very large segment of society that is sick and tired of those making money off the sexual exploitation of women,” he said. “The NBC brand, as well as Playboy will suffer great cost.”

NBC did not responded to FOX411.com’s request for comment.

Some People Just Don’t Get It

Working for a ministry that has chosen to take on a moral evil, pornography, we find ourselves getting all kinds of responses.  Today, we received an email from, as he put it, “a disgusted individual”.  If after we handle the situation I deem it appropriate to place some of the things he wrote in his “disgusted” email on the site, I will.  For now, however, I will speak to the general tone of pornography and the misunderstood ideology that often accompanies pornography in our country.

Porn is harmful.  The women in the sex industry that have turned their lives away from porn admit this to no end.  (Check out the work former porn actress Shelley Lubben is doing.)  Women are being exploited and MEN SHOULD NEVER EXPLOIT WOMEN, whether they walk into the situation or not.  IT IS NOT OKAY TO EXPLOIT WOMEN!!!

Porn is not a “free expression of sexuality”.  It is a disorder – an intimacy disorder.  The “disgusted individual” assumed that because we were out in front of a sexually oriented business (SOB) with our protest last evening, that we are against sex.  Not the case.  In fact, ALL of the men who were out in front of the SOB last evening are very fond of sex – but only within the context of marriage and chastity within marriage.  We don’t try to suppress sexuality, we want people to know about the right use of sexuality, which is never the use or abuse of an individual.  If sex is performed outside of the marital union, it is abused.  Plain and simple.  There is no way around it.

The “disgusted individual” also commented that we were somehow related to radical Muslim extremists that bombed the World Trade Centers nearly 10 years ago.  Can you believe this guy?!?!  We’re peacefully and prayerfully protesting a business that exploits women, destroys marriages and harms children (not to mention leads to abortion, rape, incest, domestic violence, child abuse, contraception and divorce) NOT blowing up buildings with airplanes.  Nice try, buddy, but that’s not going to fly with us.

And, he mentioned several times in his email that we were “forcing our beliefs down other people’s throats.”  I’ve heard this a lot before.  By standing out in front of this SOB, we are not forcing anything.  We are trying to raise awareness of the danger and evil of pornography by spreading the Truth.

Bob – I hope that you read this and I hope that we can converse some day in person.  You are misguided sir and your argumentation is lacking.  I hope to, in our in person conversation, share with you, with the utmost respect and charity, the reality of what’s going on with the sex industry and how your disdain for those of us who are “do gooders”, as you referred to in the email, are attempting to make our world a better, safer, more moral and healthy place to live.

TrueMan up!

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