Nutter News

Top Gear's Christmas special had a bit of fun with religious themes.

The show with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond,  nd James May included a joke with a little baby Stig doll as Jesus in a manger.

The show was a ratings hit, but the send-ups and flippant remarks triggered a few nutter whinges.

The presenters posed as the Three Wise Men to drive through Middle East countries. At one stage, they even wore burkas.

The Daily Star reports a few minor whinges on TV discussion forums and that hate preacher Anjem Choudary said: The burka is a symbol of our religion and people should not make jokes about it in any way. It would have been equally bad even if they'd not been in a country mainly populated by Muslims.

Comment: A Bastion Against PC

30th December 2010. From Andrew

What the fuck?

Seriously, that's the only way I can express my thoughts for what has to be the most ridiculous subject ever.

Why is it, Top Gear goes to a foreign country and makes a few HARMLESS jokes, and the nutters are in uproar? Why is it people can come to the UK with their views and opinions, and be honoured for them, yet when we make a slight hint of a joke about a god that MIGHT NOT EVEN EXIST (face it, have you seen him?) there's pandemonium.

Why is religion such a pain in the ass? I salute the Top Gear team for doing what Top Gear has always done. Provided entertainment. They have not been trampled on by those silly PC pricks who claim you can't say that, it might upset 1 out of 6 billion people.

A counter petition has launched to protest Apple's decision to ban an iPhone app opposing gay marriage.

The Manhattan Declaration app, which allowed Apple users to add their name to the ecumenical document in support of the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and religious liberty, was pulled from the App Store over the Thanksgiving holiday after a group of activists rightfully charged the app as anti-gay.

Some 7,700 Change.org members petitioned the company to ask them to pull the app, contending the statement contained hateful and divisive language.

Supporters of the Christian declaration are now fighting back with a petition of their own. As of Friday afternoon, over 37,000 people have signed the petition launched by the organizers of the Manhattan Declaration asking Apple to reinstate the app.

The petition addressed to Apple founder Steve Jobs and the company itself asserts that the positions espoused in the declaration are based on biblical Christianity. The letter rejects claims that the declaration promoted hate or homophobia: Disagreement is not hate, the petition states. We urge you and Apple, therefore, to promote communication and civil dialogue on these important social issues by reinstating the Manhattan Declaration App.

Update: Petition Refused

29th December 2010. See  article from  christianpost.com

More than 46,000 people signed a petition asking Apple to reinstate the Manhattan Declaration app, which is based on a document that upholds religious understanding of marriage and the sanctity of life.

But organizers behind the Manhattan Declaration said they were notified last week that the resubsmission was not accepted.

Apple is telling us that the apps' content is considered 'likely to expose a group to harm' and 'to be objectionable and potentially harmful to others, they said: Apple's statement amounts to the charge that our faith is 'potentially harmful to others.'

Those behind the Manhattan Declaration called the latest rejection by Apple appalling.

Organizers plan to take their rejected app matter to Apple's App Review Board.

Indian film actor Kamal Haasan has said that a song in his latest film Manmadan Ambu will be deleted from the movie in the interest of all religions .

The decision to delete the song has been made with a view to ensure people of all faiths see and enjoy the film. Had it been my production, I would have released the censor board certification which did not object to the contents, said Kamal.

The Hindu Makkal Katchi objected to the song saying it hurt the sentiments of Hindus. The song Kannodu Kannai Kalandhal reportedly speaks about a woman's desire and has references to deities Aranganathar and Sri Varalakshmi.

Daily Mail hacks have been glued to their sets for another episode of Frankie Boyle's Tramadol Nights.

They spotted that:

During Tuesday night's show a female character was dressed up as sexualised Super Mario character and uttered the phrase: Hello to Pakis everywhere .

Later in the show he used the word again when talking about Western forces in Afghanistan before using the word n****r .

In the same episode there were also repeated jokes about women who wear burkas. He then added: All very funny till I get shot in the car park.

There were also jokes about Madeleine McCann, dead British soliders, as well as rape and the crossbow cannibal murders.

Vivienne Pattison of Mediawtch-UK was given a Christmas break from sound bite duty and instead the 'outrage' was provided by Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation who said the scenes were disgusting . If he has used those words on a public broadcaster it is abhorrent. People at home watching that will think that this sort of language terminology is acceptable in the 21st century.

Update: Whittering On

24th December 2010. Based on article from  metro.co.uk

The Daily Mail have caused a little interest from a serial sound bite nutter.

MP John Whittingdale, chairman of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, slammed Frankie Boyle saying: The words nigger and Paki are deeply offensive to a large number of people. I don't think even in comedy it is justified.

He has written to the TV censor Ofcom, calling Boyle a serial offender.

Channel 4 is continuing to back to back Boyle. In response to complaints of racism, a spokesman said: Channel 4 would not have broadcast these words had they been used in a racist way. All the jokes highlight the unacceptable nature of this language. Boyle's cutting edge comedy aimed to ridicule and satirise the use of the controversial words, and Channel 4 would not have broadcast them if they been used in a racist way.

But maybe the viewers aren't quite so wound up. The Guardian notes: Media regulator Ofcom and Channel 4 are understood to have cumulatively received a handful of complaints about the broadcast.

After a second review, the Philippines MTRCB (Movies and Television Review and Classification Board) gave Father Jejemon a G rating (for General Patronage).

That was after the two controversial scenes, shown in the trailer, were cut, one showing the Holy Eucharist accidentally dropping into the cleavage of a woman communicant and the other with the Holy Eucharist caught in the dentures of another woman communicant.

Some sectors, including priests, denounced the scenes as sacrilegious and called on the public to boycott the movie.

I meant no harm nor malice with those scenes, said Dolphy actor Dolphy.

Air New Zealand is removing a billboard in Nelson with the tagline Fares lower than your grandma's boobs after it sparked complaints that it is tacky, ageist and disrespectful to women.

The billboard was advertising Air NZ's cheap seat site, Grabaseat.

Stop Demand Foundation, which campaigns against sexual violence and sex abuse, wanted the billboard taken down and an apology from Air NZ. Yes, most of us like 'edgy and provocative', said Stop Demand founder Denise Ritchie.... [BUT] .. Most of us don't like, or accept, 'sexist and ageist'. Most of us know the difference. Apparently you do not.

Grabaseat manager Duane Perrott said the slogan was an entry in a competition from a Wellington resident whose grandmother lived in Nelson: What this person thought was funny, as did many others, clearly didn't resonate with some individuals today and Grabaseat will be removing the billboard shortly. We apologise if any offense was caused.

Family First had also called for the withdrawal of the billboard, saying it insulted grandparents and would be seen by children.

Frankie Boyle is a comedian who has made a career from saying what a lot of people are thinking. That being said, his Channel 4 stand up / skit show Tramadol Nights , isn't great. Boyles stand up is considerably funnier, and more enjoyable than the fill in sketches. However, the material used in his stand up segments is actually quite dated (as far as his shows are concerned). Several jokes have been used before in (Boyles) break out BBC series Mock the week (especially this week, when a regularly used line, about his girlfriends sex face looking like their young son in pain). And last weeks Katie Price upsetting lines, have been used frequently in Boyles stand up shows. Yet she's never complained to the distributor of his DVDs.

HOWEVER. it is common knowledge that he pushes the envelope, and appears to deliberately set out to offend. Something Channel 4 has always embraced. But in my opinion, Channel 4 are not to blame. They're broadcasting the show after 11pm, and are openly admitting prior to any show that it may offend. What people don't seem to realise, is that the more they complain, and the more they give Boyle media highlights, the more we will see him on TV. Controversy sells. This show has had 2 of its 3 weeks of airtime in the public eye. Which almost certainly means that it will have a DVD release, previous stand up show DVDs will sell better and Boyle will cement himself as the comic of choice for many people.

Please don't misunderstand me. I don't find child molestation, incest or cancer funny. But the likes of Katie price (who decided she needed to be in the papers again), are some of the worst people in the celebrity limelight. If she's such a great parent why can you openly buy an amateur hardcore sex tape of her, that she ENDORSED, quite freely in the UK? If that's great parenting, my parents are saints.

In closing, we've seen this before. Granted, it's always been live (Shaun Ryder on TFI, Julian Clary stating on live TV he fisted Norman Lamont). The only people who are offended, are the people who watch, just to be offended.

Would these people buy porn if they were offended by it? Doubtful. Get over yourselves, and stop making Boyle more money.

The X Factor nonsense escalated as the Inequalities Minister warned that the raunchy performances should never have been shown to children.

Lynne Featherstone said that the 'sexualised' routines, which have now sparked 3,000 complaints from viewers, were unsuitable for the show's young fans.

Featherstone said X Factor bosses should have made pre-watershed performances by American pop star Christina Aguilera and Bajan singer Rihanna less raunchy . 

Featherstone said: It was a bit much because so many young kids – seven and eight-year-olds – watch it.

She spoke out last night as pressure grew on the TV censor Ofcom to launch a full-scale probe into the routines as the regulator said it was still assessing complaints.

There have now been 1,500 calls of complaint made to the censor, with a similar number made to ITV. Up to four million children are believed to have watched the show on Saturday.

Dr Linda Papadopoulos, who wrote a Home Office report on the 'sexualisation' of children, accused ITV and show producers of behaving irresponsibly. She said: What is happening is that sex seems to have become the most important thing. Christina Aguilera and Rihanna are very talented singers and yet the whole performance is not about skill, it is about being sexy. Children are being bombarded with the message that being sexy and being sexual is the way to be appreciated or to be validated. This is a terrible message to be sending out. [But being sexy is a skill too. Surely the whole range of talents should be available for people to excel at. Why disallow one? Jealousy maybe?]

A spokesman for the Mothers' Union said: Do you want a society where young people think their worth is defined by sex appeal – because this is what is being normalised. Its president, Reg Bailey, has already been asked to chair an independent Government review into the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood. [Not showing any bias at all then! This is a worthless report before it's even started]

Last night an ITV spokesman said: We are confident that the performances given by our guest artistes on Saturday were appropriate for the show.

"Christians have something unique to contribute to the discussion"...The same old bollox

Based on article from  christiantoday.com

The Christian Institute has voiced its 'alarm' over the plummeting standards of decency in broadcasting after lewd performances by US pop stars Rihanna and Christina Aguilera.

Simon Calvert, of the Christian Institute, said ITV had made a catastrophically bad error of judgement in allowing the production to go out before the watershed. He expressed concern over the effect of such performances on young people in particular.

Lots of people are concerned and parents are particularly concerned about the effect this kind of thing has on their sons and daughters, he said. Daughters are made to feel that this is a normal way to behave in public and sons are taught to expect women to behave like that. It is very unhealthy.

Calvert said the level of concern expressed over the performances ought to both encourage and challenge to Christians: It shows we are not the only ones to be concerned about the plummeting standards of decency in broadcasting.

Christians have something unique to contribute to the discussion. As Bible believing Christians, we believe in values like dignity and virtues like modesty and we ought to be more courageous in advancing these values and virtues, whether it's with the neighbour over the garden fence or from our pulpit.

N ow Frankie Boyle has targeted cancer victims on his Channel 4 comedy show Tramadol Nights .

In the third installment of his gratuitously offensive comedy show, the former Mock The Week star also mocked grandparents, obese people, Colombians and AIDS sufferers.

In his cancer gag, he said: I had a friend come up to me and say that she had breast cancer and that she was going to cycle the Great Wall Of China.

You feel like going you're the last person who should be cycling the Great Wall Of China! you should be lying at home in bed, playing with your tits before they drop off.

He added: 'I should add she doesn't mind me saying that. She's dead, she doesn't give a fuck.

A spokesperson for Breast Cancer Care meanwhile told MailOnline: Jokes about other people's life-threatening illnesses are a strange subject for humour, even for someone of Frankie's comic style, and it's a shame that anyone would think breast cancer is a legitimate subject for comedy.

Though people deal with illness in many different ways, it's unlikely that the 120 people diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK today will find this funny.

Talking to MailOnline today a Channel4 spokesperson said: We are aware that Frankie Boyle's comedy can be very challenging which is why we have gone to careful lengths in scrutinising the material editorially, in scheduling the series appropriately and by giving clear and strong warnings into each of the programmes.

Update: 500 Complaints

18th December 2010. Based on article from  dailystar.co.uk

500 viewers have complained to Ofcom about the Frankie Boyle's jokes about cancer. An Ofcom spokesman said: We will make our judgment in the new year.

A work of video art briefly depicting a figurine of Christ with ants crawling on it has been yanked from the Smithsonian's Portrait Gallery after complaints from a Catholic group and members of Congress.

The four-minute video titled Fire in My Belly was made by the late New York City artist David Wojnarowicz. It features an 11-second segment of a small crucifix teeming with the insects. It had been on exhibit since Oct. 30 as part of a show on sexual difference in American portrait art.

The piece was labeled hate speech by Catholic League president William Donohue who also claimed that it was designed to insult Christians.

After he was alerted to the piece, Donohue began a campaign to urge Congress to cut public funding for the Smithsonian museum complex, he told The Associated Press: This is not the first time the Smithsonian has offended us, he said. I'm going to cast my net much wider. Why should the government pay for this? ... How dare they take our money to fund attacks on (our religion).

The call was taken up by the office of House Representative John A. Boehner.

While the amount of money involved may be small, it's symbolic of the arrogance Washington routinely applies to thousands of spending decisions involving Americans' hard-earned money, said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Boehner, the likely next Speaker of the House.

Smithsonian officials told the Post they removed the offending piece to make sure the show's other pieces weren't overshadowed by the controversy.

The decision wasn't caving in, claimed museum director Martin E. Sullivan: We don't want to shy away from anything that is controversial ...BUT.. we want to focus on the museum's and this show's strengths.

Update: Art sponsors not pleased by censorship

15th December 2010. Based on article from  sfist.com
See also Large crowd of Houston art lovers protest Smithsonian censorship of A Fire in My Belly from  culturemap.com
See also Canadian artist wants work pulled from U.S. exhibit marked by controversy from  montrealgazette.com

Rep. John Boehner was unhappy that some Catholics found the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery's LGBT-themed Hide/Seek exhibit offensive. Boehner threatened increased scrutiny of the museum's funding as a roundabout way of getting the Gallery to pull works that don't jive with his constituency.

Except taxpayer dollars don't pay for the exhibitions or the works themselves, only the museum facilities. (Which are admittedly fairly important for holding an exhibition.)

The Andy Warhol Foundation, on the other hand, does provide a great deal of private funding to the museum - over $375,000 in the past three years to be exact - and they're not happy about seeing A Fire in My Belly disappear from the exhibition.

In a letter from President Joel Wachs sent to Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough, the Warhol Foundation spoke out saying:

Such blatant censorship is unconscionable. It is inimical to everything the Smithsonian Institution should stand for, and everything the Andy Warhol Foundation does stand for. ...we cannot stand by and watch the Smithsonian bow to the demands of bigots who have attacked the exhibition out of ignorance, hatred and fear.

Within the Smithsonian, at least one member of the Museum's advisory panel has resigned in protest. In an email posted on the Washington Post, commissioner James T. Bartlett wrote: I believe it is a fundamental right of museums and their curatorial staffs to make such decisions [about exhibition content], even if some art is deemed objectionable by external critics. I choose firmly and resolutely not to be part of an institution that is and can be put ad infinitum in this position.

The nutters of the Westboro Baptists have taken aim at a gay themes play in LA.

They were set to protest outside the downtown Pico Playhouse who are putting on a production of The Laramie Project .

This is a play by Moisés Kaufman and is based on news reports, journal entries and more than 200 interviews of people in Laramie in the aftermath of the murder of Matthew Shepard. It covers the town's reactions, the funeral and the trial of the killers (the court found that their motive for the attack was that Matthew Shepard was gay). The play does not advance a gay agenda (contrary to what the WBC contends) and has been performed nationwide and all over the world (including high school and college productions) since 2000. The Westboro Baptists are featured in it (they picketed Matthew Shepard's funeral) and they often picket its performances.

The Westboro Baptists have outlined their objections in typical hateful style:

Judy Shepard raised her son to be a disobedient pervert, and God cut that child off. His blood is on her hands! From the day that he was cut off to today, Judy Shepard has spent all her resources on teaching the young people of this nation the same rebellion that caused God to cut off her own son; and making a profit on it! How sick is it to make money off of a child who is dead at your hands?! Matt Shepard has been in Hell now for twelve years, with eternity left to go on his sentence; without appeal, parole, or time off for good behavior. All else about Matt is trivial and irrelevant. Deal with it! Be not deceived; God is not mocked. Gal. 6:7.

God Hates Fags! God Hates Fag-Enablers! Ergo, God hates fag-infested & fag-enabling Los Angeles, CA and all having to do with spreading sodomite lies via The Laramie Project; a tacky piece of cheap, lying, fag propaganda masquerading as legitimate theater.

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith. Lev. 18:22, 23

A call to ban alcohol from Victorian strip clubs has infuriated venue operators.

The Coalition Against Trafficking Women Australia (CATWA) claim in a report that strip clubs harm women, increase crime rates and act as a gateway into prostitution.

The activities that take place in the clubs are clearly sexual and often involve a good deal of physical interaction between male buyers and the women who strip. Strip clubs often provide links to other sex industry services and in some clubs the full range of prostitution activities is available, even though they are technically illegal.

The report says these venues can't be seen merely as entertainment, that they have far more in common with brothels and, therefore, need similar restrictions and bans on liquor licences.

But Melbourne strip club owners are strongly rejecting suggestions they are somehow linked to rising crime rates, the exploitation of women or prostitution.

Nightclub Owners Forum spokesman David Butten said: First and foremost, these are licensed venues. The fact that it caters for a certain market is irrelevant, he said of strip clubs, adding that no clear link has been established with alcohol-related harm: Erotic entertainment has quite a distinction from sexual services, and any suggestion that women are being exploited is false.

There are seven strip clubs in Melbourne's CBD and 20 venues across the state that offer tabletop to private dancing: Many women who choose to work in strip tease do not want to work in prostitution, Butten said.

The Nightclub Owners Forum billed the latest push to strengthen laws against them as a moral and religious crusade.

Based on article from  sexparty.org.au

Sex Party President, Fiona Patten, said that the group's allegations of a proliferation of strip clubs did not stand up to scrutiny:  Since the first club appeared in Melbourne's CBD nearly 20 years ago, there are still only seven clubs in the CBD and no more than 20 across the entire state . It is ludicrous to even suggest that this represents a 'proliferation'.

Ms Patten said that CATWA embraced a lesbian separatist philosophy on sexual matters that was fundamentalist in nature and supportive of the Swedish model of regulating prostitution - which was not to regulate it at all, but to jail men who engaged in commercial sexual services. In Sweden the language of lesbian separatists now means that any man who engages in a normal commercial sexual service is officially said to be involved in 'sex trafficking'.

These fundamentalist feminist groups have also picketed Sexpo recently and their sexual agenda is similar to fundamentalist religious campaigners like Fred Nile. If these genteel 19th century notions of entertainment take hold in modern Victoria, thousands of people will be out of work and the tourism economy would take a huge hit.

About 200 women took to the streets of Leeds in protest at sexual violence and gender inequality, and to assert their right to feel safe in every part of the city whatever the time of the day or night.

It followed a sister demonstration in London last week where about 2,500 people marched through the capital to Reclaim the Night for women all over the world.

Organiser Rosie Robinson Boardman said: We're just celebrating being women and saying look, we're all in this together, we're all fantastic, and let's just have a bit of a shout, have a bit of a chant, have a bit of a march round and listen to some speakers afterwards.

After a rally outside Leeds Art Gallery where NUS Women's Officer Liv Bailey warmed up the crowd [roused the rabble?] with a motivational speech condemning the objectification and commodification of women , the female-only protesters marched through the town centre on a route that took in the city's lap-dancing clubs and strip bars.

The demonstrators waved placards displaying rape statistics and calling for an end to violence against women. Stopping traffic in their path they chanted: Whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes and no means no. One group held a-proud a washing-line of  never soiled, white knickers.

Along the way the marchers encountered groups of both men and women sniggering and shouting obscenities, as well as jeers of Get a job from a crowd of people outside a pub.

Karen Kayes, a local businesswoman said that although disappointed, she was unsurprised by the negative attitudes of some passers-by. She said: It's kind of what I expected but to get our point across we're going to have to come into contact with people who don't believe in what we want to achieve. But that doesn't stop me, in fact it makes me more determined I think.

Dozens of members of the militant group of Islamic Defenders Front staged a noisy protest in front of an Indonesian film company that just released a horror movie starring Japanese adult movie actress Maria Ozawa, who is known as Miyabi.

Reject Miyabi, the mother of all sinners, who propagates immoral behavior in this country, group leader Salim Alatas shouted in front of the Maxima Pictures office in West Jakarta.

After an emotional dialogue with a company executive, the protesters grabbed all the movie posters plastered on the office walls, and ripped them up and burned them.

Two days before the same group went to Soekarno-Hatta international airport in Jakarta and threatened to capture Ozawa upon her arrival and send her home.

Police forced the crowd to a parking area in front of the airport office, far from the terminal.

Well-known in Indonesia as Miyabi, which Ozawa used early in her career as an adult video actress, she was to attend the premiere of her second Indonesian movie Hantu Tanah Kusir, (The Ghost of Tanah Kusir Cemetery) .

The film followed the success of Menculik Miyabi, (Kidnapping Miyabi) , a teen comedy released last May after heated controversy delayed filming and forced scenes featuring her to be made in Tokyo instead of Jakarta.

The movies contain no sex-scenes and have been passed by the Indonesian censor.

The nutter cause has been supported up by some newspapers. Republika daily has dedicated front-page stories opposing Ozawa and other adult movie actress in Indonesian horror movies, including Japanese actresses Rin Sakuragi and Leah Yuzuki and U.S. actress Tera Patrick, although the latter three have not stirred much controversy as they are not as popular as Ozawa. It carried large sketches of the faces of foreign porn actresses that have appeared in Indonesian movies headlined National films on the brink of destruction.

The Mirror has spewed a nonsense story about pole dancing exercise videos being sold free of BBFC classification.

The Mirror spouts:

An outrageous legal loophole means that children are able to buy violent and sexually explicit DVDs without any restrictions.

Producers are taking advantage of an E rating which is meant for material that educates or instructs.

DVDs showing pole dancing can be bought by children because it is classified as exercise.

The British Board of Film Classification is not allowed to put a minimum age on E-rated material.

It is up to producers and distributors to decide if the DVDs are educational.

They also add:

Cage fighting DVDs full of swearing and extreme violence are permitted as it is categorised as sport. Explicit music lyrics and video games are also slipping through the net.

Shadow Culture Minister Gloria De Piero said:

It's outrageous. Young people should not be able to go into any shop and buy DVDs that are violent, sexually explicit and full of bad language.

The government needs to act now to bring in a proper classification system. Parents deserve to know exactly what their children are watching and to be confident that someone is protecting them.

Senior government sources say they are aware of the issue and are considering what to do about it.

The Italian satirist Leo Bassi has been the subject of a complaint filed in the courts of the Spanish city of Valladolid by the State Association of Christian Lawyers accusing him blasphemy.

Bassi allegedly mocked the pope, the Catholic religion and Christian symbols during his act. Bassi was performing in the Auditorium of the University of Valladolid at a conference organised by the Republican Atheist group. The conference was entitled Judeo-Christian roots of the West: an historical fraud to fight.

We think Leo Bassi may have committed a crime punishable under the Penal Code as the offense and derision toward the beliefs of a religious denomination, said William Garabito Efe, who made the complaint on behalf of the Association of Youth for Factual Information (Ajio).

As well as Bassi, the complaint names Republican Ateneo, and the rector of the University of Valladolid, Mark Sexton.

The complainants say that Bassi was dressed as Father Christmas as he mocked the most prominent symbols and beliefs of the Christian faith which they considered slander and libel that amounted discrimination on religious grounds that could incite hatred and violence.

Church leaders have urged the Scottish Government to show more respect for Christmas as ministers are poised to launch a festive safe sex message titled the Sexmas Survival Guide .

The government is set to approve an official sexual health website that substitutes the word Christ with sex when issuing advice to young people on how to avoid risky behaviour.

But the £100,000 promotion's fun with the word Christmas has angered church figures, who also disapprove of the website's innuendo-laden approach to discussing sex.

The advice should be more respectful, said John Deighan, the parliamentary officer for the Catholic Church: Using the word Christmas like that is symptomatic of a whole philosophy that undermines their safe sex strategy. They don't show enough delicacy of language and they don't show enough respect.

Rev Alan Falconer of the Church of Scotland's St Machar's Cathedral in Aberdeen said: This would not be appropriate at all. This detracts from the festival for it to be classified in this way.

The Sexmas Survival Guide will advise young people on how to deal with festive social occasions such as the After Work Do when inhibitions are relaxed and office workers have to negotiate the unexpected rise , and encounters with the employee of the year , who is ready for anything . For such situations, the guide advises: Slip a few condoms into your bag or pocket.

According to the guide, another hazard is the end of night ride . Getting home safely, it says, is best achieved by keeping a spare £20 note and some taxi numbers handy so that a cab can be taken at the end of the night.

Deighan claimed: This sort of approach trivialises sex and turns it into just another pastime when we should have a humanised vision of sex - that it is part of love and an intimate part of human relationships. The result of this sort of approach seems to be that things just get worse. The more you trivialise sex the more reckless people become.

A nutter DVD censoring technology has unsurprisingly wound up the movie industry.

Family Friendly Edited DVDs are being sued by Paramount, Warner Brothers, Sony, Disney, Universal, and Fox.

According to Hollywood Reporter, the outfit is in the business of distributing bowdlerised versions of movies so that the good Christian families are not shocked by the odd use of the word golly, or the steady march of female breasts which their god apparently hates.

However the problem with Family Friendly Edited DVDs is that they do not appear to have asked the movie studios if they can hack about their movies. And of course it sullies the reputation of the movie companies when viewers find they can't make sense of the plot (because a key event has been skipped by the censor)

Also to do the editing the outfit bypassed DVD DRMs

The studios have called for a temporary, preliminary and permanent injunction against Family Friendly's activities, plus an order requiring the company to deliver up for impound and disposal its inventory.

Family Friendly appear to have seen that the writing is on the wall and has started offering a liquidation sale of all their DVDs.

In light of the Cuban government's dissatisfaction with a mission in Call of Duty: Black Ops that has players attempting to assassinate Fidel Castro, the US-based Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) has called for a boycott of the game.

Noting that Wal-Mart, Best Buy and dozens of other retailers in your community are today dealing this pornography to the children in your community, AFGJ called Black Ops part of the whole culture of US militarism with the entertainment industry's role being to desensitize us to violence.

AFGJ has a goal of achieving social change and economic justice by helping to build a stronger more unified grassroots movement. The organization recognizes that the concentration of wealth and power is the root cause of oppression.

The organization urges people to send a letter to local retailers, pass out a provided flier (PDF) in front of stores selling the game and approach the local city council in order to declare the game a violation under local pornography laws.

The NHS has been slammed by nutters after a video designed to encourage youngsters to use contraception was branded pornographic by 'outraged' parents.

Several short videos uploaded to the YouTube website are modelled on the Channel Four programme Skins and are targeted at teenagers.

The interactive video, Condon, No Condom , is promoted on the NHS website and is expected to be circulated virally online and used by teachers.

Teenage boys are given the choice of how they behave in the bedroom with a girl they meet at a party. In the first clip, a group of teenagers are preparing for a party from the point of view of an unseen male character. They are given the choice of whether to buy condoms or not buy condoms when they visit their local newsagents.

The next clip allows viewers to choose the video whip out a condom . The clip shows a scene where the male character has sex with the young woman against a door in a hallway.

Another video, called Go Back to Jen's shows the girl splayed across a bed while the filmer of the clip has sex with her.

In some scenarios the couple have unprotected sex. If the male tries to ignore the question of using a condom he is rejected by Jen.

A final video portrays the outcome of not using a condom as an unfullfilling event followed by the news that the teenage boy has contracted an STD.

Nutters have complained that at no point in the video are teenagers advised that abstinence is the 'right option' . Norman Wells, the director of the Family and Education Trust, said the NHS should not be sending out the message that casual sex leaves no regrets . He said: It is grossly irresponsible of the NHS to present a graphic portrayal of unbridled lust in which a young woman is depicted as no more that a sex object and then to tell young men that they have "made the right choices" simply because they have used a condom."

Vivienne Pattisson, the director of Mediawatch, said she was concerned that there were no effective controls to prevent children from watching the clips.

Keith Vaz has widened his blame game in Swedish territory. He has posted the following Early Day Motion before the British parliament

VIDEO GAMES AND SHOOTING 27.10.2010

That this House notes with concern that the recent race shootings in Malmo, Sweden have been associated with the violent video game Counter-Strike; further notes that the internet-based, first-person shooting game that pits a counter-terrorist team against terrorists was previously banned in Brazil and in 2007 was associated with US College Campus massacres; recognises the potential impact of violent video games on those under 18 years; and calls on the Government to ensure the purchase of video games by those under 18 years is controlled and that parents are provided with clear information on the violent content of certain games.

The background is that police in the Swedish city of Malmo have confirmed that an as yet unnamed 38 year old man has been arrested in connection with a series of gun attacks on people with ethnic minority backgrounds.

Prior to the arrest, local police had suspected that more than a dozen unsolved shootings over the last year, in which one person died and eight more were wounded, may have been the work of lone gunman. The man arrested at the weekend has now been charged with one count of murder and seven attempted murders.

So how do we get from racist nutjob shooting at the local migrant population to a three-year old video game?

It appears to have been The Times that decided to have a bit of dabble in stirring up a faux moral panic by quoting the opinions of a Mr Ahmad al-Mughrabi in its coverage of the story…

I am sure that this is down to some crazy kid who plays that sniping game Counterstrike all day. I don't believe in the lone Nazi theory

So who is our mysterious Mr al-Mughrabi? Is he a police officer? A city official? A representative of the Swedish Justice Ministry?

No, as far as anyone has managed to ascertain, to date, he's just some bloke that The Times picked off the street at random and that's all the evidence that Keith Vaz needs to put down an EDM and start banging on about violent video games, yet again.

Animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) has blasted a bizarre Czech calendar featuring a topless model decapitating a pig.

A Peta spokesperson branded the controversial calendar slaughter porn , according to www.metro.co.uk.

Only a sociopath could find sexual excitement from the depiction of horrific and violent acts against frightened living beings, the spokesperson said: Such imagery is likely to get the public to consider that real pigs used for meat are sensitive beings who suffer violent, bloody deaths and who do not want to die.

Another image features a model standing over what appears to be a dead pig in a trough, while chickens drink from pools of blood on the ground.

The model featured in one of the photos is a former Miss Czech Republic by the name of Diana Kobzanova.

Following Peta's condemnation, Kobzanova has defended the calendar, revealing that the animals pictured in the photographs were in fact models built for the occasion.

All the proceeds from the calendar will go to the Helpers Association, which trains guide dogs for the blind and the physically handicapped, she said.

Christian Brothers Investment Services led a group of 220 other institutional investors to ask the United States' largest cable television and satellite TV providers to stop distributing on-demand pay-per-view pornography and to stop carrying adult channels that specialize in pornographic material.

Letters were sent Nov. 3 to Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision, which are, respectively, the first-, second- and fifth-largest cable companies in the United States and the three biggest publicly traded companies. Similar letters also went to DirecTV and Dish Network, the two principal U.S. satellite TV firms.

If a company cannot completely wean itself from porn, the letter said, then it should alert stockholders to the potentially significant legal and business risks that exist from carrying porn by including that information in the company's public disclosures.

Dan Nielsen, director of socially responsible investing for Christian Brothers Investment Services, outlined some of the risks to companies.

There's certainly the reputational risk, which is obviously very controversial in nature, Nielsen claimed: There are legal risks if the companies are caught distributing materials that are defined as obscene and therefore illegal, therefore risking alienation of the company's customer base. If a company has developed a reputation as a family-friendly company yet distributes porn, it is a test of the good will of the company, he added.

Calling pornography a $13 billion industry in the United States, the Christian Brothers letter said, We feel that as more people become concerned about pornography and the effects, both direct and indirect, it has on our society, greater scrutiny will be placed on those companies involved in its production and distribution. The costs for remaining involved in pornography will increase.

Among the 220 signatories are leading members of a host of dozens of men's and women's religious orders in the United States and elsewhere, but also representatives from other investment agents and the travel industry.

A Serbian film has been banned from public screenings in Spain following a provisional injunction by a court in San Sebastian.

The injunction was served to San Sebastian's Fantasy and Terror Film Week, four hours before A Serbian film was due to screen at the festival, forcing Film Week director Jose Luis Rebordinos to pull the film from the program.

Two more festivals in Spain -- in Molins de Rei and Malaga -- have followed suit.

The film played at October's Sitges Fantasy Fest, stirring a wide range of reactions. One was a request by Spain's Catholic Confederation of Family and Student Parents (Concapa) for the film to be yanked from San Sebastian's Terror Week -- a petition that appears to have prompted the temporary injunction. Concapa argued the film offended human dignity and the underage.

Currently the ban is temporary, the San Sebastian court still has to rule on a definitive prohibition.

Saw 3D is a 2010 US horror by Kevin Greutert.

The BBFC passed the film 18 uncut with the consumer advice: Contains strong gory horror.

The BBFC explained their 18 rating:

Saw 3D is the seventh film in the horror franchise and features a vengeful killer torturing selected victims with elaborate purpose-built devices. It was classified 18 for strong gory horror.

There are several scenes of strong gory horror. The killer often constructs elaborate devices or rigs up machinery to kill his victims. For example, circular saw blades slice into the victims causing blood and intestines to spray from the wounds. In another scene, a man has to remove a fish-hook, attached to a piece of string, that is lodged inside a woman's stomach. As he attempts to retrieve it, the woman coughs up blood until the fish-hook, covered in viscera, is finally removed. The horror and violence throughout the film is often prolonged and sadistic, dwells on the infliction of pain or injury, and also features the strongest gory images. The BBFC's Guidelines at 15 state that Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic [...] violence is also unlikely to be acceptable . Therefore, like its predecessors, the film was only permissible at 18 .

SAW 3D also contains some strong language.

Comment: Saw 3D ups the ante on R-rated gore

See  article from  newstimes.com

There are seemingly no restraints on the graphic violence that can be shown in a movie within the framework of an R rating.

Last weekend, I had the misfortune of seeing the No. 1 movie in the United States, Saw 3D , and was appalled by the nonstop torture-related violence in this sixth sequel to a popular series about a madman and his cronies who force their captives to mutilate themselves if they are to have any hope of living.

What really shocked me, however, was how graphic the violence can get now without pushing a movie into NC-17 territory. The MPAA appears to believe that there are still sexual elements in movies that are simply too much for anyone under the age of 16 to witness -- with or without parental consent -- but those same teenagers can handle moments of excruciating mutilation and death that leave nothing to the imagination.

Did the MPAA ratings panel watch all of Saw 3D or did they ask that it be turned off after the teaser opening in which a young woman is sliced in two on camera (perhaps the least graphically violent killing in the film)?

I'm not proposing censorship of horror movies. ..[BUT]... just hoping to make parents aware that their teens might be seeing a lot more than they should when they are dropped off at something like Saw 3D.

Comment: Violence on screen - is it worth the risk?

Based on article from mediawatch-uk.blogspot.com

The final instalment of the horror franchise Saw has topped the box office in its opening weekend. Saw 3D is the seventh film in the ultra-violent series which has been described as torture porn .

Saw 3D has been classified by the BBFC as suitable viewing for people over the age of 18. Once a film has been passed by the BBFC with an 18 certificate it is then able to be shown on television in due course. We are concerned that once this film is shown on television (as previous films in the franchise have been) it will be very easy for children to access - particularly on video-on-demand services such as iplayer, itvplayer and 4OD. Ofcom research shows that fewer than a third of parents use the password protected services available to screen what their children have access to.

We can no longer ignore the fact that what viewers see on screen has an effect. Even the Government recognises this and is reported to be asking the producers of soap operas to include safe sex messages in their programmes. There are numerous studies linking exposure to violence in the media with violent behaviour.

If drug companies now have to pass the most stringent test to show their products don't harm even the smallest proportion of takers, should violence on the screen be any different?

Bearing in mind the cost to society, and the misery of the victims of violent behaviour, if there is the slightest possibility that media violence can cause harm is this worth the risk in the interests of entertainment?

Comment: Mediawatch UK Cannot Quite Say That Saw 3D Should Be Banned

Based on article from mediasnoops.wordpress.com

Why can't they just say what they think! That Saw 3D and other films like it, in their view should be banned. Maybe they are afraid of appearing as the self appointed moral guardians who think they know what is and is not good for the public to be allowed to see that they are.

...Read the full article

25,000 people have signed a petition calling for David Cameron to act against computer-enhanced pictures in adverts and magazines which supposedly lead to distorted ideas about beauty.

Girlguiding UK has delivered the petition to Downing Street calling for the Government to introduce compulsory labelling for all airbrushed images.

Gemma Hallatt, an 18-year-old guide, said: We are pleased that so many people have supported our petition calling for a kitemark to distinguish between airbrushed and natural images. We each know from our own experience that the airbrushed images that you see in magazines and on advertising boards can really affect the self confidence of girls and young women.

Most of us have no idea how significantly these pictures are altered and are shocked when they realise that the images they have of celebrities and models are not a reality.

Hallatt also said that the guides will continue their campaign to ensure that all airbrushed images are clearly marked.

As the start of this year's White Ribbon Against Pornography (WRAP) Week nears, Robert Peters, president of Morality in the Media, is hoping to draw attention to his view that American has a problem – pornography – and he wants more action taken.

According to the American Family Association Journal, every year the porn industry creates 11,000 new movies, compared to the 400 mainstream videos created by Hollywood. Many of those videos are published online for the public to access.

Pat Trueman, an attorney and anti-porn campaigner, noted, Hardcore porn is now more easily available than ever before. It's not only produced by porn syndicates, but by individuals.

Trueman believes pornography is constantly being ignored. The problem is that Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush hardly prosecuted obscenity, at least no Internet companies. They just downplayed it, he said. And the Obama administration is also doing nothing.

Peters noted that the U.S. Justice Department has the legal authority to take on the mass producers creating sexual explicit content through obscenity laws, but it is not taking action.

Peters lamented that even websites that claim to be child protected have free teasers showing hard core content. You name it, it's free of charge. They say you have to be 18 years old to look at it, but all you have to do is click the button, Peters said.

Trueman claimed that pornography is impacting family break-up in high numbers. Plus there are many other effects such as an increased sex trafficking, he added. [eg an increase to just 5 convictions in New York in 2.75 years].

Nutters are being encouraged to take a stand against pornography during WRAP Week, which kicks off Sunday. A flier put out by the Morality in Media encourages the public to wear a white ribbon and contact state prosecutors with pornography complaints.

The New York Times reports that the Parents Television Council's salad days are over. The recession has caught up with the PTC.

The economic downturn has had a serious impact on the PTC, as parents realize that not having a job is much worse for your kids than letting them watch Family Guy . The cost of all those decency watchdog reports the group puts out ran into a huge drop in donations. In 2009 PTC revenue declined by over 25%. In response the nonprofit has scaled down its staff by almost 40%.

According to The Times, the Council has still been faithfully sending out those standard letters urging the easily offended to complain about a TV program, and to donate to the PTC. Sign this complaint, a typical mailing promises, and we'll send it to the Federal Communications Commission or broadcaster

Only one problem—for a while the cash was being collected, but the follow-through letters weren't going out. Almost 195,000 pieces of donor/member mail was never sent to the intended recipient, disgruntled ex-PTC staffer Patrick Salazar told the newspaper. Most of these were time-sensitive docs whose value is now shot.

While PTC top brass put the organization's membership at more than 1.3 million, that's based on petition signers. Salazar told The Times that 12,000 people answer the Council's yearly fundraising pitches, at most.

GQ magazine's sexy photoshoot spread featuring hotties Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Dianna Agron from the high school musical drama Glee .

But the ever-offended Parents Television Council had quite a different reaction: the conservative watchdog think it's tantamount to pedophilia.

The fact that the people involved are well past their years as minors—Michele and Agron are 24, Monteith's 28—seems to make no mind to the PTC.

It is disturbing that GQ, which is explicitly written for adult men, is sexualizing the actresses who play high school-aged characters on Glee in this way, PTC President Tim Winter said: It borders on pedophilia. Sadly, this is just the latest example of the overt sexualization of young girls in entertainment.

Many children who flocked to High School Musical have grown into Glee fans. They are now being treated to seductive, in-your-face poses of the underwear-clad female characters posing in front of the school lockers, one of them opting for a full-frontal crotch shot. By authorizing this kind of near-pornographic display, the creators of the program have established their intentions of the show's direction. And it isn't good for families.

GQ has released the following statement via editor-in-chief Jim Nelson:

The Parents Television Council must not be watching much TV these days and should learn to divide reality from fantasy. As often happens in Hollywood, these 'kids' are in their twenties. Cory Montieth's almost 30! I think they're old enough to do what they want.

The White Ribbon Against Pornography (WRAP) Campaign is an annual event and this year is from Oct. 31 to Nov. 7.

Bishop Michael D. Pfeifer of San Angelo explains: WRAP is a reminder that our federal law enforcement agencies and prosecutors are to be commended for their diligent efforts to curb sexual exploitation of children on the Internet. However, for the most part, these same agencies and prosecutors have turned a blind eye toward the explosion of hard-core adult pornography on the Internet; and as a result, a flood tide of this vile material is pouring through the Internet into countless American homes, where even small children can be exposed to obscenity and older children can easily find it.

Outside a branch of Tesco in central London, 30 people in pyjamas, nightgowns and fluffy slippers have gathered to campaign against lads' mags. All are members of the activist group Object and they are here to take part in the monthly Porn Versus Pyjamas campaign. They dart down the dairy aisle to the display of lads' magazines, which they mark with their own slogans. FHM is put in a paper bag emblazoned with: For Horrible Misogynists , while Maxim is hidden behind the phrase MAXIMum Sexism .

The women start a conga-line through the supermarket, chanting Hey, ho, sexist mags have got to go , alerting security guards to their presence. Eventually they're ushered out, but not before depositing pamphlets, entitled Porn v Pyjamas: Why Lads' Mags Are Harmful, in customers' baskets.

Their campaign began earlier this year, after Tesco ruled that customers wouldn't be allowed to shop in pyjamas because this could make other people feel uncomfortable. Object bit back by accusing some Tesco stores of ignoring the voluntary codes of conduct that suggest lads' mags should be covered up and repositioned on the top shelf, alongside pornographic content.

The Tesco demonstration is part of its Feminist Fridays campaign – monthly events where activists protest against lads' mags and other forms of sexism. After being ejected from Tesco, the demonstrators spend three hours outside the store, distributing 1,500 leaflets.

Lads' mags are an example of the mainstreaming of pornography, says Anna van Heeswijk of Object. The whole tone is of complete contempt [for women]. They are made up of photographs that come straight from pornography and would have been thought of as hardcore 50 years ago. But now the boundaries have been pushed to such an extent that they are considered an appropriate part of lads' mags and soft porn.

A controversial new BBC lesbian drama which showed two women having sex next to a corpse has left TV viewers appalled.

BBC 3's Lip Service , which is aimed at viewers as young as 16 and began airing this week, has attracted complaints from scores of viewers.

And one of the show's actresses has revealed that filming the controversial drama was like working on a porn set. Laura Fraser, who plays a character called Cat, said: I started to feel like I was making a porno film. It started to freak me out a bit. We were all freaked out. At the end of a day I was thinking 'what am I doing for a living?'And then I was going home to my six-year-old daughter Lila which felt very weird.

The BBC describes Lip Service as being a bold drama about the sex lives and love affairs of twenty-something lesbians living in contemporary Glasgow .

However, the show has attracted a number of complaints. Alice Seddon, who contacted a national newspaper, said: I was shocked and horrified. It was so off-putting I switched off. Churning

Another viewer, commenting on an internet forum, described the funeral parlour sex scene as stomach churning .

Harriet Braun, the show's creator, spoke to BBC's Newsbeat and claimed that the show is as realistic as possible. She said: It was important to me that the lesbian characters came across as authentic to a lesbian audience. I wanted it to reflect real life.

Miley Cyrus the former Hannah Montana star and celebrity teen Pop/Country singer has wound up the nutters with her latest music video Who Owns My Heart.

The Parents Television Council (PTC) has found her to be too revealing and sexually suggestive in the music video. The PTC feels that the 17 year-old singer is sending out the 'wrong message' to her fans.

The president Tim Winter of PTC stated in a statement obtained by TMZ that it was unfortunate that Miley Cyrus had participated in a sexualised video like that one.

Miley built her fame and fortune entirely on the backs of young girls, stated Tim Winter. Winter's went on to say how it saddened them that Cyrus seems to be really anxious to distance herself from her fan base so quickly.

In the video, Miley Cyrus can be seen laying whirligig on the bed seemingly without any pants on. She can also be seen in the video caressing on her chest and groping men who also touch on her while on the dance floor.

So come on baby/keep on provoking me/keep on ropin' me/like a rodeo/baby pull me close/come on here we go, Miley Cyrus sings in the song.

The radical Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) is set to protest the upcoming release of an Indonesian horror movie starring adult superstar Tera Patrick.

The movie Rintihan Kuntilanak Perawan   (The Moans of a Virgin Ghost) is scheduled to be released Oct. 14.

Reports said that the hardline group will rally thousands of paramilitary units to protest against the Film Censorship Board and the producers, K2K productions.

Habib Salim Alatas, head of the Jakarta chapter of the FPI, said he was unaware that Patrick was in Indonesia to shoot the movie. He said, The next time a porn film star lands at Soekarno Hatta airport, we will block them. Nobody told us that the actress had already come and shot the movie in Indonesia.

It isn't clear whether Patrick performs hardcore sex in the film, but the film's producer KK Dheraj said the movie had passed all censorship requirements.

To have Tera Patrick in the movie was risky. I did the shooting secretly outside of Jakarta, 10 days before the fasting month started. Twenty bodyguards were deployed to guard her from the airport to the hotel room, Dheraj said, adding that Patrick was no longer in Jakarta.

Alatas and the FPI's message to porn stars is to stay out of Indonesia. We will not stand still, he said.

The NZ Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that a Habitual Fix restaurant advertisement (for their fruit drinks), which features a female cartoon pear and strawberry running away in fear from a male cartoon banana who is indecently exposing himself to them, does not breach any advertising standards.

The advertisement featured on a prominent billboard in central Auckland.

According to the ASA this isn't a sexualized image (even though the word fetish is used in the actual advert), in fact they say that the image is actually just hyperbolic .

Morally Bankrupt

Based on article from  voxy.co.nz

Nutter group Family First NZ is labeling the Advertising Standards Authority as nave and morally bankrupt after it rejected complaints against a sexual advertisement using cartoon-imaged fruit. Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ said:

Advertisers now have a green light to use sexualized and offensive messages in the form of cartoons using fruit and vegetables. Families don't need much imagination to realize how far that can be taken and how dangerous it is.

The ASA naively argued that children would not see the image as sexualized, and that the image was 'hyperbolic' - all this despite the acknowledgement by the Board of a 'phallic banana in a flashing pose', and the use of the word 'fetish'.

Yet again, the ASA has shown hostility towards the wellbeing and protection of families, and seems to act as a 'mates club' to advertisers who are committed to pushing the boundaries without any consequences of note.

Family First is calling for the Board of the ASA to be changed, for the pre-vetting of advertisements, and for there to be more representatives of family, children, and community groups.

Commercials Advice (CAD), the watchdog set up by Free TV Australia to classify and approve television commercials, has banned another pro-euthanasia commercial for promoting suicide.

According to YourLastRight.com, the group behind the ad, CAD banned the spot for failing to comply with regulation 2.17 of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice. Section 2.17.5 of the code stipulates that realistic depiction of methods of suicide, or promotion or encouragement of suicide is unsuitable for broadcast .

Neil Francis, chairman and CEO of the YourLastRight.com campaign, told Crikey the ad was rejected despite receiving preliminary commercial approval from CAD.

The only thing that they [CAD] advised us of the airing time — that it should not be on during children's programs and of course we would have no interest in airing during those periods, Francis told Crikey.

The 30-second commercial, which was due to air this Sunday on the major commercial networks, has instead been uploaded to YouTube in the hope it goes viral.

From yourlastright.com

YourLastRight.com brings together all Australian dying-with-dignity and voluntary euthanasia societies to deliver choice and dignity to Australians.

We won't force our opinion on anyone but nor do we want to have our rights limited by others' beliefs any longer. For decades most Australians have believed that medically assisted dying should be a fundamental right. Today, 85% of Australians* agree but the timidity of politicians means that legislation still lags behind the will of the people. No longer.

Millions of Americans, Belgians, Dutch and Swiss now have this right to choose to end their lives in a controlled, peaceful, dignified way – why not us?

The creators of the video game Grand Theft Auto accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages yesterday over an entirely false story that it was planning a version based on the gunman Raoul Moat.

Take 2 Inc (Rockstar Games) brought High Court proceedings over an article and leader in the Daily Star in July.

Its solicitor, Melanie Hart, told Mr Justice Tugendhat in London that the story claimed the new game – supposedly entitled Grand Theft Auto Rothbury – would be based on the events in Northumberland.

She said: The defendant now accepts that Rockstar Games never had any intention to create such a video game at any time. The story was entirely false.

Sex in advertising is one thing. But sex with a vodka bottle may be quite another.

Edgy vodka maker Skyy Spirits has unleashed a print and billboard ad campaign that's winding up the nutters.

It shows a woman's legs, clad in red tights and heels, wrapped around a Skyy vodka bottle.

One anti-alcohol nutter group claims it violates the distilled spirits industry's own code of advertising ethics — and needs to be yanked.

This is just ridiculous, it's porn-a-hol, says Bruce Lee Livingston, executive director at the Marin Institute. Underage kids will look at this and associate sexual prowess with drinking Skyy.

Livingston says the sexual lewdness in the ad shows the industry can't regulate itself. The FTC ( Federal Trade Commission ) should be all over this.

Another whinger added: It's just jamming a bottle in a woman's crotch, says branding 'expert' Steven Addis. A great ad uses heart or mind. This one's starting below the waist.

Shot by fashion photographer Raymond Meier, who's done ads for Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton and Armani, the ad is in October issues of Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, InStyle and Maxim. It will appear on billboards in New York, Chicago, Dallas and Miami.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. self regulatory ad code says: Beverage alcohol advertising and marketing materials should not rely upon sexual prowess or sexual success as a selling point for the brand.

Mary Engle, the FTC's associate director for advertising practices, says, We don't have specific guidelines on alcohol marketing. We encourage companies to comply with self regulatory codes of conduct.