US Attorney General

US Attorney General Eric Holder publicly admits that there is a relationship between hardcore pornography and sexual trafficking and other things. Then why did he shut down the Obscenity Task Force Division in the US Attorney General's office?

Watch for yourself......

Events

Going along with our national campaign this week are several online events you may be interested in participating in. I know many of these groups and people and it will be worth your time. I am participating in Dr. Manning's webinar on Tuesday for sure. Click here for the webpage to register for these events. They are free.

Events This Week – Harms To Children:

· Monday, July 18th at 4 p.m. EDT: Live Facebook/Online Event: “Adult Porn Makes Victims Of Our Chlidren” (Morality In Media leaders)

· Tuesday, July 19th at 4 p.m. EDT: Webinar: “5 Hidden Dangers Facing You And Your Family Right Now” (Covenant Eyes)

· Tuesday, July 19th at 4 p.m. EDT: Conference Call: “Our children in a sexualized society: how to understand their experience and how to help” (Dr. Jill Manning)

· Tuesday, July 19th at 8 p.m. EDT: Webinar: “Simple Tools to Protect Your Family” (Bsecure – will also give free subscriptions to software)

· Wednesday, July 20th at 3:30 p.m. EDT: Live Facebook/Online Event: “Protecting Children Online: Know the pornographers’ tricks!” (Enough Is Enough)

· Wednesday, July 20th at 9 p.m. EDT: Live Facebook/Online Event: “How to educate young people on the harmful effects of pornography” (Fight The New Drug)

· Thursday, July 21 at 4 p.m. EDT: Webinar: “5 Hidden Dangers Facing You And Your Family Right Now” (Covenant Eyes)

· Thursday, July 21 and Sunday, July 24th All Day: Facebook: 500 FREE subscriptions to Net Nanny Filtering Software will be given away on www.facebook.com/pornharms. (Content Watch)

· Sunday, July 24th at 9 p.m. EDT: Live Facebook/Online Event: “Porn and Sex Abuse In Our Public Libraries” (Dan Kleineman)

National Awareness Campaign

Porn Harms which is run by the Coalition for Illegal Pornography has kicked off a national awareness campaign. Go to their website www.pornharms.com or follow them on Facebook to stay abreast of all of the upcoming events. All of these events are sponsored by professionals who are highly respected in their fields. It will be worth your time if you can participate in an event that interests you.

Currently, they are giving away 250 subscriptions to Net Nanny for free. If you don't have a filter on your computer, you may want to check it out.

Facebook - Face Recognition

I just saw this from Common Sense Media. It's a good reminder to keep up with our teenagers and the privacy settings on Facebook! Click HERE to learn more about Facebook - Face Recognition.

Make A Call- May 2-4

Please take 2 minutes and call the US Attorney General and tell them that pornography is harmful and needs to be prosecuted. I did it today and left a voicemail for them. Take a look at this link for talking points and call 1-877-639-1977.

We Need Your Help!

From www.pornharms.com

We need your unique cooperation RIGHT NOW. As you know, for months we have been working diligently with Congressional Members to motivate the U. S. Department of Justice and FBI to enforce existing Federal laws against illegal adult pornography (obscene material). THERE HAVE BEEN NO NEW OBSCENITY INDICTMENTS SINCE PRES. OBAMA TOOK OFFICE AND UNDER PRES. BUSH, THERE WERE JUST A FEW. Look around you at the great harm from pornography. You can take a major step to stop it.

U. S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R. UT) and U.S. House Representatives Mike McIntyre (D. NC) and Randy Forbes (R. VA) have written a letter to the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder urging that the FBI and Department of Justice vigorously prosecute major producers and distributors of illegal adult pornography. They are circulating this letter to all Members of Congress and asking them to sign it. We want to have these letters to the Attorney General co-signed by as many other Members of the Senate and House as possible and that is why we need you to help. Please contact your two U.S. Senators and your Member of the U.S. House of Representatives to tell them to sign the letter.

This is important!

If you would like to send an email right now to your Senators and Congressman, you can do that very easily. Click here for Senators and here for Congressman.
You may also call Congress today and ask to speak to your two Senators and Congressman. The number is 202-225-3121.

Congressional staffs have also told us of the critical importance of letters. The address for Senators is: The Honorable________, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510 and for Representatives is: The Honorable________, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515). All letters are good, but those of your own composition stand out.

For many years I headed the U. S. Department of Justice office that is charged with prosecution of obscene adult pornography. I know how effective prosecutions can be. Please help today.

If you can also make a donation to this great project, just click on the button below. We value your partnership and we need funds now to make sure this project is a complete success.

THANK YOU,

PATRICK A. TRUEMAN
Attorney At Law
Founder, PornHarms.com
CEO, Morality in Media

Survey

A company releasing a new filter later this year is looking for some feedback on internet filters. If you have a minute, please take the survey.

Social Shield

This is a product that I recently heard about that helps monitor and protect your kids on Facebook. I haven't tried it, so see what you think.

Friend your kids on Facebook.

Protect them with SocialShield.

Some people think that Facebook monitors for content. They don't. Some people think they can see everything their kids do simply by being their Facebook friend. They can't. SocialShield sees it all and more and then we let you know right away when something goes wrong. Take a tour or try us out and see if we can help your family stay safe and sound.

www.socialshield.com

The Negative Impact Glee magazine pictures (and others like them) have on our youth

Glee actors pose in scantily clad GQ magazine. Does it matter? Does it affect our children and teenagers? Here is a quote from a great article from commonsense.org about these questions.

"The research around the way that highly sexualized images affect girls is alarming -- including lower grades and greater levels of depression. The negative impact on self-esteem has also been directly linked to girls who measure themselves against the sexy stars in their lives. And is this really the way we want our boys to think about girls? The challenge of counteracting these messages necessarily falls to parents. And there are as many different ways of discussing this as there are kids."

The whole article is worth reading. It helps parents identify problems with inappropriate media and how it impacts our children.

How Candeo helps those addicted to pornography, Mark Kastleman, www.Porn...

Marriage Hits a Record Low

In the United States, marriages fell to a record low in 2009, with 52 percent of adults 18 and over saying they were joined in wedlock, compared to 57 percent in 2000.

The never-married included 46.3 percent of young adults 25-34, with sharp increases in single people in cities in the Midwest and Southwest, including Cleveland, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Albuquerque. It was the first time the share of unmarried young adults exceeded those who were married.

Marriages have been declining for years due to rising divorce, more unmarried couples living together, and increased job prospects for women. But sociologists say younger people are also now increasingly choosing to delay marriage as they struggle to find work and resist making long-term commitments.

Web Tracking Products

It is a good idea to monitor your children as they use computers and the internet. It isn't spying, especially if you tell your children that they are being monitored. Everyone should have accountability on a computer or cell phone, not just children. Being able to see where children have been and what they have been doing in a potentially very dangerous online environment, can be very helpful in keeping children safe and teaching them how to be responsible online.

Here are 4 different monitors with descriptions. Each work differently and monitor different levels.

Check out www.commonsensmedia.org for more on monitoring your children online.

AOL SafeSocial; $9.99/mo
What parents need to know: 30-day free trial offer; doesn't require kid's email passwords, but kids have to connect you to their social networks; toll-free help covers product support only, not guidance on handling specific social networking problems.
Best for: Newbies. AOL provides a lot of set-up guidance to new users, and the product is marketed as a tool parents and kids can use in partnership.

SafetyWeb; $10/mo; $100/year
What parents need to know: Requires only child's email address (not passwords); logs cell phone calls and texts; robust website links parents to helpful resources; Toll-free help and email support to help parents solve problems; no free trial offer (free first search only).
Best for: Families with older kids. This product stresses the importance of managing your kid's online reputation.

SocialShield; $10/mo; $96/year
What parents need to know: 30-day free trial offer; requires you to either log-in as your kid (with their password) or requires them to connect you to every social network they use; email support offers guidance on handling social networking problems; company website isn't well-maintained.
Best for: Facebook users. Although it checks other social networks, SocialShield started as a Facebook monitor.

WebWatcher; $97
What parents need to know: 7-day toll-free support; monitors computer use only; doesn't monitor social networks but records all of your kid's conversations; PC only.
Best for: Parents who think their kid may be at risk for serious issues like suicide, cyberbullying, or questionable relationships.

Pentagon reverserses decision and will investigate child pornography viewed by Dept of Defense employees

In a reversal, the Pentagon says it will reopen hundreds of cases of alleged purchases of child pornographyby Department of Defense employees that Pentagon officials previously declined to investigate, The Upshot has learned.

Earlier this month, The Upshot reported exclusively that in 2007, investigators for the Defense Criminal Investigative Service obtained a list of 264 military service members, civilian employees and contractors for the Department of Defense who had used credit cards or PayPal to purchase access to a child pornography website. But the DCIS, citing scarce resources, pursued only 52 of the names before closing the project -- known as Project Flicker -- in 2008. Since no further public information on the cases was made available, it appears that the other people on the list of suspected child-pornography patrons were able to continue their careers without any interruption that stemmed from the investigation.

But today, the Pentagon official in charge of DCIS told The Upshot that he has ordered the remaining cases reopened. "I have tasked Defense Criminal Investigative Service representatives with reviewing each and every Project Flicker and related referral DCIS received so as to ensure action was taken regarding these allegations involving employees of the Department of Defense," Deputy Inspector General for Investigations James Burch said in the statement Wednesday.

Burch announced his decision to revisit the cases, which had been abandoned for two years, in response to inquiries from The Upshot.

Dr. Hilton on Pornography Addiction and the Brain

Mesa Police Implement OffenderWatch to help keep Children Safe

The OffenderWatch database will enable citizens anywhere in the City to view maps and register for notifications concerning offenders that live in areas that are of interest to the viewer. These notifications will be sent to the citizen via their e-mail address. They will be alerted if an offender should register an address within the preferred radius of the citizen's registered address. They can also be notified if a specific offender moves from his or her present address. Citizens may register as many addresses as they like, at no cost to them. These addresses can include homes, work addresses, parks, playgrounds, bus stops, etc.. The purpose of the program is to promote sex offender awareness by proactively alerting the citizens of Mesa should an offender move within close proximity to them.

Citizens can access the Mesa Police Department OffenderWatch Community Web Page 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at the Mesa Police Department's web site athttp://www.mesaaz.gov/police.

Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography

A 2006 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into the purchase of child pornography online turned up more than 250 civilian and military employees of the Defense Department -- including some with the highest available security clearance -- who used credit cards or PayPal to purchase images of children in sexual situations. But the Pentagon investigated only a handful of the cases, Defense Department records show.

The cases turned up during a 2006 ICE inquiry, called Project Flicker, which targeted overseas processing of child-porn payments. As part of the probe, ICE investigators gained access to the names and credit card information of more than 5,000 Americans who had subscribed to websites offering images of child pornography. Many of those individuals provided military email addresses or physical addresses with Army or fleet ZIP codes when they purchased the subscriptions.

In a related inquiry, the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) cross-checked the ICE list against military databases to come up with a list of Defense employees and contractors who appeared to be guilty of purchasing child pornography. The names included staffers for the secretary of defense, contractors for the ultra-secretive National Security Agency, and a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But the DCIS opened investigations into only 20 percent of the individuals identified, and succeeded in prosecuting just a handful.

The Boston Globe first reported the Pentagon's role in Project Flicker in July, citing DCIS investigative reports (PDF) showing that at least 30 Defense Department employees were investigated.

But new Project Flicker investigative reports obtained by The Upshot through the Freedom of Information Act,which you can read here, show that DCIS investigators identified 264 Defense employees or contractors who had purchased child pornography online. Astonishingly, nine of those had "Top Secret Sensitive Compartmentalized Information" security clearances, meaning they had access to the nation's most sensitive secrets. All told, 76 of the individuals had Secret or higher clearances. But DCIS investigated only 52 of the suspects, and just 10 were ever charged with viewing or purchasing child pornography. Without greater public disclosure of how these cases wound down, it's impossible to know how or whether any of the names listed in the Project Flicker papers came in for additional scrutiny. It's conceivable that some of them were picked up by local law enforcement, but it seems likely that most of the people flagged by the investigation did not have their military careers disrupted in the context of the DCIS inquiry.

American Academy of Pediatrics New Study: Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media

American Academy of Pediatrics New Study: Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media

by Caroline Knorr at Common Sense Media

Millions of kids saw Toy Story 3 earlier this summer, and many were frightened by the scene in which the toys are heading toward almost certain death on the incinerator's conveyor belt. But it was another scene in that movie that made my hair stand on end: It's when Ken first meets Barbie, and the song Dream Weaver ("I believe you can get me through the night") starts to play. Ken says to Barbie, "Love your legwarmers," and Barbie purrs, "Nice ass-cot."

There it was: another one of those sexy zingers designed to make parents laugh and sail over kids' head. Turns out my parental instincts were right.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, sex -- and its cheeky cousin, innuendo -- doesn't go over kids' head. In fact, the AAP's new report, "Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media," says that exposure to sexual content in TV and other media in early adolescence can as much as double kids' risk of early sexual intercourse.

Perhaps more importantly, what kids aren't seeing -- consequences for risky sexual behavior and messages about healthy sexual relationships -- also negatively impacts their behavior and attitudes about sex.

According to the report, having a TV in a child's bedroom is associated with early teen sexual activity. On the other hand, adolescents whose parents limit their TV viewing are less likely to engage in early sex.

But let's be clear: The occasional sexual reference or sexual dysfunction ad isn't going to hurt your kid. And while no parent wants their kids to learn about sex from animated movies, explaining to them that lovey-dovey stuff is often exaggerated in movies and TV to get attention helps counteract those sexy messages.

As kids get older, the conversations get a little less comfortable (as when my then-10-year-old asked me what a three-way was after he saw a joke on TV about a sexual triangle involving a bicycle built for three). But offering a counterpoint to the exaggerated notions of sex that kids see is one of the keys to helping them develop a healthy attitude about sex.

What You Can Do

There are a few other things parents can do, according the AAP:

Take the TV out of the bedroom. Bedroom TVs have been identified as a risk factor for early sexual behavior -- and don't forget kids can watch TV on their computers, too.

Recognize the impact of media in kids' lives. Don't buy the excuse that racy jokes go over kids' heads. What kids hear and see affects their lives socially, emotionally, and physically.

Help them make age-appropriate choices. Kids get excited about movies and TV shows that are being marketed to them. But check our reviews first, and find age-appropriate alternatives to movies and TV shows you don't think they're ready for.

AZFC President on OSTWG Report

The past year I have been working with the Online Safety and Technology Working Group that was commissioned by the U.S. Congress to report on the latest findings and recommendations about the safety of children while online. Many good things have come from the report, especially useful in the world of analysis and academia.

For parents however, the report says what we know: the Internet and technology are changing faster than we can keep up with and make rules for; children are so immersed in technology they hardly separate virtual from reality, and schools need to use technology that is available and educate children on digital citizenship.

Because the report is trying to be forward thinking, it does not address the issues that still are haunting and frustrated families and educators: explicit material being shoved into our homes, on our phones, and child's phones no matter how we try to stop it, and places of education that have become sexually charged environments due to the overwhelming amount of explicit content accessible by children on the Internet.

Parents, schools, the technology industry, and the government should realize that children accessing pornography intentionally and inadvertently most certainly continues to be a significant danger to our children online. Families, parents, and schools struggle to keep explicit content and all its consequences away from children.

It is true that this is not a new problem, or a fashionable one. But the fashionable ones like cyberbullying and sexting are often just consequences of children viewing, mimicking, sharing, and producing their own forms of pornography.

Until the technology industry and the government take serious action to empower parents and schools, children will be exposed to the harmful effects of pornography.

Jeremy Geigle
President
Arizona Family Council


Link to OSTWG report

Stats on Internet Pornography

Via: Online MBA

Talk to your kids about privacy

Common Sense Media just put forth some great guidelines about privacy on the Internet. It's worth reviewing with your kids (and yourself!)

Tips For Protecting Personal Privacy online