Chief Justice Recognizes GFC and the Need for Strong Families

Consider the following statement by Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears:

“Because I know that each of you also cares about Georgia’s children and families, I will also tell you this: Thousands of children in this state are suffering because marriage, our society’s most pro-child institution, is getting weaker. As I told you last year, and the year before, nearly four of every ten babies in America today are born outside of marriage. Never before in our nation’s history have so many children grown up separated from their fathers. This family dysfunction and its consequences are not only causing our court dockets to be clogged, but they are also costing this state millions of taxpayer dollars.

“The good news is that not everyone is giving up in despair. In the audience today is Randy Hicks, president of the Georgia Family Council. His organization plans to release a study this spring that estimates that the cost to Georgia’s taxpayers of divorce and unwed childbearing is one billion dollars a year. One billion dollars a year. When the report is published, I urge each of you to take a look at it. Randy, would you stand up and be recognized for the important work your organization is doing.”

Just when it seems women in high places have gone off the deep end into political correct liberalism, one rises to prove it totally wrong.

To learn more about the work of the Georgia Family Council or to download Judge Sears entire address, go here or here.

Sexual orientation and abortion on demand law killed in committee

Each year The Family Foundation of Virginia works to defeat bills from organizations like Planned Parenthood and Equality Virginia that would expand abortion on demand or promote homosexuality in the Commonwealth. This year was no different.

The good news is that nearly every meaningful piece of legislation on those organization’s agendas have been defeated!

Bills promoted by Equality Virginia that would have added sexual orientation to employment and fair housing laws and expanded domestic partner benefits were all defeated in the House with little debate.

Planned Parenthood saw even less success. Defeating their number one legislative priority – a bill to change family life education from abstinence-based to so-called comprehensive sex ed – on the Senate floor was a great victory for families!

Similar legislation (HB 1403) in the House was never heard in committee. Neither was another Planned Parenthood priority, HB 1071, legislation that would have forced pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception against their moral objections.

Thank you leading members of the General Assembly for protecting families against the Planned Parenthood’s agenda.

For more information about the work of the Family Foundation of Virginia, go here.

South Dakota Bill Denying Conscientious Objection to Pharmacists Rejected

(LifeSiteNews.com) – The South Dakota Senate rejected, by a vote of 22 to 12, a bill that would have removed legal protection from pharmacists who refuse to sell contraceptives because it violates their conscience.

“We are Americans. You don’t tell people they have to do something that violates their conscience,” said Sen. Jay Duenwald, R-Hoven.

Bill SB-164 proposed that a pharmacist’s refusal to sell a drug that violated his or her conscience constituted a “government intrusion” into people’s private lives by a “government entity.”

State law allows pharmacists to follow their conscience and refuse to dispense medication if they believe it would cause an abortion or “destroy an unborn child as defined in subdivision 22-1-2(50A),” which defines an unborn child as “an individual organism of the species homo sapiens from fertilization until live birth.”

The defeated bill also attempted to change the definition of “unborn child”, by declaring, “Neither contraception nor birth control, as defined in section 1 of this Act, is subject to or governed by the provisions” in the existing statutes.

The Argus Leader quoted Sen. Tom Dempster, R-Sioux Falls, who said he supports access to birth control; nevertheless, he voted against the bill because no one presented any evidence that women are having trouble obtaining birth control in South Dakota.

Kimberly Martinez, Executive Director of Alpha Centre, a crisis pregnancy support agency, praised and thanked the senators who voted against the bill:

“We want to thank the senators who voted no on SB 164, in spite of being bullied to disregard South Dakota values and except an extreme worldview. SB164, in addition to taking rights away from pharmacists, would have given children access to dangerous chemicals without the knowledge or consent of that child’s parents or their personal physician who knows them best.

“The key to reducing the number of unwed pregnancies and abortions in South Dakota is sexual integrity relationship education, which includes healthy decision making, healthy relationships and refusal skills. Contrary to what Planned Parenthood would have you believe, the key is NOT to allow children access to dangerous chemicals without the knowledge or consent of their parents and without valuable medical history information. All this does is give children permission to engage in high risk behaviors that have life long consequences.”

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

Prophetic word about effects of birth control pill

In an excellent Catholic Exchange titled How Birth Control Works, Patti Maguire Armstrong writes the miracle of a new human life is not just prevented by the pill. The pill destroys life, which is “true for all contraception that works through manipulation of hormone levels.”

Relating the history and problems of the pill, Armstrong writes,

Although the pill was initially introduced with the idea of affording women a reliable way of limiting their family size, it soon became the ticket to the Sexual Revolution that began in the Sixties and never really ended. The pill promised something it’s never been able to deliver: sex with “no strings attached”. There are always emotional and moral consequences to thwarting God’s purpose, but women discovered physical problems too. Blood clots, heart attacks and strokes were some of the side effects caused by the Pill’s high estrogen levels. Drug manufacturers lowered these levels in order to reduce the side effects but that also increased the incidence of breakthrough ovulation. With the lower levels of estrogen, eggs would sometimes still get released and pregnancies resulted.

To prevent a newly formed embryo from implantation, drug companies added the synthetic hormone progesterone, which makes the uterine wall inhospitable to implantation by an embryo. Although preventing implantation of the embryo, “the pill acts as an abortifacient and stops life from continuing to the next stage.”

The point is the pill is not prevent conception it produces an abortion. Armstrong continues,

Since some women actually do become pregnant while on the pill, there are some embryos that manage to implant into the uterus. Whether it’s RU-486, Norplant, Depo-Provera, the morning after pill, the Mini-pill, or the Pill, there is no chemical ‘contraceptive’ that always causes an abortion. There is also none that never causes an abortion.

Many Christian are not only ignorant of these fact but they tend to deny these facts.

Interestingly, Armstrong writes that in 1968 Pope Paul VI predicted that the widespread use of contraception would lead to abortion, to conjugal infidelity, to the lowering of morality, and the loss of the respect of women. “Since the Pill began to be sold in 1960, divorces have tripled, out-of-wedlock births jumped from 224,000 to 1.2 million, abortions doubled, and cohabitation soared 10-fold from 430,000 to 4.2 million.”

If you are still disbelieve the pill results in abortion, watch the YouTube video below.

Sex ed curriculum bill sent to “study”

(Mass. Family Institute) Citizen activism has once again shown itself to be the not-so-secret weapon of the pro-family movement in Massachusetts as the bills that would have mandated sex education in public schools have been sent to a study committee. We asked you to email and call your legislators, and the members of the Joint Committee on Education, in opposition to both S.288 and H.597, legislation that would have implemented a mandated curriculum based on the Health Curriculum Frameworks, and the members of that committee heard from you clearly and acted accordingly.

This marks a substantial setback for Planned Parenthood and its “Coalition for Youth,” dominated by radical groups pushing unlimited abortion, contraception, and “consensual” premarital sex for teens. Bills sent to study committee usually never see the light of day and likely will die at the end of the legislative term. Huge thanks must go to the many concerned citizens who called the State House urging the committee and their own legislators to stop these two dangerous bills.

The battle, however, is not over. Supporters will undoubtedly attempt to slip the language of S.288/H.597 into the House or Senate budget bills that will be debated in the coming months. Sex Education, therefore, will remain on the front burner in the Legislature, along with stem cell research, casino gambling and a bill pertaining to so-called “transgender” rights. The grassroots must continue to stay engaged on Beacon Hill.

Battle for Connecticut Youth

By Peter Wolfgang, President

(FIC Blog) The targeting of Connecticut’s youth has become a major focus of our state’s pro same-sex “marriage” activists. The Family Institute of Connecticut is determined to see that our youth are served-and not confused-by our state’s educational institutions. But to take up that fight we must first understand the great influence our opponents already wield.

Feb. 13th, for instance, was “Youth for Marriage Equality Day.” According to Love Makes a Family, “students around Connecticut will once again take action” to promote same-sex “marriage.” Last year on this day students supposedly delivered to Gov. Rell 2,000 postcards asking her to re-define marriage. This year Love Makes a Family asked “gay-straight alliances in Connecticut” to contact them to receive pro same-sex “marriage” kits with “legislative action cards” that will again be sent to the governor.

“Gay-straight alliance” clubs are oftentimes at the heart of the anti-family infiltration of Connecticut’s public schools. As we see above, these student groups work closely with pro same-sex “marriage” activists–and they are supervised by school personnel who support that agenda.

One of the biggest annual events organized by these student groups is the “Day of Silence”–an attempt to further politicize our youth and to bring about the quasi-criminalization of traditional pro-family viewpoints. Last year–according to an April 17th Hartford Courant article–60 Connecticut schools registered for the Day of Silence. “Organizers say they aim to catch young minds and hearts at this early, delicate stage of the game,” reported the Courant.

Catching young minds at an early, delicate stage–in order to confuse them about matters of sexual identity–is indeed the long term strategy of our opponents. They have targeted the youth because they know that most of the public opposes same-sex “marriage.” Their only chance at a democratic victory is to “catch young minds” early and confuse them with anti-family propaganda.

Readers of FIC’s e-mail alerts know that we are forming a new pro-family youth wing that has already begun holding meetings. I have recently been the guest speaker at gatherings of Teenpac, Generation Joshua, Theology for Teens and various campus ministry groups and out of those gatherings has come the start of an alternative pro-family voice for our state’s youth.

If you are a high school or college student in Connecticut who shares our values and would like to be a part of the new FIC Youth Wing call our office at 860-548-0066.

Rescue Your Child From Forced Gay Sex Ed

Rescue Your Child is California-based Campaign for Children and Families response to legislation passed mandating transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality indoctrination of all children from kindergarten to 12the grade. The Rescue Your Child website is a clearinghouse of information for families, parents, and kids. Information about the various laws, what they mean, how they are being implemented, and the effects expected from homosexual indoctrination will have on children and eventually society are covered. So a number of ways parents can take control of their children’s education including resources on homeschooling, private schooling, and more….

See video of homosexuals brainwashing of children in elementary school.

Parents living in other states have cause for concern about mandatory gay sex education law. One man-one woman marriage law is not sufficient to prevent this kind of coerced sex education as proven in the state of California. Governor Arnold Schwarzenagger confirmed Republican politicians cannot be depended upon either. Parents have to take control of their children’s education.

In light of states forcing gay sex education at all age levels, parents and other citizens should demand education vouchers be given to parents in order to them to provide the type of education they want for their children. The Supreme Court ruled in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris that vouchers given directly to parents for educational purposes does not violate the First Amendment in any way. Therefore, parents can either demand vouchers or they could demand their legislature create enforceable opt-out laws. However, Massachusetts already has opt-out laws for children whose parents not wanting their kids to take sex ed classes, but state and federal courts annulled those laws when they denied the Parker family the right to exercise it. The only other possibly is to seek impeachment of those lawbreaking activist judges, which will not happen because the same legislature that passed the offensive law may still be in office.

Part I of our comprehensive 75-page study on dangers of Bill 1722 “Transsexual rights and hate crimes law”

(MassResistance) This “transgender rights and hate crimes” bill (now in the Judiciary Committee) is one of the most dangerous bills ever filed. It would protect and promote a range of bizarre and obscene behaviors in schools, businesses, and public accommodations. It would criminalize any critical response (real or perceived) to any sort of public or private undefined “gender identity and expression” (including bizarre public sexual behaviors). This will change society.

Homosexual lobbying groups across the state are joining together to push this. They’ve already had two “transgender rights lobby ” events at the State House. They are serious about forcing this on society.

MassResistance has put together a 75-page report on the background, makeup, and dangers of this bill. Part I is now available here.

Massachusetts mandatory HPV drug bill for 6th grade girls stopped, Merck drug lobby shedding profit loss tears

The following news story by MassResistance raises a question about corporate drug companies and families. The question is this: Should we allow children to be drugged against any parent’s consent to benefit the bottom of line of Merck or any other drug company? More simply, do people exist for the benefit of corporate profits? If not, should not Americans put such companies out of business whether by demanding a revocation of their incorporation, by a nationwide class-lawsuit, or by non-patronage? I would hope so. Fortunately, the people of Massachusetts have won the battle against Merck’s powerful lobbyists.

A spokesman for the Massachusetts Legislature’s Committee on Health Care Financing told MassResistance that the controversial bill S102 – “An act requiring immunization of children against human pampilloma virus” has been sent to “study” — a legislative maneuver that that effectively kills it for the session.

S102 would have required an HPV vaccine to be given to all 6th-grade girls in the Commonwealth. Besides ethical and moral issues forcing a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease on young girls, the vaccine was widely criticized for being untested in the long term, dangerous, and ineffective.

S102 was being pushed by the massive Merck drug company as part of a multi-state effort to sell it’s vaccine, Gardasil, by filing similar bills in in at least 18 state legislatures. In Massachusetts, Merck put a huge lobbying effort into S102. They put on lavish presentations for legislators and hired expensive lobbyists, which included a big State House “information” forum for legislators that included a parade of medical professionals brought in by Merck. Over the summer, slick radio commercials began to appear on Boston radio stations, funded by Merck, discussing the HPV issue and leading people to websites supportive of Merck’s efforts.

Concern had been brewing around the country about Gardasil, but the Merck effort in Massachusetts seemed unstoppable. At the S102 public hearing on July 13, MassResistance was the only group testifying against it (with two people), but we presented powerful testimony plus additional material for each committee member. In addition, we made sure they knew that parents were going to fight this to the bitter end.

We should not forget drug companies succeeded in mass drugging of America’s children in the past. With approval of the federal government, children became drug companies guinea pigs, which made boost sales by the billions. If that is doubted, read Rachel Zimmerman’s February 5, 2001 Wall Street Journal article titled Drug Companies Make Billions Testing Adult Drugs on Kids.

Remember Prozac and Ritalin the classroom miracle drugs? According to Frank Giovinazzi, over 2 million kids have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) which boosted sales of drugs like Ritalin 60% from 2001 to 2005. I personally believe a lot of the problem is related to diet and boring teachers, but not according to a August 14, 2007 Fox Health News report, it was found that half of ADD children were actually suffering from tonsillitis and much of the other half suffered from insomnia.

The moral of the story is that drug company programs do not care about supposed health needs of children; they care about making profit. The same must be said of federal officials who ensure drug companies boost the national GDP. Many state officials are no better. If they were, legislation like Massachusetts S102 would have never existed. Health officials are just as bad for exactly the same reasons.

To more about Merck’s campaign in Massachusetts, go here or visit MassResistance website for more information.

Tennessee’s fight for family-friendly abortion law

Tennessee liberals Senator Roy Herron and Rep. Phillip Pinion are attempting to defeat Senate Joint Resolution 127. SJR 127 proposes a constitutional amendment to reverse a state Supreme Court ruling claiming abortion a constitutional right and thus making any previous informed consent and waiting period laws invalid. Herron and Pinion have introduced a bill that purports to establish some measure of informed consent in connection with abortions, and it purports to establish a “waiting period” prior to an abortion. However, it becomes obvious after a careful reading of the bill that it is not enforceable.

Although David Fowler, President of the Family Action Council, says SB3512/HB3682 will only confuse the public into believing the Herron and Pinion bill will restore the state’s right to regulate abortion and that SJR 127 is not needed. Citizens and parents need to get involved to make sure the SJR127 amendment is put on the ballot for a statewide vote.

The question not yet raised or answered is why are Herron and Pinion opposed to SJR127. As good liberals, they support Planned Parenthood, liberal judges, and other pro-abortionist in the blatant effort to make abortion-on-demand legal. Part of the abortion-on-demand agenda is to eliminate all contrary authority to deny it–including parental authority and the right to sufficient information. Liberal pro-abortionists know that if women are fully educated about all aspects of abortion, including the risks and likely after-affects, over 70% would more than likely not go through or seek an abortion. Planned Parenthood does not like the idea of loosing the large amounts of money because of low demand. (Read Informed Consent: The Abortion Industry’s Achilles’ Heel by David Reardon

To read David Fowler’s analysis of the above bill, click here or visit the Family Action Council of Tennessee to learn how to support their work.

Pope Benedict: State must Defend the Right of a Child to a Father and Mother

By Hilary White

(LifeSiteNews.com) – At a time in human history when people are radically re-thinking the meaning of the concepts of family and of the relations between men and women, Pope Benedict XVI has told women that the natural differences and complementarity of the sexes is the foundation of the dignity of women. He called upon the state to protect the natural rights of families in order to support the rights of children to be raised and educated by a mother and a father.

Speaking at the Congress on Women, sponsored by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Laity, the pope said that Catholic anthropology differs profoundly from post-modern secularist ideas – notably feminism and the homosexual movement – that “attempt to eliminate, or at least to obfuscate and confuse, the sexual differences written into human nature, considering them to be cultural constructions.”

On the contrary, he said, the questions surrounding the dignity of women are based in “fundamental anthropological truths of men and women”, that recognize the “rooted and profound” and complementary “difference between the masculine and the feminine.”

This disparity of opinion “constitutes a central point of the ‘anthropological question’ that is so decisive in contemporary culture.”

Analysts have noted that the divide between the Catholic Church and the post-modern secular world on matters as widely dispersed as homosexuality, contraception and women’s ordination, are based on this disparity of understanding on what it means, fundamentally, to be human and made male and female.

Benedict warned that by attempting to eliminate these natural differences in order to “pretend to be autonomous or totally self-sufficient,” men and women “risk being closed up in a self-realization that considers the overcoming of every natural, social or religious bond as a conquest of freedom”. This attempt, he said, far from creating freedom, “in fact reduces them to an oppressive solitude”.

His comments reflect those of Mother Theresa who called loneliness “the leprosy of the West”, which she said, “in many ways…is worse than our poor in Calcutta.”

The pope spoke of the natural family as the “specific vocation”, based on the inherent complementarity of man and woman, in which, “woman and man, thanks to the gift of maternity and paternity, together play an irreplaceable role in regard to life.”

He reiterated the rights of the child as one of the central reasons for the Church’s steadfast defence of the natural family: “From the moment of their conception, children have a right to count on a father and a mother who care for them and accompany them in their growth.”

The state, he said, must safeguard the natural family and the “stability of matrimony,” and the “rights and irreplaceable duty” of parents to educate their children “with adequate social policies”.

A report issued by the Commission on Parenthood’s Future, echoes the Pope’s concerns. The Commission, an international group of scholars and leaders in the family issues, echoed the Pope’s reiteration of the Church’s teaching on the rights of children to be raised within natural marriage. The Commission examined what it called the “emerging clash between adult rights and the rights of children.”

The Commission, associated with the Institute for American Values and the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada, examined the changes in law in the US, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Australia, as well as ongoing experiments into the artificial creation and manipulation of human life at the embryonic stage. The report said, “Nearly all of these steps, and many more, are being taken in the name of adult rights to form families they choose.”

“But what about the children?”

The report cited the “large body of social science evidence showing that children, on average, do best when raised by their own married mother and father”. It suggested that “in the global rush to redefine parenthood we need to call a time-out.”

Illinois (Anti-)Equal Rights Amendment is Back

Illinois Liberal Rep. Lou Lang is again pushing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) — a bill that would eliminate gender distinctions and enshrine abortion as a constitutional right.

According to State Director for Illinois Stop-ERA Elise Bouc, “ERA claims to be a simple amendment that gives equal rights to women. In reality, the ERA will actually harm women, their families, and our society.”

How can a bill that simply states “equality of rights under law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex”?

First, the bill removes any legal distinction of gender on which women’s rights are based. Without this distinction, equal rights of women are no longer guaranteed. “Thus any laws or policies that make a distinction based on gender would be unconstitutional under the ERA.”

Second, “this same wording in 18 other state ERA’s has been interpreted by courts to remove the critical protection of wife and child support, mandate state funding of elective abortions (as only women receive abortions, refusal to provide funding for abortions is seen as a form of sex discrimination), and legalize same-sex marriage.

Third, “ERA would also transfer enormous power from state legislatures to the Federal government since it empowers Congress to enforce it. Such a transfer would create an imbalance of power between the states and the federal government and place sensitive issues under the rule of a national government that is far less responsive to individuals than the state legislatures.”

Fifth, “ERA would empower the federal courts to determine the meaning of ‘equality of rights’ and ‘sex’.” Thus handing over legislative power of the state to unresponsive and unelected federal officials.

Women will not gain any additional benefits from the ERA because laws that provide women with equal rights already exist. “The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution has been interpreted by the courts to prohibit gender-based discrimination. Other existing laws that provide women with equal rights cover virtually all areas of American life – education, employment, credit eligibility, housing, and public accommodations. Thus, the ERA will only harm women and not benefit them.”

In my opinion, ERA is the continued onslaught of the secularists agenda to create a society immorality, special rights as opposed to equal rights, secular intolerance of traditional morality, public religion and natural families, and the abuse and violence witnessed daily in daily news.

To read Bouc’s article, click here or visit excellent website of the Illinois Family Institute to learn how to support their work.

Florida Must Not Teach Evolution As Fact

(Press Release) During a press conference in Orlando on 11 February, a broad coalition of parents, public school teachers, policy organizations, and pastors announced their concerns with the new proposed science standards for the state of Florida and their plans to vigorously oppose them prior to the February 19th vote by the state Board of Education.

Members of the coalition stressed that they are not opposing the inclusion of evolution in the science curriculum, but are opposing an orchestrated attempt to censor relevant scientific evidence regarding evolution from Florida’s school children.

“If science is anything, it must be a search for the reality of the physical world we live in,” said John Stemberger, President and General Counsel of the Florida Family Policy Council. “We think kids should learn about evolution, but they should learn it is a theory with evidences of both strengths and weakneses.” (To read his full statement,click here.)

Aerospace Engineer Fred Cutting, a member of the Florida Science Standards Framers Committee that drafted the proposed science standards provided a statement criticizing the process under which the standards were developed. “My goal was to try and promote a curriculum that was even-handed and would present both the strengths and weaknesses of evolution. Those attempts were met with hostility and aggressive opposition,” said Cutting. “While all of my colleagues on the Science Standards Committee were professional and collegial, many of them were intolerant and dogmatic about protecting what appears to be a closely held personal philosophical commitment over what is the best science available to Florida’s students.” (To read his statement, click here.)

While comments from the public have been received at various public hearings, that input was largely ignored by the Committee and all communication now to the seven voting members of the State Board of Education regarding this issue is being filtered and redirected. To date there has been no public testimony before the members of the Board who are voting on this matter. Participants in the press conference urged the Florida Board of Education to allow at least 15 minutes of testimony from each side during the February 19th Board meeting , prior to the vote on the new Science Standards. At this time, no public testimony is being allowed at this scheduled final public meeting where the vote will take place.

Call or e-mail Education Commissioner Eric Smith
Eric.smith@fldoe.org
850-245-0505

** To see a list of top scientists who are skeptical about evolution, click here. For more information about this issue, go here.

Florida Family Association reports even more major companies stop advertising on irresponsible television shows

The valuable efforts of the Florida Family Association to dissuade corporate advertisers from supporting irresponsible television continues to produce good result. The following list are corporations who have recently responded to FFA’s efforts to stop supporting with their advertising dollars shows like MTV’s Bi-Sexual Dating Show “A shot at love with Tila Tequila,”
FX’s Nip Tuck, E! Playboy’s “Girls Next Door, “E! True Hollywood Story Jenna Jameson, E! True Hollywood Story Hugh Hefner Centerfolds, Girlfriends and Wives.

Among the corporations discontinuing their support are:

RITE AID “Re: Smart Burn at Rite Aid advertised during E! True Hollywood Jenna Jameson. Once again, thank you for bringing this to our attention. As with your past notices, the advertisement you referenced is a manufacturer’s ad that tags Rite Aid as a retailer that carries the item. Rite Aid is not, and would not advertise on this type of programming. Based on the information you have provided, we have instituted and communicated new tagging procedures to our suppliers that expressly prohibits tagging Rite Aid on controversial advertising and programming. Thank you for your efforts.” John K. Learish, Senior Vice President, Marketing.

AT&T WIRELESS “I wanted to follow up with you regarding your e-mail and concern relating to recent commercials. The ad you referenced below was produced, paid for and broadcast by one of our phone manufacturers. We have contacted them, along with our other manufacturers, to remind them of AT&T’s strict guidelines relating to the types of programming acceptable for advertising our products. They have communicated to us that this particular media buy has been removed from their next media purchase. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.” Dawn Benton, AT&T Corporate Communications.

MACY’S “Re: Seiko at Macy’s: I apologize that my earlier response to you was not sufficiently decisive. (You should know that Mr. Lundgren also pointed out to me that my initial response fell short of his expectations.) Please know that we are extremely disappointed that Macy’s name was associated with an inappropriate program like Nip Tuck program. We have advised Seiko to remove our name from ads that may run in programs like this. We also have advised Seiko that it should be more careful with its marketing placement decisions, whether or not our name is involved. We do share your concern about this program and have communicating that to Seiko. Thank you again for bringing this to our attention.” Jim Sluzewski, VP Corporate Communications.

WALGREENS “Our CEO Jeff Rein passed along your e-mail to me regarding the Walgreens name being attached to a recent ad for the product Appuloss that was advertised on the show, ‘Playboy’s Girl Next Door.’ Thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention. Walgreens has a policy of not buying advertising time on this type of programming. In this case, one of our suppliers apparently tagged the Walgreens name on his commercial without our permission. We have contacted that supplier and told him to remove our name as soon as possible.” Craig Sinclair, Corporate Communications.

YARI FILM GROUP “Thank you for bringing this situation to our attention. The Tila Tequila program is part of a rotation on MTV that we have purchased, and we agree with you that this show might be inappropriate to advertise The Perfect Holiday. We are therefore pulling the spots on the show and adjusting our schedule for advertising with MTV.” Mitch Goldman.

EMI GROUP (nowthatsmusic.com) “Further to your inquiry to EMI, I am responding in my role as head of marketing for NOW! That’s What I Call Music which is a cooperative project between EMI Music, The Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and the Zomba Group of labels. Our advertising plan is aimed at reaching a broad audience of pop music listeners via channels that reach a broad number of households, including the E! Channel. That plan no longer includes running spots on the E! Channel during the 9 p.m. time slot. Thank you for taking the time to write.” Laura Rutherford, Vice President, Marketing & Business Development.

SATURN “Neither GM nor any of our brands purchase national advertising on this show. We are still checking to see if a local Saturn dealer marketing group ad appeared during this time slot, but even if it did, it was run in error as ‘The Girl Next Door” does not meet our programming standards and we have instructed our agencies to avoid it.” Ryndee S. Carney, Communications Director.

J0CKEY INTERNATIONAL “I agreed to air the spot on E Entertainment Network not realizing it would be shown on the show you alerted us to. We negotiated the buy as each night between 6 p.m. and 12 am on E. It was referred to, in the documentation, as “primetime rotation,” and I was unaware that it would include this particular programming. I take full responsibility for this happening and of course, am deeply saddened that it did. In the future, I will push for more details about every TV show that is included in our media buys. The intention of our commercial was so incongruent with that particular program that it is doubly disturbing.” Tim Pitt, Vice President, Global Marketing and Advertising.

MACY’S “Re: Mariah Carey at Macy’s. We have been in touch with our vendor on the Mariah Carey product and have asked that the Macy’s name be removed promptly from any ads appearing during “A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila,” as well as several other programs we consider to be inappropriate. Based on this situation, as well as the one you brought to our attention last week, we will begin issuing instructions to all of our vendors that commercials that mention Macy’s or that display the Macy’s logo should not be used during shows that are on the “don’t buy list” of programs that are inappropriate for our own advertising. We hope this will prevent future such occurrences in the future. Please let me know if you have questions.” Jim Sluzewski, Vice President of Corporate Communications.

TACO BELL “Having investigated this matter, I wish to inform you that while we did have a few TV spots on this program earlier, the last being about a month ago, we do not plan to have advertising on this program in the future. We appreciate your bringing the matter to our notice, and wish to assure you that we follow a responsible media policy, and do not wish to offend sensibilities of viewers with our choice of programs in which we advertise our brands.” Micky Pant, Chief Marketing Officer.

RITE AID “Re: Rapid Slim at Rite Aid. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. The advertisement you referenced was a Rapid Slim ad tagging Rite Aid as a retailer that carried the product. While we did approve the ad and tagging, we were not apprised and did not approve the programming in which it ran. We contacted the manufacturer of Rapid Slim and were told it was part of a bulk remnant ad buy that was purchased. We do not approve of this type of programming. And going forward, we will prohibit such a practice.” John Learish, SVP Marketing.

GOLDEN CORRAL “We are a family restaurant with clear direction to our advertising agencies to avoid such programming. We buy a lot of TV advertising and sometimes the stations insert a “make good” or other “bonus” spot without our direct knowledge. We will investigate this. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. We will not advertise on this show again.” Monte Jump, VP of Marketing.

The positive responses of these and other corporate advertisers demonstrates public decency and family moral values are still supported by corporate. To see their written responses, go here.

Florida Family Association’s work is vital to recreating a decent family-friendly society. To learn how to support their work, visit their website at www.floridafamily.org.

Award Winning Athlete on Abstinence

Louisiana senior high school student, Lindsay Theil, received the Wendy’s High School Heisman (WHSH) Award. Each fall, the WHSH program recognizes the nation’s most esteemed high school senior men and women for excellence in academics, athletics, and community/school involvement. Lindsay explains why her commitment to abstinence and her success are linked:

Being a student-athlete requires dedication, sacrifice, self-discipline and responsibility. A good education and great, loving parents have helped me to become the individual that I am. My dedication to athletics and academics has profoundly strengthened my desire to remain abstinent. The sacrifices that I have made for academic and athletic achievement are too great to risk acquiring a sexually transmitted disease or an unwanted pregnancy.

Making the right choices is the key to success. For example, I have missed out on parties with friends because I knew I had a game the next day. Decisions like this, along with a desire to maintain a strong team commitment, have contributed to my choice of abstinence. If you strive to be the best and busy yourself with school and sports, you are more likely to learn to manage your time and be less tempted to do things you know are wrong.

As an athlete, you have to be up for every single practice and give your best every minute that you play. It can be tough. However, I have learned that the rewards of dedication make the sacrifices worth it in the end. My commitment to abstinence has been strengthened by my desire to be successful in both academics and athletics.

Frederick High School coach, Debbie McCollough, said Lindsay is a wonderful young woman from a great sports-minded family admired by all.

– From www.abstinenceedu.com

A Fun Game For Fathers and Daughters

Mindamics COM-MU’-NI-CA’-TION game is a fun game that makes it easy for fathers and daughters to communicate with each other. The game is designed for fathers with daughters’ age 10 or higher. The game was invented ten years ago by a father who was looking for a way to stay in touch with his daughter after being separated by divorce. Research shows that unfortunate events are more likely to occur when children lose regular, meaningful contact with their father. For example, girls who grow up with only one of their biological parents (usually the mother), compared to children who grow up with both parents, are three times more likely to have a child out of wedlock, 2.5 times more likely to become teen mothers, and twice as likely to drop out of school. The game includes fill-in-the-blank statements that the father & daughter read and answer during the meal.