The A/P Report

[ck4829]

The RW and the GOP has plenty of organizations that do their bidding. So today, I have decided to attack the very validity of these groups. I have written what I have called the A/P Report AKA the Anti-Propaganda Report.

Enjoy and be enlightened.

Accuracy in Media

- The group also denounced New York Times reporter Raymond Bonner for his reporting in January 1982 of the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador. AIM devoted an entire edition of its AIM Report to Bonner, reporting that "Mr. Bonner had been worth a division to the communists in Central America." The issue included some insinuations about Bonner's political sympathies, noting that he had once
worked for Ralph Nader.

- AIM is known for criticizing journalists with accusations of leftist bias, but rarely (if ever) levels claims of conservative bias against reporters or news organizations.

American Family Association

- AFA funded the anti-gay campaign to repeal Ferndale's human rights ordinance. They produced literature that did not identify themselves which was a violation of the law.

- AFA National violated copyright laws and were ordered by a NY Judge to stop distributing a misrepresented piece of art that the AFA thought was offensive. The piece had been funded by the NEA and AFA had circulated it to 4000 churches and many others encouraging people to blast the NEA for "lewd" art. The judge forced the AFA to issue a correction to the 4000 churches.

- The AFA activist in Florida, David Caton, formed a new group in the early 90's called "Take Back Tampa" to fight gay rights measures and gay friendly candidates for office. The group endorsed a slate of candidates for local, state and national office. After the election it was revealed that the group had accepted $28,000 in contributions from churches and other tax-exempt organizations. The group violated Florida election laws because it accepted donations in excess of state limits.

- AFA Texas violated the Texas Ethics Ordinance by not filing on time after working on a campaign. They actually missed the deadline several times and were fined 100$ and paid it each time. The Texas AFA chapter was almost dealt with
directly by that state's Attorney General.

- Don Wildmon, founder and President of the AFA, is widely considered anti-Semitic because of anti-Jewish comments he has made. Wildmon has been clear that he blames Jews for virtually all the "anti-Christian" material on TV and in movies and he has done everything shy of call it a conspiracy.

- A representative of the Florida chapter of the AFA told a Senate committee, that was voting on a school prayer issue, that Jews who opposed the issue should find better things to fight over. He said, "If that same group of people worked as hard keeping drugs out of school as keeping prayer out of school, we would have a much different behavior at schools."

- The AFA Journal has long served as a platform for anti-Semitic theories and innuendo. For instance, Wildmon warned of Jewish control over popular culture, an old anti-Semitic canard, in a January 1989 article, "What Hollywood Believes and Wants." "The television elite are highly secular," Wildmon wrote. "The majority (59 percent) in the Jewish faith." In a separate article in the same issue, titled "Anti-Semitism Called a Serious Problem," Wildmon, a longtime opponent of gay rights, pointedly remarked that "Jews favor homosexual rights more than other Americans."
Wildmon has been denounced by Jewish organizations including the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress. In 1994, Wildmon was the subject of a positive feature in "The Spotlight," a journal published by the virulently anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby.

American Legislative Exchange Council

- ALEC claims that it is "the nation's largest bipartisan, individual membership association of state legislators." All of ALEC�s officers who are state legislator members are Republican.

Christian Coalition

- In February of 2001, ten black employees filed a racial discrimination suit against the organization. Alleging that they were treated with Jim Crow-style segregationist rules, the black employees also stated in their lawsuit that the Christian Coalition's director was "uncomfortable" when the black employees joined company-sponsored prayer sessions and eventually stopped inviting them.
In March, two more black employees and a white employee filed discrimination charges against the organization. The white employee claims he was fired by the evangelical organization when he refused the director's request to spy on the black employees who had filed the lawsuit.

Drudge Report

- The Drudge Report published a report in 1997 saying that incoming White House assistant Sidney Blumenthal beat his wife and was covering it up. Drudge retracted the story the next day, saying he was given bad information, but Blumenthal filed a $30 million libel lawsuit against Drudge.

- The Report was the source of a sensational rumor (a "World Exclusive") in February 2004, about presidential candidate John Kerry, alleging that he had an affair with a young intern named Alexandra Polier. The woman, who in fact was never an intern for Kerry, denied the claim. In June 2004, Drudge apologized for the story, saying "In retrospect, I should have had a sentence saying, 'There is no evidence to tie Alex to John Kerry.' I should have put that." Yet the story remained available on his website (though de-linked) up to a year after its publication.

- A later erroneous report emerged in the 2004 US presidential campaign, one week before Senator Kerry announced his selection of Senator John Edwards as his vice presidential running mate. The Report headlined a prediction from a "top D.C. insider" saying that Senator Kerry would be announcing Senator Hillary Clinton as his running mate, declaring it to mark the beginning of a "massive love fest." he story was de-linked one day later. After Edward's selection, Drudge removed all "VP Hillary" coverage without comment; the correction or outright removal of false content published at the Report is usually handled in similar no-comment fashion.

Focus on the Family

- The night before Ted Bundy was executed, he gave a television interview to Dr. James Dobson, head of the Christian organization Focus on the Family. Bundy claimed that consumption of violent pornography helped "shape and mold" his violence into "behavior too terrible to describe." Bundy said that he felt that violence in the media, "particularly sexualized violence," sent boys "down the road to being Ted Bundys." It is noteworthy that Bundy had never blamed pornography until this interview and no pornographic materials were found at his home when it was searched.

Media Research Center

- In July 2002, MRC and affiliate Parents Television Council (PTC) paid an out-of-court settlement ending a lawsuit which had been launched by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in November 2000. WWE alleged 13 instances of defamation, copyright infringement and interference with prospective business relations after PTC produced a fundraising video using unauthorized WWE footage, falsely claimed WWE was responsible for the murders of four children, and falsely claimed advertisers had pulled their commercials from the show. MRC paid $3.5 million.

NewsMax

- On May 26th 2001 Newsmax started an urban myth about Hillary Clinton reapeatedly refusing to meet with the Gold Star Mothers, a group whose members are mothers who have lost children while serving in the military. Another example occurred on June 5, 2005 when in a subscription only email. NewsMax correspondent John LeBoutillier, interviewed Ed Klein, and "LeBoutillier writes" Klien's book will reveal Daniel Moynihan's (who died in 2003) alleged resistance to Clinton's candidacy:
"Still, a few months later Hillary got what she wanted: the prized photo op at
the Moynihan's upstate farm. Oddly, Pat Moynihan never uttered Hillary's name --
not even once -- during this event. He could not bring himself to mention
Hillary by name -- but the press reported his 'endorsement' just the same."
And yet a July 7, 1999 CNN interview with Pat Moynihan (who was deceased by the time of the 2005 Newsmax article and so could not provide a rebuttal of their claims himself):
"Moynihan: Before you do -- before I do, and, my God, I almost forgot --
yesterday, Hillary Clinton established an exploratory committee as regards
candidacy for the Senate, United States Senate, from New York, a seat which I
will vacate in a year and a half. I'm here to say that I hope she will go all
the way. I mean to go all the way with her. I think she's going to win. I think
it's going to be wonderful for New York, and we'll be proud of our senator and
the nation will notice."

- On November 29, 2005 Newsmax was the source of a rumor that John McCain himself validated the use of torture. This accusation was then picked up and repeated by Rush Limbaugh. Newsmax specifically claimed:
"Sen. John McCain is leading the charge against so-called "torture" techniques
allegedly used by U.S. interrogators, insisting that practices like sleep
deprivation and withholding medical attention are not only brutal - they simply
don't work to persuade terrorist suspects to give accurate information."
"Nearly forty years ago, however - when McCain was held captive in a North
Vietnamese prison camp - some of the same techniques were used on him. And - as
McCain has publicly admitted at least twice - the torture worked!"
The article contradicts itself by demonstrating that torture does not provide intelligence:
"For the next four days, I was beaten every two to three hours by different
guards ... Finally, I reached the lowest point of my 5 1/2 years in North
Vietnam. I was at the point of suicide, because I saw that I was reaching the
end of my rope."
"McCain was taken to an interrogation room and ordered to sign a document
confessing to war crimes. "I signed it," he recalled. "It was in their language,
and spoke about black crimes, and other generalities."

- On October 29, 2005 Newsmax published an article which claimed that "Patrick Fitzgerald Retreats From Plame 'Covert' Claim." The article commented that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald:
"declined to bring any charges to that effect, casting even more doubt on the
claim that her (Valerie Wilson) CIA job was a closely guarded secret."
Yet, in the October 28, 2005 Federal indictment of Scooter Libby, page 3, section f stated:
"At all relevant times from January 1, 2002 through July 2003, Valerie Wilson
was employed by the CIA, and her employment status was classified. Prior to July
14, 2003, Valerie Wilson�s affiliation with the CIA was not common knowledge
outside the intelligence community."
Moreover, the indictment page 2, section b stated:
"LIBBY was obligated by applicable laws and regulations, including Title 18,
United States Code, Section 793, and Executive Order 12958 (as modified by
Executive Order 13292)"

WorldNetDaily

- On July 28, 2004 WND repeated discredited claims about John Kerry, citing John O'Neill's book Unfit for Command:
O'Neill's book says Kerry "would revisit ambush locations for re-enacting combat
scenes where he would portray the hero, catching it all on film. Kerry would
take movies of himself walking around in combat gear, sometimes dressed as an
infantryman walking resolutely through the terrain. He even filmed mock
interviews of himself narrating his exploits. A joke circulated among Swiftees
was that Kerry left Vietnam early not because he received three Purple Hearts,
but because he had recorded enough film of himself to take home for his planned
political campaigns."

- The cover story of the March 2005 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine sought to debunk 9/11 conspiracy theories. The magazine noted:
WorldNetDaily.com weighs in: "Witnesses to this low-flying jet ... told their
story to journalists. Shortly thereafter, the FBI began to attack the witnesses
with perhaps the most inane disinformation ever--alleging the witnesses actually
observed a private jet at 34,000 ft. The FBI says the jet was asked to come down
to 5000 ft. and try to find the crash site. This would require about 20 minutes
to descend."
WND was refuted by Popular Mechanics authors:
There was such a jet in the vicinity--a Dassault Falcon 20 business jet owned by
the VF Corp. of Greensboro, N.C., an apparel company that markets Wrangler jeans
and other brands. The VF plane was flying into Johnstown-Cambria airport, 20
miles north of Shanksville. According to David Newell, VF's director of aviation
and travel, the FAA's Cleveland Center contacted copilot Yates Gladwell when the
Falcon was at an altitude "in the neighborhood of 3000 to 4000 ft."--not 34,000
ft. "They were in a descent already going into Johnstown," Newell adds. "The FAA
asked them to investigate and they did. They got down within 1500 ft. of the
ground when they circled. They saw a hole in the ground with smoke coming out of
it. They pinpointed the location and then continued on." Reached by PM, Gladwell
confirmed this account but, concerned about ongoing harassment by conspiracy
theorists, asked not to be quoted directly.

- WND has also been told misinformation about the The Plame leak. After two and a half years after the original Plame leak, it was noted on November 5, 2005 Fox News commentator Paul E. Vallely told WND:
Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely told WorldNetDaily that Wilson mentioned Plame's status
as a CIA employee over the course of at least three, possibly five,
conversations in 2002 in the Fox News Channel's "green room" in Washington,
D.C., as they waited to appear on air as analysts. Vallely says, according to
his recollection, Wilson mentioned his wife's job in the spring of 2002 -- more
than a year before Robert Novak's July 14, 2003, column identified her, citing
senior administration officials, as "an Agency operative on weapons of mass
destruction."
Over that weekend Vallely supposedly recalled another time Wilson allegedly shared classified information on his wife's CIA status. As noted above Vallely said he was told once in Spring 2002, but the WND on November 9, 2005 reported:
"After recalling further over the weekend his contacts with Wilson, Vallely says
now it was on just one occasion - the first of several conversations - that the
ambassador revealed his wife's employment with the CIA and that it likely
occurred some time in the late summer or early fall of 2002."
On Saturday, WorldNetDaily published a story based on an interview with Maj. General Paul Vallely, a distinguished career military man and Fox News analyst, who said Ambassador Joseph Wilson, the man at the center of the CIA leak case, had told him in casual conversations in the Fox News studios that his wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA employee - more than a year before this was first
disclosed publicly in a column written by journalist Robert Novak.
This was a serious charge to make, especially since there are 5 felony counts leveled against one White House offical as of this date. Yet, there is no evidence of such event and this isn't the first time Vallely is known to have
claimed something that is untrue.

- WND has also continued unproven claims that "Prophet Yahweh" summoned a UFO and the prophet:
"Claims to have seen some 1,500 UFOs over the last 25 years and has learned to
summon them by reading the Old Testament."
There is no proof any person can "summon" one "UFO" (Yahweh refers to the UFOs
as spaceships with aliens) nor he could summon 1,500, his summoning can be
explained simply as an accomplice launching a balloon in a nearby park.

- On March 20, 2002 WND cited Robert Morey as an "expert" who told the FBI:
"That Muslim Pakistanis brought into the U.S. a small nuclear device called a
'dirty bomb' through Niagara Falls out of Canada," Morey says." He described the
terrorists as "driving this nuclear device in the back of a van or a car waiting
for Bin Laden to tell them when it's time to set it off."
However this seems unlikely for several reasons. (1) Surely if Bin Laden had the
capability to attack the US since 2002 he would have. (2) Anyone with a $50.00
geiger counter could track this thing. (3) If this "device" is shielded with
lead to protect aganst radiation it could not be driven "around in a van or a
car." (4) The FBI would not allow anyone to release this data to the public. (5)
It would not have been just the FBI invovled in this. Surely the CIA, NSA, and
perhaps international groups would be involved as well. (6) This "expert" comes
from a questionable background. (7) No evidence Morey was actually told this or
in contact with Muslims/Pakistanis whatsoever. (8) No mainstream news agencies
repeated this story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_in_Media
Texas Triangle 1/19/96
Freedom Writer, June, July, August 89 and May 94
Palm Beach Post 4/27/95, School-prayer spat disrupts committee
http://www.afaexposed.com
http://mediamatters.org/items/200504130003
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3812/is_200105/ai_n8940538
http://www.alecwatch.org/chapterone.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A41628-2002Jul8?language=printer
http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/goldstar.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewsMax.com
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/documents/libby_indictment_28102005.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldNetDaily
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/defense/1227842.html?page=7&c=y
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Bundy#Conviction_and_execution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drudge_Report
http://www.epic.org/free_speech/blumenthal_v_drudge.html
http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2004/02/12/20040212_233205_mattjk1.htm
http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2004/07/01/20040701_012802_kerryhrc.htm

[Sydnie]

1. Please add that post to the Research Forum.

You have done wonderful work there! Let's not lose it by just having it in GD.

Thanks for this reference piece.

[stop the bleeding]

4. Ditto - this type of work belongs in a place where it won't get lost

Great job to the OP!

[acmejack]

2. Quite informative,

Thank you for putting this all together.

[missouri dem 2]

3. And some more on the American Family Association:

http://www.joplinglobe.com/story.php?story_id=231848&c=87
Friday March 5th 2006

It was one of those rare days in Jasper County when the Democrats
outdrew the Republicans.

More than 60 people gathered Thursday inside the Joplin Public Library
to hear Claire McCaskill, Missouri state auditor and Democratic
candidate for U.S. Senate, talk about the Medicare prescription plan.

About 20 Republicans stood in front of the library to "welcome"
McCaskill in an attempt to "contrast the differences between the
values she holds and Southwest Missouri values," said John Putnam,
chairman of the Jasper County Republican Central Committee.

R.L. Beasley, state coordinator for the American Family Association,
spoke at the Republican rally about traditional family values. He said
he would not direct his comments to McCaskill's values "because I
don't know her positions."



Religion Last Updated: Jan 19th, 2006 - 00:34:16




America’s domestic "Evil Empire"
By Mel Seesholtz, Ph.D.
Online Journal Contributing Writer


Jan 19, 2006, 00:30

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Lead by boycott king Don Wildmon of the American Family Association (AFA), the Evil Empire is again threatening Ford Motor Company. This is the January 10 letter AFA and 42 other so-called “pro-family” groups sent to Ford.
The AFA letter began with the statement “On November 28, Ford Motor Company and American Family Association worked out a representation concerning Ford’s support of groups promoting the homosexual agenda including homosexual marriage.” The letter’s conclusion included the threat, “We can not, and will not, sit by as Ford supports a social agenda aimed at the destruction of the family.”
As usual, the American Family Association and the rest of the fraudulently “pro-family” Christian Right simply do not recognize the existence of or the legitimacy of, much less care about, families -- that include hundreds of thousands if not millions of children -- headed by same-sex parents. How much more hypocritical can you get?

One has to wonder from whom AFA and the other agents of the Evil Empire get their funding to propagate hate, bigotry and discrimination. According to People for the American Way, AFA’s “finances” in 2000 were listed at $11.4 million. Wildmon’s Tupelo, Mississippi-based organization employed a staff of “about 100 employees and five full-time lawyers.” It’s highly unlikely those five full-time lawyers work pro bono ad infinitum, especially given the number of lawsuits in which they’re involved.
So let’s see. “Finances” of $11.4 million, 100 employees, five full-time lawyers, multiple on-going lawsuits, a glossy monthly publication (AFA Journal) with a circulation of 180,000, a nationwide radio network of 200 station, an extensive website, the normal overhead of office space, services and supplies, the production and distribution of several videos, including “Excess Access,” “It’s Not Gay,” and “Suffer the Children.” Do those “finances” and expenditures add up to you?
The American Family Association, like many other groups in the Evil Empire, hide behind “non-profit” and other legalities to avoid disclosing who contributes to and funds their political campaigns of hate and discrimination. But every so often, the truth comes out. An article entitled “How Abramoff Funded The Anti-Gay Agenda” appeared on the website of InfoShop.org. (Similar articles also appeared in the Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle.) The article’s opening was just the beginning of the exposé:
One aspect of the corruption and bribery mega-scandal shaking Washington that is swirling around conservative lobbyist Jack Abramoff . . . and which hasn’t gotten much mass media attention: how a lot of dough from Abramoff-controlled slush funds went to leading homophobes from the religious right.
Some of that money went to America’s premier homophobe -- and crusader against Internet gambling -- Rev. Lou Sheldon, founder and chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition:
Abramoff did more than hire anti-gay luminaries as Rev. Lou Sheldon (head of the Traditional Values Coalition) and Ralph Reed (former head of the Christian Coalition ) with money from Abramoff’s clients and front groups to lobby for special interests. Abramoff also funded an anti-gay group close to the lobbyist’s best buddy and biggest water-carrier, Rep. Tom Delay -- the U.S. Family Network -- with laundered money that has been traced to Russian oil interests.
According to the InfoShop article, “Sheldon’s Traditional Values Coalition received at least $25,000 from an Abramoff client, eLottery -- an online lottery company.” Abramoff called Rev. Sheldon “Lucky Lou.” The moniker “hypocrite” also comes to mind.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin has been linked to Ralph Reed, Karl Rove and, of course, Jack Abramoff. As the InfoShop article noted, “Lapin’s 1999 book, ‘America’s Real War,’ is a Pat Buchanan-like diatribe about the ‘culture wars’ in America that is dripping with homophobia and targets gays.” Lapin has been drumming up anti-gay sentiment in the Jewish community through his organization Toward Tradition, despite the overwhelming support for equal civil rights from the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). The president of URJ, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, recently labeled the Evil Empire “zealots” who claim a “monopoly on God” while promoting anti-gay policies akin to those of Nazi Germany: “We cannot forget that when Hitler came to power in 1933, one of the first things that he did was ban gay organizations.” Lapin’s Toward Tradition organization got $25,000 from Abramoff and $50,000 from two Abramoff clients, including eLottery.






http://mediamatters.org/items/200504130003
Wed, Apr 13, 2005 2:06pm EST
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Don Wildmon's American Family Association Journal linked Judaism to criminality, hostility toward Christianity
In the March issue of American Family Association Journal, a publication of Donald E. Wildmon's right-wing evangelical activist group, the American Family Association (AFA), author Randall Murphree suggested that a Jewish upbringing leads to hatred of Christians, and by extension, a criminal lifestyle. Describing the background of a man who has a "ministry to the homeless," Murphree wrote in his article, "Homeless by Choice":
The Athens, Ohio, man grew up in a Jewish home and developed a hostile attitude toward Christ. As a teenager, he used drugs, sold drugs and accumulated quite a juvenile crime record. But after a high school friend persistently witnessed to him, Keith accepted Christ during his junior year in high school.
Murphree offered no explanation for the man's "hostile attitude toward Christ" other than his Jewish upbringing. Nor did he explain the man's drug use, drug dealing, and law-breaking in any way except in the context of his hostility toward Christ. Thus, Murphree linked Judaism to criminality.
The AFA Journal has long served as a platform for anti-Semitic theories and innuendo. For instance, Wildmon warned of Jewish control over popular culture, an old anti-Semitic canard, in a January 1989 article, "What Hollywood Believes and Wants." "The television elite are highly secular," Wildmon wrote. "The majority (59 percent) in the Jewish faith." In a separate article in the same issue, titled "Anti-Semitism Called a Serious Problem," Wildmon, a longtime opponent of gay rights, pointedly remarked that "Jews favor homosexual rights more than other Americans."
Wildmon has been denounced by Jewish organizations including the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress. In 1994, Wildmon was the subject of a positive feature in "The Spotlight," a journal published by the virulently anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby. He has appeared on numerous mainstream news programs, including ABC's Good Morning America and Nightline, NBC's The Today Show and Meet the Press, and CNN's Crossfire. The AFA's website currently claims a membership of 2,248,910.
—M.B.



http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=3796

Right Wing Organizations







American Family Association

P.O. Box 2440, Tupelo, MS 38803
www.afa.net

Chairman/Founder: the Rev. Donald Wildmon
Vice President: Tim Wildmon (son of Donald Wildmon)
Date of founding: 1977
Membership: AFA claims over 500,000 members.
Finances: $11.4 million (2000)
Staff: About 100 employees and five full-time lawyers.
State chapters: State Directors in 21 states. Also has smaller chapters, number unknown.
Publications: “AFA Journal,” published monthly, with a circulation of 180,000.
Radio: AFA has its own 200-station network of radio stations across the United States.
Videos: AFA has produced “Excess Access,” “It’s Not Gay,” and “Suffer the Children” Television: AFA has appeared on the following shows: “Good Morning America,” “The Today Show,” “MacNeill Lehrer Report,” “Nightline,” “The 700 Club,” “Meet the Press,” “Crossfire,” and “Focus on the Family.”
Formerly known as: National Federation for Decency
Affiliate groups: AFA Foundation, Center for Law & Policy, American Family Radio, and Agape Press


AFA’s principal issues:
AFA Activities:
Profiles on AFA Affiliates:
Other Legal Activities by AFA/CLP include:
AFA State Affiliates:
AFA Quotes:


AFA’s principal issues:
American Family Association targets the media and entertainment industry’s “attack” on “traditional family values.”

Two of the main duties that AFA assigns to itself are “promoting the centrality of God in American life” and “promoting the Christian ethic of decency.”

“Indecent” influences in American culture include: television, the separation of church and state, pornography, “the homosexual agenda,” premarital sex, legal abortion, the National Endowment for the Arts, gambling, unfiltered internet access in libraries, and the removal of school-sponsored religious worship from public schools.

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AFA Activities:


AFA produces the radio show, "AFA Report," a 30-minute feature available on about 1,200 local radio stations nationwide. AFA launched their broadcast ministry American Family Radio (AFR) in 1987. AFR has approximately 200 radio stations in 27 states across the country. According to American Family Radio, “AFR has built more stations in a shorter time than any other broadcaster in the history of broadcasting.” The AFA built their small radio empire by applying for “noncommercial educational licenses.” When the FCC refused to grant some the licenses the AFA sued the FCC in federal court arguing that to deny religious groups noncommercial broadcasting licenses violates their First Amendment and Equal Protection rights.

For over twenty years AFA’s primary activities have been organizing boycotts against sponsors of TV shows with “anti-Christian” messages and ideas.

AFA has created two websites,www.onemillionmoms.com and www.onemilliondads.com, to “help parents do something about the trash on TV” by organizing weekly on-line boycotts of offensive advertising or television shows.

Among its hundreds of boycott targets over the years are "Cheers," "The Johnny Carson Show," "Saturday Night Live," "Roseanne," "Nightline," "NYPD Blue," and “Ellen.” AFA has called for widespread boycotts of all businesses that “promote” pornography, homosexuality, or other forms of “indecency.”

A major target has been Disney and its subsidiaries. According to the group “Disney’s attack on America’s families has become so blatent, so intentional, so obvious, that American Family Association has called for a boycott of all Disney products until such time as this activity ceases.”

Other boycott targets include American Airlines for their policy of providing domestic partner benefits and K-mart for selling music that has a “parental advisory warning” sticker, even to adults.

Donald Wildmon has called for the shutdown of PBS and as a result of the AFA's campaign, many state legislatures reduced funding for public broadcasting. The AFA spearheaded the attack on the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the 1980’s, using direct mail and extensive print advertising to distort the NEA's record of sponsorship of the arts.

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Profiles on AFA Affiliates:


AFA Center for Law and Policy activities (CLP):

In 1990, the AFA established the AFA Center for Law & Policy as a litigation and public policy arm of the organization.

The Center for Law & Policy (CLP) is staffed by six full-time attorneys with a network of more than 400 affiliate lawyers. The CLP states that they provide representation to Christians in courts throughout the country, and advise state and federal legislators on constitutional, political and legal issues.

The CLP has been involved in several cases where they push for religious worship and symbols in public schools as well as the removal of curriculum that doesn’t reflect “traditional family values.”

Recently AFA has spearheaded a campaign to have their “In God We Trust” posters posted in every classroom, in every school in the United States. In 2001, the Mississippi state legislature passed a law requiring that each public school classroom, auditorium and cafeteria display a “In God We Trust” poster. However, when the Mississippi state legislature did not provide any funding for the bill, AFA/CLP volunteered to be the coordinator for the project. AFA/CLP is responsible for organizing and distributing 32,000 “In God We Trust” free posters in public schools in the state of Mississippi.

AFA/CLP has encouraged other states to follow Mississippi’s example, promising that anyone who may be afraid of a lawsuit would be defended by the AFA Center for Law & Policy for free. In 2001, AFA distributed 250,000 “In God We Trust” posters nationwide.

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Other Legal Activities by AFA/CLP include:
CLP represented the anti-gay group “Take Back Maryland” when they were accused of falsifying signatures for a petition to reverse an anti-discrimination bill that protected gays and lesbians from bias discrimination in employment and housing.

AFA filed lawsuits attempting to ban the curriculum, "Impressions," from public school classrooms on the grounds that it "promotes the religion of witchcraft."

AFA sponsored a rally in support of Judge Roy Moore of Alabama who refused to remove the Ten Commandments from his courtroom.

AFA Center for Law & Policy (CLP) won a lawsuit on behalf of pro-life protesters in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, over protest signs confiscated and held by city officials.

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AFA State Affiliates:


Many of AFA’s state chapters are very active on a state and local level. Gary Glenn of AFA Michigan has become a lightening rod in the state for controversy over civil rights protections for gays and lesbians. Glenn has opposed anti-discrimination policies of several Michigan cities by asserting that if passed, public bathrooms and showers would become co-ed. After the legislation passed in several towns, Glenn organized petitions to overturn the legislation, asserting that gays and lesbians pose a “public health hazard.” Glenn also has targeted a 4th grade environmental education course, alleging that the program is “anti-human” and promotes paganism.

AFA’s California director Scott Lively, of Abiding Truth Ministries and the Pro-Family Law Center, is an anti-gay activist who has written such books as “The Pink Swastika,” which claims that “homosexuals the true inventors of Nazism and the guiding force behind many Nazi atrocities.” Lively has also written “7 Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child, “ and “The Poisoned Stream: “Gay” Influence in Human History.” AFA California has launched the “California Campaign to Take Back the Schools” to stop the “homosexualization of American public schools.”

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AFA Quotes:

Quotes from the Reverend Don Wildmon on behalf of AFA:

"Now the Bush Administration is opening its arms to homosexual activists who have been working diligently to overthrow the traditional views of Western Civilization regarding human sexuality, marriage and family… AFA would never support the policies of a political party which embraced the homosexual movement. Period.” (4-16-01, AFA Press Release)

“We believe the national motto incorporates the foundational belief of our culture, and its words ‘In God we trust’ are a message our children need to see in school.” (July 2001, cover story of AFA Journal)

“But the National PTA continued right along, increasingly becoming a tool to promote a left-wing philosophy instead of helping the children with their educational needs. The latest project for the National PTA is the promotion of the homosexual agenda…Stop the PTA from using your children to promote their left-wing political agenda. “AFA Journal, February 2001 Edition

From AFA staffers:

“Over the years, AFA has consistently addressed the homosexual movement's obsession with infiltrating the public school system. Its eye-opening video “It's Not Gay”, which presents a heartbreaking look at the physical and emotional consequences of the homosexual lifestyle, has been the most popular video ever produced by AFA. “ (May 2001, “Homosexuals push for control of schools”)

“Nothing disappointed the more than Disney's enthusiastic embrace of movement that rejects everything that is sacred to Christians about human sexuality, marriage and family.” (April 2001, “Why the Disney Boycott Shouldn't Go Away”)

From AFA state affiliates:

“The church and this nation cry out for a revival of masculine Christianity, which is to say that we church leaders need to stop being such, for lack of a better word, sissies when it comes to social and political issues. We need to spend as much time confronting perpetrators as we do comforting victims. We need to do less fretting, and more fighting for righteousness. For every motherly, feminine ministry of the church such as a Crisis Pregnancy Center or ex-gay support group, we need a battle-hardened, take-it-to-the-enemy masculine ministry like Operation Rescue (questions of civil disobedience aside). For every God-hating radical in government, academia and media we need a bold, no-nonsense, truth-telling Christian counterpart: trained, equipped and endorsed by the local church.” –Scott Lively, Director of AFA California and Abiding Truth Ministries, author of “The Pink Swastika.” (quote source: http://www.abidingtruth.com/pfrc/archives/editorials/masculinechristianity.html)

"Under homosexual activists' political agenda, our children would face a future in which traditional marriage and families have been legally devalued, while state government -- despite the severe threat it poses to personal and public health -- not only legally endorses but uses our tax dollars to subsidize deadly homosexual behavior." –Gary Glenn, Director of AFA Michigan (2-17-01 Press Release)




Please post any additional information about these groups ties to Jack Abramoff

[mandyky]

5. Excellent job!!

Thank you.