THE LIGHTED CANDLE SOCIETY

Newsletter for FEBRUARY 2004

www.lightedcandlesociety.org

FROM THE CHAIRMAN’S DESK

“RES IPSA LOQUITUR”

The Latin phrase, “res ipsa loquitur,” means literally, “...the thing speaks for itself.” That is to say, there are in life certain events or circumstances which are so patently obvious on their face that one need not be concerned with how to prove their reality. The “thing” simply speaks for itself and no rational mind could disagree. In this article we propose to present certain facts which are so clearly obvious as to their cause and effect that no rational mind could disagree.

These facts have been known and documented for years. Yet, over those same years and still continuing today these facts are dismissed by those who defend the pornographers, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the members of the legal profession who are now paid millions of dollars each year by the pornography industry, and the Motion Picture Producer’s Association. The primary rhetoric in their defense of pornography is to repeat three big lies. These lies are the favorite response of the apologists for pornography even though each one of the lies has been thoroughly dis-proven for decades.

In addition to those noted above a variety of pseudo-intellectual academics who have no other way to distinguish themselves have undertaken to establish pornography as a curriculum subject in many universities and colleges across the country. They too have become increasingly vocal in their advocacy of pornography as an acceptable form of “academic pursuit” and as a form of “personal entertainment.” In this advocacy they repeat and assert the three big lies as clinically proven facts when in reality they are exactly the opposite.

In order of their most frequent use, the four big lies are:

1. “There is no proof of any causal relationship between the frequent viewing of pornography and aggressive sexual violence.”

2. “The private viewing and possessing of pornography is a “victimless” crime.”

3. “ You cannot legislate morality.”

In response to these three big lies from the apologists for pornography let us consider two separate issues: First, the enormous increased burden upon and loss of productivity in the national economy because of pornography; second, the immeasurable degree of human suffering that takes place as pornography addicts act out the fantasies that have destroyed the inhibitions that would ordinarily keep them from committing sexually violent aggression upon innocent victims.

Consider the following items from recent news sources:

· “Teenagers and young adults account for nearly half of the newly diagnosed cases of sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S.. though they constitute just a quarter of the sexually active population...Researchers at the federal centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 9.1 million cases of eight different sexually transmitted diseases occurred in people age 15 to 24 in the year 2000. There were 18.9 million new cases overall, said the report in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health...CDC researchers estimate that the lifetime medical cost of these 9.1 million cases at $6.5 BILLION.”(Wall Street Journal 2 March ‘04)

· According to the Internet research entity “Sextracker,” pornography sites receive twenty-seven million hits daily, the biggest sites getting as much a 2.8 million per day.

· Seventy percent (70%) of all porn traffic occurs during the 9-5 workday. This equates to one in five employees accessing pornography at the office.

· In a survey of one hundred ten companies varying in size from fifty to fifteen thousand employees, pornographic web sites were being accessed by employees in sixty-two percent (62%) of the companies. (Study by Elron Sofware as reported by Websence, “Internet Usage in the Workplace.”)

· Twenty-Seven percent (27%) of the Fortune 500 companies have battled sexual harassment claims stemming from misuse and abuse of corporate-e-mail and Internet systems. The result has been a dramatic increase in legal costs, payment of settlement claims, and loss of time by senior management. (Study by the American Management Association, November 2000.)

· In the United Kingdom during the year 2000 companies lost more than ten billion pounds ($18 Billion) due to lost work productivity because of Internet misuse, seventy percent (70%) of which was estimated to come from accessing pornography. (Geoff Haggart, VP of Europe Websence)

· A study in the United States done by the Computer Security Institute and the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded that in the year 2001 American companies lost a total of two hundred sixty-five billion dollars ($265 Billion) from abuse by employees of Internet access. (Remember that seventy percent (70%) of the Internet traffic in pornography takes place from the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) (www.gocsi.com/prelea/000321.html)

· During the Victoria’s Secret online fashion show American companies lost more than one hundred twenty million dollars ($120 million) in productivity during the forty-four minutes of the show. (Websence)

· By the end of the year 2003 the United States economy will loose ten billion hours in productive workplace time from Internet misuse. These hours amount to an estimate $250 Billion in lost wage expenses paid to employees who misuse the Internet. (prweb.com http//www.prweb.com/releases/2003/10/prweb 83395.html)

· “Dismissing an employee for Internet misuse is a substantial cost to the employer. While there are the obvious costs of advertising for new hires, recruitment, training and supervision, there are also additional financial burdens caused by the interruption to work patterns, the damage to morale and the negative publicity to the organization as a result of the dismissal.” (http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/466091)

Thus, the evidence is overwhelming that the national economy loses billions of dollars per year and individual business enterprises lose millions of dollars per year because of the addiction to Internet pornography that has spread across the country like a plague.

Let us now briefly review just a few of the known consequences in terms of human suffering that have come about because of the dramatic increase in the production and distribution of pornography in the United States.

· “In the first week of February, 2004, the United States Department of Justice National Institute of Justice reported that the Center for Missing and Exploited Children received fifty-six hundred (5600) reports of child sexual abuse in just one week.” (Dr. Judith Reisman, Ph.D)

· In the twenty-three years from 1976 to 1999, there was a 67% increase in the number of sex abuse victims who were under the age of 18 years: There was a 64% increase in reported instances of forced sodomy on boys under the age of 12 years; There were 4500 reported “in school” rape sexual assaults: In the United States, Canada, and Mexico there were 325,000 children prostituted for sexual purposes and for use in pornography. (Dr. Richard Estes, The Commercial Exploitation of Children in the U.S. Canada and Mexico:, a report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice/National Institute of Justice.)

· In 1999 in the United States there were 58,200 children kidnapped by non-kin, most of whom were sexually exploited. (Report from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.)

· 73% of boys, and 78% of girls 12 to 19 years of age watch MTV over 6 hours per week. MTV creates anxiety-ridden consumers of media fantasy products. MTV’s porn crossover creates sex/violence addicts. (Dr. Judith Reisman, Ph.D; citing a study by the National Coalition for the protection of Children & Families. http:///www.ntionalcoalition.org)

(Please see the article in this newsletter regarding the broadcast of pornography on MTV. Note that more girls than boys are watching these shows.)

· Robert Peters, President of Morality in Media, in a January 2004 report entitled “The Link Between Pornography and Violent Sex Crimes” quotes former New York Lieutenant commander of the Bronx homicide squad, Mr. Vernon Geberth, as follows: “The sex related cases I am encountering today (as a consultant) are more frequent, vicious and despicable than what I ever experienced as a homicide cop....There are more serial killers today. In my opinion, we have had a proliferation in serial murder events, as well as sex-related homicides.” Peters then notes that “Geberth argues that the Internet plays a significant role in the proliferation of...attacks.”

· “BBC Online recently reported a ‘National Children’s Homes study that child porn crimes have risen by 1500% since 1988.’ But ‘Why’ we ask? And why are over one in three (users ) involved in hands-on abuse?’ Is it because the human brain is designed - rigged- to believe that any image it sees is real, so that millions of sexually aroused viewers act out on children the sex they’ve seen?... Until recently most neurologists doubted the affect of media upon the rational mind...The scientifically fraudulent idea that erotic images are harmless speech and children are naturally sexual has led to mass child victimization. An uninformed judiciary has subjected millions of children and youths to toxic images that now dominate their brains, minds, memories, and conduct.”

(Dr. Judith Reisman, Ph.D; “The Importance of the Child Online Protection Act”, Human Events, December 2003.

We examined hundred of accounts of violent sexual abuse perpetrated upon women and children of both sexes by individuals who were acting out what they had been viewing in pornographic materials. Because of the necessity to recite the specific types of torture, sexual defilement, and ultimate death brought upon many of these victims we have declined to include any of these documented cases in this newsletter. With the information noted above let us return to an examination of the three big lies that are used to justify and defend the production and distribution of pornography

.

Big lie number one; “There is no proof of any causal relationship between the frequent viewing of pornography and aggressive sexual violence.

THE TRUTH: There are over twenty-five hundred scientifically confirmed clinical studies that have demonstrated a direct link between the frequent viewing of pornography and aggressive sexual violence by the pornography addict.

Big lie number two: “The private viewing and possessing of pornography is a ‘victimless crime.’”

THE TRUTH: Can anyone seriously believe that monstrous lie in view of the following:

· The enormous increase in the number of children being sexually abused by an individual who has become addicted to porn

· The millions of wives who have been humiliated and subjected to unspeakable emotional trauma by husbands who demand that they participate in the vile perversions associated with pornography.

· The incredible increase in sexually transmitted diseases among those in the 12 to 19 year old age group.

Big lie number three: “You cannot legislate morality.”

THE TRUTH;

In fact all legislation enacted in the western culture is derived from moral values that originated with the Judeo-Christian legacy of the Holy Bible. This is true even with the most obtuse aspects of taxation, let alone more substantive laws. It is also axiomatic that in the law we do not seek to enforce moral conduct but rather to prevent conduct that by its very nature threatens the lives and personal well being of others. When people choose to entertain themselves with pornographic material that induces them to commit crimes of violence upon others it is very much the responsibility of the law to prevent such conduct.

AS YOU CAN SEE, “THE THING TRULY SPEAKS FOR ITSELF.” PORNOGRAPHY IS AS A SERPENT WHOSE VENOM WILL POISON THE MIND AND THE SOUL OF THE UNWARY VICTIM.

WILL YOU LIGHT A CANDLE?

The Lighted Candle Society (LCS) was created to finance research and distribute information regarding the devastating impact of pornography upon the mind and conscience of any individual who becomes involved with pornography. In order to carry out this mission it is essential that the LCS receive financial support from a broad base of individuals who are willing to sacrifice in order to preserve our nation’s freedom. It is a matter of certainty that the ultimate consequence of the continued increase in the production and distribution of pornography in America will be the loss of our political freedom.

The LCS is a non-profit charitable educational entity approved by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to receive tax exempt and tax deductible donations. Your financial support of the LCS qualifies as a charitable donation in the calculation of your personal or corporate tax liability.

The name of our society is taken from the frequently repeated phrase, “...it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” Our vision is to unite several million Americans who will each month spend ten dollars to “light a candle” so that the light of truth may overpower and destroy the mists of darkness that are ever present with pornography. The “FIVE SMOOTH STONES” program of the Lighted Candle Society is the means by which we empower individuals, families and religious congregations with the knowledge and the ability to utilize that knowledge to protect themselves and others from the venom of pornography. Will you consider sacrificing something each month that will enable you to send to us through our web site a modest ten dollar contribution? With the united support of those in whom the light of truth yet burns brightly we can prevail over the evil combinations that new seek to destroy our heritage of freedom by the dark powers of pornography.

****PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT****

www.lightedcandlesociety.org

The web site for the LIGHTED CANDLE SOCIETY is now up and running. If you wish to get a past newsletter, forward one of our newsletters to a friend, or to make a donation to the LCS, all of this can be done electronically on our web site. The electronically encrypted procedure with the Wells Fargo Bank allows you to use your credit card with total safety when subscribing to the newsletter or making a contribution.

RESERVE THE DATE OF 12 MAY ON YOUR CALENDAR

On Wednesday, the 12th of May, the Lighted Candle Society

will present a program that will be of historic significance.

Two of the nation’s most respected expert academicians regarding

the damage to the human mind from pornography will be making

a presentation that will set the new paradigm for understanding

the danger to our nation’s survival from pornography. Look for complete

details on our web site and in our next newsletter.