No Porn — or Bibles — Allowed

VDARE.COM, Sept. 30 — Daniel Moody is a 21-year-old American soldier serving in the Middle East. Moody's father, Jack, tried to send his son a spiritual “care package” he'd requested, containing a Bible and some Christian literature.

But the elder Moody was stopped by a postal regulation that prohibits sending material to Middle Eastern countries containing “any matter containing religious materials contrary to the Islamic faith” or anything “depicting semi-nude persons, pornographic or sexual items or non-authorized political materials.”

Moody is suing to have the regulation changed. As he told Voice of America: “My son is in the military, and he's overseas fighting to free [Iraq] from tyranny, and to protect our rights and our freedoms, and here our government has a rule on the books that's limited his freedom.”

Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin on the Web site VDare.com commented, “There's something terribly wrong when an American soldier overseas can't receive Scriptures in the mail but a Muslim chaplain can preach freely among al-Qaida and Taliban enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay.”

She was referring to James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain at the U.S. Naval base in Cuba who is suspected of smuggling out diagrams of detainees’ cells and the names of detainees and their interrogators.

Rock Band Promises Suicide Onstage

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Sept. 29 — A rock band that calls itself Hell on Earth was to feature an onstage suicide by a terminally ill patient in a show in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Oct. 4, the Associated Press reported.

The show, which was originally scheduled for a large public theater, had to be moved to a private, undisclosed location after the theater's owner canceled the band's appearance.

The City of St. Petersburg passed an emergency ordinance making it illegal to conduct a suicide for commercial or entertainment purposes and to host, promote and sell tickets for such an event, the news service said.

Assistant City Attorney Al Galbraith said the city planned to seek a court injunction to prevent the private show as well.

Condom Ads Aimed at Teens' Parents

WORLDNETDAILY.COM, Sept. 27- According to the Web site WorldNetDaily.com, a series of TV ads sponsored by Planned Parenthood and local health officials will debut soon in the United States, starting in Oregon.

The first ad shows a letter from parents that reads: “We care about you. Protect yourself. Love, Mom and Dad,” with the letter “O” replaced throughout by open condoms.

WorldNetDaily cited Jim Sedlak of the American Life League, who criticized the ads: “You're asking parents to condone what most religions would call immoral practices. Most of the religious people where these ads are being shown have beliefs that object to premar-tial sexual activity.”

Planned Parenthood has claimed the ads, based on similar campaigns in Europe, would decrease teen pregnancy and abortion.

Sedlak replied that no scientific study has ever confirmed such claims and pointed out that Planned Parenthood makes and markets its own brand of condoms.