Weinstein’s Press Release- UnSpun by Anthony Kennerson

From http://bppa.blogspot.com/2011/08/porn-panic-2011-series-continues-ahf.html

Porn Panic 2011 — The Series Continues: AHF Ratches Up The BS Propaganda Machine To Full Blast, Calls For Federal Investigation of Brazzers And Dings FSC/APHSS For "Stonewalling"

OP/ED by Anthony Kennerson

Oh, but Mike Weinstein’s through fooling around now…he’s getting real serious.

Get a load of this press release AHF just posted to Business Wire.com this afternoon. If only President Obama could be this aggressive.

    HIV Porn Case: AHF to File Complaints with Federal & FL Health Officials against Producers
    LOS ANGELES, Aug 31, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — –AHF officials will submit a health and safety complaint under Florida ‘Sanitary Nuisance’ statutes against Brazzers, the production company involved in the latest HIV case in the adult film industry; industry sources say male performer involved had worked directly with as many as a dozen female performers

    –Group also will call on the Free Speech Coalition to "stop obstructing the investigation in Los Angeles County and provide necessary information to health authorities" and will call on Los Angeles City officials to suspend all new film permits for adult films

Never mind that there hasn’t even been a verification of even ONE performer testing positive for HIV, or the fact that the producer involved with the alleged "Patient Zero" has formally and publically denied that he had allowed that performer to do the shoot off a positive-confirmed test (the director said that in fact, the test was negative), and that no confirmation of any other performer being infected has been found or even any first- or second-generation confirmation tests done. When there’s propaganda to be done, the truth is a natural distraction.

Actually, for AHF, the truth is more like a roll of Charmin tissue. To wit:

    In response to the latest reported HIV case in the adult film industry–thought to be the 23rd industry-related HIV case since 2004–AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will host a press teleconference today, Wednesday, August 31st at 2:00 PM Pacific Time to announce the filing of a ‘sanitary nuisance’ health complaint with the Florida Department of Health and a similar letter of complaint with federal OSHA officials against Brazzers, the Florida-based adult film production company widely reported as the company where the infected performer was employed. Industry sources say the male performer involved had worked directly–and without condoms–with as many as a dozen female performers.

Ahh…let’s count the lies, shall we??

First, you have the old and tired "23 performers contracting HIV in porn since 2004" meme….which seems quite drastic. Seems, that is….until you go "inside the numbers" and find out that only 4 of those cases involved :straight" heterosexual porn performers, and NONE of them were infected directly on set. (And the only questionable one, Derrick Burts of last year, even publically stated that he was infected in a gay scene…which included a condom.) 4 were private citizens using the services of then AIM for their own purposes, and  the remainders were gay male porn performers…where a fundamentally different system of less testing (and CONDOMS, TOO!!!!) was being used. Even the LA Times, who is mostly sympathetic to the condom mandate cause, was smart enough to retract that stat…but Weinstein never let such things get in his way before, now hasn’t he??

And then there is the "male performer working without condoms" libel…as if it’s Brazzers’ fault that the performer, if he did in fact get infected, was able to continue to shoot scenes with women. Remember that the performer was working off a negative test, albeit one that wasn’t from a testing facility that had gotten under the umbrella of the Free Speech Coalition’s APHSS program because the latter has only gotten started this past month.

Of course, the reason why APHSS was needed in the first place was because the older regimen that had been put in place by the earlier group AIM was shattered when AIM was put out of business…largely thanks to the hard work of AHF and  Cal/OSHA’s nuisance suits against them. Gee..ya think that would turn out well, Mike??

    "When will it end? This is yet another suspected case of HIV infection in the adult film industry. Given the wide reports, and given that Brazzers affirmatively states they do not use condoms–a violation of both state and federal health statutes–it makes sense to investigate them in the hopes of putting an end to further infections," said Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "We are filing these complaints with Florida health officials and federal OSHA officials to prompt industry compliance with employee health and safety regulations and to spur proper and thorough public health investigations of this reported incident. In addition, we are calling on the Free Speech Coalition, the adult industry-sponsored advocacy group, to stop obstructing the investigation of this incident in Los Angeles County and provide all of the necessary information to public health authorities. FSC is an advocacy group, they are not authorized to do these health investigations, and they are not qualified. The pattern of non-cooperation that has characterized the industry and led to the current situation is continuing. It is the responsibility of Los Angeles County, which has not issued any statement to this point, to demand cooperation from the adult industry. Even though the initial exposure took place in Florida, the shutdown in LA constitutes a major public health event under the law. We are also reaffirming our call on the City of Los Angeles to stop issuing new permits."

Excuse me a moment while I go through this laughing spasm.

Wait..there are FEDERAL health statutes out there that require all porn performers to use condoms??  Really, Mike?? So, what about all those damn bareback gay videos that you were selling in your Florida thrift stores recently?? Are you going to be filing federal and state complaints against those companies, too??

And this attempt at intimidating the FSC?? WOW. For an organization who has the full colluding support of the LA County health officials and Cal/OSHA, and who was able to bribe…errrrrrrrrrrrr, persuade four LA city councilmen to attempt to browbeat the LA City Attorney to force the LA film board to cancel all porn film permits until they go condom only, AND when stoned by the Attorney himself,  go over his head to the California Supreme Court to get their way, to attempt to smack down FSC for "stonewalling", is chutzpah to the extreme. But to call FSC an "advocacy group" and "not qualified", and to turn the voluntary step of suspending production until all the testing is done as a "major public health event" and call for the total abolishment?? These jackals are making the words "hypocrisy"  and "projection" into the understatements of the millenium…and we haven’t even gotten through the second decade yet!!!

Oh, and unless Weinstein is pulling laws out of his ass as usual, I want anyone reading this to look deep into the Florida legal code and cite for me any sort of regulations where sites like Brazzers are mandated to use condoms for all of their scenes.

And also…someone please remind Mikey that organizations in California cannot be held resposible for acts of unrelated companies in Florida??

It should also be noted that none of the female performers who would potentially be affected have shot any content in California, and that the moratorium for all porn production is a voluntary preventative measure designed to protect everyone from accidental exposure while the whole situation is sorted out.  Of course, the reason Weinstein wants to make it permanent is to totally break the industry so that AHF and Cal/OSHA can take over and impose his favored condom mandate plus pre-1994 testing regime…the very regime that led to umpteempt outbreaks in the past, when performers could buy and rig tests like derivatives.

One last thing, Mikey: THERE IS NO LOS ANGELES COUNTY INVESTIGATION ONGOING, BECAUSE THIS IS STRICTLY A FLORIDA SITUATION. You might want to recheck your sources on that one.

    The Free Speech Coalition (FSC)–which has fiercely opposed condom use in adult films–reported over the weekend that yet another adult film performer has tested HIV positive, and as a result, the industry group itself called for a moratorium on all adult film production, "…until possible first and second-generation exposures have been identified." Sources within the adult industry also said the performer is thought to be a male and had worked directly with as many as a dozen female performers, who in turn worked with scores of other performers.

The most direct response to this particular Big Dam Lie is in two words: BULL. SHIT.

The more stacid response, though, is to simply point out that nowhere does FSC or APHSS ever call for an end to condom usage, nor do they even come close to advocating that performers who choose to use or wish their shooting partners to use condoms should be in any way discriminated against or or ostracized. They simply oppose having condom usage imposed by government fiat.

And notice the trend towards quoting unnamed "industry sources" to support Weinstein’s whopping mischaracterization of both the alleged performer and his partners…as if all of them are nothing more than stupid promiscuous sluts who are incapable of protecting themselves. Until the test results come in, he knows exactly what the rest of us know: not a Goddess-damn thing.

Weinstein then goes on to pimp the LA condom mandate ordinance, which has already been debunked here before, so I won’t bore you with that.

But after that, it actually gets interesting. Here’s what AHF has in store for Brazzers locally:

    ‘Sanitary Nuisance’ Complaints in Florida

    As such, three "responsible resident citizens" will file complaints with the Florida Department of Health asking them to investigate a sanitary nuisance–unprotected sex taking place on adult film productions in the state.

    There is also a Miami-Dade County "sanitary nuisance" law as well (Miami-Dade County Municipal Ordinances Chapter 26A). It uses a similar definition of "sanitary nuisance" as the state law, and it provides for the Director of the Dade County Department of Public Health to investigate nuisances.

So, in effect, Michael Weinstein is going to pay off three "responsible resident citizens" of Miami/South Beach to file a complaint with the state and local departments of health asking them to investigate and potentially shut down Brazzers as a "sanitary nusiance" for….allowing for sex acts without the use of a condom???

Now…such "sanitary nuisance" regs are nomally used against those whom explicitly handle food (such as restaurants or diners) hazardous chemicals or forms of hazardous waste, or whom get close to any form of bodily fluids or internal human organs (such as medical professionals, morticians, and the like). I’m pretty damn sure that it has never been used against porn sites…but there’s a first for anything.

But here’s the really ironic point: for someone who says that he cares deeply about the well being and safety of porn performers so much, he’s sure giving those who don’t share his concern and who would much prefer the industry to be drop-kicked into either jail cells or simple nonexistence a really big hammer to sling against any and all adult sites. Imagine the Christian Right getting three like-minded citizens to file local nuisance charges against any woman running a porn site out of her home, for example. Hell, imagine Polk County Sheriff and antiporn zealout Grant Judd using that same hammer to shut down even anyone with a computer LOOKING at porn. Be careful of what you ask for, Michael, because you just might get it.

But then again, I’m guessing that since Governor Rick Scott has so shredded Florida state government as to render it unable to fulfill Weinstein’s requests, and that the Miami-Dade officials have far more struggles and concerns on their hand than wet-nursing a false porn panic, he will simply do as he has done so well in Cali: exploit this to the fullest extent to shake people down for lots and lots of money for his coffers, to be shared with both the condom manufacturers who finance AHF and the crossover gay male performers — some of whom may even be HIV+ — that he is protecting and covering for.

Which means..this won’t be the last propaganda presser we’ll get from him.

I just wonder how long it will be for Florida to read him properly and give him the boot.