Right Wing Extremists Target Porn On Military Bases

This post, written by Steve Benen, originally appeared on The Carpetbagger Report

It's been a while since we've last heard from the American Family Association's the Rev. Donald E. Wildmon. Every once in a while, Wildmon and the AFA will draw headlines for attacking a group or company for being insufficiently "pro-family," though most of their complaints come across as bizarre rants from extremists.

The targets from recent years include, but are by no means limited to, Wal-Mart (for selling Brokeback Mountain DVDs), Target (for not having Salvation Army bell-ringers during the Christmas season), Ford Motor Company (for purchasing ads in gay-oriented publications), and the movie "Shark Tale" (which the AFA believed was intended to "brainwash children" into accepting gay rights).

Now, Wildmon and the AFA have a new concern: U.S. troops' a access to adult materials.

Ten years after Congress banned sales of sexually explicit material on military bases, the Pentagon is under fire for continuing to sell adult fare, such as Penthouse and Playmates In Bed, that it doesn't consider explicit enough to pull from its stores.

Dozens of religious and anti-pornography groups have complained to Congress and Defense Secretary Robert Gates that a Pentagon board set up to review magazines and films is allowing sales of material that Congress intended to ban.

"They're saying 'we're not selling stuff that's sexually explicit' ... and we say it's pornography," says Donald Wildmon, head of the American Family Association, a Christian anti-pornography group. A letter-writing campaign launched Friday by opponents of the policy aims to convince Congress to "get the Pentagon to obey the law," he adds.

I find it rather amazing this is even a controversy.