Other Crap

Court Rebuffs F.C.C. on Fines for "Fleeting Indecency"

I couldn't agree more. The FCC must distinguish situations based on context. If they fine a network for something objectionable in a pre-taped show in prime time, that could be defended, but it is downright ridiculous to fine a network for something said on live TV unless it has been rehearsed and approved by the network.

Moreover, the FCC could have been in the position of fining broadcasters for live newscasts of Bush and Cheney, who have said the same phrases, audibly and in public, that the FCC is fining people over!

The court also pointed out, sensibly, that the term "fuck off" has absolutely nothing to do with intercourse (it's just another way to say "get lost"), and the word "asshole" usually has nothing to do with rectums (it's just another way of saying "jerk"), as demonstrated by the Bush/Cheney quotes.

This is, in fact a long-festering constitutional crisis which the courts must sort out. If Congress passed a law authorizing the FCC to do what it does, that law would immediately be declared unconstitutional by the courts because it is in direct contradiction to the First Amendment. (No legal scholarship necessary. It is expressly and specifically forbidden!) It's a Catch-22. If there was a real law they would not be able to enforce it, but because there is only an imaginary law, they can enforce it. It's about damn time the courts said, "Wait, this is just an executive way to circumvent the constitution. When the constitution said 'Congress shall pass no law,' it could not anticipate a runaway executive enforcing non-existent laws".

The ironic thing about it is the only way Congress could stop the executive from their current course is by passing a law telling them to do exactly what they are doing now. That law would immediately be declared unconstitutional, and the courts would order them to stop!