Senator Bill Frist, R-TN, is increasing his efforts to push
a bill through the Senate that would increase the fines levied against
broadcasters for violations of decency standards. Quoting from today’s Washington
Post, the bill would increase the fine for broadcasting “obscene, indecent or profane
material” from $32,500 to $500,000.
Sounds reasonable on the surface of it but consider this; even
the Supreme Court has historically been very cautious about defining obscenity.
Now with a potentially power shifting mid-term election comes this Senate and this
House of Representatives which want to give the authority to decide what
broadcast material is “obscene, indecent or profane” to five political appointees
of a sitting president who may or may not know their a** from a hole in the ground about what they are
doing.
This bill is nothing but opportunistic pandering to a
political faction and pandering at its worst. Think the talk of a creeping theocracy
is crazy? Think again…this is just one more step down that slippery slope. I’ll
bet James Dobson and Brent Bozell are waltzing with glee to their “Lawrence
Welk’s Greatest Hits” CD.
Next may be censorship of your e-mails, web sites or blogs.
Improbable you say? Maybe but who would have though Janet Jackson’s nipple
flash would have been worth a half million dollars. It was indeed unfortunate
that children saw that during a sporting program but let’s get a grip on
reality here.
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