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The FCC’s ‘fleeting expletive’ policy, in which the FCC levies fines for the use of certain words in certain ways in TV broadcasts, is heading to the Supreme Court. The FCC is appealing to the Court of God after a New York appeals court ruled the policy invalid and likely unconstitutional.

There are a few cases out involving the major broadcast networks, with CBS still challenging its $550,000 fine for the earth-shattering nipple of Jackson Superbowl incident of 2004 (which changed everything) and NBC fighting a fine derived from Bono finding his 2003 Golden Globe to be not only brilliant, but “F’ing brilliant.”

The case heading to the Supreme Court centers around FOX and the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards.

Solicitor General Paul Clement, representing the FCC and the Bush administration, argued that the decision “places the commission in an untenable position,” powerless to stop the airing of expletives even when children are watching.

The FCC has pending before it “hundreds of thousands of complaints” regarding the broadcast of expletives, Clement said. He argued that the appeals court decision has left the agency “accountable for the coarsening of the airwaves while simultaneously denying it effective tools to address the problem.”

The solicitor general is absolutely right, because the only hope for parents controlling what is seen and heard in their home is the government. It’s not like TVs come with off buttons or the ability to change channels. What would really solve this problem is some sort of magic (not sure what the FCC’s stance on magic is) or technology (I think they’re okay with technology) that would allow parents to filter what comes through the TV based on its content, but I know, I know, I’m living in a fantasy world. Such a world could never exist, even if the FCC was given power over the manufacture of TVs themselves.

Do you think the solicitor general is ignorant or lying? It can be so hard to tell with our leaders nowadays.

Source: Daily Report

Update:
The LA Times has a good run-down of the history leading up to this case.

If you ever feel like you may have lost your sense of self, your moral compass, that perhaps you need some sort of parental figure to exercise judgment over what you experience, never fear, the FCC is here!

The FCC has come down hard yet again on violence, perhaps in response to the recent school shootings. Wait, scratch that, they’re coming down hard on butt cheeks. That’s right, butt cheeks. ABC is facing a fine of $2.5 billion per hour (conversion always puts things in perspective) for a brief flash of ham hock on a recent episode of NYPD Blue. Now, I’m not sure what horrors they think butt cheeks are responsible for (I bet terrorists have butt cheeks!), but I for one am relieved that I’m being protected from them.

Now, my stance is no government censorship, let the market decide what it wants to watch. If parents want to censor what their kids watch (and they should), the V-chip is a simple, built-in solution that’s far more effective than an isolated entity in D.C. handing down decrees about what we, as ‘free’ citizens, are allowed to watch.

Here’s some background on current FCC chairman Kevin Martin. Apparently, he’s living up to the expectations President Bush had when appointing him. Seriously, is there any government agency that the President doesn’t wield power over?