Obscenities uttered by President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are examples of why the Federal Communications Commission shouldn’t go too far in fining TV and radio stations, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The FCC had started fining stations for broadcasting certain obscenities, contending that the words implied that sexual or excretory acts were carried out, the New York Times reported. But the court ruled that sometimes such words are just "fleeting expletives" used to convey frustration or excitement and don’t convey a broader obscene meaning, and it cited Bush’s and Cheney’s high-profile swearing as examples. "In recent times even the top leaders of our government have used variants of these expletives in a manner that no reasonable person would believe referenced sexual or excretory organs or activities," the court said. No #@!!*#!!
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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45 Comments
mkay…
Let me know Phillip what words you say next time you get popped in the nads.
Ok, new excuse for bad behavior in America. The “fleeting expletive”. Next time you freak out and call some dead-headed politician a &#@%##*!!. You are allowed such public outbursts as just a little “fleeting expletive”. I love this country!!
Some stupid democrat judges they are. Bad words were being said left and right on TV even before the president and VP said it. Liberals are not squeaky clean either.
Cheney, acting in his Constitutional role of President Pro Tempore of the Senate, stands on the Senate floor and tells a senior United States Senator to “go f*ck” himself. This is now somehow the “liberals” fault.
The 28%ers just don’t know when to stop spinning…
The fines have been outrageous.
So, it is OK to show someone being killed, but by God you better not show a breast or bare bum.
And it is OK to show someone beating the hell out of another person, but the person getting beat had better not say @#$%%.
Ditch the fines. Do some real work. How about limits on violence? I’d rather hear a kid say fu@k than pull a gun.
Sol,
Agreed.
“How about limits on violence? I’d rather hear a kid say fu@k than pull a gun.”
Sol: I understand the sentiment. But why is either necessary? Maintaining standards is not a bad thing. If a person needs to hear cursing, there is plenty of opportunity. You can’t avoid it. This judge’s ruling just opened the door to further coarsening of our society. And we don’t need that.
Outlander –
OK, I see your point. I’ve been pissed off about this since the idiot Jackson pulled her stunt – and she what? Walked away clean?
Now you’ve got all these uber rightist Nazis scouring every back ground phrase for an expletive. And you have uber leftist Nazis scouring for racial slurs.And all the while, violence is not touched. While neither is OK for ‘family time’ broadcast TV, why all the uproar over bad words when violence is rampant? If you ask me, the violence is far worse.
First of all, this is not a right or left thing. Its a matter of freedom of speech.This is America and we have the right to say whatever we want. I know, I know the FCC has the ability to control the airwaves….thats crap! If you don’t like the content of a show…then change the channel. We live in an age where you can have 500 channels to choose from. Certainly there is something on EWTV for the con’s and Cinemax starts showing porn everynight at 10pm. So, there you have it. Don’t like the content…..use your remote and change the channel.
While I understand the ruling, and the fact is that all of us, at times of frustration, anger, or pain have let fly an expletive or two, this simply lowers the bar. Again. As if the bar needed lowering any more.
The networks will soon be falling over themselves putting those “fleeting expletives” in anywhere they think they can get away with them, pandering, as usual, to the lowest common denominator.
That denominator just got lower. And that’s sad.
And Sol’s point is well taken.
“Its a matter of freedom of speech.”
Sort of. Pubic airwaves are one thing. Basic cable is another. And premium cable/satellite is still another. Cheney wasn’t on a TV show. You know this “fleeting” expletive is going to run crazy. I’m no prude, but some of the shit that is on the air at 6-7 PM can be nasty.
Fleetwood, would you consider WEBlog “public” or cable”? Just wondering, since you used one of those expletives… ;)
Fleetwood is a swear monkey
GMC, I would suggest that the court’s opinion didn’t reduce the denominator, as it was there already. I think the decision just removed another obstacle in the path of programming getting there. BTW, from a purely academic perspective, I agree with the Second Circuit, FWIW.
Sol’s point is indeed well taken.
The Onion had a fake headline awhile back something to the effect of this:
FUNDAMENTALIST BOY STILL TRAUMATIZED THREE YEARS LATER BY SIGHT OF JANET JACKSON’S BREAST
Somebody just stated that the judge who made this ruling is a Democrat Judge… Anybody got a proper citation for that claim?? I really dont know, and not sure it matters, but it was claimed, and I think maybe we ought to see if the Judge is a Dem, or a Rep..
If anybody would go back and take a look at the original video clip on the Janet Jackson goof up, I think you will see that NOBODY saw Janet Jackson’s breast… It (the nipple) was covered with what looked like a “pasty” — You can see aas much breast as that at most any public beach!
And yes, I spelled “beach” properly.. LOL
I have almost stopped watching network TV.
1. The “news” is a joke. Saturation coverage of some guy with TB, while they ignore our soldiers getting poisoned with depleted uranium weapons and west coast air pollution from China.
I occasionally watch part of the News Hour on PBS or the BBC at 10:30.
As far as local news, I’ve had all the burglaries, rapes, shootings and car crashes I need for quite a while. And if you have to listen to that tripe in between the screaming MEL HAMBLITON FORD! announcer, I say, “no thanks.”
2. When I find a series that is worth watching like “House, MD,” I just rent it so I don’t have to watch the 22 minutes of commercials for every hour of show. Also, no pre-emptions and no re-runs.
3. I don’t have cable because I refuse to pay for TV that I’m not going to watch.
4. The worst new development in TV are the so-called “reality” shows, as if asking people to see who can smear the most mud on their body or eat the most leeches is in any way “reality.” The Super Nanny is a good name for people with lives so meaningless they need television to tell them what is entertaining.
Seeing bubble headed bimbos and himbos staring at each other and then breaking down tearfully is my definition of complete and utter boredom.
5. Studies correlate higher levels of depression, violence, anxiety and weight gain with television viewing.
Heavy tv viewers have a skewed world view–they think the population of the US is “getting younger” (it’s getting older) because there are so few older people on TV shows. They rank as more suspicious, more anxious, and more depressed than light tv viewers. They are much more likely to believe that problems can be solved with violence than light tv viewers.
Someone should do a correlational study between the 28 percent that still support Bush and their TV viewing choices. I’m betting it’s “Survivor,” “The Super Nanny,” “Fox News,” “Law and Order,” “CSI,” and “Judge Judy” 24-7.
CapnAmerica,
You are right, I bet if fewer people watched TV there would be much more support for the war and Bush.
They wouldn’t be subjected to the non-stop negative coverage.
(Depleted uranium poisoning our troops? I guess if you tell yourself a lie long enough you actually believe it…)
I care Capn.
I think you, Tom, WSClark, Steven Davis, Pedant need to get together for a group hug.
Nathan, so you are saying if people were LESS informed they would be more supportive of the President?
Some how, that makes sense……
Wasn’t it fox that brought the case that lowered the bar for tv channels. Fox the banner carrier for the republican right. Funny to see them use their buddies in the wh to make their point, bush and cheney. Could the whole thing involving the leaders of the free world have been a set up to lower Americas viewing standards?
I think you, Tom, WSClark, Steven Davis, Pedant need to get together for a group hug.Posted by: Republican | June 06, 2007 at 10:08 AM
This is supposed to be an insult?
The blank is slipping. It may need a med adjustment.
Nathan–
How do you explain the 50,000 sick vets from Gulf War I?
The lie is that you can atomize radioactive particles in an explosion, breathe in or ingest those particles, have them irradiate your internal organs forever and no harm will be done to you.
Depleted uranium is a bio-hazard when it’s stored at a nuclear power plant.
But make it into an artillery shell and shoot a tank with it and spread it into microscopic particles blown about by the wind, and it’s fine . . . just fine.
No problemo.
Capnamerica,
You bring speculation to the table, not science.
Study, after study, after study has shown DU munitions to be safe.
How do I explain the Gulf War vets who got sick? I am not sure. I don’t blame it on things with no evidence…
“3. I don’t have cable because I refuse to pay for TV that I’m not going to watch.”
capn– Be honest for once. You don’t have cable because you can’t afford it. (Not that there is anything wrong with that).
Fleettwood–
Thanks for proving that you don’t know sh*t once again.
YA RGT
CapnYou forgot the 1st choice on all GOP supporters TIVO. That’s the show 24. It gives them belief that they are right with the current foreign policy. All the republican presidential candidates want Jack Bauer on their side. One even mentioned the character on the Fox News debate. They all want to be president on that show. Its the perfect GOP scenario.
Fleet–
The only shows I want to see on cable are Jon Stewart and Keith Olberman.
But like I say, I don’t have time.
Well, actually, I do have time, but I’d rather do other stuff, and after I do that, I don’t have time.
Who wouldn’t want Jack Bauer on their side?!
You don’t have to be a Republican to think that….
Jon Stewart…
And you sit here complaining about the quality of TV… LOL
Nathan,
If you get redeployed, we’ll be sure that you only go with people like Jack Bauer. You know, made-up, fictional people who don’t exist.
It’s going to be a lonely platoon.
NathanJack Bauer is a fictional character on a fiction televison show. Why is it so hard for reich wingers to understand that? There are many characters that I find charming or interesting. However, I understand that Tony Soprano is NOT REAL!
So please give us a break with how great Jack Bauer is and how he is the ultimate American. He is a fictional character.
I guess if it makes you feel better, my 8 yr old son really likes Spider Man. Anyway we can get him to lead Homeland Security?
Hey, I LIKE 24. But I have some serious issues about how Jack does business. Apparently, if you watch this show, so does he.Still, it’s only entertainment. Period. I also like CSI and Law and oRder, though not as much as I used to. Too predictable. That was my first draw to Law and ORder, the good guys didn;t always win. Not that they shouldn’t, but most tv is so predictable, even the lines in most sitcoms (which I gave up watching a long time ago) you know exactly what;s coming. Too damn boring. I did like the show Invasion, but it went away. I don;t really watch much, no time
BREAKING NEWS: TURKISH TROOPS ENTER IRAQ.This war is so over……and our leaders are just to stupid to admit it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070606/ap_on_re_mi_ea/turkey_iraq
Read it and weep 28%er’s. I guess engaging the neighbors of Iraq was a little more important than Rummy thought.
Cap’n,When all this buzz about depleted uranium poisoning started, I checked with a friend who’s a retired nuclear physicist from Los Alamos. He told me that the danger from depleted uranium as used in ordnance is less than that from normal background radiation.
There was a time, not so long ago, when civilized people exercised discretion, of course.
But in this 24 hour sexually titilated media culture, that’s probably asking too much. Sad.
And such a loss. As if it’s not tough enough to raise rational kids, it just got tougher.
One question: Are we a better nation and culture after this ruling? Just try to answer yes with a straight face. Even if the 1st Amendment demanded this result (I’m not convinced it does so, though there are certainly 1st amendment implications here), it’s sad.
Jed–
He’s wrong.
That’s why we have skin on the outside of our bodies, to protect against ionizing alpha radiation.
We don’t have it in our lungs and in our gut.
Radiate that, and you get cell mutation and that leads to cancer.
And btw, “normal background radiation” is nothing to sneeze at–it’s what causes skin cancer for instance.
Seriously, of the bad things that could be on TV: foul language, nudity, and violence, why do we regulate and recoil against the two that all of us will encounter in the course of a normal life?
The FAA is one area where the ‘Christians’ are definitely in control still. I can turn on the TV any night of the week and see bodies being autopsied, people being murdered in all sorts of creative ways, fighting with blood and spit spraying, and any other sort of violent act possible. However, if one of the girls being murdered happens to bend over too far and allow her nipple to be seen then say ‘Oh shit’ when she realizes it, that would be a big deal.
Jed–
Here’s more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1118876.stm
Dr Zoran Stankovic, a pathologist and the head of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade, has toured the areas in which contamination is thought to be most severe.
In an interview for BBC News Online he says not only depleted uranium, but also deposits left behind in shell craters, may be causing illness.
Seven Italians, five Belgians, two Dutch nationals, two Spaniards, a Portuguese and a Czech national have died after serving in the Balkans. Four French soldiers have also contracted leukaemia.
Dr Stankovic said illnesses comparable to “Gulf War Syndrome”, as well as unexpectedly high cancer rates are appearing in the local population.
It is my belief that kind of language has no place on public airwaves (OTA TV and radio). If they wish to have it on cable and satellite that people pay for, fine but not on regular TV. And yes, explicit or graphic violence should be limited too.
Thanks for the clarification of my misstatement