Fred said:
I too listen to Stern (well, untill recently), but I think the FCC has a point. Hear me out. The FCC is in charge of regulation and licensing of the broadcast spectrum in this country - as such it [the broadcast spectrum] must be considered an almost de facto public entity. It's "owned" or has it's right to use held by the citizens of this country; just as with all public institutions. The right to citizenship and the rights intrinsic inholding said contract aren't limited by age, nor are they limited by maturity level or any other form of discrimination. So, it can be dedeuced from this that public content should be usable by all, bearing in mind the fact that everyone in this country has an inherient right to that public proporty.
This is analogous to the situation wrt Television in this country. The Broadcast channels are free, their caried over what is public holdings. They also have standards - which is why The Howard Stern Show isn't on ABC, or NBC, nor CBS.
Yet, it most certainly is on E! Entertainment - which is a private entity which must be purchased by an applicable individual and allows for parential/gaurdian concent to said material by way of a fee and papertrail.
Looking back to Radio, if we agree the TV paradigm is correct in that Stern's ass needs to stay off of broadcast TV and stay on Cable, then the same standards should apply to him with broadcast radio - where his ass should be banned and migrate to a privatized/fee-based system such as XFM where there are levels of abstraction and control over what a citizen sees or hears.
Lets be honest here, Stern and his Wheel of Yucko and talk of assbanging and dildo's and lesbian incest have much more in common with, say, XFM's Playboy station than brodcast radio's NRP programming.
Working in Chicago, I have the distinct "privaledge" of beaing able to listen to both Stern and Mueller. First off, Mancow has done some crazy shit in his time and, frankly, deserved it. If I heard correctly, the large fine was for a bit about dildo/finger-banging and Freak's niece (?!? - I think she was on at that time) and the later, follow-on song, "Smell my finger".
I met the guy at a concert once and from small talk, we seemed like a strait-up guy - but lets not confuse this with his public persona which is anything but.
Also, it's OT; but about the Patriot Act, thats alot of Politic and BS frankly. California's Diane Feinstein inquired about the concerns to the ACLU and they reported back that there wasn't a single case of abuse thus far.
Besides, I think you really don't care about what you talked about in this contrived monologue about "Civil Rights." Frankly, I think you're full of shit. Where have you been since the 1980s when the FBI has been doing the same against the Italian-American community under the RICO statutes? Why haven't I seen you post about these incursions of civil right (which are so much worse than the Patriot Acts) before this became a liberal talking point if you truely cared so much? Or are Italian-American's not as worty a cause as, say, Muslim-Americans or other *possible* groups. I guess it's OK to basically suspend the Constitution (like trying someone for crimes which were committed 10-15 years ago; tried for *association* to a group/construct - not an individual's actions; ability to be tried with groups and accused of their crimes regardless of personal connnection or guilt; electronic tapping and evesdropping; suspension of double-jeapordy; I can go on...) when you're fighting off a bunch of guys who want to make money off the weak that give in to the 7 deadly sins; but don't you dare touch my rights when you want to protect the country from terrorists who want to cause mass murder.
Where have you been while they take away all American's rights to fight a few people who the media has created a fictional persona for and populatized for their own benefit? Where's the outrage?