Thursday, March 11, 2004
Fucking Terrible
The fucking U.S. Congress, full of fucking cowards who are fucking idiots and who have no fucking idea how to run a fucking country, overwhelmingly passed the fucking "Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2004." See fucking article here. (Fucking being used as adjective in this case - it's not an article about fucking.)
Thanks to this act, I suppose I could be fined $500,000 if I read the above on the radio. Among other things, the law "increases maximum fine against a performer from $11,000 to $500,000 and allows the Federal Communications Commission to impose the penalty after the first offense. Under current rules, the FCC must wait for a second offense."
Worst of all, for those who care about freedom of speech and what-not, the bill passed with wide bipartisan support.
How could a so-called open minded liberal justify voting for this? How could a so-called small government conservative justify voting for this? ("The government is only good at a few limited tasks - providing a police force, providing for the common defense, and of course fining individuals a half million dollars if they say something over the airwaves that a random bureaucrat at the FCC fines indecent.") I haven't seen a breakdown of the vote yet - to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised at all if more Republicans voted against it than Democrats.
I hope that this bill will be found unconstitutional. Any clerks out there want to tell me what the chances are? Obviously, the Court has held that Congress can regulate the broadcast industry. Is there some sort of chilling effect here? Won't any speech approaching controversial be stopped if there is a credible risk of an individual being fined $500,000 without any kind of a warning?
Of course, nobody- least of all a Presidential candidate or other politician - will speak up against the bill because it would associate one with offensive figures - Howard Stern and Bubba the Love Sponge or whatever that guy's name is. But that's how attacks on free speech usually work - they are made against unpopular people.
What a bunch of fucking cowards are in the Congress of the United States.
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Thanks to this act, I suppose I could be fined $500,000 if I read the above on the radio. Among other things, the law "increases maximum fine against a performer from $11,000 to $500,000 and allows the Federal Communications Commission to impose the penalty after the first offense. Under current rules, the FCC must wait for a second offense."
Worst of all, for those who care about freedom of speech and what-not, the bill passed with wide bipartisan support.
How could a so-called open minded liberal justify voting for this? How could a so-called small government conservative justify voting for this? ("The government is only good at a few limited tasks - providing a police force, providing for the common defense, and of course fining individuals a half million dollars if they say something over the airwaves that a random bureaucrat at the FCC fines indecent.") I haven't seen a breakdown of the vote yet - to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised at all if more Republicans voted against it than Democrats.
I hope that this bill will be found unconstitutional. Any clerks out there want to tell me what the chances are? Obviously, the Court has held that Congress can regulate the broadcast industry. Is there some sort of chilling effect here? Won't any speech approaching controversial be stopped if there is a credible risk of an individual being fined $500,000 without any kind of a warning?
Of course, nobody- least of all a Presidential candidate or other politician - will speak up against the bill because it would associate one with offensive figures - Howard Stern and Bubba the Love Sponge or whatever that guy's name is. But that's how attacks on free speech usually work - they are made against unpopular people.
What a bunch of fucking cowards are in the Congress of the United States.
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