Court Tells FCC IF Bush/Cheney Can Use Vulgar Language-Then Gov CANNOT Punish Others

[kpete]

F.C.C. Rebuffed by Court on Indecency Fines
STEPHEN LABATON
Published: June 5, 2007

If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can use vulgar language, then the government cannot punish others for doing the same thing on television.

That, in essence, was the decision today when a federal appeals court struck down the government policy of fining stations and networks that broadcast programs with profanity.

The decision, by a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, was a sharp rebuke for the Federal Communications Commission and for the Bush administration. It was a major victory in a legal battle being waged by the four television networks — Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC — that had filed the case.

............................

But in striking down the commission’s interpretation, the appeals court noted that “in recent times even the top leaders of our government has used variants of these expletives in a manner that no reasonable person would believe referenced sexual or excretory organs or activities.”

Sounds logical to me. If Cheney can tell Pat Leahy to fuck himself, then Bono can say fuck on the air.


more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/business/media/05decency.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[xultar]

1. BOOM SHAKA LAKA SHAKA LAKA! That's what I'm talkin about.

[goclark]

47. LOL ~ xultar, you are so funny!

[Vincardog]

2. Can bare tits be far behind

[jilln]

3. Is that a request?

[Vincardog]

9. No but isn't it the RW argument? It ends up with Gay Marriage and people having sex with animals.

[BR_Parkway]

43. Gay marriage is simply the tip of the iceberg - it ends in the world

being condemned by their God...and all the righteous being vacuumed up to Heaven

Funny, I thought that's exactly what they were waiting for, seems like they should be supporters

[Divine Discontent]

49. that's why I'm looking towards as a Christian

but I'm disgusted by the prodding of it to occur as if we humans have ANY say over when God/spirit says it's time for our age to come to an end as we know it.

they are what I call religious fruits... they're not Jesus Freaks, those are people that talk about Jesus' virtues and are peace loving, these nutjobs are the warring, fighting is good in the name of GAWD types...

www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <<-- check it out, top '08 stuff

[bananas]

10. Show us your tits!

[Feron]

29. You can have the boobs..

as long as I can see peen. Throw a bone (no pun intended) to the ladies and gay guys for a change.

But good nudity only please. There are some people I don't want to see naked.x(

[Vincardog]

56. )~

[progressoid]

30. Okey Dokey.

[madrchsod]

4. i`m a behind man

but i won`t turn away from tits

[wicket]

6. Freddie Mercurcy was right: "Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin' world go round"

:D

[ToeBot]

35. I suspect it was more of a Brian May composition n/t

[wicket]

37. LOL

Next you are going to tell me that Queen refers to Her Majesty ;) j/k

[Scriptor Ignotus]

8. ( o ) ( o )

check these out!

[etherealtruth]

14. Good lord, I don't want to see Cheney's or the Chimp's n/t

[Ken Burch]

42. No, they'd be just in front

Sorry, couldn't resist the set-up.

:hide:

[wicket]

5. Bwahahahahahaha!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[johnnie]

7. Maybe we can start shooting people in the face too

:shrug:

[tanyev]

11. When the vice-president does it, that means it is not illegal.

Apparently.

[mikelgb]

15. lolz

[KoKo]

61. lol's II...

[Fresh_Start]

12. Bush administration lowers the tone of the entire nation

confirmed by the US district court.

The administration cannot fine other entities while its own leadership is flaunting the same obscenities.
Just lovely.

[Double T]

13. Let the foul language and wardrobe malfunctions abound............

this is a great day for freedom and democracy.

[Stinky The Clown]

16. Good!

Smart, reasonable court.

[jimshoes]

17. Good, now tell them they can't spy

on everybody else if they keep the whole frikin' aministration cloaked in a veil of secrecy.

[Benhurst]

18. Oh dear! What can we tell the children?

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

19. Holy Cow I Thought I Was Gonna Click On Satire. But Nope!

That is too damn funny!

[TahitiNut]

20. "Oral sex for everyone!"

(Somebody had to say it.) :evilgrin:

[Vidar]

64. Spankings first. Know your Python.

[kestrel91316]

21. Truly delicious irony. K&R

[Major Hogwash]

22. This is awesome! Reality tv will never be the same!

The hypocrisy of ending "no swear words" on tv has been long overdue, as far as I'm concerned.
Hell, even my grandpa used to swear sometimes when he was watching the tv.
Then he'd look at us little kids and say, "don't tell grandma I said that" and wonder which one of us was going to rat him out.

LoL

[MisterP]

23. oh God, C-SPAN will turn into a Sam Kinison routine

[The Backlash Cometh]

24. Ha-ha. Just, ha ha ha.

The adults that came to the White House in 2000, really set a good example for the kids, didn't they?

[tabasco]

25. The adults have restored dignity to government like they promised.

"FUCK OFF!" on the floor of the Senate. Just imagine if Gore had said that. The morans would be apoplectic.

Not to defend these assholes but how do bad words actually hurt anyone? There are a lot of puritanical assholes in this country that really fuck this place up for the rest of us.

[BootinUp]

26. I'm in semi-shock.

THis is hilarious. Tough shit and go Cheney yourself Bush!@

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

27. How nice

now I can be comforted knowing that American children will all know all the cuss words and will use them all the time--but will probably not be able to quote Shakespeare or learn the lessons of history. :( Makes me glad to know that I am very discriminating on what I watch and listen to.

[Feron]

31. They already know curse words..

from interacting with their peers. If you don't want your children to curse, then teach them not to and lead by example.

I don't want Focus on the Family or other ideologues determining the content of the public airwaves and trying to impose their morality on the masses. The audience, advertisers, and the network execs should determine what is shown. And technology such as the V-chip and the warning box in the corner of your screen aid parents in determining what is appropriate.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

45. The standards they are talking about were in place

long before Focus on the Family was even thought about. Since the beginning of broadcasting, first on radio and then on TV, there were certain words that were not to be used, the F word being one of them. Must have worked--I never heard the word until I started college at age 17, back in 1968. And frankly I'm glad I hadn't. There's a harshness and lack of respect that goes with that word that I don't like.

As for children, I chose not to have any. Something to do with overpopulation of the earth and not wishing to contribute to it. But when I taught school, rest assured I set a good example for the children in my care.

[onenote]

59. the fcc changed the standard -- that was the problem

The FCC - and the courts - had consistently adhered to the position that a "fleeting" or "isolated" utterance of an "indecent" word would not subject a broadcaster to liability. There were numerous cases where those words were broadcast -- airings of the Who's song "Who are You" with the lyric "Who the fuck are you" for example; or where an announcer remarked that he had "fucked up" -- that were not found to create liability because they were not repeated and thus did not meet the requirement that they be uttered to achieve "verbal shock treatment".

After Bono of U2 referred to his winning a Golden Globe award as "fucking brilliant", the FCC reversed course and decided that even a single, fleeting, unscripted utterance of the word "fuck" would expose a broadcaster to liability. The FCC then proceeded to riddle its decision with subjective and imprecise exceptions -- for example, the repeated use of the word fuck in Saving Private Ryan was deemed okay as were use of the word during news programming. But a PBS documentary about blues musicians in which one of the musicians used the word fuck was deemed to create liability.

In other words, the FCC made a hash out of it and the court, fortunately, took the appropriate action.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

60. Oh, I see.

I don't watch TV all that much (just two programs), and so was only vaguely aware of any problem. My interpretation of the OP was that the FCC was now saying it was all right to freely use the F word and other such words on network TV, much as it is used on cable. Frankly, the liberal use of such language was one of the reasons I stopped getting cable. The banality of television was another. I'd much rather watch British shows over the internet--I really go for satire.

[malaise]

34. They know them anyway

they watch cable not networks.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

44. Bingo!

I taught school in the '70s and '80s and noted the degeneration in language as soon as cable TV hit. HOWEVER not everyone has cable, especially around where I live--hey, the smart ones don't even have TV! They threw them out long ago, and their kids don't have ADHD, have long attention spans, like to read, aren't overweight, and actually KNOW some things about the world and history. But that's what you have to expect from a group of old hippies.

[shanti]

28. awesome!

now let's see what they're gonna do about THAT!

[lonestarnot]

32. So there you go.

[KurtNYC]

33. Cue Colonel Kurtz, Apocalypse Now... (begin music: Doors: "The End")

CK: We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene!

[badgerpup]

36. Kids and profanity...

My mother was very upset when my younger sister was given a textbook that turned out to have been graffitied with some phrases that we were supposedly 'too young and innocent' to know existed.

The principal (the PRINCIPAL!) merely very calmly exchanged that text for another without the additions, and told mom that if her darlings hadn't noticed this stuff by now, then we just weren't paying attention.

[Poiuyt]

38. Remember when George Bush swore at Al Hunt in front of his wife and young daughter?

You no-good fucking son of a bitch, I will never fucking forget what you wrote.
-George W. Bush, to journalist Al Hunt in front of his 4-year old daugher, 1987.

And, of course:
Fuck Saddam. We're taking him out.
-George W. Bush, March 2002, as reported in Time.


http://beastsbelly.blogspot.com/2004_08_08_archive.html

[cui bono]

39. Funny. But think of all the implications of this...

It's okay to lie because President Bush and Vice President Cheney do it.

It's okay to spy illegally because President Bush and Vice President Cheney do it.

It's okay to be incompetent because President Bush and Vice President Cheney are.

It's okay to be have others' kids die for our greed because President Bush and Vice President Cheney did it.

It's okay to be war criminals because President Bush and Vice President Cheney do it.

You get the idea...


If those two are what we are to hold as our standard we are in deep shit.

[KoKo]

40. Good points you make there............

[high density]

51. I think it's aimed at stopping the hypocrisy of the FCC more than anything else

I would not extrapolate this decision any further beyond that. "Hells Kitchen" is not going to air on Fox without the beeps anytime soon, but if a 'fleeting' "fuck" makes it through on a live broadcast somewhere now the networks won't have to worry about getting fined by the FCC.

[onenote]

58. exactly right

[19jet54]

41. Fuckin' "A" Bubba!

The FCC can go fuck itself & if the Bible thumpers don't like the language - don't watch!

"Fuck the fuckin' fuckers!!!!"

[WinkyDink]

46. Specious reasoning, to me. Bush nor Cheney were on the public airwaves.

[onenote]

57. Red herring: that wasn't the court's reasoning.

The court didn't say it was okay to utter expletives on the public airwaves because chimpy and cheney have used those same expletives.

The court referred to chimpy and cheney in the following context: The FCC had suggested that non-literal uses of the words "fuck" and "shit" fell within the indecency definition because "it is difficult (if not impossible) to distinguish when those words are being used as an expletive or as a literal description of sexual or excretory functions." The court suggested this defied common sense, pointing out that these words are often used, and understood by the public to be used, without sexual or excretory meaning. To illustrate the point, the court noted the chimpy and cheney remarks, pointing out that "no reasonable person would believe" them to be referring to sexual or excretory organs or activities.

[WinkyDink]

62. Okey-doke. But it's STILL a bad argument, IMO. Why is the unacceptability limited to one precise

usage, which, if not discernible, renders the otherwise-not-to-be-uttered term, fine?

And how would that work with, say, the "N" word?

[onenote]

63. because we're talking about protected speech

The words "fuck" and "shit" are not "obscene" as a matter of law. However, they are considered offensive by many people. Of course, the first amendment protects "offensive" speech. But because broadcasting is considered uniquely pervasive and intrusive, and because of concerns that certain words may be inappropriate or even harmful to children, the government steps in and regulates. But in an effort to find a balance between chilling protected speech and addressing offensive/inappropriate speech, the government looks to the context. And whether or not a word is used fleetingly or spontaneously as opposed to repeatedly for gratuitous shock value is part of the analysis.

[ThomWV]

48. So Now Cheney's Disgraceful Behavior Sets The Standard For Our Society

Because the airways are us ....

[Divine Discontent]

50. ahhhh!!! whine and gripe some more

"go f*ck yourself!"

extreme :sarcasm:

[JDPriestly]

52. Decision by a three judge panel

This is a decision by a three-judge panel. One member of the dissented. I don't believe the dissenting judge discussed the fact that Cheney and Bush had used obscenities in public.

This decision can be reviewed by the full panel of the judges on the 2nd Circuit Court. It could also be appealed to the Supreme Court of course. It's a good decision, but it may not be final.

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

53. Open the cesspool floodgates!

[rockymountaindem]

54. As you may or may not know, it's legal to say whatever you want on Canadian TV after 9pm

They don't seem to have a problem with it. Also, it's okay to show nudity at this time as long as it isn't full frontal.

In summation: Canada has maintained an ordinary, civilized society despite the amount of T & A and profanity on television. Who'da thunk it?

[Greeby]

55. A word now from the master of the Seven Dirty Words, George Carlin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFmRypAYz_E

:evilgrin:

[Pushed To The Left]

65. An excellent decision!

The FCC rules always seemed so undefined and inconsistent to me. Hopefully, it won't be overturned by the Supreme Court. By the way, this is a major reminder of why we need to protect the Courts and keep the right wing from stacking them!