noteworthy wrote:
] Think of the children!
]
] Leading lawmakers and the new leader of the FCC have
] proposed a broad expansion of indecency rules, which were
] significantly toughened just last year. They are also looking
] for significant increases in the size of fines and new
] procedures that could jeopardize the licenses of stations that
] repeatedly violate the rules.
]
] Some senior lawmakers have suggested it may be time to extend
] the indecency and profanity rules to cable and satellite
] television providers. Lawyers for cable companies say any
] effort to impose indecency standards on paid programming would
] violate the First Amendment.
]
] "I would welcome voluntary actions by the industry to address
] both indecency and gratuitous violence, but they aren't
] stepping up to the plate, and that's why Congress cannot wait
] any longer to protect our communities and our families," Mr.
] Rockefeller said when he introduced the measure. "If the
] industry won't protect our children from gratuitous
] violence and indecency, then we must act."

I think the whole indecency campaign is just to keep porn valuable. You wouldn't be able to sell it as easily if it were allowed to be everywhere. Also, people probably wouldn't give a shit after awhile. Once a taboo like this is widely exposed, Christians may no longer need to giggle when they say the word "penis." Once the whole family sits around and watches hours upon hours of fucking on thanksgiving, they might be comfortable with themselves and their bodies to forgo the watching of violently repressed homosexual ball rituals every year. The FCC is just trying to keep the billion dollar porn industry alive and thriving.

terratogen wrote:
] I think the whole indecency campaign is just to keep porn
] valuable. You wouldn't be able to sell it as easily if it
] were allowed to be everywhere. Also, people probably wouldn't
] give a shit after awhile. Once a taboo like this is widely
] exposed, Christians may no longer need to giggle when they say
] the word "penis." Once the whole family sits around and
] watches hours upon hours of fucking on thanksgiving, they
] might be comfortable with themselves and their bodies to forgo
] the watching of violently repressed homosexual ball rituals
] every year. The FCC is just trying to keep the billion dollar
] porn industry alive and thriving.

Wow. This is a new theory to me. I like it. Lets break this down, shall we?

Options:

1) The FCC is using its mandate to police the spectrum to break down the 1st amendment, a key part of the collection of law that defines the government itself.

2) There is a vast right-wing conservative conspiracy that is powerful enough to succeed in forcing a specific set of moral values on America.

3) The valuation of porn must remain steady, or the new economy created by the Internet breaks down.

Apply Achem's Razor. Which one is the simplest option?

Well shit, its number two^H^H^Hthree. Porn was the first money maker on the Internet. It paved the way for e-commerce as we know it today. Thanks, you have finally cleared it all up! I understand now. Eyes are wide open.

Wait! There is something more to this.. Its Hollywood. Out in LA, porn runs through the streets like the stories of gold told to the immigrants. Democracy. Whiskey. Sexy. LA is also home to the same people causing issues for the technology folks creating new ways to distribute content. While these technologies are used for porn as well, they do no create the same revenue streams as standard e-com enabled web sites.

I think you are on to something here.. There is a black helicopter hovering outside my window. Gotta go underground.. They are on to us!

Rattle wrote:

] 3) The valuation of porn must remain steady, or the new
] economy created by the Internet breaks down.

Good thread... Don't forget to cross reference Felton's Law in your analysis. However, I think this is really just payback time to the christian right for the election.

Felton's Law

Rattle wrote:
] Apply Achem's Razor. Which one is the simplest option?

Google will tell you that by far the most widely accepted spellings are Occam's Razor, with 160,000 hits, and Ockham's Razor, with 128,000 hits. Occham's has only 980 hits. Your spelling gets only 78. (Wikipedia files under Occam's.)

] Wait! There is something more to this.. Its Hollywood. Out
] in LA, porn runs through the streets like the stories of gold
] told to the immigrants. Democracy. Whiskey. Sexy. LA is
] also home to the same people causing issues for the technology
] folks creating new ways to distribute content.

Interesting you should characterize it as such; that's one contemporary interpretation. Perhaps you might be interested in some Los Angeles history. I refer you to "Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology", at

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1931082278/

"Here are fascinating strata of Los Angeles history, from the 1920s oil boom to 1980s graffiti art, from flamboyant evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson to surf music genius Brian Wilson, from German emigré intellectuals to hard-bitten homicide cops. Here are fragile ecosystems, architectural splendors, and social chasms."

You can read the book at Amazon. Search for Iowa, Baptist, and so on. A few choice excerpts:

The osteopaths, chiropractors and other such quacks had long marked and occupied it. It swarmed with swamis, spiritualists, Christian Scientists, crystal-gazers and the allied necromancers.

They ranged from melancholy High Church Episcopals, laboriously trying to interest retired Iowa alfafa kings in ritualism, down to struggling Methodists and Baptists, as earnestly seeking to inflame the wives of the same monarchs with the crimes of the Pope.

The Iowans longed for something that they could get their teeth into. They wanted magic and noise. They wanted an excuse to whoop.

Of the three million population of Southern California, at least half come from the Middle-Western farming states: Iowa leads with 400,000, but Illinois and Missouri are not far behind with 350,000 and 300,000.

Do a Google search for Aimee Semple MacPherson. From a Library Journal review of a biography about her, courtesy of Amazon: "Once considered the premier evangelist and faith healer of her day, Sister Aimee built a church in Los Angeles called The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. A mixture of evangelism and the cult of personality, the church is today valued at over $300 million."

Decius wrote:
] ] "Certainly broadcasters and cable operators have
] ] significant First Amendment rights, but these rights are
] ] not without boundaries," he wrote. "They are limited by
] ] law. They also should be limited by good taste."
]
] The new FCC commissioner thinks your first amendment rights
] are limited by "good taste."

cat Constitution | grep "good taste" = null

Decius wrote:
] ] "Certainly broadcasters and cable operators have
] ] significant First Amendment rights, but these rights are
] ] not without boundaries," he wrote. "They are limited by
] ] law. They also should be limited by good taste."
]
] The new FCC commissioner thinks your first amendment rights
] are limited by "good taste."

Why not? I could do without tasteless fare like "The Swan," "American Idol," all gossip shows, all afternoon soap operas, "Doctor 90210," all girls-gone-wild type infomercials (Hell, why stop there? ALL infomercials), most news shows (incredibly tasteless, they are), The O'Reilly Factor, and while I am at it, practically everything else that's on the TV. It would be nice to have some kind of standards on TV. Then maybe I would bring myself to watch the piece of shit.