Doesn’t this sound more like the words of Socialists than Capitalists?
What country and time warp are these guys living in? The U.S.S.R in 1985?
I got news for you boys: there is no leveling the field when I'm paying for my own field!
Everybody already gets thousands of free AM, FM and TV stations.
The entrepreneurs of cable TV channels and Satellite Radio services who have invested thousands of millions of dollars to run cables, shoot satellites into orbit and then create the programming subscribers purchase deserve whatever playing field they created and currently have.
Level the playing field?
Just where is all this crap coming from? Maybe these two politicians feel they’re not getting enough attention so they’ve decided to elevate their profiles by jumping into the current craze of Broadcast Indecency?
Or are they getting pressured from another source? I'm not pointing fingers but guess who else would love for that "playing field" to be "level”? The National Association of Broadcasters - the granddaddy trade organization for all those free AM, FM and TV stations.
I can just imagine their lobbyists in Washington, D.C. telling their awful sob story to any politician who might listen:
“But you don’t understand what we're up against! We have to live by these indecency rules and can’t say words like *#&^@@ on the air. Those other guys – Geez, the pay services – they can say @*#&#& or @#*##&@ing and even show naked folks @#(*$$)%ing! Wah! We need the playing field leveled! Wah!
It’s true that free AM, FM and TV stations do have to live by certain government rules since the Feds - by law - regulate them in the public interest because the frequencies are owned by said public. It’s also true the 1st Amendment does not permit these broadcast stations to say just anything they damn well want because of restrictions provided for by the Communications Act of 1934 and the 1996 revision of it.
But, when I pay my hard-earned money to buy Cinemax because I like to see naked people bumping uglies or XM Satellite Radio because dirty words titillate me, whose business is it of theirs?
NONE.
In the early 1950s, Senator Joe McCarthy attempted to intimidate federal employees, celebrities and everyday people by accusing them of being communists or communist sympathizers. He paraded these Americans in front of Congressional hearings and using his scare tactics and powerful position ruined many lives and careers. In the end, the American people saw him for what he was: an obsessed man with a twisted mission.
Between the inconsistency of the F.C.C.'s rulings and fines issued on indecent programming to the elected officials looking for their spot on the Sunday morning talk shows, I've pretty much had it up to here with this new wave of Broadcast McCarthyism that is intimidating broadcast companies and radio personalities alike.
So, a kind warning to any Senator, politician, F.C.C. Commissioner or anyone else who would even dare to poke his nose into my privacy:
1. Stay out of my home and
2. Stay out of my car.
Because if you think I'll easily allow you to trample on any of my rights in exchange for your political agendas or desires to legislate your particular morality, then you have sorely miscalculated how far you can push constituents who will not be intimidated by misguided crusades.
