Freedom of Some Speech

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07-582 FCC V. FOX TELEVISION STATIONS QUESTIONS PRESENTED: Whether the court of appeals erred in striking down the Federal Communications Commission’s determination that the broadcast of vulgar expletives may violate federal restrictions on the broadcast of “any obscene, indecent, or profane language,” 18 U.S.C. 1464; see 47 C.F.R. 73.3999, when the expletives are not repeated.


" But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. "
- Tom Jefferson


On November 4th, 2008, we may or may not see a change come about that would irrevocably alter a massive governing body which has sought to control our personal lives over the past 75 years. To the FCC's credit, their actions over all this time have spawned a growth industry for innuendo.



Somewhat ironically, a Supreme Court case pits the FCC against Fox Television Stations - home of Fox News Channel. This coming election day, The Supreme Court of the United States of America will hear arguments, and eventually reach a decision, on whether or not it's ok for celebrities to offhandedly utter while on television or radio, "fucking brilliant" (Bono), "Fuck'em" (Cher), and our personal favorite, “Have you ever tried to get cow shit out of a Prada purse? It’s not so fucking simple.” (Nicole Richie).

Cher is up to her ass in trouble.
To Michael who? Copps?

Had these pronouncements been made on paid cable, satellite radio, magazines, or the innerknit, nothing at all would have happened. Since they were all invoked on over-the-air free television, the community of America was rocked to the core and in danger of imploding.

Hopefully, this case will show what kind of conservative judges we have up there in Supremica. Are they the kind of conservatives who feel that government should police our thoughts and words? Are they the type who believe that government should allow the Thought Market to run unregulated, on the theory that verbal expressions that are unworthy of society will be drubbed out by competing ideas and speech which can withstand the close scrutiny of the many? Hopefully again, whatever this court rules, it will be step towards better defining what can and cannot be regulated by these five white people:

Hi!

As it stands now these schlub wankers won't tell broadcasters if they messed up until after they mess up. Then they can fine the network of stations, the individual stations, or, the person who made the statements (if they're paid to broadcast). These fines can be as low as a couple hundred thousand dollars and well into the millions, if your name is Howard.

While this case is being heard, will the lawyers for Fox and the FCC use the actual words in question, or will they resort to using phrases such as, "The F-word"? Logic would dictate that the defendant Fox (the other F-word), would look the justices in their eyes and say, "Fuck and Shit". The United States prosecutor should have to water down their own speech in order to prove their point. We shall see who blinks, and it shall be most entertaining.

This election day, in that vacuous Neverland of time between the polls closing and the networks prematurely calling the election, we can amuse ourselves by listening to Nina Totenberg's one-woman play wherein she reads everyone's lines from the day's oral arguments. In particular, we love when she does Antonin Scalia. She tends to subconsciously drop down to a slightly more baritone. If the actual words are used in court, will Nina repeat them on NPR? If she does, will the FCC fine her?




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