Political Skullduggery

The culture wars between the good "decent" folks and the bad "free speech" forces got a big boost yesterday when the House signed off on a law, previously approved by the Senate, enabling the Federal Communications Commission to levy onerous fines against television and radio station owners that broadcast material that is found offensive.

The U.S. House today passed a bill to raise maximum fines 10-fold against broadcasters for airing indecent material, sending the measure to President George W. Bush to be signed into law.

The measure would boost to $325,000 the most the Federal Communications Commission can levy against TV and radio stations, including those owned by CBS Corp., News Corp.'s Fox and Clear Channel Communications Inc., for a single violation. The maximum for all violations on a single show would be $3 million.

House passage of the legislation, which cleared the Senate last month, caps a two-year effort by advocacy groups to reduce nudity, obscenity and sexual references on free, on-air television and radio. The penalties may hinder broadcasters' ability to compete with cable TV or satellite programmers such as XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., which aren't subject to indecency rules...

The push to increase sanctions from the current $32,500 maximum per violation gained momentum after CBS showed singer Janet Jackson's breast during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.

The Los Angeles-based Parents Television Council organized a campaign that led to the filing of more than a half million complaints with the FCC. The agency, then led by Michael Powell, proposed fining CBS $550,000, a penalty upheld last month by Chairman Kevin Martin.

The fake moralism shown by the pro-censorship politicians is pretty low. These lawmakers have no problem approving policies that result in the deaths and maimings of thousands, yet portray an occasional bare breast or lewd shock-jock bit as being "indecent."

Pathetic.