As I mentioned previously, the House passed legislation this week increasing the fines that can be levied against broadcasters for indecent material. [This article][1] from the Times provides a great illustration of the effects this sort of thing can have.
Frontline, WGBH’s excellent series, has produced a documentary about a US Army regiment in Baghdad. Apparently, the soldiers featured in the documentary do a good deal of swearing as they go about their business of fighting insurgents prior to the recent elections. Knowing that the Morality Police who currently hold the levers of power in the country find foul language just as deadly and evil as Janet Jackson’s exposed boob, PBS has announced that it cannot offer member stations legal protection “against federal indecency sanctions if they broadcast an unedited, profanity-laced version of [the] a documentary.”
All I can say is, thank goodness the US Congress had the foresight to enact this legislation, lest my virgin ears be assulted by our troops’ rampant use of “fuck” and “shit.”