BuzzMachine

On MSNBC’s Connected in the 5p ET hour today pointing to blogs on some stories below: the FCC, Godblogs, the Death Penalty, plus NYPD Blue and Jeff Ooi.

: Trey Jackson has video.

Nevermind the man behind the curtain. I’m demonstrating blogging to some really important people. Guess.

A small step toward civilization in America

: The Supreme Court outlawed executing minors… at last. Says Kevin Keith at LeanLeft says:

This is a great relief, shamefully overdue. The Times notes that all the countries that until recently executed juveniles have since outlawed the practice, leaving the US the last remaining country in the world to practice this barbarism – behind Iran, China, Pakistan and other garden spots. (Interestingly, with Iran

Senator greases slope with KY

: Sen. Ted Stevens wants to control speech on cable, too.

The Alaska Republican told reporters at the National Association of Broadcasters’ annual state leadership convention that the regulations should also apply to premium services such as HBO.

“The problem is most viewers don’t differentiate between over-the-air and cable,” he said. “Cable is a greater violator in the indecency arena.”

Stevens brushed aside constitutional questions about whether the government has the right to regulate indecent speech on pay TV services.

March 02, 2005

Sen. Stevens: Pay TV should comply with indecency regs

By Brooks Boliek

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Stevens, the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, told broadcasters Tuesday that pay TV services should have to comply with the same indecency regulations as over-the-air TV stations.

The Alaska Republican told reporters at the National Association of Broadcasters’ annual state leadership convention that the regulations should also apply to premium services such as HBO.

“The problem is most viewers don’t differentiate between over-the-air and cable,” he said. “Cable is a greater violator in the indecency arena.”

Stevens brushed aside constitutional questions about whether the government has the right to regulate indecent speech on pay TV services.

“I think that’s wrong,” he said. “I think we have the same power to deal with cable as over the air, because of the combination of the two.”

Forget about putting the 10 Commandments in stone in government buildings. Can we just etch the First Amendment over the doors there? Dangerous, this guy.

Can I hear you now?

: Just saw a post about an ear-wax vacuum. The perfect blog post, wouldn’t you say. And thanks to the hat tips along the way, I got to follow the meme back from here here to here to here to here and finally to here. Good news travels fast, eh?

What, no blogging strippers?

: Hugh Hewitt announces the first GodBlogCon: “Let the news ring out throughout the Christian Blogosphere! The first ever Christian Blogosphere Convention is on.”

Well, I am a Christian. But I don’t think I’ll go. I’m a Howard-Stern-loving, gay-marriage-backing, prochoice, Clinton-voting, separation-of-church-and-state, cabernet-guzzling Christian. Something tells me that I’d fit in there about as well as I apparently would at the Kos Konvention. Though I will say that Hugh and I have disagreed online about religion — and he has invited me on his air to disagree with him — and he was most cordial; just because we disagreed he didn’t call me an atheist … the way some liberals we know want to call me conservative just because we disagree.

Bad timing award

: I get to the office on the morning after our demiblizzard last night — it was a breeze — and then I get the email announcing the because of the snow, the office is closed.

FCC follies, continued… and continued… and continued…

: As Gomer (or was it Guber?) would say: Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

The FCC just decided that the F word in Saving Private Ryan is not indecent, obscene, or profane.

In fact, the FCC turned down three complaints — on Will & Grace and Arrested Development, too. It’s as if, once they got rid of Howard Stern, they could let up.

Except I’m still waiting to hear their ruling on Oprah Winfrey.

The latest wisdom from on high….

: In the Private Ryan case, the FCC says that it found Ryan not indecent in 2001 and 2002 but that 66 stations wouldn’t air it this time “citing their uncertainty as to whether it contained indecent material, reportedly based, in part, on Commission indecency rulings subsequent to these previous broadcasts of the film.”

Well, yeah: In the Bono case, the FCC decrees that the F word is not only indecent but also profane and says:

…we believe that, given the core meaning of the