Politician would ban dirty words from TV

SFGate ^

[conservativefromGa]

Politician would ban dirty words from TV He's angry that FCC failed to act

Edward Epanuary 9, 2004

Rep. Doug Ose of Sacramento has seven dirty words very much on his mind, courtesy of such free speakers as U2 singer Bono and Nicole Richie, the rich kid co-star of "The Simple Life.''

Fed up with recent repeated instances of broadcast TV networks allowing language that many people would deem offensive to be aired live, the Republican House member has introduced a bill that spells out the seven awful words that would be banned from the public air waves in all their forms and all their meanings -- "including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms,'' as the bill says.

Among the words are such swear-word standbys as those used for excrement, fornication, urine and parts of the body. The list includes one word, a -- h -- , twice, as one word, and in its compound form to leave no doubt Ose wants it banned.

The proposal, which seems headed for a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee after Congress returns to work later this month, has stirred a vigorous debate.

On one side are those, including Ose, who say recent Federal Communications Commission decisions declining to sanction broadcasters for airing offensive language are unacceptable to the majority of Americans, particularly those with young children. On the other side are free speech advocates who say government should get out of the censorship business and that parents should monitor their kids' TV watching to make sure they don't see programs that might include raw language.

"There just isn't any way I want to hear that stuff coming out of my TV on the public airwaves,'' Ose said Thursday. "My kids and my neighbors' kids shouldn't have to hear that stuff.''

Ose's anger was touched off by an incident last January and the resulting FCC decision not to fine television stations for airing the Golden Globe awards show during which Bono blurted out, "This is really, really f -- brilliant.''

The five-member FCC ruled that Bono's words didn't measure up to its standard for indecency because he was using the dirty word as an adjective, not in a sexual context.

Since then, a few other incidents over the publicly owned broadcast airwaves have also garnered attention and the anger of those who say broadcasters are stooping ever lower in the race for viewers against unregulated cable TV and other entertainment.

On The Billboard Awards show Dec. 10 on the Fox network, Richie said, "Why do they even call it the 'Simple Life?' Have you ever tried to get cow s -- out of a Prada purse? It's not so f -- simple.'' The FCC hasn't acted yet on Richie's words, which were broadcast even though the program was on a five-second delay designed to bleep out such talk.

Fox apologized for its failure to bleep out Richie's comments.

Ose has had enough. "If the commission wants to split hairs on this, that's fine," he said. "I and a number of my colleagues will be happy to hold them down and shave their heads for them.''

So far, he has one co-sponsor, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, but expects many more when the House returns.

The Senate is considering similar bills. One, by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., condemns the FCC decision on Bono's words and calls for stiffer penalties. Another, by Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., also calls for tougher action.

One legal expert on censorship, Craig Smith of Cal State University Long Beach, said Ose's one-paragraph proposal, HR3687, seemed to be drafted narrowly enough to withstand legal challenges.

Current broadcast law on dirty words stems from a 1974 ruling involving comedian George Carlin and Pacifica Radio. The courts ruled that because Carlin used seven dirty words on an afternoon show on radio, "a uniquely pervasive medium'' available for free to everyone, the FCC could ban those words.

Ose is trying to close the loophole that let Bono say f -- by writing a law that would ban the words in any usage or connotation, noted Smith, who is director of the Center for First Amendment Studies at Cal State Long Beach.

But even though it's legal, the proposal isn't a good idea, he added. "I think you have to demonstrate that there's a harm'' by allowing dirty words on the public airwaves. "That's a burden they can't meet.''

Another broadcasting expert, Robert J. Thompson of Syracuse University, said the proposal was "just so infantile, so juvenile,'' especially because Ose's bill spells out the words it says should be banned.

"It reminds me of a bunch of 8-year-olds looking those words up in the dictionary and laughing uproariously,'' he said.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm sympathetic, but the only reason to bar this is protect the ears of children. But if everything on TV or radio has to be OK for the age of 6, then nothing can be more sophisticated than that,'' said Thompson, a professor of TV and popular culture.'' He suggested that parents more closely monitor their kids' viewing habits.

But Ose says such oversight frequently isn't possible today, because of changes in family life. "There are a lot of latchkey kids,'' said the congressman, who has daughters ages 11 and 9, referring to the number of children home alone after school while their parents work. "I don't want to be sitting there when a guy blurts something out over the TV and have my daughters ask me what those words mean.''

He also said his bill had to use the dirty words and spell out all potential usages because "I'm trying to give a statutory prohibition to the provisions the FCC has today.''

The effort to force the FCC to crackdown has attracted the support of the Parents Television Council, a group whose Web site includes a link allowing viewers to complain about alleged obscenity directly to the FCC.

Brent Bozell, the council's president, said Fox's apology over the Richie incident was unconvincing.

"I encourage parents, Capitol Hill leaders and other family organizations not to be duped by such a meaningless apology and by Fox's latest attempt to back-pedal from an obvious ploy to titillate and shock audiences with indecent programming," he said on his group's Web site.

[conservativefromGa]

To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes. (Introduced in House)

HR 3687 IH

108th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 3687 To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

December 8, 2003 Mr. OSE (for himself and Mr. SMITH of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A BILL To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--

(1) by inserting `(a)' before `Whoever'; and

(2) by adding at the end the following:

`(b) As used in this section, the term `profane', used with respect to language, includes the words `shit', `piss', `fuck', `cunt', `asshole', and the phrases `cock sucker', `mother fucker', and `ass hole', compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms).'.

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[OXENinFLA]

This will be a floor debate to watch.

[Sacajaweau]

What took them so long?? Everytime I hear one of these words, I look at the clock. Yes, my 8 and 5 year old grandchildren are still up. I'm stunned by Everyone loves Raymond sometimes and I'm sick of it, too.

[secret garden]

I would welcome that type of legislation. I'm sick of all the profanity.

[OXENinFLA]

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/ts_search.pl?title=18&sec=1464

Section 1464. Broadcasting obscene language

Whoever utters any obscene, indecent, or profane language by
means of radio communication shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

[Cboldt]

Again? See George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words" sketch from, what, 30 years ago?

I'm conflicted on using the law this way. I prefer to have control over when and how I (and now, my kids) am exposed to coarse language [ I'm okay with most coarse language, in principle, but there are inappropriate times and settings ]. I suppose I'd rather let the marketplace settle this. If one doesn't like the langauge emanating from the teevee, turn the channel, or better yet, turn it off.

[OXENinFLA]

Section 1464. Broadcasting obscene language

Whoever utters any obscene, indecent, or profane language by means of radio communication shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

Uh, does that cover TV?

[OXENinFLA]

Why not ban saying the same words in publik too?

Oh, wait some places already do.

[Montfort]

It reminds me of PJ O'Rourke's grandmother, who would not permit the word Democrat to be spoken in the house.

She simply referred to Democrats as "those bastards."

[TomGuy]

Wow, would that mean no more speeches from John Effing Kerry or Wesley "I'll beat the sh|t out of him" Clark?

[OXENinFLA]

04.02.02

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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The Michigan Court of Appeals yesterday struck down a 105-year-old law against using vulgar language in front of women and children, throwing out the conviction of a canoeist who let loose a stream of curses after falling into the water.

A three-judge panel ruled in favor of Timothy Joseph Boomer. An Arenac County jury had found him guilty in 1999 of swearing after tumbling into the Rifle River.

He was fined $75 and ordered to work four days in a child-care program, but the sentence was put on hold while the case was appealed.

Enacted in 1897 and slightly reworded in 1931, the law says anyone using "indecent, immoral, obscene, vulgar or insulting language in the presence or hearing of any woman or child shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."

The appeals panel said it would be "difficult to conceive of a statute that would be more vague," and that it violated the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

"Allowing a prosecution where one utters 'insulting' language could possibly subject a vast percentage of the populace to a misdemeanor conviction," the written opinion said. Boomer, 28, of Roseville, said he was relieved.

"I think freedom of speech is very important," he said. "It was a very worthy cause to fight for."

His trial attorney, William Street of Saginaw, said lower courts should have tossed out the case.

"But at least the Court of Appeals ruling ... makes it clear for all counties and all prosecutors, and no one will be caught in the circumstances of Mr. Boomer again," Street said.

Richard Vollbach, the Arenac County assistant prosecutor who handled the case, said he was surprised and would consider appealing the case to the Michigan Supreme Court.

"If it was a rationale I could digest, I'd probably leave it alone. But this one's a little bothersome to me," he said.

Boomer was canoeing with friends in August 1998 on the river, which winds through rural Arenac and Ogemaw counties before emptying in Lake Huron about 130 miles north of Detroit.

Witnesses testified Boomer fell out when his canoe struck a rock. A man who was in a nearby boat with his wife and two young children testified Boomer yelled curses for several minutes as they hurried away.

A sheriff's deputy who ticketed Boomer said he could hear the shouts a quarter-mile downstream.

Boomer acknowledged to reporters he "might have" uttered a profanity two or three times.

During the trial, District Judge Allen Yenior ruled unconstitutional the ban on cursing in front of women but left intact the provision dealing with children. A circuit judge upheld Yenior's decision.

The appeals court ruling, signed by Judges William Murphy, David Sawyer and Joel Hoekstra, said the law did not make clear what words were prohibited. Applying the ban only to language a "reasonable person" should know is profane wouldn't fix the problem, they said.

"This ... would require every person who speaks audibly where children are present to guess what a law enforcement officer might consider too indecent, immoral, or vulgar for a child's ears," the judges wrote.

Vollbach said many laws have similar wording. For example: A person who uses "abusive, profane or indecent language" on a train can be taken into custody or kicked off.

"That's almost identical ... and no one's suggesting it's vague," he said.

The appeals court decision does not leave society defenseless against obnoxious public behavior, said Michael J. Steinberg, legal director of the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which handled the Boomer case.

"There are plenty of constitutional means ... to regulate improper conduct," such as noise ordinances and laws against public drunkenness, Steinberg said. "But you cannot act as speech police."

Boomer, who said many people still know him as the "cussing canoeist," is taking no chances.

"I'm a little more careful about what I say in public these days," he said. "I don't think I'll ever live it down completely."

[ItsOurTimeNow]

I agree, and I think it goes much deeper than that.

Having reruns of "Boy Meets Boy" and "Queer Eye" at 7pm on a weekend!??!

Outrageous.

Thankfully, we hardly watch any TV in our house. Most everything that we watch is on tape or DVD. THat way, my wife and I can screen everything much better. Leaving network executives in charge of program decency is like leaving Keith Moon in charge of your china collection.

[j_tull]

I think you have to demonstrate that there's a harm'' by allowing dirty words on the public airwaves. "That's a burden they can't meet.''

Unless the word used is nigger, then stand by!

[Sacajaweau]

When I was 8, I saw the Secret Garden as a play in Rochester, NY at the Eastman Theater. I consider it a highlight of my life.

40 years later, I visited my doctor who lived in a mansion on East Avenue in Rochester. She had a huge walled garden in back of her mansion. It was so like the Secret Garden, I almost cried.

[KarlInOhio]

On this week's episode of C-Span "After Dark", listen to Brian Lamb go through the entire list of words from HR 3687, including all the adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms he can think of.

[Mark was here]

Why the heck not?

It's for the children!

We should just fall on our knees and worship any proposal that is "for the children".

Give me a flipping break.

As far as dirty words go on television go, you would have to be a nut to watch some of these shows anyway, so the people are getting what they deserve.

You do not need to have the State screen your entertainment, you are free to entertain your self, if you want to gaze at a stupid show, it's your responsibility.

[Sacajaweau]

Saw Carlin "live" YEARS AGO and he did this monologue. I hardly found it offensive. By the end of his show, I was crying because my side hurt from laughing so hard.

I didn't have my kids with me because they can't differentiate between humor and offensive language.....like the recent statement...."You remember Ghandi....How ANYONE could consider it humorous, I'll never know.

[FreedomGuru]

Section 1464. Broadcasting obscene language Whoever utters any obscene, indecent, or profane language by means of radio communication shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

Will this include the words- "Bill Clinton", "DNC",etc? :-)

[Cboldt]

Saw Carlin "live" YEARS AGO and he did this monologue. I hardly found it offensive.

Wow, it really has been 30 years. I've gotta get out more!

Our kids are pretty good with bad language. They recognize it, don't repeat it, and aren't particularly enamoured with it.

I laughed my butt off at South Park, the Movie. Inappropriate language can be pretty darn funny.

On October 30, 1973 radio station WBAI-FM broadcast a recording of comedian George Carlin with his now famous "Seven Dirty Words ..."
TV ACRES: Censorship & Scandals - Seven Dirty Words <-- Link