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Sen. Obama Warns TV to Clean Up or Congress Will Act
TVWeek ^ | 11/09/05 | Doug Halonen

Posted on 11/09/2005 5:36:21 PM PST by Pikamax

Sen. Obama Warns TV to Clean Up or Congress Will Act By Doug Halonen

If the industry doesn't take significant steps to make it easier for parents to control what their children view on television, Congress will step in and legislate. That was a warning shot fired by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in a speech Wednesday in Washington.

Story continues below...

"The amount of questionable content spilling across our screens is growing by the year," Sen. Obama said at a press conference to release a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation that says the number of sex scenes on TV has been increasing dramatically over the past several years.

"Once again, we find ourselves asking those in charge to serve the needs of a nation that has a higher calling than simply peddling indecency and materialism for profit," the senator said.

The study, which examined a representative example of broadcast and cable TV network shows, said that 70 percent of programs included some sexual content this year (with an average of five sex scenes per hour), while only 56 percent did so in 1998 (with 3.2 sex scenes per hour). Among shows that had sexual content, the study said, 14 percent this year included a reference to sexual risks or responsibilities, up from 9 percent in 1998.

But Sen. Obama said he is particularly concerned about the impact television is having on the ability of parents to instill positive values in their children. "Raising your children this way has become exceedingly difficult in a mass media culture that saturates our airwaves with a steady stream of sex, violence and materialism," he said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 109th; hillarysveep; nannystate; obama; osamaobama; posturingfake; thegreatdemhope; trashtv
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To: BigSkyFreeper

Some of you guys are only for freedom when it suits you. Don't pretend like your 14 year old will instantly go on a dick sucking spree if she hears a crude joke on Fox. If you teach them right and wrong then they should have zero problems dealing with situations when it comes up.


221 posted on 11/09/2005 10:39:05 PM PST by RHINO369
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To: Pikamax

He does not care about the content, only the control.

Lenin would be proud of his American acolyte.


222 posted on 11/09/2005 10:42:06 PM PST by KamperKen
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To: mlc9852
I agree with him and I don't apologize for it.

You're a tool. This is an irrelevant, empty issue, an issue that allows Senators to beat their chests and pretend that they're solving a problem when all their doing is compounding it, while the sheeple lap it up and go to bed happy.

223 posted on 11/09/2005 10:42:49 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Harmful or Fatal if Swallowed)
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To: Pikamax
But Sen. Obama said he is particularly concerned about the impact television is having on the ability of parents to instill positive values in their children.

Wonder what he thinks about homosexual glorification shows like Will & Grace?

224 posted on 11/09/2005 11:03:53 PM PST by DBeers (†)
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To: mlc9852
He has a good future in their party.

A world class athlete on the Jamaican bobsled team is still but one member of a losing team...

225 posted on 11/09/2005 11:05:45 PM PST by DBeers (†)
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To: Pikamax

What this is about is Obama cynically trying to pretend that he's not the liberal scumbag that he actually is. He's just trying to clean himself up for a shot at the ticket in '08. That's all this is. No biggie.


226 posted on 11/09/2005 11:08:27 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: ventana
You all are jealous as we all should be that he has coopted a Republican Family Values issue.

Not really. Censorship was always one of the liberals' strong points in their tyrannical ideology.

227 posted on 11/09/2005 11:12:43 PM PST by Paul C. Jesup
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To: Pikamax

Typical...

Punish the suppliers...

Why doesnt this wingnut force a supply side solution...?

Force everyone to own TEVO and balm it with a mandatory TEVO training that shows you how to filter out 'Radical' right wing propoganda like FOX?

Idiot leftist pandering drivel...

This country is going to hell in a handbasket and we all have ringside seats...


228 posted on 11/09/2005 11:20:09 PM PST by antaresequity (PUSH 1 FOR ENGLISH, PUSH 2 FOR SPANISH...)
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To: RHINO369
Some of you guys are only for freedom when it suits you.

Not exactly. I'll let you sleep on that thought.

229 posted on 11/10/2005 1:13:28 AM PST by BigSkyFreeper ("Tucker Carlson could reveal himself as a castrated, lesbian, rodeo clown ...wouldn't surprise me")
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To: At a Later Date
Gov't is responsible?

No, they're not.

How so?

You tell me. I just wish the government would stay the hell out of my bedroom, my backpocket, and my living room.

230 posted on 11/10/2005 1:15:24 AM PST by BigSkyFreeper ("Tucker Carlson could reveal himself as a castrated, lesbian, rodeo clown ...wouldn't surprise me")
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To: Pikamax
Why don't any of these parasites just leave us alone?

Yo, Oboomah - bite me, a$$wipe.





I learned that on TV.

231 posted on 11/10/2005 1:17:43 AM PST by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

It's called bringing awareness to a problem. And the "tool" is the entertainment industry which doesn't care how they influence children.


232 posted on 11/10/2005 2:35:46 AM PST by mlc9852
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To: Indy Pendance
Purchasing a television is an option. Don't buy one. You don't need one for survival.

Right. So if you don't like the technology that will be added to give consumers a choice of what they their children view, don't buy one! (You don't need one for survival).

233 posted on 11/10/2005 3:57:22 AM PST by Northern Alliance
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To: BigSkyFreeper
The movie industry was forced to grade its movies, so that parents would know the content. I think TV programs should do likewise.

They've been doing that for almost 10 years now. The TV industry figures viewers are smart enough to know the difference between a program rated "Y7" and "TV-PG". Obviously most aren't, and they are the ones raising a ruckus.


Please, kind sir, since you obviously are smart enough to know the difference, would you please share it with me. What does "Y7" mean?

What is the rating of "Desperate Housewives"? What is the rating of the latest "Victoria's Secret" commercial? We out here, who are concerned and are not as smart as you, could use your help!
234 posted on 11/10/2005 4:45:09 AM PST by i_dont_chat (Houston, TX)
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To: asp1
Not really trying to lecture you. Just engaging in the give and take of ideas. But my point is it is disturbing that the material content on the airwaves has descended so low, and it IS our Times Square so to speak, so all this sense of being hamstrung and we can't do anything about it because that would be government interference is sophistry.

In a little town, when the strip clubs and massage parlors move in and suddenly a low element appears and respectable folks have to walk a mile out of their way to get to where they want, eventually, in a town that hasn't thrown itself over to lowbrow mob rule, it will pull itself together and the town elders will convene, write a zoning law and get rid of the crap. They don't say "well, mother and Johnny will just do the noble thing and walk an extra forty blocks to get to school" so as to protect the rights of the scumbags. They say "hell, it's our town, we pay the taxes and we don't like that crap because it is ruining our image, affecting our people, and lowering our standard of morality" and they do something about it.

In fact it is actually a very leftist notion to think that the town square can't have any standards of morality and decency. As they posit, those standards of morality and decency flow from religious ethics (which they do: Judeo Christian, in fact) and, the leftists would have it, by golly there can't be any whiff of religion in anything associated with the government. Thus, with this mindset, they have stripped every aspect of our public square: schools, town lawns, government buildings, of the very real cultural artifacts which may have a whiff of religious heritage: they now control the public square.

You may tolerate this if you want to, I do not choose to do so. And Barak Obama has put his finger on the essentially moral judeo/christian pulse of the country and come up with a winning, and, I repeat, essentially republican family values issue. V's wife.

235 posted on 11/10/2005 4:55:28 AM PST by ventana
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To: mlc9852

Sorry, I disagree. I think he's a phony and very creepy.


236 posted on 11/10/2005 4:59:26 AM PST by garyhope
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To: garyhope

Well, disagreement is what makes FR so much fun.


237 posted on 11/10/2005 5:25:37 AM PST by mlc9852
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To: Indy Pendance
Indy, I agree that BIG gov't is bad.

Can we also agree that if, somehow, there was an EASIER way to control some of the trash currently on public TV without having to completely eliminate TV, that this would be a good thing?

Let me give yet another example of some of the subtle trash that I'm concerned with. Oprah (it was on, I swear I didn't inhale) had as a guest the gal that wrote "How Stella got her grove back" on her show. She was saying that the younger man she met was like a puppy every time she saw him, tail wagging, jumping and "licking all over". Well, the crowd started laughing and Oprah was a little put off, and this gal sort of giggles and claims, Oh, I didn't mean it like that... Well BS. This is 4pm with a lot of kids watching after a day at school. I've not watched much Oprah ( I swear! ) but I wouldn't have thought to monitor her unless the topic was obviously a tough one. I don't want to have to explain to my 10 year old why the crowd was laughing. Trivial point? Probably. But its daily stuff like this that gets to me.

I think there is also something funky with that Top Model show that my 9 year old daughter was watching. Apparently one of the models is bi or a lesbian and another one of the girls is considering a walk on the other side of the road, if you know what I mean. OFF goes the TV and now I have to explain why I don't want her to watch it.

You know what, maybe I should throw my TV away.
238 posted on 11/10/2005 7:10:55 AM PST by mad puppy ( The Southern border needs to be a MAJOR issue in 2006 and 2008)
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To: Pikamax

Senator Obama isn't a big fan of the **Bleep** Van **Bleep** Show.


239 posted on 11/10/2005 7:15:24 AM PST by flada (They don't have meetings about rainbows.)
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To: mad puppy

Yes, there is a way, pay for only the channels you want. Of course, the tv execs won't go for that. Lets say I only want Fox news and the history channel. I shouldn't have to pay for the local stations or any other channel I don't want, like gay tv or MTV or whatever else they force into my home. Because of this, I choose not to watch tv, except for important political events or news, but only on Foxnews. Also, aren't there controls on televisions to block out unwanted channels, so, if you don't have cable television, you can block any channels or tv programming you don't want to use.

Those examples you sited, are they any different than having to explain to a 5-6 year old what the impeached president did in the oval office? That was all over the place, and the president of the US for crying out loud. Or what about the super bowl wardrobe 'malfunction'. Our society is forced by a select few who decide what's appropriate, and personally, I won't be part of it. Until morality is brought back into our standards, it's just going to get worse. I don't think government is the solution, but if they're going to crack down, why not start at the root cause, those that market and produce this junk? And like many said, it's almost as bad as porn. So, instead of worrying about what's on, I don't worry, I don't watch.

And those with young kids, rent movies, or spongebob, or whatever the current kids shows are (not seaseme street, too pc for my taste), there really isn't anything worthwhile for kids either anymore. So, why bother? Until society changes it's moral compass, it's only going to get worse.


240 posted on 11/10/2005 7:39:09 AM PST by Indy Pendance
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