LIMBAUGH WARNS OF DANGER TO FREE SPEECH

Drudge ^ | 2/26/04 | Drudge/Limbaugh

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

LIMBAUGH WARNS OF DANGER TO FREE SPEECH THU FEB 26 2004 12:28:21 ET

THE NATION'S TOP RADIO HOST RUSH LIMBAUGH WARNED OF GROWING GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN BROADCASTING CONTENT.

LIMBAUGH MADE THE COMMENTS AFTER HIS PARENT COMPANY CLEAR CHANNEL DROPPED VIACOM'S HOWARD STERN FROM ITS STATIONS.

'SMUT ON TV GETS PRAISED. SMUT ON TV WINS EMMYS. ON RADIO, THERE SEEMS TO BE DIFFERENT STANDARDS,' LIMBAUGH EXPLAINED.

'I'VE NEVER HEARD HOWARD STERN. BUT WHEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GETS INVOLVED IN THIS, I GET A LITTLE FRIGHTENED.

'IF WE ARE GOING TO SIT BY AND LET THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GET INVOLVED IN THIS, IF THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO 'CENSOR' WHAT THEY THINK IS RIGHT AND WRONG... WHAT HAPPENS IF A WHOLE BUNCH OF JOHN KERRYS, OR TERRY MCAULIFFES START RUNNING THIS COUNTRY. AND DECIDE CONSERVATIVE VIEWS ARE LEADING TO VIOLENCE?

'I AM IN THE FREE SPEECH BUSINESS. ITS ONE THING FOR A COMPANY TO DETERMINE IF THEY ARE GOING TO BE PARTY TO IT. ITS ANOTHER THING FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO DO IT.'

MORE

[Dianna]

Let parents, the market, and states decide on what you think is offensive. Get over yourself.

Fine. I'll come and stand on the sidewalk outside your home and describe sex acts with a bullhorn. Your children should just avoid me.

[epow]

Nonsense. The airwaves belong to ALL Americans, and most Americans don't want their kids listening to some toilet-mouthed 40-something adolescent like Stern spreading his verbal sewage through the publicly-owned airwaves. Free speech allows people to say what they want, but it doesn't give them a license to use publicly owned property to extend the reach of their vile voices.

Anyway, after the USSC said that we don't have free speech on political matters within two months of an election, how can anyone say that the publicly-owned electromagnetic spectrum has to allow non-political verbal porn to be broadcast.

People like Stern and his listeners remind me of the nerdy twerps in high school who were somehow titillated by using "bad" words to shock teachers or other adults. It's time for these middle aged adolescent jerks to grow up and join the adult world.

[whattajoke]

I'll come and stand on the sidewalk outside your home and describe sex acts with a bullhorn. Your children should just avoid me.

LOL. I'll give you my address. My kids would stare at you not having any idea what you're ranting about, and then they'll be excited to meet the real live policeman who just arrested you for disturbing the peace. Which is what my community (which has noise ordinances that are actually enforced) has decided.

But something tells me you'd chicken out and the "sex acts" you'd describe would be pretty un-provocative anyway.

[novacation]

Clear channel got a $775,000 fine for some smut they broadcast.Figured the scum Stern would be the next one to cost them money.Rush needs his meds.

[Dianna]

There have been several articles on FR about homosexual sex acts occurring in public spaces, highway rest stops. This was roundly condemned on FR as lewd behavior to be eliminated.

Why? Once the rest stop was publicized everyone knew to avoid it. There are plenty of other routes and other rest stops.

[whattajoke]

Sigh.

for one, Stern is "50-something" but who cares.

Secondly, Sterns demographics are by and large the opposite of what you think. Gosh by Golly, I recently heard Governor George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani on his show.

Skip his show and listen who advertises on it. You'd be amazed how many of them speak to YOU and YOUR demographic, it's not comic books, sex aids, and fake poo companies.

[Amelia]

'I AM IN THE FREE SPEECH BUSINESS. ITS ONE THING FOR A COMPANY TO DETERMINE IF THEY ARE GOING TO BE PARTY TO IT. ITS ANOTHER THING FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO DO IT.'

Earth to Rush: the company (Clear Channel) was the one who determined they weren't going to be a party to it.

The government didn't do it.

Calm down, everything's okay.

[SauronOfMordor]

Slight correction... His CALLER mused about sex with a n#gger, to which Stern asked if she smelled like a watermelon

So Stern can spend his day discussing buxom lesbians satisfying each other in his office, and do it for years, with no problems, but one racist remark, and he's out.

[Common Tator]

It does not take much to figure out where Clear Channel is coming from.

They had a guy 5 times as bad as Stearn on in Florida. He cost them 750 grand in fines. The FCC was coming after their scalp. So they fired him... Big deal.

Stearn is on 6 Clear channel stations. The owner of the Stearn show, Infinity broadcasting gets half the commercials and Clear channel the revenue from the other half of the commercials. It does not take an I.Q. larger than your shoe size to figure out that for Stern to stay on the Clear Channel stations he has to gross twice as much per spot as a Clear Channel produced program in which clear channel gets all teh commerical revenue. Stearn must be doing that or he would not be on any clear channel stations.

On the other hand an angry congress might pass a provision making clear channel get rid of some of its stations or prevent its expansion into TV.

Clear channel only suspended the Stearn show on its stations for some indefinite period. Stearn will be back on those stations. A couple of weeks worth of lost Stearn show revenue will not hurt Clear Channel. They need to get Congress off their back.

The object of taking Stearn off for a few days was to convince Congress that Clear Channel would voluntarily do what Congress wants. When congress goes on to othter things, Clean Channel will go back to doing what it has been doing.

Rush complaining on the air that his employer was bowing down to Congress and the FCC will get Rush a thank you note from his boss.

[johnfl61]

RUSH is WRONG about X rated Howard Stern.

[Prodigal Son]

Impossible situation on the face of it.

It's just a hypothetical guy. Something to think about. That's all. I know it's impossible.

Thanks for your comments.

[Qwinn]

"It's just a hypothetical guy. Something to think about. That's all. I know it's impossible."

*sigh* I can't help but get the impression that you missed my point. My point was that you seem to want to frame the issue in a world where children don't exist.

Qwinn

[Prodigal Son]

You sure are hung up on censorship where there is none.

I was just offering a hypothetical.

Here's another one. If everyone was a qualified doctor, could we all just go in and write prescriptions for ourselves...

I don't want you to answer that. It's just a hypothetical.

Here's another. Imagine a man getting a sex change because he wants to be a lesbian. It's just something to toy with- nothing more.

Personally, it's like I said, regarding the hypothetical, I don't see where a third party censor would be necessary. You might come to a different conclusion. It makes no difference. It's just a 'what if?' thing. Your answer is just as valid as mine.

But it makes no difference. The government does not recognize me as a qualified censor for what will or won't be decent for me to view, therefore, for my own good, they do this for me.

I should be very grateful for this service. The gov't is just looking out for me here.

[libbylu]

you don't know rush, don't you? you are showing your ignorance, lack of tolerance.... too many faults to list....

[Prodigal Son]

My point was that you seem to want to frame the issue in a world where children don't exist.

Yes. In my hypothetical- no children exist. All people are born grown and live on a cube shaped planet.

What difference does it make? It's just a thought game. Don't take it too seriously- I surely don't. It has no bearing on the current situation.

It's just something to imagine and wonder about.

[Qwinn]

"Did our founding fathers really fight for 'freedom of speech' so that the F-word (and worse) can be said freely in public?"

"How many ways can I say "YES," without being too obnoxious?"

Your post annoyed me in a dozen ways up until this point, and here is where I realized that you don't have even the slightest clue. The founding fathers would've cracked down on vulgarity in a heartbeat. The 1st Amendment was about freedom of political and religious speech, not pornography, and I have the first 200 years of American history to back up my position, you only have the last two decades.

Qwinn

[Qwinn]

Okay, please, stop being so disingenuous with the whole "it's just a thought game" bit. Alright? It's patronizing as all hell. (man, this thread is getting me more annoyed than any other thread has in a long time)

It's obvious it's more than a word game to you when I see a sarcastic statement like this:

"But it makes no difference. The government does not recognize me as a qualified censor for what will or won't be decent for me to view, therefore, for my own good, they do this for me. I should be very grateful for this service. The gov't is just looking out for me here."

You simply don't get it, do you? Look at how self-centered your statement is. You think it's because the government doesn't trust you to decide what's decent for YOU to view. That's absolute bull. If that were the case, you couldn't get porn -anywhere-. No. What the government doesn't trust you to do is to decide what's decent for AMERICAN CHILDREN to watch, and given your extreme myopia in that you seem to be completely incapable of actually, seriously recognizing their existence, that's a good thing.

Qwinn

[Prodigal Son]

Okay, please, stop being so disingenuous with the whole "it's just a thought game" bit.

Look, I write fiction. I like imagining entirely different worlds. I do it constantly. In fact, I prefer most of the places in my head to this particular rock we live on.

Tell, ya what. How's this? Just to show you it's unimportant to me here's what I'll do.

I apologize for upsetting you. Furthermore, you are 100% correct. And I am totally wrong. I retract all my comments and you can consider yourself victor or whatever suits your fancy.

How's that?

Have a nice day.

[imfleck]

I've been trying, for a long time, to figure out how airwaves are a public resource.

Everyone says they are, the government licenses them, I'm just not sure how the government got into that business, or why the government should continue to be in that business.

[Shazolene]

"What other words should we eliminate? God? Christ? Jesus? these are offensive words to some."
So, you're saying that these Holy Names are analagous to the F-word?
Gee, is that moral relativism? Or slippery slope?
:-)

Actually the reason for avoiding all these words -- at least when used as expletives in what-used-to-be-'polite' company -- is the POWER behind them.

I would rather think of the powerful thought behind the G-word than the MF-word. The preponderance of such an utterance in some areas (ie, the street, the bus) is sick and sickening.

I don't want cops to go after those who use such words. I would like to see social opprobium applied to them again.