A Tribute to George Carlin

Somebody get Reuters and its reporter, Martha Graybow, a Pulitzer. Heck, pull an old Nobel out of the closet and give it to them. They deserve it.

This morning, I was reading a story written by Graybow about the U.S. courts rejecting the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) broadcast decency limits. Basically, they said the FCC was "arbitrary and capricious" in defining (for all of us) what it thought was indecent. Well, no kidding.

But, unlike every other mainstream media outlet, Reuters had the cajones to include the verbatim words in dispute. In print. In a major media outlet. Against the wind of the puritan way most would've handled it.

And it's a good thing, too. Because you only have to read the Republican FCC Chairman's reaction to see the Crisco-lined slope this is headed:

Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin angrily retorted that he found it "hard to believe that the New York court would tell American families that 'shit' and 'fuck' are fine to say on broadcast television during the hours when children are most likely to be in the audience."

"If we can't restrict the use (of the two obscenities) during prime time, Hollywood will be able to say anything they want, whenever they want," Martin said in a statement.

Kudos to Reuters and Graybow.