"Increase The Fines, and Destroy The First Amendment"

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to one of the great battles of the Twenty-First century. In one corner we have the over the air broadcasters, in another corner we have the Constitution of The United States, in another corner we have those people who believe that over the air television should be free of sexual and violent content in most, if not all of its day parts, and in the last corner, the creative community who believe that ANY restriction placed upon them is harmful to the creative process. Lurking in all of the corners, are vested interests concerned primarily about money, and lest we forget, (and we shouldn't) are those who are concerned about religion in its broadest sense and free, over the air television. Many of the people in many of the "corners" are sincerely concerned about "how do we protect our children," while many others are concerned with "protecting" adults as well from "undesirable" content. Some, or all of these parties would like to deal with cable content, as well as the Internet, but it's complicated enough without including these things

I am unable to suggest a solution to the issues, but rather point out the underlying issues, and furor, concerning the CBS Super Bowl Halftime show.

All of the "outrage" generated by our Public Officials, do nothing to solve these issues. They are in fact insoluble. Yes, I said insoluble. All of the parties involved "must" negotiate a compromise with the other parties. The hearings that are being held to consider increasing the fines for violating the rules are like increasing the penalties for felonies. Longer prison terms have sure helped society in preventing violent crimes Punishing broadcasters for "violations" will make some of the people in a couple of the corners feel better, but at the same time, it will not solve, or reduce the overall problem.

In an attempt to mitigate the inherent tensions, let's not investigate what has been happening in the media. Understand that "Mission control, we have a problem" and set out to look into solutions, not increased penalties.

How about forming a group of knowledgeable people representing all points of view, and have them make recommendations to the FCC and the congress as to what course of action the government should take? It's not a simple problem, and there will not be a simple solution to the problem. It is reasonable that this group, in peace and harmony can come to a better solution then the congress or FCC formulating harsher punishments to a problem that will not properly be solved by punishments.

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