"Morality" Watch

Stiffer fine from the FCC get Howard Stern knocked off Clear Channel:

Clear Channel Dropping the Howard Stern Show

The Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) said the amount represented the maximum possible under current law of $27,500 for each of the total of eighteen violations.

Clear Channel announced it was pulling the show from its airwaves permanently after failing to get assurances that the program would comply with decency regulations from its syndicator -- Infinity Broadcasting, a unit of Viacom Inc.

and the Department of Justice has declared unconditional war on pornography:

In explicit terms, the attorney general told Congress this week that hardcore sex sites would no longer be selling peeks at balloon-breasted babes.

"I am concerned about obscenity and I'm concerned about obscenity as it relates to our children," Ashcroft said in his first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee.

He said Justice Department prosecutors would help state officials imprison sex-site operators that feature obscene images: "We try to be especially accommodating to local law enforcement to assist them, and I would think that would be an objective of ours in this respect."

I don't recall things like this happening when it wasn't and election year and Bush wasn't trailing in the polls. Odd how that works out.