That annoying long BLEEEEP! covering up supposed blasphemous or overly crude words that the FCC deems unfit for me (not being a cable TV subscriber) to hear absolutely enrages me. Why must I pay money to a Cable or Satellite Company to secure that right?
I had planned to write a diatribe of sorts on the subject of Freedom of Speech and how FCC censorship ignores that basic constitutional right because the religious folks in the audience are afraid their children might hear words that these very kids use (constantly) themselves when gathered together among their peers.
But then I discovered that I do not have sufficient knowledge nor sufficient passion left in me to do so.
So I didn't do it.
Yet . . .
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HISTORICAL CLIP
On March 3, 1873 Congress enacted the so-called Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" book through the mails. Also unlawful under the law is sending anything "designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion."
The law was named after its chief proponent, the anti-obscenity crusader Anthony Comstock. The enforcement of the Act was, in its early days, often conducted by Comstock himself as postal inspector or through the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice which he led.
The Comstock Act targeted pornography as well as contraceptive equipment and many educational materials such as descriptions of contraceptive methods and other reproductive health-related materials.
Comstock's ideas of what might be "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" were quite broad. During his time of greatest power, even some anatomy textbooks were prohibited from being sent to medical students by the United States Postal Service.
The ban on contraceptives was declared unconstitutional by the courts in 1936, though the remaining portions of the law continue to be enforced today. However, definitions of obscenity have changed over the years, and it was determined that obscenity was material whose "dominant theme taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest" to the "average person, applying contemporary community standards," and was, "utterly without redeeming social importance.
See Comstock Laws . . .
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WORD FOR TODAY
prurient
adjective
Having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters.
Synonyms
lascivious - salacious - lustful - lewd - lecherous
Born March 3, 1920
Died July 20, 2005
Died July 20, 2005
James Montgomery Doohan was a Canadian character and voice actor best known for his role as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the television and film series Star Trek. Doohan's characterization of the Scottish Chief Engineer of the Starship Enterprise was one of the most recognizable elements in the Star Trek franchise, for which he also made several contributions behind the scenes. Many of the characterizations, mannerisms, and expressions that he established for Scotty and other Star Trek characters have become entrenched in popular culture.
Born Mar. 3, 1982
Age: 30 years old
Age: 30 years old
Jessica Claire Biel is an American actress, model and singer. She is known for her television role as Mary Camden in the long-running family-drama series 7th Heaven. She has since starred in many films including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Blade: Trinity (2004), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007), The A-Team (2010), New Year's Eve (2011), and Total Recall (2012). She will appear in the thriller indie film Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes in 2013.
Born Mar. 3, 1974
Age: 38 years old
Age: 38 years old
David Anthony Faustino (born March 3, 1974) is an American actor and rap artist primarily known for his role as Bud Bundy on the sitcom Married... with Children and voicing Mako in The Legend of Korra.
Born Mar. 3, 1911
Died June 7, 1937
Died June 7, 1937
Jean Harlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter) was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" (owing to her platinum blonde hair), Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute. Harlow starred in several films, mainly designed to showcase her magnetic sex appeal and strong screen presence, before making the transition to more developed roles and achieving massive fame under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Harlow's enormous popularity and "laughing vamp" image were in distinct contrast to her personal life, which was marred by disappointment, tragedy, and ultimately her sudden death at the age of 26.
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Obscenity is whatever happens to shock some elderly and ignorant magistrate.
--Bertrand Russell
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