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Senators speak out on indecency

There is a definite bipartisan meeting of the minds when it comes to broadcast indecency. Everyone is against it.

Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) spoke for most when he said, "We were all shocked, dismayed and disappointed by the inappropriate stunt that happened at the Super Bowl. Those responsible should be severely punished for such a vulgar, tasteless act. "

A few of the senators expressed concern along a common thread: The trend of consolidation and cross-ownership seems to be bringing a similar trend of more and more indecency over the airwaves.

There is also a strong contingent which believes that gratuitously-violent programming is another form of indecency, one which may ultimately be the most harmful of all. This from Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS): "By my account, we have over 2,000 studies and reports on the effect of violent entertainment on children - - virtually all of them bad. They say if you watch a lot of violent material, your child is going to be more violent. It's time to act on this. It's not as if this is something new to any of us."

Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-GA) made a special appearance before the committee to discuss a bill to increase indecency fines by a factor of ten. Such a proposal was part of the Commerce Committee's FCC Reauthorization bill passed over the summer, and is said to be on the fast track to the floor of the House of Representatives.

Committee Chair John McCain (R-AZ) offered a proposal to allow parents to pick and choose cable channels to keep undesired programming away from their children.