I think that parents should controll what there kids watch if they think a show is offensive. But I think it is up to the parents. They can't use a TV as a babysitter then get mad when there kids get messages and images that they don't aprove of. One good point that the article does make is the packaging of stations. That you should be able to only have ths stations you want. I belive that is how it worked in the old days of cable. I think it is possible to do. But each station might cost differant amounts and it would make cable bills very a lot. I'm sure the cable companies and stations don't want that(more work and more complicated). There would be no guarnte of how many homes a station would go into. I think it is a good idea but think it might really hurt cable and hurt a lot of weaker stations. For example LOGO if your not gay you probably wouldn't order it (ibelive a MTV or some major company owns it) But with less viewers then it would get less revunue and less ads from fewer presumed views. However the upside would be that each station would know how many people watch it. If every channel was picked you wouldn't pic a station you had to payfor if you warn't going to watch it. But this might hurt good stations that you don't watch that often. A good example of that is Comedy Central. I love South Park and Drawn togather but if that is the only thing I watch on there then I might decide it isn't worth the money for two shows. Sometimes you learn of interesting programs by watching other shows on the same net work. That happens a lot with football and WWE if you watch either of them then you see adds for that networks or stations shows that you may not have known about. In any event I think it is an interesting article.


BEHIND THE HEADLINES
Battle of the network watchdogs

---

The Parents Television Council has emerged as an aggressive advocate of family-friendly programming. But Hollywood is finding a new way to fight back.

By COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON
Dallas Morning News
8/25/2005

Click to view larger picture

Fox's "The O.C." is one of the many programs targeted by Parents Television Council.

DALLAS - "The O.C." is out when it comes to family-friendly TV shows. And don't even get started on what's wrong with MTV.
"If MTV isn't vulgar, then Colorado doesn't have mountains, and the pope isn't Catholic," says L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, a million-member organization that takes aim at indecency in the media. He calls MTV an "innocence-nuking spectacle for the pre-teen audience."

But now, with the fall TV season approaching, Hollywood and the networks are fighting back. Three major media companies - NBC Universal, Viacom and News Corp. - have launched TV Watch to advocate parental controls and oppose government intervention. This newly minted group, which has brought together an unusual mix of corporations, creative types and conservative, free market proponents, is emerging as the council's adversary in a growing battle over what's appropriate for the airwaves. "The discussion had turned into a very one-sided debate," said TV Watch executive director Jim Dyke. "Our group was formed to balance out the debate and provide some reason."

The Parents Television Council was founded 10 years ago but became more visible after Janet Jackson bared her breast during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.

Now, the privately funded nonpartisan organization is signing up new members and starting local chapters. Their goal: Compel the FCC to crack down on programming the group believes crosses the line. But critics say the parents' council represents the minority view.

"They have a heckler's veto over speech and content," said Adam Thierer, a senior fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a think tank that studies the digital revolution and supports limited government. He notes the council's list of worst TV programs includes many of the most popular, including "CSI" and "Will & Grace."

Opponents of the Parents Television Council have dubbed the group an automated complaint factory. The group's Web site does make it easy to express your outrage. You can sign up for alerts detailing sex, violence and profanity in the media. You can study the council's assessments of almost every TV show. And you can add your name to a form letter and submit a complaint to the FCC.

And the council leaves little doubt about where it stands.

" "Nip/Tuck' is not just a show that's completely inappropriate for impressionable children to watch," the group says of the edgy FX network drama about plastic surgery. "It's a show adults should be convincing other adults not to support. The sanity of our popular culture depends on our objections."

But TV Watch says that parents already possess the antidote to all things offensive. Nearly all televisions now have V-chips (electronic circuits that can be used to block programming), and cable and satellite systems offer an array of other parental controls, said Dyke, the coalition's executive director.

The problem? Most people don't use them. "People are still a little bit leery of programming their TV," Dyke said. "They want to watch it. They don't want to build it."

So, TV Watch is launching new advertising trying to get the word out, telling parents how to use the V-chip and other controls and explaining the TV ratings system, he said. TV Watch is nonpartisan, and though the seed money came from media companies, the coalition includes groups from opposite ends of the political spectrum, including the Creative Coalition and Americans for Tax Reform.

Dyke, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee, said his group aims to stop the Parents Television Council from using the government to decide what constitutes quality television.

"The government as parent has not typically been a successful model," he said.

But the council complains that parents are thwarted at almost every juncture when they try to stem the flow of objectionable television into their homes. Cable companies, they note, bundle channels such as MTV into all-or-nothing packages, forcing viewers who want to order Nickelodeon to pay for other programming that may not appeal to them. Bozell said that channels should be offered a la carte.

The parents' council dismisses suggestions that the V-chip and other controls are sufficient to protect children. Bozell called the argument "hokum," adding that "Hollywood needs to clean up its act instead of lecturing parents about what they need to do."

I heard on the news today that in New York City they are adding a bunch of camaras to the subways and trains. It sounded like it is going to cost a lot of money. I think that is a good idea it should have been long ago. But what I dissaprove of is the random bag checks. The reason is that they are basicly illegal searchs. Yeah people are flipping out because of the london bombing but that is no reason to impead on peoples rights. What if you have your weed in there on your way to your buddies house are they going to arrest you? What about if vibrator or other sex toys do you really want everyone on the subway to see that. What about your illegaly downloaded or bootleg movies and music can they arrest you for that. Or is it only items that would be considered terrorist like a mask and whips and chains or would that BE S&M. Explosives can be trigered by cell phones so wouldn't they have the right to take those if you look suspicious. Granted some of the things I mentioned might not get you arrested but I'm sure the guy checking the bag can make up a story to make it sound like you did something wrong to make the search fall under probable cause. If you have drugs they can take all your money and say you where selling and that is drug money. I think that the random searchs are a violation of peoples civil rights and right to privacy. Every totolarian society started by people giving up there rights for there saftey. If we arn't carefull we will wind up like China. We will become the place that belives the rights of the whole are more important then the rights of the individual.

I read an interesting article in the Buffalo News today about Sex ofenders. Some people think they should be tracked with tracking braclets. Some people want to restrict them from living near schools, daycares, parks and playgrounds. I do understand that people hate sex offenders and want to protect there kids. But sex offenders do have rights also. There are so many schools in Buffalo and lots of parks that a sex offender might not be able to even live here or only have a few places to live. I think that if the state restricts you from where you can live they should have to pay into where you live. Since you don't have the fredom to chose where you live you shouldn't have to pay to live there. I think this is anotherone of those moments where we decide to chose the fealing of being safe over peoples rights. I forget the ladies name but she is selling Keep our kids safe stickers and braclets. I can understand where she is cooming from and the design on them looks nice. Not to mention that these actions are discrimanatory. If you murder some one when you get out of jail you don't have to go and sign up at the police station as a free murderer. Then if you move you don't have to tell the cops at the new station that you killed somebody and served all your time in jail. Parole is not the same thing that counts as serving your time and you still are part of the penal system. They don't do that to drug dealers when they are let out after they have served time.

Yeah I know HBO has a saying "Its not TV its HBO" so maybe i am using the wrong catogory but oh well. I have to admit I like my HBO Documanteries like Real Sex. Cathouse the Series is great it really is. They have a couple more shows about sex coming on that might be interesting one is about transgendered hookers in Hiwai, then they have a better sex mini series that was on in england, and an indepth look at a porn star who's name I forgot. More more info you can go to www.hbo.com . I also really enjoy Bill Maher, I think that even if you disagree with his politics you can still enjoy his show. I'm looking forward to the Return of The Sopranos that is a great show. I think one thing that makes HBO and other pay stations shows and mini series so good is they can do what they want. They don't have to worry about content being edited. The other thing is that they can make shows however long they want. For example Entourage not all the episodes are exactly the same length on a network that would never really work it would mess up the commericals. I wonder if other stations other then Fox will come out with cable stations where they can push the envolope a little farther or a pay station where they can do what they want. Don't get me wrong I love 24 and think the writing is amazing. But if it where a pay station they could raise the bar even higher it would be in real time with out commericals. I don't know if any of the networks are willing to take a chance. The other thing that might be interesting to see is a Pay perview in depand service. It would be like HBO in Demand and it would be free with HBO service but by a network that way some shows could be a lot more graffic and better. A good example I can think of is The OC, there is a lot of hooking up. I think it would be great to have seen Alex completly nude or skin could have used real shots on real porn sets. [bgcolor]#a6fef6[/bgcolor]

I went to see the bus Derby yesterday it was a lot of fun. I took a bunch of pictures and thought I would share some of them with you. I didn't put up any pictures of the derby. The pictures don't really do it justice it was a lot of fun to watch it really was cool, I would go again.