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The LA Times posits that Adelphia chose to secure revenue from XXX movies instead of from a bake sale.

Dana Parsons: Bake Sale? Lottery? Kittens? Porn!

(The Adelphia story was previously chronicled here.)

Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute alum Adam Thierer, now a fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, is preparing to file a Request for Declaratory Ruling with the FCC. This little piece of paper with the big name would ask the FCC to clarify its stance on what is/isn’t indecent.

Speaking of the recent not-indecent “Private Ryan” decision, Thierer says

What makes the agency’s decision in this case problematic is that when you read between the lines, you realize what the FCC is basically saying is this: ‘We like this movie. We REALLY like this movie. It vividly depicts an important historic event. And it’s directed by one of America’s great directors. Best of all, it was introduced by a U.S. Senator who just happens to be a war hero (and a major player of communications policy in Congress no less!) So, you have our permission to go ahead and air this film in the future.’

Thierer plans to ask the FCC if it would feel the same way about Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Malcolm X, Raging Bull, Lenny, Goodfellas, Midnight Cowboy, Leaving Las Vegas, and Angels in America – and he plans to provide them with the DVDs for review. (No word on whether he will also be sending them complimentary Orville Redenbacher.)

Do any of these films qualify for an exemption from the agency’s indecency regime like Saving Private Ryan? Like Saving Private Ryan, most of them deal with important historical or cultural events. And most of them were made by famous, respected directors. But like Saving Private Ryan, each of these films also include a great deal of profanity as well as shocking and titillating material, at least by some people’s definition. Indeed, these movies include some of the most memorable scenes in motion picture history, but many of those scenes involve coarse language or even extreme violence. Finally, like Saving Private Ryan, each of these films also won numerous awards and garnered widespread critical acclaim. When you get right down to it, about the only difference between these films and Saving Private Ryan is that they didn’t have a well-known Senator introduce them on TV! Is that what it takes to get a controversial film shown on broadcast television? Is that the Saving Private Ryan “precedent"? Let’s see what the FCC has to say.

Read about Thierer’s plan at the Progress and Freedom Foundation.