SpeakSpeak News

Folks in Jonesboro, AR, are protesting an appearance by rap star Nelly, who is scheduled to appear at Arkansas State University.

Bubba Bobby Hester, president of the local chapter of the American Family Association, is leading the mob. Though he admits to never having heard Nelly’s music, he says he has read about the rapper on the Internet.

“I went through the first twenty [search hits for songs], and out of the first twenty I found 13 that were really bad, and about 7 out of that 20 were songs people might consider not all that bad,” said Hester. “I do not want this in a building that I help pay for. If they want to go to a private place and do this that is their business–that’s fine. When they go to a public place it becomes my business, and the business of the general public at that time.”

The show is expected to sell out.

From KAIT, Jonesboro.

What, he didn’t know that “Fear Factor” was unsafe for mealtime?

Anywho, a Cleveland judge threw up out the $2.5 million suit.

Two-and-a-half years ago, the Chilean legislature introduced legislation to repeal the country’s laws prohibiting speech that “disrespects” the government. The legislation was prompted by the incarceration of Eduardo Yanez, who made the mistake of somehow insulting the Supreme Court.

During the 2+ years of debate, the legislation has been watered down, but it appears to be headed for a vote in the Chilean Senate.

The international organization Human Rights Watch has called on Chilean Senators to start a trend for Latin American countries and get rid of the disrespectful disrespect provisions.

Citizens Against Government Waste has slammed Senator Hilary Clinton’s proposal to spend $90 million researching how media affect kids.

“This proposal is just one expensive rerun,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said. “For decades this issue has been studied to death, always yielding the same results. Calling for yet another taxpayer-funded study belittles the ability of parents to use common sense in deciding what shows are appropriate for their children.”

They also cite the PTC’s historic opposition to the bill: “To spend $90 million on something we already know is just a waste of money,” a spokesperson said in August.

(However, in a Focus on the Family press release earlier today, a different PTC rep “noted some areas of concern: ‘Sex in the media, how kids are affected by it, how much time they’re spending in front of media, how young children are developing, how their development is affected by exposure to media, cognitive development, how it affects their learning abilities.’)

CAGW: Senators Propose Redundant Media Research Study

“On the surface, the project may appear to be a worthwhile attempt to foster greater understanding of cultural differences,” wrote Ed Vitagliano [of the American Family Association]. “However, a short step beneath the surface reveals that one of the differences being celebrated is homosexuality.”

Video that raised conservatives’ ire to be distributed nationwide

Outgoing FCC Chair Michael Powell had his bon voyage party today.

In MediaWeek.

The Center for Creative Voices has its own special farewell.

Algerian pop star Taha has lashed out at Western claims that the Middle East is a wasteland when it comes to free expression.

“Censorship is actually stronger in the West,” he said. “Western leaders lead us to believe we are free to express our views - when actually we’re not. You hear no political songs on the radio in Europe - just Britney Spears and that sort of thing.”

Algerian Star Slams ‘Censorship’

In an effort to further divorce themselves from reality, PBS has again decided against putting lesbians on tv…for fear their lesbian mind control will flow out of television sets and into the impressionable brains of red-state children everywhere. Karen Pike, one of the lesbian moms featured in the original ‘Sugartime!’ episode was scheduled to appear on PBS’s NOW. Unfortunately, PBS decided to drop the story before it made it to air for fear they were “behind the news cycle.”
Read all about it in the Washington Post (it’s half way down the page, after the review of Rather’s final ‘Courage’).

The majority among a dozen speakers at Tuesday night’s Loudoun County [VA] School Board meeting said they supported greater tolerance of homosexuality and opposed censorship of school plays. However, the majority of the school board members voiced opinions indicating they favored greater control over content.

Loudoun School Board Chairman John A. Andrews (Potomac) thanked all of the speakers for the civility they displayed in debating a subject that emerged in the wake of last month’s mini play Offsides performed last month as part of a montage called Postcards From Paradise at Stone Bridge High involving the topic of homosexuality and an implied kiss between two boys.

Selected quotes:

“Let’s not ignore her forest of ideas just because one of the trees happens to be homosexual.”

“I’m one who believes we can and we should restrict activities by policy. I don’t believe we’re going to trample on anyone’s rights.”

“If stepping on a mine will protect the children, then I’m for stepping on a mine.”

School Board Urged Not To Censor Students.

Senator Hillary Clinton, along with uber-conservatives Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum, has introduced a bill that would create a media research program at the National Institutes of Health. The program would explore “the links between media and child development, and between media consumption and childhood obesity, a growing national health risk.”

Clinton harkened back to the Children’s TV Act and creation of the V-Chip during her husband’s administration, then suggested the explosion of new media-delivery systems called for “a new generation of technology for parents,” who want to monitor their children’s media consumption.

It’s unclear how many of those parents are out there, however. The Kaiser study found that over half the parents of the children surveyed set no rules on TV watching, for instance, and most of those that do don’t enforce them.

Clinton Revives ‘Media Health’ Bill, Broadcasting & Cable.

An upcoming episode of ABC’s ‘Boston Legal’ has been cleansed of references to Fox News and Bill O’Reilly. Why? Producers ain’t saying.

At Alternet, complete with before-and-after dialogue. (via Media Savvy.)

The New York Times calls the race for Michael Powell’s replacement. Powell is lobbying for Michael Gallagher, currently a Commerce Department official. Martin is a current FCC commish; his wife is a former aide to Dick Cheney, and as a current commissioner his appointment would not require Senate confirmation.

2 Front-Runners Seen for Nomination to Lead F.C.C.

This week’s “Honoring the First Amendment IS Patriotic” notice will be sent to Baltimore high school freshman Patrick Linton. (Name published to unprotect the idiotic.)

Linton is protesting his school’s decision to broadcast the Pledge of Allegiance in languages other than English – in honor of National Foreign Language Week.

The student was absent from school Monday. At the end of his keyboarding class Tuesday, the announcements came over the loudspeaker as usual, he said. But the Pledge was recited in another language - French, as he later discovered.

“I looked around, and I was like, ‘What’s going on?” Patrick said. “We’re at war right now, and our schools are supposed to be patriotic.”

From The Onion? No, wait, it was the Baltimore Sun.