/. brings you:

Your Rights Online: FCC to Fine Curses More Than Nuke Violations

from the punishment-fits-the-crime dept.

DiZNoG writes "With Congress debating new higher fines for broadcast indecency in the wake of last year's 'wardrobe malfunction' and Howard Stern's antics, Rolling Stone has published an interesting perspective on things. Rolling Stone did a review of fines levied by other federal regulatory bodies, and has found the new indecency fines disproportionately large compared to other fines. According to the article, if the bill passes then 'for the price of Janet Jackson's 'wardrobe malfunction' during the Super Bowl, you could cause the wrongful death of an elderly patient in a nursing home and still have enough money left to create dangerous mishaps at two nuclear reactors.' The article further states the largest fine the Nuclear Regulatory Commission levied last year was $60,000, this new bill would allow broadcast indecency fines up to $500,000. Glad I keep my broadcast cursing to a minimum, now if I could only get a handle on those pesky dangerous nuclear mishaps."

The NYT reported yesterday that SecState Rice was snubbing a meeting in Cairo over a democracy activist that had been detained by the Egyptian authorities.

And today, the NYT reports that Mubarak "calls for democratic election reforms."

Choice quote from the article:

The audience before him at Menoufia University broke into applause and calls of support, some shouting, ``Long live Mubarak, mentor of freedom and democracy!'' Others spontaneously recited verses of poetry praising the government.

If you want to be taken seriously as a democratic reformer, you need to be in an environment that doesn't have Orwellian echoes.

Make good with the accountant, and you will have ready access to the delicate flesh of the soft underbelly of vast numbers of small businesses.

New York Thrills:

Just catching the Grand Central Shuttle to Time Square.

Running from the Shuttle to the 1/9 and jumping in doors in the first car, held open by a ten year old.

Running from the 1/9 at 59th St and down the stairs through a crowd eager to get up the stairs and into the Uptown D.

Running to my place, shaving, putting on a new shirt, and running down to the bus stop to ride west to the 125th 1/9 station to head uptown.

The bus goes by without stopping, and in response to the person trying to wave them down, we hear through the bus's loud speaker.

THERE IS NO LONGER A BUS STOP HERE.

I

perhaps like many of you

have been awaiting Warren Ellis's take on Hunter's End

sigh

after reading that

not even this

cheers me up

and then I remember

huge unsolicited bottles of Jaeger are the bestest kind

Thank you Allen.