Legislating decency, good luck with that.  From the repeated replays of the Janet Jackson incident, and it is unfortunate that there were not additional camera angles for the broadcast team to analyze, I'd have to say that what I saw was actually fairly decent.

we cant have the government censor everything that they decide is indecent

Utterly irrelevant. If this is an important political issue to you, you have too much time on your hands and too few brains in your head.

Only curbing freedom is indecent.

Television is like a guest in the home. Would you allow a guest to be indecent in the hours when the kids are awake and when you are just trying to relax. There is no use for peddlers of smut such as Howard Stern and there was no excuse for the Super Bowl incident (remember a MILLION 2-11 year olds were watching!) Of course, part of the blame goes to MTV on that one. It seems that I was ahead of the curve in that the war against smut and uber-violence is finally getting a kick-start! And, its not limited to television or radio either! Young kids are becoming violent (and, no, innocent shows like Power Rangers are NOT to blame) and use profanity on a regular basis. That's plain disturbing! We must lead a fight to reclaim simple decency in the world today! Sure, parents should help some, but why shouldn't the government team up with the great parents of our nation to make sure that the airwaves are safe for everyone? It's not censorship, it's democracy. It's community activism, free speech rising up to combat other free speech.

What is indecency? What may seem indecent to me may seem wholly decent to you.

Different people consider different things indecent. Personally, I did not find Janet Jackson's breast indecent at all. It was a breast that was covered by a giant silver star. It was covered! And people still complain? What next? Are they going to drape blankets over novels using the word sex? Are they going to arrest painters for nude artwork? What about freedom of speech? If we are not shooting people with guns or shouting Long live the revolution!, We are not violating your rights. Howard Stern did not shoot anyone nor did he crash a plane into a building. But morality advocates get more upset over him than 9/11, Kosovo, Sadaam Hussein's sons raping poor little Iraqi girls, kids with birth defects, or drug abuse hurting people. If you ask me, Indecency is all in the eye of the beholder.

Hardly important in the grand scheme of things. Considering that it was largely Janet Jackson's boob-boo at the Superbowl, I find it to be largely a red herring by political opportunists who want to be seen as concerned about the demoralization of American society. A nipple shot at a venue in which 300 lb. men crush each other bones hardly contributes to the demoralization of American society in the grand scheme of things. The government has no constitutional right to deem anything indecent. Howard Stern may be an absolute slimeball, but he has worked for his current status and it is clear that the majority of the public wants him to stay on the air. Any chance of kids tuning into Howard's show would be a direct result of parental ignorance and ineptness. Instead of the political opportunists in our government that feed on the fears of parents selectively deeming programs as indecent, perhaps we should demand more responsibility from parents. Perhaps parents should take the initiative in keeping check on what their kids are watching instead of demanding that the government illegally censor select individuals and programs.

In the grand scheme of things, so unimportant even one star is being generous. I see no way that a wayward female breast (as is the current flashpoint of this issue) can corrupt anyone, none at all.

These culture wars are really beginning to become a farce. Something's wrong when we're putting so much emphasis on indecency in the media when there are about 150 different political issues out there that demand attention. You know what? Politicians are making a lot of noise about this not because they care about sex on tv, rather it's because they are reacting to public opinion on the matter. I've said it before and I'll say it again, we as a people need to grow up a bit. It's not good to have the FCC or any government agency being the subjective judge of what's decent and what's not. What it really comes down to is that this is an election season and politicians need to get re-elected, they would like to go home and tell their constitutents that their kids are safe from Howard Stern and Janet Jackson. If you don't want to see smut on tv or the radio, shut it off. That's the way to get network executives to listen up. All of this is just political posturing, nothing more and nothing less. They just want to play on people's fears that society is becoming more morally lax. This is not at all a political issue, we should do all we can to keep it out of there. I find it unusual that the same cultural conservatives who are constantly yelling about big government are not afraid to use big government to enact their own narrow moral agenda. The government should stay out of such things because standards are largely subjective. Having the government be the judge of decency standards in entertainment is little too intrusive for my taste.

Ban everything! Ban free speech, freedom of the press! Get rid of democracy and institute communism, or a dictatorship! Unfortunately, when our government decides to censor and ban everything, and take away our rights, we go 250 years in the wrong direction. This will ultimately lead to an overthrow of the government - another revolution or civil war. Everyone who is crying about violence will get the opportunity to see American bloodshed on our own turf, brother against brother. Unfortunately, CTVFan and every other crying mother out there will be subjected to violence and this time they will not be able to simply shut off the tv and make it all go away.

Two stars is a high rating for this issue simply because of our First Amendment rights. The offering of indecent ideas, actions or speech is an important issue to parents. Saying all you have to do is turn the channel is avoiding the issue. Why wasn't this an issue when I was growing up? Because the media and society as a whole cared about doing the right thing. With the competition created in our digital world, attracting an audience for advertising dollars has dictated that we diverge from the straight and narrow path. It's everything goes and we have been taught(not learned) to accept this fact. As with the case of the Superbowl. That moment was seen by a billion people world wide. It was an indecent act seen by 850 million people that were not Americans. Many who saw it worldwide don't have the First Amendment or even a grasp of our language. They percieve us by what they see and in many instances what they are allowed to hear. To Americans, much of what we see and hear is borderline indecent, perhaps that's the way we like it, but at what point do we draw the line. Wouldn't you just love to see someone fry in the electric chair. Lethal injection would be boring to watch, don't you think. Maybe for ratings since we all accept indency as OK, we could bring back hanging. The point is, if you keep letting standards slip, eventually your children will be facing such decisions. We have to give a little now and then to keep the First Amendment strong. Forcing this amendment to stay rigid for to long under the pressure of a society like ours will only make it brittle, then its only a matter of time.

(1=not an issue) Hold on . . . our men & women over in Iraq are getting picked off daily (and mostly ignored), we've got corruption and misallocation of funds all over the place, people are being denied constitutional rights . . . and somehow a BOOB SHOT makes for a political issue? People with wayyy too much time on their hands are focusing on issues that frankly DON'T REALLY MATTER. That anyone WOULD consider this a Political Issue completely disgusts me.

Why, why is this even an issue? Supposedly we are still in the middle of a massive war on terror, we have an economy in the pooper and more corporate scandals discovered every month and this is what the government is focusing on? I'm not at all surprised this has become such an issue during an election year. What better way to get naive Americans behind Bush again- tell them their way of life is being threatened by marrying gays, Superbowl boobs and obnoxious DJ's. Forget the real issues like jobs, foreign relations and the economy. I just think it's funny that after all these years Howard Stern is just now getting censored. Where were these moral defenders 10 years ago?

Attempting to legislate decency is like trying to legislate good music or bad movies. By whose standard should we judge? This is a bogus issue that deserves to die a quick death. I agree with Magellan... this is a cultural issue, not a political issue.

I've never liked Howard Stern, and on the rare days I can tolerate his shtick, I can take him only in small doses. However, the fact that he is about to be shut down is more than a little frightening. Especially when you consider the connections between Clear Channel and the Bush Administration. I don't need GWB (or anyone else) to tell me what is decent, or not decent. I do see the need for programming ratings - I do not see the need for mass hysteria over an exposed boob swinging the censorship pendulum to 1950's levels. The culture wars continue....