Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback will introduce amendments to "empower [the Federal Communications Commission] against indecent and violent television"—at least that's what he promised on Tuesday.

"Broadcasters should not be allowed to use the public airways to disseminate violent or obscene material," Brownback said in a press release. "The abundance of indecent material on television is one indication of the coarsening of our culture."

But it does not appear that the presidential candidate has offered the bills yet. Brownback is a busy man these days, campaigning in Iowa this weekend with Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo, on a "Pro-Life, Whole-Life Tour."

Still the indecency amendment announcement received praise from decency groups irate over a recent appeals court decision that struck down the FCC's attempts to punish broadcasters for airing so-called "fleeting expletives"—dirty words said on the fly.

"Today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said the use of the words 'fuck' and 'shit' by Cher and Nicole Richie was not indecent," declared Federal Communications Commission Chair Kevin Martin shortly after Monday's decision by the federal court.

"I completely disagree with the Court's ruling and am disappointed for American families," Martin continued in a statement published on the FCC's Web site. "I find it hard to believe that the New York court would tell American families that 'shit' and 'fuck' are fine to say on broadcast television during the hours when children are most likely to be in the audience."

Martin referred to the FCC's clock cleaning by the court, whose majority ruled on Monday that the agency had not properly justified its recent crackdown on so-called "fleeting expletives"- ”dirty words said off the cuff - ”such as Cher's "fuck 'em" and Nicole Richie's "cow shit" comments at the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards, televised by Fox.

The court found that the agency's new get tough attitude represented a "significant departure" from its prior policy of leniency towards impromptu potty talk, and that the Commission had not demonstrated any "reasoned basis" for the change.

If President Bush can say "shit" on TV and Dick Cheney can say "fuck yourself" on the floor of the United States Senate, well, why can't Bono say "fuck?"

Fuck if the courts know.

Subtract the expletives and that's more or less the conclusion of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in today's Fox Television Stations v. FCC decision.

"We find that the FCC's new policy regarding 'fleeting expletives' represents a significant departure from positions previously taken by the agency and relied on by the broadcast industry," the Second Circuit majority writes. "We further find that the FCC has failed to articulate a reasoned basis for this change in policy."

The departure in question refers to fallout from the Federal Communications Commission's 2004 Golden Globes ruling, which scolded NBC for indecency after the rock star Bono famously declared that "this is really fucking brilliant" upon receiving a televised Golden Globes award.

Consumer protests about broadcast indecency and obscenity fell to a comparatively small 306 filings in December of 2006, according to statistics released by the Federal Communications Commission today. That's a 533 percent drop from September, when 163,533 consumers wrote in to complain.

These numbers may not reveal much about consumer mood in general. FCC indecency complaint trends are notoriously unpredictable, producing roller coaster statistical patterns. In December of 2005, 42,190 TV watchers and radio listeners felt strongly enough about something they saw or heard to submit a gripe.

But 2003 wins the prize for December filings. 76,987 consumers submitted comments that month, around the same time that Nicole Richie made her famous comment on the Billboard Music Awards: "Have you ever tried to get cow shit out of a Prada purse? It's not so fucking simple."

The FCC subsequently ruled that Richie's remarks were indecent. Fox Television has appealed the decision to a Federal court. which heard oral arguments on the case last December.

The all time complaint record remains February of 2004. On the first day of that month Janet Jackson revealed her right breast during a dance routine with Justin Timberlake at Super Bowl XXXVIII.

Consumer indecency complaints continued their jagged, unpredictable pattern for the third quarter of 2006, FCC statistics indicate.

The latest stats, issued on December 29th (then revised on January 11th) indicate that the agency received 179 "indecency/obscenity" complaints in July, up to 404 in August, shooting way up to 161,587 in September.

In contrast, "general criticism" complaints remained steady at between 206 to almost 250 filings for the same three months.

These figures conform to a "roller coaster" pattern for indecency complaints that goes back several years.

The Federal Communications Commission had a lot to say about BS this week - the word, that is. LLFCC has a tidy summary of the latest rulings.

On Monday, November 6th the FCC issued new judgments on indecency complaints regarding four television shows: The 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards, The Early Show, and NYPD Blue. Here are the programs and the utterances for which they stood trial:

On March 15, 2006, the FCC issued an Omnibus Order ruling that these colorful sentences violated regulations against broadcasting indecent and profane material, although the agency did not fine the broadcasters. But Fox, Hearst, CBS, and ABC unleashed their lawyers anyway, and so the FCC asked the venue in question, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, to remand their decisions back to them for further consideration.

The Federal Communications Commission today defended its indecency deal with Viacom and rejected challenges by two organizations: Right to Decency, Inc. and the American Decency Association (ADA). The latter group, an explicitly Christian fundamentalist organization, quickly denounced the agency's move on its Web site.

"We aren't happy. Millions upon millions are looking for relief from the day in day out assault of their moral sensibilities," ADA President Bill Johnson said.

Both media decency groups had appealed the FCC's Consent Decree with Viacom, in which the media giant agreed to voluntarily pay the FCC $3,5 million dollars, admit that it had broadcast some indecent material, and promise to do better in the future.