"This is Really, Really Fucking Brilliant!"

Over the past few years, the Federal Communications Commission has become increasingly less tolerant of any kind of profanity on network television, dishing out six-figure fines for even the most benign offenses.

Happily, on Monday a federal appeals court criticized the FCC for its "inexplicable departure from past policy" and struck down new rules that would've allowed the FCC to issue fines for broadcasting even "fleeting expletives" with no profane meaning or intent.

The following is from USA Today:

For years, the agency had not fined isolated uses of vulgarities when they weren't "sexual or excretory" references, which are barred by FCC rules from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., when children are more likely to be watching. But after U2 singer Bono blurted out the F-word during the 2003 Golden Globes, the FCC reversed course and said the F-word and S-word are inherently sexual or excretory.

The appeals court said the FCC's reasoning "defies any common-sense understanding of these words," adding that Bono's outburst "has no sexual connotation." The judges also said the agency provided no evidence that a "fleeting expletive" is harmful to children.

By the way, the title of this post is what Bono said at the Golden Globes. U2 had just won an award for Best Original Song, and apparently Bono was quite happy about it. I suppose he could've said "really" a third time, but personally I'm happy he went with "fucking" instead.