FCC Considering Whether To Ban TV Stations From Saying 'Redskins'

Breitbart -- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering whether "to ban TV stations from saying the name of Washington's football team," according to a National Journal report.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has already called on Redskins owner Dan Snyder to change the team's name, and according to National Journal, Wheeler said on Tuesday his agency is considering a petition from George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf in which Banzhaf urged the agency to ban the "racial slur" because it is against the public interest. Banzhaf "filed a petition with the agency earlier this month, claiming that the name 'Redskins' violates federal rules barring any indecent content on broadcast television."

"We will be dealing with that issue on the merits, and we will be responding accordingly," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler reportedly said at a Tuesday press conference. According to National Journal, Wheeler "said he personally finds the term offensive and urged the team to change the name. But he didn't say whether he thinks it is illegal."

"There are a lot of names and descriptions that were used for a time that are inappropriate today," he reportedly said. "I think the name that is attributed to the Washington football club is one of those."

In his FCC petition, Banzhaf compared "Redskins" to other slurs, arguing that "the agency would never countenance stations broadcasting words like N*gg*rs, Sp*cs,W*tb*acks, Ch*nks, K*kes, C*nts, F*gs, etc., even as the name of a team or musical group."

According to the Washington Post, Banzhaf, the George Washington University law professor who "played a leading role in pushing cigarette advertising off television and radio in 1970," filed one legal petition and threatened more to block renewal of federal broadcast licenses for radio and TV stations that routinely use the team’s name on the air." His Sept. 2 filing reportedly "aimed to block renewal of the license for WWXX (94.3 FM), a Snyder-owned radio station in Prince William County," and he "has also sent formal notices to four major Los Angeles TV stations warning that he plans similar filings against them." Banzhaf told the Post that his filings “hang like a sword of Damocles over the stations.”

If successful, Banzhaf would "impact almost every broadcast outlet in the country" and make it impossible for those stations to get loans and financing.

According to the Post, Banzhaf is arguing airing "Redskins" is "against the public interest" because "the team name is a racial slur, offensive to many Native Americans." He is claiming that Redskins "violates Federal Communications Commission standards against indecency, profanity and hate speech." He also reportedly believes that "if the FCC could make a huge fuss with CBS for briefly exposing Janet Jackson’s nipple during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show... then it ought to be able to use its weight to push an offensive term off the airwaves."

“Despite whatever the origins of the word ‘R*skins’ may be, or the original intent of the owner who first gave the team its name, the evidence is now overwhelming that the current meaning is an offensive demeaning racial swear word, not only to many Indians, but also others,” Banzhaf wrote in his FCC filing, according to the Post.

Majorities in nearly every poll do not think the Redskins should change their name, but the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently canceled the team's trademark. Snyder, though, has vowed to "NEVER" change the team's name because he says it has always been a term meant to convey respect.

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Blog author's comments - The National Football League team has been the Redskins since 1933, and before they moved they were the Boston Redskins. Now suddenly a few liberals have decided the name is offensive. This fight has been going on for quite a while and team owner Dan Snyder said he will never change the name.

Majorities in nearly every poll do not think the Redskins should change their name, but the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently canceled the team's trademark. Snyder, though, has vowed to "NEVER" change the team's name because he says it has always been a term meant to convey respect.

I would ask the liberals railing about the name of an NFL team, why now? The team didn't just change the name to Redskins. Why weren't you complaining 20 or 30 years ago? Law Professor John Banzhaf and the FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler should spend their time doing something important instead of waging a war against the name of a football team. We have also heard from other liberals with regard to the ‘Redskins’ name, Senate majority leader Harry Reid. And a group of Democrat lawmakers has written a letter to the NFL commissioner asking that the name be changed. I repeat the quote, “Majorities in nearly every poll do not think the Redskins should change their name.”

Al Sharpton Continues To Pimp For The Left

Let The Character Assassination Games Begin
boortz.com - By Neal Boortz
In case you weren't aware, the war against talk radio has officially begun. Again. At the helm is none other than that corrupt, lying race-pimp Al Sharpton. If the left wants this jerk to be the symbol of their campaign against talk radio, so be it.

Sharpton is launching a full-scale campaign to stifle conservatives heard over the "public's airwaves," and he is starting with the nail that sticks out the furthest: Rush Limbaugh. Earlier in the week, Al Sharpton had this to say on MSNBC .. which, by the way, will no doubt be the station that will champion the cause of stifling conservative broadcasting (because they KNOW they cannot compete with it on the open market place).

"We're not going to stand by and let publicly regulated radio and television just go for marketing and promoting this kind of racism," Al Sharpton said about his campaign to take Rush Limbaugh off the airwaves.

"Rush Limbaugh has the right to say whatever he wants to say, he does not have the right, though, to do it on publicly regulated airwaves. The FCC has the responsibility to set standards," Sharpton added.

"You can't say -- in the name of free speech, you can't say anything you want," Al Sharpton said on MSNBC. "We're not talking about stopping free speech," he added. "We're not telling Rush don't say what you want to say, say it at home, not on public airwaves," he concluded.

Yesterday we had Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center on the show with us to discuss this new campaign. He says, "This is the beginning of a concerted campaign across the board to knock conservative opinion off the air." Why does Bozell believe they are doing this? Because "they can't debate us anymore," so they've resorted to character assassination.

Bozell points out that they tried the Fairness Doctrine, they tried localism campaigns, and now their latest effort starts with the demonization of Rush Limbaugh. - Entire column > >

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Blog author's comments - Al Sharpton is a race baiting fool who has made his living trying to ruin others lives using the tool he knows best -- the race card.

But he is a black member of the Democrat Party so that makes him an okay guy, a perfect fit on liberal news networks like MSNBC or any other network which cannot compete with conservative talk radio. The White House also enjoys this immensely. Limbaugh and others who do conservative talk radio shows give us information that the MSM refuses to even touch upon.

Sharpton has been threatening Rush Limbaugh for the past few weeks and now wants a meeting with the FCC to tell them that they should control what Limbaugh says or remove him from the airwaves because he is a racist. Is that not the pot calling the kettle black?

Let's take a look at some of the racist cases Sharpton has been in the middle of:

1987: Sharpton spreads the incendiary Tawana Brawley hoax, insisting heatedly that a 15-year-old black girl was abducted and raped by a group of white men. He singles out Steve Pagones, a young prosecutor who is wholly innocent — the crime never occurred — but Sharpton taunts him: “If we’re lying, sue us, so we can prove you did it.” Pagones does sue, and eventually wins a $345,000 verdict for defamation.

1991: A Hasidic Jewish driver in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights section accidentally kills Gavin Cato, a 7-year-old black child, and antisemitic riots erupt. Sharpton races to pour gasoline on the fire. At Gavin’s funeral he rails against the “diamond merchants” — code for Jews — with “the blood of innocent babies” on their hands. He mobilizes hundreds of demonstrators to march through the Jewish neighborhood. A rabbinical student is surrounded by a mob shouting “Kill the Jews!” and stabbed to death.

1995: When the United House of Prayer, a large black landlord in Harlem, raises the rent on Freddy’s Fashion Mart, Freddy’s white Jewish owner is forced to raise the rent on his subtenant, a black-owned music store. Sharpton uses it to incite racial hatred. Sharpton’s National Action Network sets up picket lines. Some protesters shout, “Burn down the Jew store!” “We’re going to see that this cracker suffers.” One of the protesters bursts into Freddy’s, shoots four employees point-blank, then sets the store on fire. Seven employees die in the inferno.

Sharpton is also a liar, cheat and tax dodger. Overall a good fit for the Democrat Party.

On May 9, 2008, the Associated Press reported that Sharpton and his businesses owed almost $1.5 million in unpaid taxes and penalties. He owed $931,000 in federal income tax and $366,000 to New York, and his for-profit company, Rev. Al Communications, owed another $176,000 to the state.

On June 19, 2008, the New York Post reported that the Internal Revenue Service had sent subpoenas to several corporations that had donated to Sharpton's National Action Network. According to the Post, several major corporations donated thousands of dollars to the National Action Network. The Post asserted that the donations were made to prevent boycotts or rallies by the National Action Network.

On September 29, 2010, Robert Snell of the Detroit News reported that the Internal Revenue Service had filed a notice of federal tax lien against Sharpton in New York City in the amount of over $538,000.

Sharpton is a real piece of work. This is just a small sampling of what he has been doing to promote race relations in America and what he gets away with by somehow skirting the laws that most of us must live by.

h/t: Michelle Malkin

Frustrated Left Trying To Take Down Limbaugh

Sharpton Wants Democrats To Push The FCC To
Take Away Rush Limbaugh's Freedom Of Speech


Rush Limbaugh: defends "Driving Miss Nancy"

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Rush Limbaugh also said during a monologue on a later show: "Barack Obama's presidency is graffiti on the walls of American history"
(Graphic on his website)

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Blog author's comments - Al Sharpton accuses Rush Limbaugh of racism, which is quite amusing coming from one who has made a very good living as a professional race-baiter/hate monger for many years. The Rev. has race-baiting down to a science.

Al Sharpton has helped incite an anti-Semitic riot. Don't forget when he condemned the three Duke Lacrosse players without a trial.

Most of us know about his involvement in the 'Tawana Brawley" case. Let's not forget his actions in the 'Crown Heights Riot'. I could continue the list is quite long.

He is not interested in protecting or promoting racial equality, Rev. Al Sharpton is only interested in keeping the racial pot stirred, which he does whenever he has the opportunity. This is what he is doing now with his comments concerning Rush Limbaugh