{"id":1010,"date":"2004-12-01T15:10:33","date_gmt":"2004-12-01T19:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.test.bradblog.com\/?p=1010"},"modified":"2004-12-01T15:10:33","modified_gmt":"2004-12-01T19:10:33","slug":"no-tolerance-allowed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=1010","title":{"rendered":"No Tolerance Allowed!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ucomics.com\/tomtoles\/2004\/05\/11\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/UCC.gif\" hspace=\"6\" vspace=\"3\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\"><\/a>I&#8217;ve got many items on the drawing board today concerning GRAND THEFT AMERICA, including many tips, news items, and other developments that I&#8217;m currently looking into. I hope to be back with more news on that shortly.<\/p>\n<p>For the moment though, this particular item is so chilling to me that I need to mention it here quickly.<\/p>\n<p>You may have seen this on other blogs today, but if you&#8217;ve ever had any questions about the chilling effect of this Administration and its FCC&#8217;s latest, intrusive and increasingly-hardline stance on those who broadcast over our public airwaves, please have a look at this item!<\/p>\n<p>NBC and CBS have both refused to air <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stillspeaking.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">a 30 second spot<\/a> about <i>tolerance<\/i> and <i>inclusion<\/i> &#8212; <b>from the United Church of Christ, of all organizations!<\/b> &#8212; because it is &#8220;too controversial&#8221;. Apparently, the response from CBS tells us, it is the oblique references to homosexuality that is the reason for the censorship. References, I might add, that are difficult to even notice without a prior heads-up that that&#8217;s what the ad refers to in the first place!<\/p>\n<p>Most chilling, is this part of the statement by CBS, as quoted in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stillspeaking.com\/default.htm\" target=\"_blank\">a statement from the UCC<\/a>, on why CBS is refusing to carry the commercial on either of Viacom-owned CBS or UPN [emphasis mine]&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"media\">&#8220;Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations,&#8221; reads an explanation from CBS, &#8220;and <b>the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman<\/b>, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks.&#8221;<\/div>\n<p>In other words, a mere <i>initiative<\/i> or political position taken by the White House is now enough to intimidate the crap out of broadcasters so that they censor even <i>messages of inclusion<\/i> from hitting our airwaves!<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s another quote from the press release:<\/p>\n<div class=\"media\">&#8220;It&#8217;s ironic that after a political season awash in commercials based on fear and deception by both parties seen on all the major networks, an ad with a message of welcome and inclusion would be deemed too controversial,&#8221; says the Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC&#8217;s general minister and president. &#8220;What&#8217;s going on here?&#8221;<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s going on here?&#8221;, indeed, Reverend!<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d like to think even the farthest right-wingnut would be <i>outraged<\/i> by developments like this in the United States of America!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stillspeaking.com\/default.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Here&#8217;s the ad<\/a>. Judge for yourself. And be <i>very<\/i> afraid!<\/p>\n<p>Had enough yet, Bush voters? This is precisely what you asked for.<\/p>\n<p><b>ACTION ITEM UPDATE:<\/b> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.workingforchange.com\/activism\/petition.cfm?itemid=18182\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to sign Act For Change&#8217;s petition<\/a> asking NBC and CBS to air the UCC&#8217;s anti-bigotry ad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve got many items on the drawing board today concerning GRAND THEFT AMERICA, including many tips, news items, and other developments that I&#8217;m currently looking into. I hope to be back with more news on that shortly. For the moment though, this particular item is so chilling to me that I need to mention it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1010"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=1010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}