Cook Calls For Man’s Execution During Football Broadcast

When a Philadelphia sports team has a nationally televised game, the broadcast always includes at least one camera shot of Pat’s and Geno’s. (This is either an FCC rule or sports producers are too lazy to come up with new ideas. Hmm, I think it might be the latter.)

CBS obliged during Sunday’s Eagles-Steelers tilt, and what did we see at Geno’s? That’s right: The famed official Daniel Faulkner shirt calling for Mumia Abu-Jamal’s execution. (For more fun, check out the whole selection of tacky gear available on the Daniel Faulkner Online Store. They even co-opted the “Never forget” slogan.)

I’m fairly certain this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this shirt on a football broadcast, at Geno’s. That shirt might even be the uniform. You do have to hand it to the cops (and, um, cheesesteak cooks). There aren’t too many people who are semi-regularly told they should die on national TV. I’m not sure if that bodes well for the Domelights/Geno’s/Michael Smerconish crowd, though: Nobody was all that successful in killing the other guy I can think of who got that kind of treatment (Osama Bin Laden).

Court In Phila. Tosses FCC Fine

Hooray! A heroic federal appeals court in Philadelphia — a judicial panel including Midge Rendell — this morning tossed out the hillion-jillion dollar fine the FCC levied on CBS for the Janet Jackson nipple-flashing incident in the 2004 Super Bowl.

Yes, apparently the court just got around to ruling on this event, which happened while I was still in college during the Patriots-Panthers Super Bowl. Jake Delhomme almost won Super Bowl MVP! Remember that? No, of course not, it was a Patriots Super Bowl win and you’ve hopefully put it out of your mind. Well, ha ha, now it’s back in. And so is this term: “Wardrobe malfunction.” It’s like the second half of senior year of college all over again. For me, at least.

“The Commission’s determination that CBS’ broadcast of a nine-sixteenths of one second glimpse of a bare female breast was actionably indecent evidenced the agency’s departure from its prior policy,” the court found. “Its orders constituted the announcement of a policy change — that fleeting images would no longer be excluded from the scope of actionable indecency.” Umm, yes, whatever. The little plucky underdog, CBS, has successfully challenged its fine, which would have put it out of business if enacted.

Thanks for making us side with a giant media conglomerate, FCC.

Update: Here’s the ruling, in all its PDF-y glory.

Court tosses FCC `wardrobe malfunction’ fine [AP/Yahoo!]

I Love The Smell of Napalm In The Morning

As you may have seen on the CBS Evening News With Katie Couric’s Legs last night, Philadelphia is having a bit of a homicide problem. Well, okay, it’s a “homicide problem” in the same way that the Delaware River is “wet.” But anyway, you probably didn’t see it, actually, since like 14 people watch it, and I’m guessing they’re all over the age of 70 and don’t have the Internet.

Anyway, now that the homicide crisis has hit national news (uh, again, right?), the mayor has kicked it into high gear and closed a bar where a triple homicide took place after an argument over the Bernard Hopkins fight. (Well, okay, the ridiculous situation might have a lot to do with it, too.)

Anyway, national correspondent Byron Pitts also wrote a blog post about the story, and, hoo, boy.

I’ve seen war up close and there is no mistaking what’s going on in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. War zones have a certain look. A certain feel. There’s even a smell to it. After spending several days in Philadelphia, I must admit there are striking similarities.

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