They used to be inefficient and undermanned. That may still be true, but now they've been corrupted by the corporate and K-Street crowd as well. This latest ruling, loosening the media ownership rules, a play straight from the Neo-Cons book, is astounding. Just in my lifetime (1941 - ) they've gone from being "Guardians of the Airwaves" to selling them to the highest bidder. And when the Dems were in power after that doddering Reagon, they did nothing to reverse the trend. Decided that stations did NOT have to provide "Equal Access" was Reagon's claim to fame and gift to his rich friends in the broadcast industry.
My first interaction with the FCC was way back in 1977. I had a neighbor with a ham radio that was so powerful that it came in on my toaster every morning, and took over my television at night. I got to listen to his too salty language and neanderthal opinions on everything. When I finally got desperate and tried to contact them, I got a six month run-a-round. When I complained about that, I was told that they had "one agent, for the entire Midwest," and I would just have to wait my turn. A year later, I moved. No one had re-contacted me or him either....and my very first, calm complaint to the neighbor netted me some foul-mouthed threats and an ice-picked tire.
I have thrown in the towel on this administration. Although, as profitable as the Clinton years were for me personally, Bill did pass the law saying we had to pay income tax on our unemployment. What the hell kind of thinking was that??? Just give us less money, it makes no sense to me at all to give it to us and then take it back. At least they have yet to tax my $25 per month food stamps. That's next, I guess.
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