Awesome / Weird / Funny Arse pics v 2.0 (NSFW)

Shin, you make it sound like "regulation" means only one thing: oppression. The state's stake in radio goes as far as regulating profanity/obscenity on the public airwaves. It's not so different from making sure CBS doesn't alternate between cartoons and hardcore porn on Saturday mornings. I dunno about you, but I consider that the good kind of regulation. On top of that, the FCC doesn't initiate investigations, private citizens do by submitting complaints. So when you get gigantic tizzies like the one about Janet Jackson's exposed breast at the Super Bowl, it's not really the state you should be eyeballing; it's good ol' rational, responsible John Q. Public causing the uproar. And back to radio, my mention of the free press was an analogy: as the actual press acts as an independent safeguard against the potential abuses by government, the radio should act as an independent safeguard against Nickelback. Not its primary booster, as designed by the music industry. What you see is a failure of private industry -- both radio AND the labels -- to have most people's best interests in mind. Meanwhile public radio offers you All Things Considered, This American Life, and streaming music from actual talents like Andrew Bird, Grimes, Gift of Gab (from Blackalicious), and Fiona Apple (who continues to improve with each record, and therefore subsequently gets less commercial radio play). Meanwhile, if the state was so all about enforcing its interests in commercial radio, then why are Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity some of the highest paid personalities on the air? Where I see the FCC going off track of its own accord is failing to oppose collusion and consolidation -- and insofar as it has failed to do so, it's been at the behest and influence of PRIVATE COMPANIES and their private money. So yah, there's mismanagement by government, but they're the small fry here -- they can be tempted by the ring, sure -- but who created the ring? That came straight from Sauron, CEO of Clear Channel.

And back to the USPS, let me make it clear that I am indifferent to any myth that says the government can do things the private sector can't. I do not start out with the premise that the government shouldn't be doing these things in the first place. I want the government to be running a ubiquitous, cheap, fair, daily, guaranteed mail service which diffuses the costs to enable diffuse benefits. I like it, I prefer it, and I don't particularly like that private industry has gotten their grubby hands on it. Though really, they only compete in terms of overnight delivery and parcels -- first class mail is the only government "monopoly" here, and for good reason. First class mail is infrastructure, necessary for and to all, and that's why it's enshrined in the Constitution in the first place. It's not about the "myth" of what private industry can't do, it's about the truth of what they won't do, and that's uphold an obligation to provide an egalitarian service to nearly everyone everywhere in the country. Shoes may be a general necessity, but they aren't infrastructure. And for the record, the titans of the private shoe industry thrive on child and slave labor -- and that seems to please consumers and investors alike plenty -- you'll have to forgive me if I trust that version of capitalism to serve humanity less than I trust the not-for-profit model.

Lastly, here's a weird-looking cat:
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