John McCain Stands Up for Dirty Jokes

First they came for your guns. Now they’re coming for your dirty jokes. Or so thinks John McCain. The Arizona senator took a stand for sex jokes, valentines, and masculine pronouns in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder last week.

The perceived threat to such communications came from a set of campus sexual-assault policy reforms prescribed by the Departments of Education and Justice last month. It was written in response to a string of mishandled sexual assault cases at the University of Montana and designed as a blueprint for other rape-ridden campuses. For reporting purposes, the agreement defined sexual harassment as “any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature,” an expansion from the separate, legal standard for sexual harassment under Title IX: harassment “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively bars the victim’s access to an educational opportunity or benefit.” Conservative pundits and, apparently, McCain believe the new definition will impinge upon students’ free speech and, in a Tarantonion turn of phrase, “de-eroticize the university.”

But, as ThinkProgress explains, the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights has said over and over that the new definition will not govern the enforcement of sexual harassment policies. It's just to prevent students from being discouraged from reporting sexual harassment or assault, something we know happens all the time, and not just out of a totally rational fear of retaliation. Then let the universities decide whether it constitutes a hostile environment or not. 

Until that idea makes it into McCain’s skull, he is worried the expanded definition could mean that all kinds of banal encounters will qualify as sexual harassment. As outlined in his letter to Holder:

You hear that, girls who hate it when guys ask them out on dates? McCain’s got his eye on you.

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McCain Introduces Bill for 'a la Carte' Cable TV

By Charlie White2013-05-09 23:34:58 UTC

Hate having to pay for hundreds of cable TV channels when you watch less than a dozen? How about those blackout rules that make it so you can't watch your favorite NFL team when a home game isn't sold out?

If Sen. John McCain gets his way — and that's a big "if" — those two annoyances could be a thing of the past.

Sen. McCain introduced a bill Thursday in Congress, the Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013. The act would "encourage the wholesale and retail unbundling of programming by distributors and programmers."

That means if you want to subscribe to a single cable channel, such as ESPN, you would be able to do that without subscribing to any others.

Here's how the senior Senator from Arizona introduced his bill: "For over 15 years I have supported giving consumers the ability to buy cable channels individually, also known as 'a la carte' — to provide consumers more control over viewing options in their home and, as a result, their monthly cable bill."

McCain says current bundling practices are "unfair and wrong."

McCain says current bundling practices are "unfair and wrong." In theory, this bill would make compliance with his a la carte plan voluntary. But program providers would be enticed into complying because of another law he wants to attach to the bill: one that makes dealing with copyright much easier for cable networks.

If cable and satellite programming purveyors wanted to enjoy the sweet deal they enjoy now — one where broadcast stations are forced to license their content to the cable and satellite providers — they'll have to play along with McCain's a la carte plan.

McCain cited his next-door neighbor, a 74-year-old widow, who has to pay higher cable rates because of sports programming on ESPN (the most expensive cable channel), even though she never watches it. She ends up sending a check to Disney for about $70 for something she never uses.

"Today, we're putting up a stop sign," said McCain.

McCain's bill also forbids networks from downgrading their over-the-air broadcast signal so that customers will be forced to buy cable TV with higher-quality, non-degraded video. The law would threaten to take broadcasters off the air by taking away their broadcast frequencies and having the FCC auction them off.

Sports fans should love McCain's proposed repeal of blackout rules. Under his bill, cable subscribers would be able to watch local games played in stadiums that are publicly financed, which includes many stadiums and teams that are supported by local taxes.

What's in doubt is what this bill would do to prices. Will it make cable and satellite TV more expensive — as it has done in Europe — or will people spend less on subscriptions overall because they're only getting the channels they want?

Either way, the cable industry lobbyists will have a field day trying to block this bill.

Would you prefer a la carte programming? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Photo via Getty Images

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