"700 Club"
does fall under the auspices of the FCC in many cities in the country. Here in Richmond, VA, the "700 Club" is BROADCAST on the local ABC affiliate every day.
While I would never suggest that the FCC should have control over CABLE entities, nor would I personally file a complaint for something as trivial as Rush saying "bullshit" especially since he spews it daily without actually saying the word.
However, I think that Pat Robertson has crossed a line (at least for me); I would strongly encourage those that are in an area where the "700 Club" is broadcast to contact and file an FCC complaint if You are offended as I was. Following is the text of the complaint I sent to the FCC, my local ABC affiliate, their parent holding company, and ABC.
Official Complaint Investigation Request
On Behalf of:
ME
Companies Involved:
Young Broadcasting Inc.
599 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Phone 212-754-7070
Fax 212-758-1229
ABC, Inc.
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4551
Phone number: (818) 460-7477
WRIC
301 Arboretum Place
Richmond, VA 23236-3464
(804) 330-8888
Regarding: "700 Club" BROADCAST on WRIC-TV, 9:00AM-10:00AM, on or about Monday Aug 22,2005
Transcript of offending material.
ROBERTSON: There was a popular coup that overthrew him [Chavez]. And what did the United States State Department do about it? Virtually nothing. And as a result, within about 48 hours that coup was broken; Chavez was back in power, but we had a chance to move in. He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he's going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent.
You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United ... This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, we have other doctrines that we have announced. And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.
This should clearly be an example of "Indecent/Obscene/Profane" commentary. Specifically, it advocates assasination of the political leader of Venezuala. According to the November 2, 1989 memorandum written by Colonel W. Hays Parks USMC (Ret) on Execuative Order 12333:
Assassination constitutes an act of murder that is prohibited by international law and Executive Order 12333...The purpose of Executive Order 1233 and its predecessors was to preclude unilateral actions by individual agents or agencies against selected foreign public officials, and to establish beyond any doubt that the United States does not condone assassination as an instrument of national policy.
Advocating such a clear violation of the law is inexcusable, and I thereby request:
I wish to know what the FCC is doing in pursuit of BROADCAST of "700 club" on BROADCAST television stations.
I wish to request that WRIC remove "700 Club" from their programming until Mr. Robertson has been removed from the "700 Club"
Sincerely,