When Will the Time Be Right?

Maybe not before 10pm, if you're hocking boner pills on broadcast TV.

In his dissenting opinion in the recent "fleeting expletives" case, Justice Stevens wrote in a snarky footnote:

It is ironic, to say the least, that while the FCC patrols the airwaves for words that have a tenuous relationship with sex or excrement, commercials broadcast during prime-time hours frequently ask viewers whether they too are battling erectile dysfunction or are having trouble going to the bathroom.

It appears that someone was listening. Per Prawfsblawg, Representative Jim Moran (D-Va) has introduced legislation that would:

insist that the FCC treat treat as indecent and bar from network airwaves 'between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m . . . any advertisement for a medication for the treatment of erectile dysfunction or for male enhancement.'

As Marc points out, that is probably not the reaction Stevens hoped to provoke.

While I'm generally opposed to the idea of the FCC playing taste police on TV, as long as we're adding to the list of things verboten on the tube, can we add all commercials for toilet paper and related products, especially the ones with the bears shitting in the woods? If I never hear about the dangers of ass lint again, I will be a happy man.