An appeals court said a new federal policy against accidentally aired profanities on TV and radio was invalid, noting that vulgar language had become so common that even President Bush has been heard using expletives.

Broadcasters Win FCC Expletive Dispute By LARRY NEUMEISTER

Comments: Those who have been keeping an eye on the FCC will remember the scandal last year when the agency was caught censoring its own taxpayer-funded studies on whether or not locally owned stations produced more local news. The studies found that locally owned stations produce an extra five and a half minutes of local news. These studies then disappeared, allegedly at the behest of the top members of the FCC, who wanted to implement policies at odds with the studies.

It seems that their policies with regard to taxpayer-funded studies are also "undefined, indiscernible, inconsistent," as Judge Rosemary Pooler wrote about the current case.

Furthermore, according to the Parent's Television Council, sexual references on TV doubled between 1998 and 2005. Characters may not be saying the f-word too often and networks may not show full frontal nudity, but characters are talking about and creatively doing "it" other ways. If the goal of the FCC was to keep the airwaves clean, they have clearly failed.

According to several studies, this is a real problem. Teens are more likely to experiment sexually if they watch large amounts of sexual content on TV (and other media too obviously).

So, this is a serious problem, but the FCC are not fixing it. They have shown themselves so unreliable that, as a parent, I wouldn't trust them with a dirty diaper, much less something as significant as TV content that is broadcast throughout the nation.

Fortunately, I do not have to rely on them. I can control the content my kids are exposed to in my home. I got rid of my TV to do it, but there are lesser steps parents can take to get in control. Beyond the v-chip, there are other devices which can help parents control TV. There is the TV Timer Bob and the TV Guardian both available from Family Safe Media. Parents could keep a close watch over the shows their children see, instead of relying on the TV as a surrogate parent. Of course, to do this, they would need to remove TV's from their children's bedrooms.

The FCC will never take the place of parents. They can't, and that is a good thing.