Excuse me while I take a break from my regular topics of all things MINI, Apple and technology.

Today is Veteran's Day in the USA. It's a day we stop the mail, close the banks and honor the brave men and women who have risked their lives to fight in wars and take a stand for freedom. Which is why the following tale strikes me as ironic, sad and downright anger inducing.

The ABC television network has a deal with Steven Spielberg to run an unedited version of the Academy Award winning film "Saving Private Ryan" on Veteran's Day. However, many ABC affiliates, including my hometown affiliate KMBC in Kansas City, have chosen not to air the film tonight because the film contains graphic violence and foul language. Because of recent FCC shakedowns, er, I mean crackdowns, namely fines and sanctions levied on CBS because of Janet Jackson's little wardrobe malfunction during the Superbowl, affiliates are fearing fines and sanctions could be levied on them from the broadcast of this film. The full story is linked here but here's a quote from the news story:

"Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning movie aired on ABC with relatively little controversy in 2001 and 2002, but station owners - including several in large markets - are unnerved that airing it Thursday could bring federal punishment. The film includes a violent depiction of the D-Day invasion and profanity."

You can see the irony here. To protect potential bottom lines, some ABC affiliates are failing to take a stand against our US government, namely the FCC, and are choosing not to air a film that depicts how Americans took a stand for something in WW II.

I am ashamed of my local ABC station and it's parent company Hearst-Argyle Television for failing to take a stand against an out of control and out of touch FCC.

Since the FCC has stated that they don't monitor television broadcasts but only respond to complaints, maybe I should be ashamed of the overly moralistic folk who insist on complaing because they can't handle seeing a depiction of brave men who occasionally drop the F-bomb while being fired upon by angry German soldiers.

By the way, KMBC is instead airing the 1992 Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman film "Far and Away". The wife remarked that it's like being told by your teachers that Dickens is too rough a read so we're given Danielle Steele instead.