…after reading about the Campaign For A Commercial-Free Childhood over at Reason and their plans to sue people for making their kids fat, I decided to visit their website.

You know, it's funny, but in their Take Action section I don't see anything as profound as "Turn off your goddamn television and make your kids read a book." So that would lead me to believe these whackjobs think they should be able to plonk their kids down in front of the boob tube and have the whole thing be commercial-free lest it warp their kids fragile widdle minds. Which means, from what I can tell,that we have yet another group of people having no clue that running a network costs money. And that money comes from advertising.

I'm sorry, but if you don't have enough control over your children that you can counter commercials for sugary breakfast cereal, then you really, honestly, should go get neutered and/or spayed. Because the idea that we should make the whole world safe for children who don't have parents that can actually parent is ludicrous to the extreme. I grew up and had all manner of commercials aimed at my head for the whole time I was a kid, and yet somehow I'm still alive and moderately well-adjusted. Your inability to do your jobs as parents is not my problem, nor is it the problem of corporations. I can only pray that our judicial system laughs your ineffectual asses out of court. Once that happens, I suggest you find a solution here.

You're welcome.

I see on Variety this morning that thirty-two state attorneys general have signed a letter urging the movie industry to attach non-smoking PSAs to any DVD or video that has smoking in it.

Now, because my three readers are intelligent people, they can see the fallacy of this a mile off.

Who are you trying to reach with this effort?

Adults? Any adult who doesn't know the detriments of smoking at this stage of the game is an idiot and can't be helped. Sorry.

Kids? Any kid who's watching a movie without parents around is going to skip past any PSA you put between them and their film. Just like the rest of us, honestly.

Adults who have kids? What were those called again…oh, parents. Right. So…parents? If you have a parent who hasn't talked about smoking to their kids, do you really think seeing an anti-smoking ad in front of The Matrix is going to make a lightbulb go on in their heads? "Oh right, mental note after we get done with this escapist SF fare…must warn the kids about smoking." No, if they're actually watching a movie with their kids, they're going to skip past the PSA as well.

No, this is yet another example of Feel Good Politics, which just means somebody involved isn't thinking. If politicians have time to engage in FGP, then that's the time to cut their hours.

Sorry, I just got up. As you were.