It's A Matter Of A Vowel

What the Congress is doing: protecting minors.

Crossing the line on TV may soon cost a lot more.

The Senate late Thursday unanimously approved a tenfold increase in broadcast indecency fines — boosting the maximum penalty to $325,000 per violation.

The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), passed with little notice in a nearly empty chamber after an unusual parliamentary maneuver by Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) that assured approval unless any senator objected.

(that maneuver allowd the bill to bypass the Commerce Committee, where the chairman was set to bottle it up)

What the Congress isn't doing: protecting miners.

HOLMES MILL, Kentucky -- An explosion in an eastern Kentucky coal mine killed five miners while one other miner was able to get out alive...

The blast at the Darby Mine No. 1 in Harlan County occurred between midnight and 1 a.m. EDT while a maintenance shift was on duty, said Amy Louviere, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Nearly half a year after the Sago Mine disaster, practically nothing has been done to improve mine safety.

"When Janet Jackson had her wardrobe [malfunction], it took Congress 40 days to change the law," (Democratic Rep. George) Miller said. "It's now over 120 days, and Congress hasn't done a damn thing about securing a safer workplace for these miners and for these families."

Davitt McAteer, who is investigating the Sago Mine disaster, said action is needed.

"I think we need to step up," he said, "both from the standpoint of enforcement, but also from the standpoint of awareness of the miners themselves — that actions need to be taken to prevent accidents from occurring."

The GOP Congress: loves to protect minors, hates to protect miners. And the miners are, you know, dying. Needlessly, I might add.