I read recently where the a federal court has ruled that certain words are OK to say on broadcast television -- words that were at one time banned from the airwaves. The "F" word and the "S" word have both been found innocent of wrongdoing by yet another august judicial body -- this time in the state of New York.

They said the words were OK to be used the way Bono used one of them at an awards show because the rule that made them unacceptable was not broken. They indeed were not used in a "sexual or excretory" context. In other words, unless you are specifically talking about poop, the "S" word is OK. And unless you are talking about sex, the "F" word is acceptable for use on network television.

We all know that most people -- much like in the cases involving Bono, Cher, and others -- use these words as expletives, not to describe anything of a "sexual or excretory" nature. They are words used to get someone's attention, or out of habit, or to make a point.

Many of us remember George Carlin's piece on the seven words you were not allowed to say on television. And can you guess where we learned those seven words -- straight out of the mouth of Carlin himself? That's right … public television. On one of his (probably tax-payer funded) PBS specials, way back in the early 70s, the man who would one day become the conductor on "Shining Time Station" ran through the list as fast as he could and beat the censors' switches. And there they were in all their glory.

Then the comic madman ran through the list several times over, wondering if some of them ought to be counted twice, since they were compound words.

Back to the subject at hand.

The FCC is not pleased with the Federal bench over this new power play, and for good reason. They took a lot of flack when Janet Jackson had her little well-publicized mishap during her well-publicized performance during Super Bowl halftime a few years back. They made promises to the public. They made promises to the administration. They made a lot of people a lot of promises concerning broadcast decency under their watch.

Granted, decency on television is a distant memory for most of us. Does anyone remember "Leave It To Beaver?" That's about how long it's been since decency made an appearance on our TV sets. Even "Happy Days" had undertones of sexuality cleverly disguised by laugh tracks.

Today, even most cable networks "bleep" out words that are unacceptable. For instance, it's getting harder and harder to follow TLC's "American Chopper" because of all the "bleeps." You get fragmented sentences at best.

I'll guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes of this new folly. Chances are no one will notice.

It's already that bad.