As Usual: Jarvis remains the go-to guy for news & views on Howard Stern. It's getting bizzare:

You see, they just love it when they get the double play of sexual and excretory talk. They even got pissed (pardon me) because the show played fart sounds. Nevermind that every third grader in the world makes fart sounds for playground humor. It offends the FCC.

More: Here's Jarvis again:

Well, this isn't news: Clear Channel, which had "suspended" Howard Stern now officially fired him. No big deal. Except... Clear Channel acknowledges that it did so because of the government fines and government pressure. So this is direct government control of what appears on the air.

"Mr. Stern's show has created a great liability for us and other broadcasters who air it," said John Hogan, president and CEO of Clear Channel Radio, in a news release. "The Congress and the FCC are even beginning to look at revoking station licenses. That's a risk we're just not willing to take."

Even more bizarre is that the rest of the blog world has been pretty relaxed about this.

Still more: Andrew Stuttaford broke ranks yesterday on NRO's Corner to comment on DOJ's war on porn:

The war on terror is, not of course, a reason to suspend all other law enforcement activities, but, in a time of national emergency, this new effort by the Justice Department looks like a grotesque waste of time, money and manpower. It's also an insult to those Americans who would like to be treated like adults.

Whether it's porn or Stern, the issue is the same. At first I laughed at Stern's suggestion that this is the Bush administration's attempt to secure its base. That's silly, I thought. This is just one of those standard attempts by the would-be censors to retake some lost ground. I'm not so sure anymore. Bush is looking very vulnerable these days. Why wouldn't he try to lock down the religious right?