So Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell has declared war on the U2 rock star, the second Irishman in less than two gulps of a Guinness to feel the wrath of the Bush Administration.
It’s Mano a Bono. For his part, former Treasury secretary Paul O’Neill, perhaps liberated by his African goodwill tour with the foul-mouthed wailer, has been demoted to enemy combatant for blabbing things in a new book about Dubya and his Iraq obsession. Ship him off to Guantanamo, Rummy. Give him the civet cat treatment.
Seeing that the Irish saved civilization-thus, denying the Bush administration-the president has set his sights on Mars. From a distance, the red planet has an uncanny resemblance to Afghanistan.
Back to Powell. He wants to ratchet up fines for saying naughty things on the broadcast airwaves. But mobile carriers see the f-word in a completely different light. Indeed they like it and wish Powell would too. Struggling under the crush of fierce competition, costly federal mandates, lawsuits and new state taxes, wireless carriers are desperate for help.
How do you spell relief? F-O-R-E-B-E-A-R-A-N-C-E.
To say that Powell has been less than a hit with industry is an understatement. It is one thing that mobile-phone carriers have failed miserably to persuade the FCC chairman to embrace the f-word. But on top of everything else, Powell has taken a fancy to disruptive wireless technologies and spectrum policies that are potentially harmful-possibly even lethal-to the status quo. Even with industry’s lobbying might, Powell is on solid ground. He has something even better than political cover. He has in his corner the American consumer, the beneficiary of bloodletting in the marketplace.
Here’s another f-word: fall, as in from cell-phone towers. It’s nice that John Henshaw, head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is using the bully pulpit to encourage wireless carriers, tower companies and others in the food chain to contract only with firms having clean health and safety records. But, if you agree with Powell, hitting companies where it hurts-in the wallet-is a great way to change hearts and minds.
Insofar as tower construction and maintenance go, the law is little help. There is accountability if you are talking about small firms that can low ball their way to subcontracts because they haven’t invested in proper safety equipment and training. They might have to cough up some money-something in the thousands-if a worker dies from a tower fall due to safety violations. But that’s it for the most part. No one else, not even the entity that hired the subcontractor, is usually on hook for a loss of life. Now that’s obscene.
