TV, thinking don't belong together

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2006 | by Michael Hiestand

If Thomas Jefferson had used a TV remote, he might have cited "channel-surfing" as an inalienable right.

But Congress is again threatening to make exercising that right, whose appeal is rooted in mindless spontaneity, into just another task requiring a personal cost-benefit analysis. A recent Federal Communications Commission report, ploddingly rehashing an FCC report out two years ago, figures you'd save a few bucks by only signing up -- a la carte -- for the cable TV channels you want. The independent Leichtman Research Group estimates you'd only save on your current bill by ordering fewer than 20 channels.

Sure, this sounds great, because the more time Congress spends on silly stuff the less time there is for serious work that'd add another trillion to the...