Happy Free Speech 2010!

Happy 2010, fellow comedy lovers and patriots! We're ringing in the new year with another Kathy Griffin attention-getting non-scandal - if you haven't heard, while co-hosting New Years' rockin' eve in Times Square with the adorable Anderson Cooper, she referred to the dumb balloon boy, whose name is Falcon, as "Fuckin'". How NOT a big deal is this?

I'm a fan of Kathy Griffin, and I admire her willingness to tweak convention whenever possible. I hate nothing more than when media outlets like the New York Times gets all priggish and says stuff like "We're not able to print what she said here, but..." I'm not in elementary school! Tell me what the person said! Isn't that what free speech is about? When are we going to get over our fear of curse words? Words are words are words, as far as I'm concerned. Who are we protecting? The children? What are the children doing reading the New York Times or staying up until midnight watching CNN? Go to bed!

To me, what's worse is the puritanical AP headline: "Kathy Griffin Makes Another Vulgar Quip on CNN". "Vulgar" is such a condemning word when applied to a woman. First, it sounds like "vulva," a word nobody likes. Second, it's like saying she's not feminine, not a lady. Oooh, how vulgar. How base and classless. Fuck 'em, Kathy. I find your devil-may-care approach to censorship and convention refreshing and I want more of it. Bring on the fuckin' decade!