ious as "Censorware." In 1997, Governor of Texas, George W. Bush signed a bill that prohibited state funds from being invested in the stock of any company who released "offensive" material through their media businesses. This bill, however, is based on judgments and not concrete qualifications. For example, "sexual deviancy" could pertain to sexual acts with animals, rape, or sodomy, which includes both oral and anal sex. Thus the label of "sexual deviancy" could ban holdings in all companies who release any music with pro-homosexual lyrics. Other states including Virginia have followed suit by passing the same law. This means that millions of dollars in stock could potentially be removed from companies such as Time Warner if the state decides it doesn't approve of any one album produced by that company. This gives the government a huge amount of power and control over the artistic content of a company's label. Local governments practice censorship even more often than the federal government. In Detroit, Michigan for example, the Pontiac Silverdome hosted its first rap concert ever, only to have fights break out among the spectators throughout the concert. Concert-planners admitted they were not prepared to handle the large numbers of people they allowed inside the dome, yet the state attempted to pass a bill banning all rap concerts from the area. In Oxford, Mississippi, the home of the University of Mississippi, two club-owners were arrested for purveying lewd and explicit acts after booking rap-group Two Live Crew. At trial, the Honorable Glen Anderson refused to hear from a single witness for the defense, or to watch a videotape of the concert itself. Then, against even the prosecution's wishes, the judge sentenced each man to six months in prison, for simply allowing Two Live Crew play at their club. Finally, in an extreme example of the war between disputing groups, was the episode occurring on December 1, 1995 when Boston radio s...
