Picking people to fill vacancies at the Federal Communications Commission isn’t exactly glamorous, so the story of Senator Ted Stevens‘s push to install one of his aides into an empty seat almost flew past the radar. Why should anyone care?

You should care because this nomination could be a step toward the neutering of your favorite shows. Stevens, the Alaska Republican and Chairman of the Senate’s Commerce Committee, has loudly advocated that cable television and satellite radio be placed under the same indecency rules as their broadcast counterparts. And yes, this includes pay channels as well — say goodbye to Deadwood, The L Word, The Wire, Family Business, or any number of shows forced to appease the Puritans that are too stupid or lazy to use the V-Chip they once wanted so badly. Cinemax would likely implode.

It’s bad enough when the government goes batshit over Janet Jackson’s boob, but at least that was an unexpected incident broadcast to millions of people. Applying the same indecency standards to cable, where people pay a hefty monthly charge to watch less sanitized programming, is not nearly the same thing; this is even more true when you realize that the technology to block certain shows or channels is already widely available. But people like Ted Stevens seem to know what’s best for us — would it be any surprise is his chosen nominee feels the same way?