Slade Gorton - Revision history

Spider of Destiny at 21:11, 1 July 2026

2026-07-01T21:11:04Z

Spider of Destiny at 19:53, 13 June 2026

2026-06-13T19:53:37Z

Spider of Destiny: /* Zappa about Slade Gorton */

2026-06-13T19:41:35Z

Zappa about Slade Gorton

Spider of Destiny at 13:17, 23 May 2026

2026-05-23T13:17:29Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 17:23, 4 October 2021

2021-10-04T17:23:28Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 03:56, 29 September 2021

2021-09-29T03:56:23Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 21:42, 21 July 2021

2021-07-21T21:42:14Z

Spider of Destiny at 04:24, 23 February 2021

2021-02-23T04:24:10Z

Spider of Destiny at 11:17, 31 December 2020

2020-12-31T11:17:23Z

Spider of Destiny: Died.

2020-12-31T11:14:05Z

Died.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[File:Slade Gorton.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Slade Gorton.]]
-'''Slade Gorton''' (January 8, 1928 - 19 August 2020) was an American politician and member of the U.S. Republican Party. Between 1981 and 1987, and again from 1989 until 2001, he was a U.S. Senator from Washington State. In the 1980s, he was a member of the [[PMRC]] to evoke censorship of music.
+'''Slade Gorton''' (January 8, 1928 - 19 August 2020) was an American politician and member of the U.S. [[Republican Party]]. Between 1981 and 1987, and again from 1989 until 2001, he was a U.S. Senator from Washington State. In the 1980s, he was a member of the [[PMRC]] to evoke censorship of music.
 In 1997, he and [[J. James Exon]] also pushed the Communications Decency Act, in an attempt to censor obscenity on the Internet.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Slade Gorton''' (January 8, 1928 - 19 August 2020) was an American politician and member of the U.S. Republican Party. Between 1981 and 1987, and again from 1989 until 2001, he was a U.S. Senator from Washington State.
+[[File:Slade Gorton.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Slade Gorton.]]
 ==Zappa and Slade Gorton==
-In the 1980s Slade Gorton was in favor of the [[Parents Music Resource Center|PMRC]]. During one of the congressional hearings of September 19, 1985 he addressed Zappa with the following ''"statement":'' ''"Mr. Zappa, I ah, am astounded at the ah, courtesy and soft-voiced ah, nature of the comments of my friend [[Al Gore|the senator from Tennessee]]. I can only say that I find your statement to be boorish, ah, incredibly and ah, insensitively insulting the people who were here previously. That you could manage to get the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States a bad name - if I doubt that you have the slightest understanding of it - which I do not, and have the slightest understanding of the difference between government action and private action. And ah, you have certainly destroyed any case you might otherwise have had with this senator. Thank you Mr. Chairman."'' to which Zappa simply snapped back: ''"Is this private action?"''
+During the [[Parents Music Resource Center|PMRC]] congressional hearings of September 19, 1985, Gorton addressed Zappa with the following ''"statement":'' ''"Mr. Zappa, I ah, am astounded at the ah, courtesy and soft-voiced ah, nature of the comments of my friend [[Al Gore|the senator from Tennessee]]. I can only say that I find your statement to be boorish, ah, incredibly and ah, insensitively insulting the people who were here previously. That you could manage to get the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States a bad name - if I doubt that you have the slightest understanding of it - which I do not, and have the slightest understanding of the difference between government action and private action. And ah, you have certainly destroyed any case you might otherwise have had with this senator. Thank you Mr. Chairman."'' to which Zappa simply snapped back: ''"Is this private action?"''
 Gorton's statement was later sampled on the tracks ''[[Congress Shall Make No Law (The Track)|Congress Shall Make No Law]]'' and ''[[Porn Wars]]''.<ref>https://www.donlope.net/fz/lyrics/FZ_Meets_The_Mothers_Of_Prevention.html#Porn</ref> He is also sampled during ''[[Congress Shall Make No Law (The Track)]]''.

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Zappa about Slade Gorton==
 ''"(...) Most of you did not see or hear what really happened during the 'hearing'. There was quite a bit of 'news management' taking place, especially regarding my testimony. CNN viewers saw only the semi-apoplectic Senator Gorton denouncing me for my 'Constitutional ignorance'. Under the 'hearing' rules, I was not allowed to say anything in response, however, I would like to take this opportunity to remind him that although I flunked just about everything else in high school, I did get an "A" in Civics, and secondly, if he wanted to tell me I was just an ignorant musician, why didn't he use the [[Wikipedia:Ted Koppel|Koppel]] method and say, "Now, Mr. Zappa, you're an intelligent man..." Anybody who gets that recitation from Ted twice in one episode of Nightline has surely been told how stupid he is. Since the media coverage was enormous, including foreign press, I began my testimony with a 'reference reading' of The First Amendment so that people outside the U.S. might understand what we were discussing, and to remind vermin like Senator Gorton that, in spite of their bizarre interpretation, this 'historical document' was still in existence. The 'hearing' lasted about 5 hours. The 'denouncement' was the only thing offered by Gorton during the whole event. No questions. No debate. Just a photo opportunity for another Congressional bozo."'' - Quoted from ''[[Z-Pack - Closing letter]]'', 1985.
 ==Notes==

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 In the 1980s Slade Gorton was in favor of the [[Parents Music Resource Center|PMRC]]. During one of the congressional hearings of September 19, 1985 he addressed Zappa with the following ''"statement":'' ''"Mr. Zappa, I ah, am astounded at the ah, courtesy and soft-voiced ah, nature of the comments of my friend [[Al Gore|the senator from Tennessee]]. I can only say that I find your statement to be boorish, ah, incredibly and ah, insensitively insulting the people who were here previously. That you could manage to get the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States a bad name - if I doubt that you have the slightest understanding of it - which I do not, and have the slightest understanding of the difference between government action and private action. And ah, you have certainly destroyed any case you might otherwise have had with this senator. Thank you Mr. Chairman."'' to which Zappa simply snapped back: ''"Is this private action?"''
-Gorton's statement was later sampled on the tracks ''[[Congress Shall Make No Law (The Track)|Congress Shall Make No Law]]'' and ''[[Porn Wars]]''.
+Gorton's statement was later sampled on the tracks ''[[Congress Shall Make No Law (The Track)|Congress Shall Make No Law]]'' and ''[[Porn Wars]]''.<ref>https://www.donlope.net/fz/lyrics/FZ_Meets_The_Mothers_Of_Prevention.html#Porn</ref> He is also sampled during ''[[Congress Shall Make No Law (The Track)]]''.
 ==Zappa about Slade Gorton==
-''"(...) Most of you did not see or hear what really happened during the 'hearing'. There was quite a bit of 'news management' taking place, especially regarding my testimony. CNN viewers saw only the semi-apoplectic Senator Gorton denouncing me for my 'Constitutional ignorance'. Under the 'hearing' rules, I was not allowed to say anything in response, however, I would like to take this opportunity to remind him that although I flunked just about everything else in high school, I did get an "A" in Civics, and secondly, if he wanted to tell me I was just an ignorant musician, why didn't he use the [[Wikipedia:Ted Koppel|Koppel]] method and say, "Now, Mr. Zappa, you're an intelligent man..." Anybody who gets that recitation from Ted twice in one episode of Nightline has surely been told how stupid he is. Since the media coverage was enormous, including foreign press, I began my testimony with a 'reference reading' of The First Amendment so that people outside the U.S. might understand what we were discussing, and to remind vermin like Senator Gorton that, in spite of their bizarre interpretation, this 'historical document' was still in existence. The 'hearing' lasted about 5 hours. The 'denouncement' was the only thing offered by Gorton during the whole event. No questions. No debate. Just a photo opportunity for another Congressional bozo."'' - Quoted from ''[[Z-Pack - Closing letter]]'', 1985.
+==Notes==
 ==See also==

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:23, 4 October 2021
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	'''Slade Gorton''' (January 8, 1928 - 19 August 2020) was an American politician and member of the U.S. Republican Party. Between 1981 and 1987, and again from 1989 until 2001, he was a Senator in Washington.	+	'''Slade Gorton''' (January 8, 1928 - 19 August 2020) was an American politician and member of the U.S. Republican Party. Between 1981 and 1987, and again from 1989 until 2001, he was a U.S. Senator from Washington State.

	==Zappa and Slade Gorton==		==Zappa and Slade Gorton==

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:56, 29 September 2021
Line 10:		Line 10:


−	''"(...) Most of you did not see or hear what really happened during the 'hearing'. There was quite a bit of 'news management' taking place, especially regarding my testimony. CNN viewers saw only the semi-apoplectic Senator Gorton denouncing me for my 'Constitutional ignorance'. Under the 'hearing' rules, I was not allowed to say anything in response, however, I would like to take this opportunity to remind him that although I flunked just about everything else in high school, I did get an "A" in Civics, and secondly, if he wanted to tell me I was just an ignorant musician, why didn't he use the [[Ted Koppel\|Koppel]] method and say, "Now, Mr. Zappa, you're an intelligent man..." Anybody who gets that recitation from Ted twice in one episode of Nightline has surely been told how stupid he is. Since the media coverage was enormous, including foreign press, I began my testimony with a 'reference reading' of The First Amendment so that people outside the U.S. might understand what we were discussing, and to remind vermin like Senator Gorton that, in spite of their bizarre interpretation, this 'historical document' was still in existence. The 'hearing' lasted about 5 hours. The 'denouncement' was the only thing offered by Gorton during the whole event. No questions. No debate. Just a photo opportunity for another Congressional bozo."'' - Quoted from ''[[Z-Pack - Closing letter]]'', 1985.	+	''"(...) Most of you did not see or hear what really happened during the 'hearing'. There was quite a bit of 'news management' taking place, especially regarding my testimony. CNN viewers saw only the semi-apoplectic Senator Gorton denouncing me for my 'Constitutional ignorance'. Under the 'hearing' rules, I was not allowed to say anything in response, however, I would like to take this opportunity to remind him that although I flunked just about everything else in high school, I did get an "A" in Civics, and secondly, if he wanted to tell me I was just an ignorant musician, why didn't he use the [[Wikipedia:Ted Koppel\|Koppel]] method and say, "Now, Mr. Zappa, you're an intelligent man..." Anybody who gets that recitation from Ted twice in one episode of Nightline has surely been told how stupid he is. Since the media coverage was enormous, including foreign press, I began my testimony with a 'reference reading' of The First Amendment so that people outside the U.S. might understand what we were discussing, and to remind vermin like Senator Gorton that, in spite of their bizarre interpretation, this 'historical document' was still in existence. The 'hearing' lasted about 5 hours. The 'denouncement' was the only thing offered by Gorton during the whole event. No questions. No debate. Just a photo opportunity for another Congressional bozo."'' - Quoted from ''[[Z-Pack - Closing letter]]'', 1985.

	==See also==		==See also==

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ==Zappa and Slade Gorton==
-In the 1980s Slade Gorton was in favor of the [[PMRC]]. During one of the congressional hearings of September 19, 1985 he addressed Zappa with the following ''"statement":'' ''"Mr. Zappa, I ah, am astounded at the ah, courtesy and soft-voiced ah, nature of the comments of my friend [[Al Gore|the senator from Tennessee]]. I can only say that I find your statement to be boorish, ah, incredibly and ah, insensitively insulting the people who were here previously. That you could manage to get the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States a bad name - if I doubt that you have the slightest understanding of it - which I do not, and have the slightest understanding of the difference between government action and private action. And ah, you have certainly destroyed any case you might otherwise have had with this senator. Thank you Mr. Chairman."'' to which Zappa simply snapped back: ''"Is this private action?"''
+In the 1980s Slade Gorton was in favor of the [[Parents Music Resource Center|PMRC]]. During one of the congressional hearings of September 19, 1985 he addressed Zappa with the following ''"statement":'' ''"Mr. Zappa, I ah, am astounded at the ah, courtesy and soft-voiced ah, nature of the comments of my friend [[Al Gore|the senator from Tennessee]]. I can only say that I find your statement to be boorish, ah, incredibly and ah, insensitively insulting the people who were here previously. That you could manage to get the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States a bad name - if I doubt that you have the slightest understanding of it - which I do not, and have the slightest understanding of the difference between government action and private action. And ah, you have certainly destroyed any case you might otherwise have had with this senator. Thank you Mr. Chairman."'' to which Zappa simply snapped back: ''"Is this private action?"''
 Gorton's statement was later sampled on the tracks ''[[Congress Shall Make No Law (The Track)|Congress Shall Make No Law]]'' and ''[[Porn Wars]]''.
@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 * [[Wikipedia:Slade Gorton]]
-[[Category:Politicians|Gorton, Slade]]
+[[Category:Politicians|Gorton]]
-[[Category:Targets|Gorton, Slade]]
+[[Category:Targets|Gorton]]
-[[Category:PMRC (The List)|Gorton, Slade]]
+[[Category:PMRC (The List)|Gorton]]
-[[Category:The Real Frank Zappa Book (The List)|Gorton, Slade]]
+[[Category:The Real Frank Zappa Book (The List)|Gorton]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:17, 31 December 2020
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	'''Slade Gorton''' (January 8, 1928 - 19 August 2020) is an American Republican politician. He was senator from 1981 until 1987 and again from 1989 until 2001.	+	'''Slade Gorton''' (January 8, 1928 - 19 August 2020) was an American Republican politician. He was senator from 1981 until 1987 and again from 1989 until 2001.

	During the [[PMRC]] hearings of September 19, 1985 he addressed Zappa with the following ''"statement":'' ''"Mr. Zappa, I ah, am astounded at the ah, courtesy and soft-voiced ah, nature of the comments of my friend the senator from Tennessee. I can only say that I find your statement to be boorish, ah, incredibly and ah, insensitively insulting the people who were here previously. That you could manage to get the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States a bad name - if I doubt that you have the slightest understanding of it - which I do not, and have the slightest understanding of the difference between government action and private action. And ah, you have certainly destroyed any case you might otherwise have had with this senator. Thank you Mr. Chairman."'' to which Zappa simply snapped back: ''"Is this private action?"''		During the [[PMRC]] hearings of September 19, 1985 he addressed Zappa with the following ''"statement":'' ''"Mr. Zappa, I ah, am astounded at the ah, courtesy and soft-voiced ah, nature of the comments of my friend the senator from Tennessee. I can only say that I find your statement to be boorish, ah, incredibly and ah, insensitively insulting the people who were here previously. That you could manage to get the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States a bad name - if I doubt that you have the slightest understanding of it - which I do not, and have the slightest understanding of the difference between government action and private action. And ah, you have certainly destroyed any case you might otherwise have had with this senator. Thank you Mr. Chairman."'' to which Zappa simply snapped back: ''"Is this private action?"''

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:14, 31 December 2020
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	'''Slade Gorton''' (January 8, 1928) is an American Republican politician. He was senator from 1981 until 1987 and again from 1989 until 2001.	+	'''Slade Gorton''' (January 8, 1928 - 19 August 2020) is an American Republican politician. He was senator from 1981 until 1987 and again from 1989 until 2001.

	During the [[PMRC]] hearings of September 19, 1985 he addressed Zappa with the following ''"statement":'' ''"Mr. Zappa, I ah, am astounded at the ah, courtesy and soft-voiced ah, nature of the comments of my friend the senator from Tennessee. I can only say that I find your statement to be boorish, ah, incredibly and ah, insensitively insulting the people who were here previously. That you could manage to get the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States a bad name - if I doubt that you have the slightest understanding of it - which I do not, and have the slightest understanding of the difference between government action and private action. And ah, you have certainly destroyed any case you might otherwise have had with this senator. Thank you Mr. Chairman."'' to which Zappa simply snapped back: ''"Is this private action?"''		During the [[PMRC]] hearings of September 19, 1985 he addressed Zappa with the following ''"statement":'' ''"Mr. Zappa, I ah, am astounded at the ah, courtesy and soft-voiced ah, nature of the comments of my friend the senator from Tennessee. I can only say that I find your statement to be boorish, ah, incredibly and ah, insensitively insulting the people who were here previously. That you could manage to get the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States a bad name - if I doubt that you have the slightest understanding of it - which I do not, and have the slightest understanding of the difference between government action and private action. And ah, you have certainly destroyed any case you might otherwise have had with this senator. Thank you Mr. Chairman."'' to which Zappa simply snapped back: ''"Is this private action?"''