Missing Walt.(Scan)

"We are managing this company for one thing, and only for one thing.... You can count on us to exploit every opportunity to grow revenues."--January 8, 2001, Sumner Redstone, CEO of Viacom, which broadcast Super Bowl 2004.

I miss Walt Disney.

I thought about him during the Super Bowl half-time show--even before Justin Timberlake ripped Janet Jackson's bustier off and her boob popped out. During the crotch-grabbing, bump-grinding, Spring Break-meets-Bachelor Party musical numbers that preceded theirs, I wondered what Walt--who insisted his actresses wear one-piece swimsuits in their beach scenes would say. Just a guess: "I told you so," he'd reply with a grin. "See what happens when you let the kids show their navels?"

The kind, firm entrepreneur with the trimmed mustache guarded America's children throughout the '50s and '60s, a shepherd protecting his flock. Plenty of wolves out there, kids, he seemed to say. Stick with me, I'll keep you safe.

The wolves have run amok, Walt. And they're after our kids.

They take their predatory cue from the Pied Piper of Viacom, chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone. Redstone likes to brag that Viacom's quasi-pornographic MTV, with over 300 million viewers, "has helped shaped the culture of generations of young people across the globe." Yikes.

It's no secret that his empire orchestrated the Super Bowl festivities. Viacom owns both CBS and MTV. Apparently we're now at the point where parents have to figure these things out, expect sleaze even in the most mainstream broadcasts, keep our fingers constantly on the remote, or hide the kids in a television-free zone. Or plunk them, at least, in front of Nickelodeon. That's safe, right?