The last thing I want is the government forcing me to feed my kids their green beans or get them to sleep by 9 p.m. (like that's ever going to happen).

But Congress right now is discussing whether to control what we see on television. After all, they say, it is for the sake of our children.

Earlier this week, the Senate Commerce Committee met to discuss violence on television and its impact on young viewers.

In April, the Federal Communications Commission urged Congress to examine the issue after it released a study stating violent television images had a negative impact on children.

At this week's hearing, members of Congress agreed that television violence is out of control. But how to go about wresting back that control should involve parents, not politicians.

The most pigheaded thing I've read about the hearing was when the chairman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., called the television industry's education campaign to get parents to use V-chip technology and parental controls on their cable boxes "farcical" and a joke," according to a story by Broadcasting & Cable.

The fact is, V-chip technology in TVs and parental controls in cable and satellite boxes are a great way to curb what your kids watch on television. To say the technology doesn't work means someone named Rockefeller doesn't understand it.

Nearly every television set built after 2000 is equipped with an electronic chip that allows certain programming to be blocked based on its rating (TV-Y to TV-MA).

Practically all cable and satellite boxes in use today have similar controls built in.

Not only can shows be blocked based on ratings, but entire channels can be blocked. My wife actually used that once when she caught me watching "The Anna Nicole Show" on E!

All of these technologies are password protected. As long as parents keep the manuals for their cable boxes out of reach of the kids (the manuals usually contain instructions on how to reset the password to 0000 so they can regain access), the parental controls can't be hacked.

The answer to all of our problems is right there in front of our faces in little black or silver boxes. But Congress believes that can't be the answer because it's not always possible for parents to control their children's TV viewing habits. In fact, Rockefeller said it was "cowardly" for the television industry to say it's up to parents to control content going into their homes.

In other words, he's saying it's the government's role to regulate what we see, even after we've willingly paid money to get cable programming in our homes.

If you complain about the violence, language or sex on television and what your children see, I urge you to explore the solutions that are just a few feet away in your own living room.

It's neither farcical or a joke to let people know that the tools they need to protect their kids are either inside or just below their televisions and have proven effective. The joke is that the FCC and Congress believe we can't make our own decisions about what we watch.