Don't Read This if You are a Republican (from moveon.org)

[Warriorbird]

Hi,

You know that email petition that keeps circulating about how Congress is slashing funding for NPR and PBS? Well, now it's actually true. (Really. Check at the bottom if you don't believe me.)

Sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and PBS:

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/

The House of Representatives is about to vote on whether to slash funding for NPR and PBS, starting with "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow" and other commercial-free children's shows. If approved, this would be the most severe cut in the history of public broadcasting, threatening to pull the plug on Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch.

The cuts would eliminate more than $200 million for NPR, PBS and local stations immediately, with more cuts likely in the future. The loss could kill beloved children's shows like "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Arthur," and "Postcards from Buster." Rural stations and those serving low-income communities might not survive. Other stations would have to increase corporate sponsorships.

The House will vote on the cuts as soon as Tuesday. Can you help us reach 1 million signatures calling on Congress to save NPR and PBS?

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/

Thanks!

P.S. Read the New York Times story on the threat to NPR and PBS at:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=753

[Gan]

Here's some more info on this as reported by NPR.

http://www.npr.org/about/funding.html

What it means to me as a Republican who listens to NPR. It means that if I want to continue to listen to this type of broadcast then I will have to support it financially by contributing or putting up with the insertion of commercials into the programming schedule that will assist in funding it rather than all of the taxpayers - who arent necessarily all listeners.

Edited to add: I enjoy the NPR broadcasts and would not like to see it receive funding cuts, but Im willing to contribute instead of insisting that others be 'taxed' for my listening enjoyment.
________________________________

Learn More About the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Budget Cuts
The following might answer your questions about the proposed public broadcasting budget cutbacks:

What budget is being cut?
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is the organization created by Congress to administer federal funds to help support public radio and television programming, stations, community service, educational projects and technology. In an unanticipated move, the House of Representatives decided to cut $190 million from CPB's budget. Following final action by the House later this week, action on public broadcasting funding moves to the Senate. If the cuts are ultimately approved and implemented, starting this coming October, public broadcasting will lose 45 percent of its budget.

Why is this happening now?
Congress is under intense pressure to deal with the federal deficit by reducing federal spending and the Administration's funding recommendations for public broadcasting proposed significant cuts. The House Appropriations Committee chose to go beyond the proposed Administration recommendations.

A poll taken by CPB, however, showed that Americans strongly support public broadcasting and believe it is worth federal funding. The CPB report determined:

"An overwhelming number of of adults in this country (80%) say that they have a favorable impression of PBS and NPR as a whole. Additionally, there are several indicators throughout the survey that demonstrate the extent to which the public values public broadcasting. For example, only 1-in-10 Americans (10%) would say that a per capita expenditure of $1.30 in taxpayer funds is "too much" for the government to be spending on public broadcasting. Nearly half (48%) say the amount is "too little" and roughly 1/3 (35%) say the amount is "about right."
Even among those who believe that PBS and/or NPR news and information programming has a liberal bias, a clear majority of this subgroup of the population (65-67%) still concedes that the current taxpayer expenditure on public broadcasting is "too little" or "about right."
Fewer than 20% of Republicans say that the amount of government funds that goes to public broadcasting is "too much," and among Democrats this figure stands at only 2%.
How does this budget cut affect NPR and the NPR member stations?
In regard to radio, the biggest potential damage coming from a major CPB budget cut is to the more than 1000 independent stations around the country. NPR itself gets less than one percent of its budget from CPB. NPR member stations, however, receive an average of 15 percent in grants from CPB - this money is used to help support their local program production, program acquisition, community outreach and such day-to-day costs as paying the electric bill.

Additionally, there are 189 stations in 43 states, as well as Puerto Rico and Guam, that specifically serve rural and minority communities; the latter includes numerous African-American, Native American, Latino and multicultural licensees. In many cases, they are the sole local broadcasting service available. These stations receive significantly higher funding from CPB - in some cases, as much as two-thirds of their budgets - since many of their listeners do not have the financial resources to provide support.

What are the next steps in this process?
The full House of Representatives will hold a floor vote on the cuts made by its Appropriations Committee the week of June 21 (date TBD). The Senate Appropriations Committee will finalize its recommendations for public broadcasting funding in the coming weeks. Following final disposition of funding recommendations in the House and Senate, leaders of the two bodies will meet to reconcile their differences. There is a possibility that, at that time, the Senate will seek to restore the proposed House cuts.

What is being done to reverse this decision by NPR and the NPR member stations?
NPR and its member stations have been working closely to bring attention to the issue. They are making all appropriate elected officials aware of the impact of a $190 million reduction in the public broadcasting budget. Public radio stations around the country have launched multimedia awareness campaigns to educate their listeners and other public broadcasting supporters and to provide them with contact information to enable them to express their opinions.

How can I lend my support to this effort?
NPR encourages all listeners to seek out your local stations' Web sites for specific information about efforts underway in your community and contact details.

If you have questions about this issue and your local station does not provide this information, please contact NPR through the "Contact NPR" form in the right-hand column of this page.

end.

[Edited on 6-21-2005 by Ganalon]

[Wezas]

Is it because Bert and Ernie were contemplating a gay wedding? :(

[Warriorbird]

No, no. Because our news needs to be "Fair and balanced." The big irony here is that a lot of the powerhouses of PBS/NPR are/were conservative intellectuals.

[Gan]

Originally posted by Warriorbird
No, no. Because our news needs to be "Fair and balanced." The big irony here is that a lot of the powerhouses of PBS/NPR are/were conservative intellectuals.

Interesting, please elaborate?


Edited to add:

If what i"m reading is correct and you're attempting to turn this into a democrat/republican issue then I'm encouraged to reread through the NPR article I pasted above and look at the following lines.

"Why is this happening now?
Congress is under intense pressure to deal with the federal deficit by reducing federal spending and the Administration's funding recommendations for public broadcasting proposed significant cuts. The House Appropriations Committee chose to go beyond the proposed Administration recommendations. "

So the main reason is for budget cuts, buy why would the HAC go beyond the recommendations? Partisan politics?

"Fewer than 20% of Republicans say that the amount of government funds that goes to public broadcasting is "too much," and among Democrats this figure stands at only 2%. "

So there's a difference of 18% between both parties. However we're still only looking at less than 20% of the Republican party at best that agree with the funding argument against NPR.

Therefore I dont think (based on initial reading) that its a partisan issue as much as its a budgetary issue. I seem to recall that NPR and its parent organization facing simliar cuts in the past but I'm not familiar with the outcomes.

[Edited on 6-21-2005 by Ganalon]

[4a6c1]

If NPR goes away I think I might flip out and kill people. Ninja style.

:heart: my radio shows. If I cant have one side in the morning and the other side in the afternoon I might go into twitch mode for lack of opposing perspective.

:(

[peam]

Well, we do have to fund the murder of more brown people.

[DeV]

Even with emergency funding for the war, the soldiers are still worrying about having adequate armor. It's a damn shame.

[Hulkein]

That's what happens when too many people complain about the deficit on the internet.

[Gan]

:lol::lol:

[DeV]

And Al Gore invented the internet... :nutty:

[Tromp]

Originally posted by DeV
And Al Gore invented the internet... :nutty:

Dude that is retarded! You are just jealous that Bush didn't say it 1st! LOL

The war mongers just have to come clean and admit that the aftermath of Afghanistan & Iraq is going to burden the US for decades to come so shut up and stay bent over.

[DeV]

Originally posted by Tromp

Originally posted by DeV
And Al Gore invented the internet... :nutty:

Dude that is retarded! You are just jealous that Bush didn't say it 1st! LOL

Totally... no, but he did, really!?! :lol:

[Tromp]

Originally posted by DeV

Originally posted by Tromp

Originally posted by DeV
And Al Gore invented the internet... :nutty:

Dude that is retarded! You are just jealous that Bush didn't say it 1st! LOL

Totally... no, but he did, really!?! :lol:

At least he can spell :bleh:

[DeV]

I'm with you Tromp. Concocting conspiracy theories are such fun! :D

[Tromp]

Originally posted by DeV
I'm with you Tromp. Concocting conspiracy theories are such fun! :D

Here comes the black helicopters floating over my office tower now...

[Apotheosis]

yes, the iraq war is the new vietnam, we just haven't accepted it/come to terms with it yet. bye bye recruiting goals, hello draft (in 1 - 2 years).

cause you know, we go in and out of iraq half-assed, we lose, so we have to strengthen the trenches. Meanwhile, this all could have been handled differently. (we could have just used a suicide bombers of our own, it's not like we don't have resources of our own)

[Back]

More on this story about the CPB can be found at...

http://mediamatters.org/

and

http://www.fair.org/

[YancyDC]

I truly don't think this is a cut and dry partisan issue, but $200 million is not even a drop in the bucket with the deficit. Someone doesn't like NPR and PBS, and that someone is a jerk.

[Hulkein]

Originally posted by Yswithe
hello draft (in 1 - 2 years).

Heh, very doubtful.

But hey, nothing is stopping you from throwing out outrageous claims, because in 1-2 years no one will remember you saying something like that.

Keep prophesizing, Nostradamus!

[Parkbandit]

Originally posted by Yswithe
yes, the iraq war is the new vietnam, we just haven't accepted it/come to terms with it yet. bye bye recruiting goals, hello draft (in 1 - 2 years).



Senator McCain.. who was a POW in Vietnam for 6 years said that people who make the comparison between Iraq and Vietnam doesn't know shit about Vietnam or Iraq.

It's almost as retarded as comparing Guantanamo with Nazi Germany or Bush with Hitler.


[Edited on 6-21-05 by Parkbandit]

[CrystalTears]

It's almost as retarded as comparing Guantanamo with Nazi Germany or Bush with Hitler.

Ain't that the truth.

PB what are you doing here? Don't you follow directions? You're a Republican! Why are you reading this thread?! :P

[Parkbandit]

Originally posted by CrystalTears
PB what are you doing here? Don't you follow directions? You're a Republican! Why are you reading this thread?! :P

I SWEAR I AM AN INDEPENDANT. I SWEAR.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Gan]

Originally posted by Parkbandit
I SWEAR I AM AN INDEPENDANT. I SWEAR.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

:roffle:

And dont forget you're just baking cakes.

[Edited on 6-21-2005 by Ganalon]

[DeV]

Originally posted by Parkbandit
Senator McCain.. who was a POW in Vietnam for 6 years said that people who make the comparison between Iraq and Vietnam doesn't know shit about Vietnam or Iraq.

I respect Senator McCain, but I believe the comparisons are valid depending on the context and exactly what aspects are being compared. There are tons and tons of issues surrounding both wars that can be definitely be compared in their respective contexts.

[YancyDC]

Heh, the front cover of the Washington Post today has a story about Vietnam Vets in Iraq saying it's an "entirely different war." So I guess that answers that one.

[DeV]

When you're comparing generalities sure. That's to be expected. Their right; it is an entirely different war.

However, generational comparions especially relating to combat strategies in different wars will often possess similarities that can be and usually are compared. Regarding Nam vets and their experiences as soldiers, eh, I'm not one for comparing anything like it. I have uncles that fought in Vietnam and I've heard their gruesome stories.

Vietnam and all that encompased that jungle was nothing like what the soldiers of today have to face. But, then again, that's already a given.