ROTFLMAO-

it recieves a billion dollars a year in FEDERAL FUNDING,
GUESS WHAT CHIMPANHUMAN? THEY NOT RAISING CLOSE TO THAT FR THE INTELLECTUALS, IF THEY WERE THERE WOULD BE NO NEED FOR A GOV'T OWNED AND OPERATED STATION.

DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

nah it is not gov't owned and operated,

afterall the WIKI entry says so.

hilarious!


have a brain? try using it.

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"How could you possibly live in the freest nation in the history of the world and only see oppression? How could you live in the least imperialist power in human history and see us as the ultimate in imperialism? How can you live in the least bigoted nation in human history ... and see racism lurking in every dark shadow?" he asked.

The comedian attributed the trend to a "rejection of all fact, reason, evidence, logic, truth, morality, and decency."

Learn the English language and stop writing in fragments and incomplete sentences. Get a brain and for that matter get your facts straight...government funds make up only 15 percent of public broadcasting revenue..

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/arts/06cuts.html

Do what cheaper than Haliburton? Make money for shareholders? You people want this war, you pay for it. The rest of the large majority of Americans who don't want this war will happily pay for Public TV. The very title of this thread is a moronic oversimplification of something that pisses you off. I thought it was okay to continue discourse in that manner. I'm sorry that you think you're the only one allowed to rant about things you have no say over.

I'm not terribly impressed with Your_Neighbor's level of discourse either, and I tend to usually be pretty liberal, but I actually think he (she?) does have somewhat of a point here.

I think the US should think about ending support for PBS. Not because of its nonexistent liberal bias, and not because it sucks up all that much in federal dollars (it doesn't), but because it's not something the government needs to be in the business of doing anymore. PBS made some sense back in TV's infancy when TV was broadcast on the airwaves and there was very limited choices. Now that you have Internet and cable, and analog TV is ceasing to exist, the need for PBS is much less clearcut. If PBS disappeared tomorrow, I feel pretty confident that Sesame Street would survive on Nickelodeon or a similar network, and that CBS, History Channel, etc. would still offer programs of similar quality to what PBS offers.

NPR, on the other hand, I think should stay. Unlike TV, there is nothing on the radio waves that comes close to the level of intelligence and the interesting news programming you get on NPR. Philly is lucky to have KYW, which at least offers radio news (although their reporting is drastically inferior to WHYY's), but most cities have nothing but conservative talk and sports on AM, and music on FM. There are some rural areas where NPR is just about the only station that comes through, period! NPR still provides quite a valuable resource.

In general, my philosophy is that there are certain things government does best and certain things private sector does best. In schools and prisons, government control provides a clear benefit and usually works out better than outsourcing. In manufacturing widgets, the US wisely decides to avoid the Soviet Union model and lets the private sector compete for the widget business, with some regulation. I just think that TV now falls closer to the manufacturing-widgets side of the spectrum.

Which isn't to say we should give up public control of the airwaves. If nothing else, that's what allows us to fine NBC when they show Janet Jackson's bodacious ta-tas .

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Boom, boom, acka-lacka-lacka boom.
Boom, boom, acka-lacka boom boom.

Wrong. The issue was Conservatives got tired of paying for Bill Moyers, Dianne Rheem, Travis Smiley and Tucker Carlson to berrate us with their liberal viewpoints or have weak Conservatives on as guests to be beaten up.

IF CPB would stay away from political programming and stick with shows like Nature, Nova, and broadcasting the Arts, it'd serve some purpose that was useful (albeit incredibly removed from what The Founders had in mind for the Federal Government), but they don't and they won't.

This is just another tax-payer funded boondogle to advance unpopular liberal views.

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The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalm 27:1

When did Tucker Carlson become liberal?

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Drown the fishes.

A billion and I know how to read and have some racial tolerance.


sounds like a bargain

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It's too tall..! it ruins the feel of the city..! It casts massive shadows..! It's an architectural nightmare..! We should stand together and fight this monstrosity that threatens our homes..! ...but amazingly no one tore down the Eiffel Tower.

or.. why we shouldn't always listen to "neighborhood groups" and critics.

But PBS was the first place I saw William F. Buckley and Milton Friedman, and NPR was the first place I heard Kevin Phillips and Dave Frum. They also provide a voice to creationists, and they gave 1 hour to Boeing and Lockheed and their competition for the new fighter plane for the Air Force, Lockheed won. Now that's something the defense industries could never get on commercial TV. The Founders also would have appreciated the Independence of PBS and the intelligence.

There would be more conservatives on PBS, NPR, etc. but I don't think they are ready to take a pay cut.

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All I said was that intellectuals are like the Mafia, they only kill their own.

Woody Allen
Stardust Memories

Ironically, PBS and NPR do a pretty good job of covering both sides of the political spectrum, whereas Fox News, where commentators love to bash PBS and NPR, actually does a piss poor job of covering both sides of the spectrum.

Like I said before, I'd be willing to end government support of PBS, but not because of any liberal bias. And Sesame Street is still by far and away the best children's programming out there, (although PBS actually does Barney**, which sucks, and some of the shows on for-profit competitors, like Blues Clues, are quite good).

**Fun fact: Guantanamo interrogators would torture their detainees by subjecting them to the Barney theme music! Aaahhh, torture .... good times.

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Boom, boom, acka-lacka-lacka boom.
Boom, boom, acka-lacka boom boom.

One of the things that we lose when funding is cut for CPB is local programing. Each time CPB is cut there is less money for small projects for small broadcasters. What America gets greater centralization of the media, less programing from their region and more programing from New York, LA, Boston, etc.

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All I said was that intellectuals are like the Mafia, they only kill their own.

Woody Allen
Stardust Memories