Gee, Oscar. You’re a grouch!
Let’s see what’s on the news today. Hm. Michael Jackson has been found innocent. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are dating. Michael Jackson has been found innocent. Christian Bale says he’s very pleased with his role as Batman. Michael Jackson has been found innocent. You can send your kids off to summer camp while you vacation in Europe. Donald Trump says that he would hire Michael Jackson to sing at his casinos, but he’s afraid Jackson would stand up his audiences. Howard Dean says that Republicans are “not nice.” Industry insiders are offering advice for how Michael Jackson should make a comeback. A juror says he believes Michael Jackson has molested kids, just not these particular kids. Tom Cruise loves Katie Holmes. Oh, hey! Look at that! Michael Jackson has been found innocent!
Oh, yeah. And Republicans are trying once again to off Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird.
By a voice vote, the House Appropriations subcommittee adopted a measure that would reduce the financing of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the organization that directs taxpayer dollars to public television and radio, to $300 million from $400 million. The subcommittee also eliminated $39 million that stations say they need to convert to digital programming and $50 million for upgrading aging satellite technology that is the backbone of the PBS network.
The cuts in financing went significantly beyond those requested by the White House and are likely to be approved next week by the full Appropriations Committee and then by the House.
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The vote came as public stations and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are engaged in a debate over the editorial balance in programming and the independence of the stations.
The head of the Republican-controlled corporation, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, has pressed public broadcasting to correct what he and other conservatives consider liberal bias. That has prompted public broadcasting leaders – including the chief executive of PBS – to object that his actions pose a threat to editorial independence.
Republicans shut down PBS because they think it’s liberally biased? Why, that’s unheard of! That would be like Bill O’Reilly telling his producers to turn off his guest’s microphone – and that never happens.
Hey – did I mention the Gallup Poll CNN is running that suggests that nobody really cares about the verdict in the Michael Jackson case? You’d never know it from the fact that Jackson makes up about eighteen minutes of Headline News’ thirty-minute news cycle, while I heard the cutting of funding to PBS mentioned… never.
And proving the current Republican power structure’s determination to leave as many children as possible behind…
John Scofield, a spokesman for the Appropriations Committee, said the cuts were not related to the “Postcards” episode that had prompted criticism.
“Ready to Learn was one of more than 50 programs terminated in the spending bill,” he said. “It might be a nice program to do, but not in a flat budget with large budget deficits. We felt the same way about 49 other programs.”
What frustrates me the most about this is that it’s happened before. I’m not forgetful enough that I don’t remember the last time Republicans tried to kill NPR and PBS. Only that time they hit it hard in the media, appearing on Larry King and spouting off for hours on end, employing all the usual spin tactics. My personal favorite – a Republican senator telling Larry King that NPR’s elimination would be “no big deal” because “there will be commercial stations that will move in to play classical music.”
This time around, however, while the media is bloated with stories about Jackson, Jolie, and Cruise and channels like CNN are trying to convince us that every American has enough money and leisure time to send their kids off to camp while the parents take a week-long jaunt through Europe, the slashing is happening very quietly in the background.
It’s a new pattern the Republicans have learned. First, you wheedle. If that doesn’t work, you bully. And if that doesn’t work, wait until everybody has forgotten the issue and then slip it in under the door.
Write your U.S. Representative. Tell them to oppose the funding cuts and urge them to call foul as loudly as they can.