Fortunato_NC's Journal: NPR and PBS Under Fire - Call Your Congresscritter!

[An aside: Yeah, I know this is a cut and paste job and a crappy excuse for a journal posting. But this is important, damn it. Don't let public broadcasting die. Read on!]

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/

A House panel has voted to eliminate all public 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 slash 25% of the federal funding this year--$100 million--and end funding altogether within two years. 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.

Already, 300,000 people have signed the petition. Can you help us reach 400,000 signatures today?

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

Thanks!

P.S. Read the Washington Post report on the threat to NPR and PBS at:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=745

Let them eat cake.

[Wanderer1]

If it's important to you, then pay for it.

PBS and NPR suffer from much of the same largesse that many government programs engender, wasting money becaue it's "guaranteed" from year to year by John Q. Public.

Stations like WCPE out of Wake Forest, NC are fine examples of successful non-profit organizations with no government financing.

PBS can shrink to fit the container we provide it with private funds - and they can benefit from having extensive infrastructure invested in by our tax dollars already on the

Re:Let them eat cake.

[Fortunato_NC]

Oh, come on now. According to the Washington Times [washingtontimes.com], public broadcasting recieves about $400 million in public funding a year, or roughly a buck and a half for each US resident. A buck and a half each (and contributions from "listeners like you") gets us more than 200 hours per week of nationally available programming, plus locally produced content. I don't know of a better value for your tax dollar.

For some comparison, $400 million buys roughly two F-22 Raptors [globalsecurity.org].

Re:Let them eat cake.

[Wanderer1]

Okay, so you put that 1.50 on top of all the other "it's just XX amount per taxpayer" crap that I have to pay at the city, state and national level - and pretty soon I'm out almost half my paycheck in "good intentions" for *other* people.

No thanks. You like it so much, you pay them out of your own net pay. I did the same, until they stopped broadcasting to my house.