PBS Changed Our Lives
"This instrument [Television] can teach, it can entertain; yes it can even inspire. but it can do so only to the extent that human beings are determined to use it toward those ends. Otherwise it's nothing more than wires and lights in a box."-Edward R. Murrow
Since it is a given that Conservative politicians generally hate the public, it also goes without saying that they despise the Public Broadcasting System. And why wouldn't they? Any broadcast outlet that would focus on intelligence and the best in human creativity is probably not going to be watched much by the uber right wing. They've got their priorities, you know? Why waste your time on Charlie Rose when you've got Bill O'Riley?
I was remind of their contempt for all that is good about America on Friday when Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn introduced a bill that would defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is probably the only corporation these unenlightened knuckleheads don't act as handmaidens for. While they have no problem bailing out the corrupt titans of Wall Street who spent decades looting the American economy, they can't find it in their hearts to help PBS.
PBS changed my life in more ways than I can count. It has always, from its earliest days, been a source of inspiration. I can't imagine my life without it. Can you?
`
Some of
my earliest memories of watching television are connected with Channel Thirteen, the PBS affiliate in the New York area. This would have been around 1962. Back then their logo was the wise old owl which I absolutely loved. But what I liked the most about Thirteen had nothing do with children's programming.This was years before Sesame Street and Mister Rogers. My favorite program as a precocious four-year-old was "The French Chef" with Julia Child. For reasons I've never been able to figure out, I was fascinated by the black and white image of her in that studio kitchen, lovingly creating those mouth watering examples of French cuisine. In this innocent time, it was still okay to admire anything French. "Freedom Fries" were decades into the future. She seemed like such a nice lady, I just could not take my eyes off of her! You would think that my early infatuation with Julia Child would have inspired me to become a chef, but that was never meant to be I suppose. To this day I am barely functional in any kitchen - my own included. No, the PBS broadcast that changed my life forever wouldn't come for another seven years.
Christm
as Day 1969: I happened to be channel surfing when I came upon a Charlie Chaplin retrospective that was being shown on Channel Thirteen. The host was a film collector from Brooklyn named Herb Graff. The film being shown the moment I tuned in was called "The Rink", a two-reel short made in 1916 when he was with the Mutual Film Company. I was captivated by the Little Tramp from the moment I laid eyes on him. Three and a half years after this Christmas Day epiphany, on April 3, 1972, my brother Pete and I would get to meet the great man at Lincoln Center in New York City. You want to talk about a mountaintop moment? My discovery of Charles Spencer Chaplin - purely by chance - began a lifelong admiration and study of him which continues to this day. I'm not just a Chaplin fan - I'm a scholar.From the day of my introduction to Charlie - courtesy of the nice people over at Channel Thirteen - my dream was to become a film maker. The only problem was the raw material needed to make movies - it was so damned expensive! The alternative was videotape, but I did not believe that anything beautiful could be created within the confines of a little electronic box. I associated videotape with the atrociously bad sitcoms of the nineteen-seventies: "One Day at a Time", "Welcome Back Kotter", "Three's Company", ad nauseous. In my mind, video was to the moving image what wax paper was to the canvas.
But the
n, in the summer of 1977 I was at the apartment of a friend of mine named Ronald Bevier (Whatever became of you, Ron?) By chance I turned the dial (they had dials then) to PBS. The program being televised at that particular moment was called, "The Best of Ernie Kovacs". This changed everything. What Kovacs was doing with the medium of videotape in the late fifties and early sixties was and is extraordinary. A half a century later despite all the technological advancements of television, his work still astounds. Today he is remembered as Television's Original (and in my opinion - only) "Genius". Ernie Kovacs was the world's first video artist - even though the term "video art" did not even come into being until four years after his death in a 1962 automobile accident. Early in his career, he would end his programs by saying, "It's been real", a phrase he coined. Ernie was the real deal alright. I'm a Kovacs scholar, too.`
I became a video artist thanks to Charlie Chaplin and Ernie Kovacs - and PBS.
One of the many complaints lodged against public broadcasting over the years is their "left wing bias". This complaint is more than justified. Big Bird is a Communist. Mister Rogers was a devotee of Karl Marx. But seriously, folks....
The bias charges are
ludicrous of course. Certainly some of the hard hitting documentaries of recent years rubbed the Plutocracy the wrong way. In the excellent 2007 program, "Selling The War", Bill Moyers claimed (rightly) that when the Bush administration invaded Iraq in March of 2003, they "took leave of their senses". That isn't left wing bias, that's the truth - and any news outlet that tells the hard and bitter truth will naturally disgust the very people who make their names and their livings spewing right wing gibberish. That's why they love Fox Noise so much.Here is what needs to be understood: The Conservatives want to dumb-down the American people even more than they already have. That is the only way they are going to succeed in creating the plutocratic utopia they long for. An institution like PBS stands in the way of that goal. Without public broadcasting, you won't see the hard-hitting documentaries that will remind you what life was like in this country prior to Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. A few nights ago they aired a documentary called "Triangle Fire". A little synopsis:
On March 25, 1911 - a century ago this month - one-hundred and forty-six human beings, most of them women, perished when a dropped match sparked a fire that would end up as the worst industrial accident in the history of New York City. These poor "girls" (most of them were barely out of childhood) were trapped in an eighth floor sweat shop. The two owners of the establishment had locked them in for fear of their walking off the job and going on strike in the middle of a work day. This was at a time when the Labor Movement, still in its infancy, was just learning how to walk.
Conservative politicians would rather you and I not watch "Triangle Fire". They don't want us to be reminded what life was like for regular people before workplace laws and regulations were put firmly into place - the same regulations they are now so desperate to have abolished. They don't want us to understand how unionization was critical in correcting this hideous situation. They don't want us to see how deregulation - be it of the workplace or the marketplace - is such an insanely bad idea. They want to keep us stupid. These are only a few of the thousands of reasons why PBS is so valuable.
By the way, if you missed this important documentary when it aired last week, it is available on DVD from PBS video. Everyone should see it. It is an invaluable history lesson.
Where else on television are you going to see grand opera? Where else will you find something like Masterpiece Theater? Or Frontline? Or Ken Burns' excellent series of documentaries. And how could I forget Monty Python? We Yanks across the pond would never have been exposed to their brilliant lunacy had it not been for PBS!
The forces
of darkness would have us believe that these programs are nothing more than video caviar, produced solely for the amusement of an isolated cabal of elite, latte-swirling intellectuals. Nonsense. It's programming for all the people. You don't have to be rich - or college educated - to enjoy the beauty of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Ballet, or Louis Armstrong's West End Blues, or George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue. That music was meant for everyone to enjoy! Why do you think they call it Public Broadcasting?The tax payer funding of PBS amounts to less than five percent of its annual budget. Nonetheless it is a crucial part of that budget, without which they could go under. Hopefully the bill to end its funding will be defeated in the senate. I hope so. America needs the Public Broadcasting System like it needs oxygen. It's a lot more than mere "wires and lights in a box".
Tom Degan
Goshen, New York
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
`
AFT
ERTHOUGHT:Hey there, fans of Miklos Molnar, Percy Dovetoncils and the Nairobi Trio! On April 19, the Shout Factory Entertainment Company is releasing a six-DVD collection that covers Ernie Kovacs' remarkable, all-too-brief career. If you pre-order directly from their website you will receive a seventh, bonus DVD absolutely free! (How cool is that??) Here is a link to order and watch a video clip from the series:
THE ERNIE KOVACS COLLECTION!
It's been real!
For more recent postings on this hideous, positively un-American blog, please go to the link below:
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Shameful, left wing propaganda. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves for even reading this stuff.
posted by Tom Degan @ 5:42 AM
135 comments
135 Comments:
Gay Patriot.net. PBS, Left Wing Bias on the taxpayer dime.
Nice piece, Tom.
Agreed, the corporatists on the Hill, especially the newly elected Koch whores of Tea Party fame, certainly don't want to be funding anything that's educational or artistic or enlightening. It would go against the strategic plan of dumbing-down the masses. That would be unacceptable to the powerful elite (of whom the G.O.P., conservatives, and corporatists pander to and serve). Afterall, they're the only ones allowed to be groomed and surrounded by the arts and the humanities.
Again, another excellent post.
As one of a small coterie of liberal South Carolinians, I presented Jim Demint with the coveted Wade Hampton Asshat Award some time back, but I might have to pin on a Proctological Plume for his PBS pustulence. SCETV is the only thing we watch on TV locally. If it goes, so do we.
The demise of PBS has been ongoing for some time. PBS has been corrupted by corporate monsters. Frontline no longer delivers a hard hitting expose, in fact they appear quite muted. Bill Moyers gone. PBS Now cancelled. The corporate media is well into the endgame of consolidation soon there will be no independent sources of news just poorly crafted, and massaged spin. A complicit and neutered fourth estate is one of the last nails necessary to complete the transition from a supposed democracy to a fascist state. I would think that Universities would soon drop Journalism from their curriculum
soon it will be a skill on a par with buggy whip makers. Tom that leaves you and other stalwarts of the internet to keep the wolves at bay.
A monumental task, Sisyphean in scope but one I hope you relish because who else is going to piss on the Oligarchs. This blog Rocks! You have a nice eclectic group of followers with great contributions from all sides.
Thanks Tom
Thanks for 'The Rant"
Frontline, Nova & Nature: three of the best shows on television.
And it should also be noted that if it weren't for PBS, Monty Python would probably be unknown in the US.
Anonymous "Gay Patriot.net. PBS, Left Wing Bias on the taxpayer dime."
Obviously. It must be biased. I mean, they had Joseph Wilson. And he was talking about "yellow cake"? What does he know about it? Nothing! It's not like he went to Niger at the CIA's behest to investigate anything like that!
Anon - not that I have any reason to believe that you will listen to reason, based on your link to that piece of badly written nonsense, but:
Only (((5.8%)))of funding for PBS is from the federal government. Read it again: ONLY 5.8 PERCENT OF FUNDING FOR PBS IS FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. Got it, or do I need to repeat it? How about a picture?
http://www.npr.org/about/aboutnpr/publicradiofinances.html
Also, according to the bipartisan polling firms of Hart Research and American Viewpoint, nearly 70 percent of Americans do NOT want federal funding cut:
http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2011/voters-oppose-pbs-elimination/
Ironically, it is people just like you and that insultingly ignorant author who might benefit the most by watching PBS. Instead of just broadening you butts, you might broaden you minds, God forbid. You might even learn a few facts here and there. And you might even learn to speak and write English correctly instead of mangling it.
Correction: That first link, as everyone but me can plainly see, is for NPR. Soory - don't mean to be misleading.
Tom, I'm sorry about the loss of your friend.
I remember--dimly, but I do remember--watching Ernie Kovacs live. The man was a genius.
I watched the Triangle Fire documentary. It was 100 years ago, which makes it easy for some people to think that all that's behind us, that we don't need OSHA anymore because we can trust our corporate overlords to take care of us now. It would behoove us to remind those people that 20 years ago25 people were killed and 54 were injured in the Imperial Foods chicken processing plant fire, because the exit doors were locked, just as in the Triangle fire. Imperial's owners were sentenced to 20 years in prison, but I don't know how much they actually served.
Tom, another wonderful posting, and I think just a couple of examples can show how far we have been dumbed down. I loved Julia Child and I learned to cook and develop an appreciation for food by watching her. Her main strong point was that she was a teacher and interested in teaching others how to cook. Fast forward to the cooking shows of today and they are nothing more than entertainment; the so called "chefs" are not the least bit interested in teaching you anything.
Ernie Kovachs? Yes a genius and so far ahead of his time that he would probably not even be on TV today.
The wonderful Ken Burns documentaries and Masterpiece Theater. As you mentioned where else would you see opera and orchestral concerts; something not available to people living in the hinterlands? Windows of opportunity.
And finally a note to Anon.. . leave MO alone. He has just as much right to state his opinion as you do, and his comments are not filled with bigotry and ignorance. I am sure that you think you are oh so clever and smart, but frankly you are simply boring and pathetic. Feel free to come back with any smartass comment that you like; just be aware that I will not read it as I am no longer interested in anything you have to say.
Thanks, Charles. You reminded me of something I wanted to put in the piece but thought it might be a bit off-topic:
If you haven't seen the film "Julie and Julia with Meryl Streep as Julia Child, you really ought to, folks. It's a wonderful movie.
When I was growing up, there were only four channels, and PBS was one of them. I watched many shows on it, and I also loved the cooking shows! Julia and Justin Wilson. The Repugs' attempt to defund PBS and NPR is just another way to further their conservative and anti-education agenda. It's shameful.
Back to the subject of the post, which is indeed wonderful.
I loved Julia Child and would prefer to see reruns of her shows over the current crop of rather blah, unimaginative - and unhealthy - fare they currently feature. Oh well.
Because I only have basic cable, I pretty much watch PBS exclusively. I probably would even if I had full cable.
Gosh, the programming is so superior. I can't imagine electing to watch one of these reality shows over, say, The American Experience or the Civil War series by Burns and his series on baseball - that all-American sport. The Triangle Fire was riveting and informative - plan to feature it on my own lil blog.
From gardening to quilting, fishing to hiking, jazz to classical, local history to national history, from opry to opera, and so much more - you just can't get it anywhere else.
What are mothers going to be able to do without being able to use Sesame Street to babysit their youngsters?
Mo, I love Bill Moyers but the guy is no spring chick. I'm sure he was ready to retire. Hated it, though.
tnlib "What are mothers going to be able to do without being able to use Sesame Street to babysit their youngsters?"
Look at it this way; a whole generation of kids who will grow up knowing that the GOP murdered Elmo.
"Mo, I love Bill Moyers but the guy is no spring chick. I'm sure he was ready to retire. Hated it, though."
That's good to know, but I never mentioned Bill Moyers. Speaking of Bill Moyers, "Welcome to the Plutocracy!"
And, yet again, a comment disappears...
Modusoperandi, your comment has not disappeared. All three of them are clearly visible. I thought we were talking about PBS here.
MO,
Why don't your take care of Canada's problems instead of butting into those of the USA?
Maybe if you posted on Canadian sites your posts would not drop off?
Stay home, drink some beer, eat some freshly clubbed to death baby seal blubber, and watch hockey. Just keep you nose our of other countries business, like ours.
Go home Canucks
Conservative hate the public? You must have had too much blotter acid in your pocket when it started raining.
If I owned a company with Elmo as an asset, I would not need public funds.
The question is simply why does the public NEED to pay for public broadcasting? Is there anything that we don't NEED?
13 could easily exist without public funds.
At the heart of the problem here is the realization that the liberal spin machines are a dying breed. Any which rely on the market die, like Hot Air America.
MSNBC was pushed to the left because GE needed public support. Comcast will fix that. Olbermann was just the beginning.
In a country that is bankrupt, with data, news and programming coming from every possible direction, the government does not NEED to fund this. What the government NEEDS to do is balance the budget so this country may exist 50 years from now.
Tom Degan's Daily Rant "Modusoperandi, your comment has not disappeared."
There should be one (twice!) that starts "charles moore "And finally a note to Anon.. . leave MO alone.""
"All three of them are clearly visible."
That's great, except there should be four.
1. I've posted in Firefox, had it disappear.
2. I've posted in IE, had it disappear.
3a. In 1 & 2, I've then opened up the other application and the comment still isn't there.
3b. I've then come here using a different computer from a different IP and the comment still isn't there (and, most recently, without signing in to this site, on a computer that I have never used before).
4. I've posted on a different computer, from a different IP, using a different version of IE and had it disappear.
5. In 4, I've then gone to the computer in 1 & 2 and the comment still isn't there.
6. As all of above, but after deleting cookies, and the comment still isn't there.
7. Other people seem to have the same issue (although, humbly, they aren't as awesome at it as I am).
".... I thought we were talking about PBS here>"
You're not the boss of us! *Pout!*
Mo: Oops. It was finefroghair. Sorry but I appreciate your link.
Anon: I'd love to be a magician and be able to touch you with my wand and wake you disappear. Poof!
That should be "make." Bad hair day.
Dear MO,
Your recent comments about your posts disappearing are starting to become a distraction to this blog and most of all, boring.
Either keep posting till your words of wisdom show up and stay posted or call for an investigation by Congress.
Oh, sorry about that. Your a Canadian an as such do not have the rights of a citizen of the USA. Better find a Canadian blog to share your wisdom on how the US could be a better place if we only listened to you. Or become a citizen of the USA.
We can't afford, actually we don't want to support the evil monopoly that COMCAST cable has out here in Denver, so we have a big roof antenna, and we get 6 different PBS stations, 3 from Denver and 3 from either Ft. Collins or the Springs, I don't know which one...but I watch Sesame Street and some weird show with these big Lion muppet things, and Dragon Tails, and Dinosaur Train, and Curious George...some stupid show with a fat talking dog, and Super Wise...If these shows weren't on TV my kid would freak OUT!!! I grew up watching Sesame Street (Pre-Elmo, I hate that little f-cker), Square One (the Jets were the house band and MathNet), 321 Contact, Reading Rainbow (Levar), and Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood. Now I watch Rick Steve's Europe, Lidia (the Italian Lady that cooks with the really big boobs), that american guy that cooks scandinavian (everything has sardines), the test kitchen, ming (he's hot, I have a thing for asian dudes), Frontline (didn't even start watching this until Dave Chapelle spoofed it, sad, yes I know), NOVA, globetrekker, and BBC news and Democracy Now show on our PBS and AL JAZEERA News (But this might just be a Colorado Public Broadcasting thing)...and
I apologize if someone has already mentioned this....but who can forget Bob Ross and his "happy little trees...." sigh....he inspired me to buy my first acrylics set...and to seek a career in the arts....hahaha....
charles moore "And finally a note to Anon.. . leave MO alone."
Why? Anonymous' comments here betray his/her moral poverty and intellectual paucity. Being shown to be wrong wounds my ego (but I adapt and try to incorporate the new data and form new conclusions based on that), but Anonymous doesn't even get that far. He/she can't. Anonymous fails to realize that "You're foreign! You shouldn't talk here!" isn't an argument. It's an loud admission that one has no argument and no facts. And without facts, Anonymous even lacks the foundation on which to base an argument.
All he/she knows is that I'm wrong (because I'm not an American, because I'm a liberal, because I don't hate the people he/she hates or that I fail to hate at all, because I'm [insert out-group here]), and Anonymous can't even manage to work backwards from conclusion to interpretation to data (which itself is exactly backwards, and can only result in one being correct by accident) to form an argument, which must be quite aggravating (doubly so, because it's patently clear that I'm a moron, and that the only skill in which I rein supreme is foolish boobery).
Anonymous, Boltok, Browns44, etc, in effect, are a small but reasonably representative sample of the philosophy of know-nothing and the politics of resentment; an example of the wider problem that a full third of the population on any issue are completely but think themselves experts anyway and over half of that group not even caring what is true if those facts conflict with the pre-drawn Partisan script. Heck, 90% of modern American conservatism is "Find something that liberals like or approve of, and fight against it", which isn't even standing for something, it's just standing in the way of everything.
While we can (and do) disagree with a Buckley or a Frum, we actually have to defend a position and attack one that they've put some thought in to. With Anonymous et al, we don't have to do anything. It's like being one side in a debate where the other side's arguments and rebuttals consist of "Shut up, that's why!" (or the bizarre arguments that "Liberals are messy!" seen during the Wisconsin protests, or "That Union guy is ugly!" and "That Union guy is fat!" belched forth on this site).
Logical Fallacy (ad hominem, ad populum, Argument from Authority, Poisoning the Well and Genetic Fallacy, primarily) as argument is not argument. It's hoisting the white flag while insisting that it's the white flag…of victory.
And that's all they've got left.
Since they've pushed out all the thinkers (Buckley's long dead and Frum is a "DIABLO", or "Democrate in all but label", which is remarkable as the closest he comes to being a Democrat is that he's been kicked out of the GOP Tribe), all they have left is reactionary buffoonery, Dogma of Douchery, the Ideology of the Asshole, and other phrases that slide delightfully of the tongue and amuse me terribly.
...
Voltaire, being the dead French bastard that he is, of course put it better than me:
"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short ... but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.'"
boltok "What the government NEEDS to do is balance the budget so this country may exist 50 years from now."
* 4 1/2 F35s (assuming the program comes in on budget) equal CPB's annual budget
* Rice subsidies equal 2.67 times CPB's budget.
* Cotton subsidies equal 3.36 times the CPB's budget.
* Insurance over charges of Medicare Part D alone cost 4.7x the CPB's budget.
* Ethanol subsidies (which drive down the cost of ethanol, but drive up the cost of food) run 16 times the CPB's budget annually.
* Missile defense got 24x CPB's budget.
* Oil and gas subsidies total 35 to 82 times CPB's budget every year.
* The annual cost of CPB is equivalent to 1.3 days in Iraq/Afghanistan.
* The annual cost of CPB is equivalent to a little under 6hrs of regular DoD funding.
Here is the question that never gets
answered, if PBS has such wonderful in high demand programing, why do they need govt. funding to operate?
Shouldn't the private sector be lining up to sponsor a network that millions of viewers cant live without? Let's see how PBS does in the free market place of ideas, if viewers want it they will watch it, if they don't then, well you know the rest.
MO,
"You're foreign!" Your posts have no value here since you do not share the same experiences of those who do live here.
Try telling those who live in Iran, or North Korea how they should live.
Browns44 "Here is the question that never gets answered, if PBS has such wonderful in high demand programing, why do they need govt. funding to operate?"
I don't know. Why does PBS (except for "brought to you by...") not have commercials?
And if professional sports are so profitable, why do new stadiums tend to need "public/private partnerships" and Eminent Domain?
My question is...when did science, arts, travel, education, social studies become a "liberal agenda"?
Now, I'm off to make and eat some evil vegetable tajine, courtesy of the evil liberal agenda, brought to by PBS's "Great Food."
I hope all of the locally grown Colorado vegetables don't start a war with the Iranian saffron, Moroccan coriander, Greek yogurt and the Israeli couscous I'm using, in my tummy.
MO,
Because the income in the form of increased tax revenues benefits a community more than the cost of giving public/private partnerships and Eminent Domain to build new stadiums.
So if PBS is so much in demand, like sports teams are, why does PBS need tax dollars to operate? You can not show that the same formula for a new stadium which produces income applies to PBS. It operates at a loss or it would need no government help.
Final thought, if the community doesn't want to give tax breaks to build a new stadium, they can do a couple of things.
1. If put to a vote, turn down the proposal for public aided funding.
2. Not attend the stadium events, and spend their money else where.
In the case of government funded PBS, the tax payers can do neither to stop their income from being used to keep PBS operating.
Can you see the difference?
There are a lot of things that our taxes pay for that we don't necessarily agree with and that do not turn a profit (even though the knowledge obtained through the diverse and informative programming of PBS, arguably, does help our economy because it is an investment in human capital, helping economic growth by increasing productivity etc...)
...think of PBS as a national park expedition, European Vacation, or visit to the symphony or Opera for someone who doesn't have the necessary means to veritably do these things...I equate it to a visual/audio only multicultural center...
and it doesn't take that much funding...so what is the possible harm in that?
The harm, my dear Mary, is there isn't a need for it or the private market place would have replaced it.
Further, if the basis of keeping ANY federal program is "it doesn't take that much funding...so what is the possible harm in that', think about what doors you open using that guide line.
You would have to show facts and figures to support your notion that PBS help our economy is not just wishful thinking.
The fact is PBS is competing with private cable and broadcast programs and as it is govt funded, does not need to turn a profit to stay in operation. This allows its "product" to be noncompetitive, and since it is paid for by funding in large part from the federal government can slant it's programs to the position of the current party in power, IE who ever runs the House of Reps.
Don't forget that the DNC held the House for over forty years and to claim the product of PBS hasn't reflected that party's platform or position would require one to forgo all standards of honesty and objectivity.
The current support for it's continued funding has not come from groups one would label as conservative, GOP or right wing. While I totally agree with the statement that many of the programs are great to watch, who would say they wouldn't be viewed on private broadcast/cable?
With advent of satellite radio the claim that PBS brings radio to many rural areas no long holds true.
Plus by its just being there, how many private stations have never been opened?
Don't forget that we (you and I) political junkies are in the minority of Americans. But with rising taxes and fuel prices (it's Geo Bush's fault, again) anything that can stop government growth and cost will be viewed as good.
MO
Your problem is you live in a country of 30+ million people, none of which want to listen to you. You are hoping you would better be able to find an audience in a country of 300+. Not so much.
Listen, folks....
MO has as much a right to post here as any of you. What happens in America affects Canada - and vice versa. It's when some of you chowderheads go off topic with trivial nonsense and insults that annoys me. Remember, we are talking about PBS and what it has done for (or to - if that is your opinion) this country.
Tom
In a few weeks my wife will retire. I had to retire years ago because of a degenerative back condition. So we will be living on a fraction of what we had before. Since we live in America we had to borrow a very large amount of money to pay for our daughters education. If we lived in Holland or other civilized countries we would have gotten off with a nice education for free. So now that we are down to eating rice and greens I see that some right wing folk think we should somehow pay for PBS directly, maybe from our investments in Wall Street. Oh yeah, we don't have any investments, just a small, shrinking savings account. I pay a LOT of taxes and the right wing wants to use my money to invade other countries and occupy them, killing women and children all day every day. I want my taxes to educate, not eliminate. So take my war taxes, my murder taxes and transfer them to the PBS fund. No more nukes, please, just puppets spouting wisdom about getting along with your neighbors and being polite to one another. Those are Good Things to teach our children and I am willing to pay for it.
MO
TD is 100% correct on free speech. Do me one favor. Tell me where I can find the equivalent Canadian Rant blog so I can submit my 2 cents on how a country in which I do not reside should govern itself.
WS
No disagreement on war cut backs. Respectfully, your personal financial situation is not a significant factor in deciding what should be cut or not. Personally, I would pass a balanced budget amendment, hard choices would need to be made, and if not pro rata cuts accross the board. Then politicians would be forced to do their jobs responsibly or get tossed. The political situation will adjust itself efficiently to the new reality. Now you all are arguing about how we spend monopoly money.
Also, FWIW, we have had no serious terrorist attacks on US soil since 9/11. Also, point out what country in history has survived without the ability to defend itself, except for those with no resources or uncivilized peoples incapable of being governed.
WS, nice art work, are sales up or down in the last 2 years?
MO. So which blog from North Korea and Iran are you posting you wisdom and advise on?
From the Pravda New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/business/06view.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
boltok "Tell me where I can find the equivalent Canadian Rant blog so I can submit my 2 cents on how a country in which I do not reside should govern itself."
Here, let me google that for you.
Anonymous, I think you were talking to me when you asked about my art work. If that is the case I will answer for you. First, thanks very much for the compliment. I am able to fire my ceramic pieces using wood from our property, we have a lot of pine trees. I built a brick noborigama kiln some years ago using bricks salvaged from burned out factories. They just leave that stuff in piles on the vacant lots! I am not a very good salesman, though and the finished pieces are stored in my garage/studio. I give a lot of work away to friends or we barter if they are also artists. I was hoping that in a recession somebody would have money to spend on artwork, or photography. Alas, it is not to be. At any rate I would love to sell you something if you like it. There is a contact page at my website. I think Tom likes my work too.
I like your work very much, Will. You're a great artist.
Weather the government funds PBS or not is based on an ideological policy, not a monetary one. They have a well thought out plan to smother Liberal media in any form. The FCC under Bush encouraged and promoted the extreme consolidation of media into the hands of just a few right leaning corporations. Deficits has zero to do with PBS or unions as evidenced by the trillions they have gave and will give to the super wealthy.
The push to eliminate Net Neutrality by Conservatives and get rid of websites like this one and Truthout and Alternet is another way they will make sure their message goes unchallenged.
Scott Walker is sending a message that they are going all out to destroy unions because they support Liberals and Liberal media. He is also making it very clear that Republicans support a Fascist agenda. If he is able to sell Publicly owned power plants with no bid or minimum price to the Koch brothers, that is Fascism right in your face!
DAMN! GOOD ONE, JAMES!
I don't know if you've ever commented on this site before but keep 'em coming, pal!
All the best,
Tom Degan
Boltok "From the Pravda New York Times:"
And so? "A serious conversation needs to be had on the budget."
* DoD? Virtually off the table. ("The Dems are soft on defense!" would be the GOP rallying cry for the next election)
* Medicare/Medicaid? Off the table. The GOP so completely poisoned the well during healthcare reform that, while costs continue to rise (albeit more slowly than privatized care) any real attempt at cost control is off the table, as "Death Panels!", and any attempt to assist the private sector get its costs under control is "SOCIALISM!!!" Any plan that doesn't focus on healthcare costs isn't a serious plan.
* Social Security? Shouldn't be on the table. It's not a real issue now, and minor changes (like raising the cap) will help protect it. So what did they do? A so-called "temporary" Payroll Tax holiday. "Temporary". Fools.
* Raising taxes? With Cut-Go (and modern Republicanism in general), off the table. With Paul Ryan's plan? Middle class tax hikes are fine. Not to balance the budget, but to pay for upper class tax cuts.
So there you go. Four issues, one of which isn't a real problem, and the other three can't be considered thanks to the GOP. Kudos.
So where do they cut? In the bill that just passed the House, "aid for schools, nutrition programs, environmental protection, and heating and housing subsidies for the poor".
"It's the economy, stupid", unless it's government spending, then the government bringing in contractionary policies that shrink the economy is okay (ignore the people who say that a shrinking economy would result in further revenue reductions. New tax cuts will pay for those. Trust us). And don't forget Boehner's "So be it". Oh, and since there's a truce in the Culture War due to the economy, they're also trying to defund Planned Parenthood.
How concerned are they about the deficit, really? How concerned are they about jobs, really? Who do they work for, really?
James,
You are 100% on target with your statement "the government funds PBS or not is based on an ideological policy, not a monetary one." Here is where you are spot off. The tax payers money should NOT be used to support one ideological policy over another!
The fact that liberal radio, broadcast and cable t.v. have not had the staying power has nothing to do with the actions of the government. It is because the product offered by liberals has not survived in an open, free market place of ideas!
Again your own words prove this with your wanting of the "fairness act" to "balance" what listeners hear and views see. What you are saying again is the that liberal programs will not survive with out help or protection from government. That the liberal message will be smothered with out the protection of government. Do you realize how weak that makes the liberal position sound?
Think about what your are saying, liberal policy's which for the most part are about growing government can not make with out the protection of government.
If liberal policy's were so great and wanted by the American people, there wouldn't be a opposition party much less conservative broadcasters.
If you resort to blaming the voter by being fooled, read some of the posts on liberal blogs about how unhappy they are that President Obama is not liberal enough. That knife cuts both ways.
I know that the back lash will great to this post, but think man what you are saying! You are saying that without the help of government liberal view points can not get out.
What government agency funded Limbaugh when he started? Same for the rest of the right wing talkers? As much as he sickens me, at least Ed Schultz is seemingly doing it the correct way, regardless his positions. It's not easy and his success is not in the bag, but that is the way it is supposed to be in America.
So Mo, in the Presidential election, who ya gonna vote for?
Sorry, forgot you cant vote in the USA or have to pay the taxes for the things you want us to have.
@ Browns
It has everything to do with extremely, no not extremely, ungodly, yes, ungodly wealthy corporations spending as much as they can to control the media to crush anything they feel has an inkling of "liberal" in it, including PBS. Next it will be the National Park systems, interstates, the Smithsonian, and so on and so forth until every form of "liberal"....is privatized....
Browns 44, I never said Liberal media would be smothered without government financial aide.I said the government passes legislation like the Telecommunications Act in 96 and the FCC rulings in 03 and 07 to help Right leaning corps to dominate the media. The influence of a trillion dollar corporation is immense and pervasive in politics.
PBS is not a political site, it has received federal funding because promotes the Public Good, something all chartered stations were supposed to do at TVs creation. But it has shown documentaries telling the unvarnished truth about the wars and various political subjects. And truth telling is practically a capital crime with Republicans. They want to execute Julian Assange for telling the truth.
Conservatives in politics and in business have obviously put a lot more time, money and planning than Liberals when it come to getting their message out. You guys might very well win the battle, but we we all lose when we are a totally Fascist nation.
James, your last paragraph sums it up perfectly. That's the right-wing endgame. Unfortunately, those going along won't realize this until it's too late.
On a side note, wasn't the Deity Jug Ears going to calm the geo political seas with his humility and power of persuasion? Isn't that what his Nobel was for. Seems like its hitting the fan.
Why don't we let America's largest monopoly, "The Public School Teacher's Union", take "just a few pennies" from each of the Teacher's union dues each paycheck to fund PBS?
The teacher's union is "America's largest monopoly"?
Where the hell did you hear that? Your sources please....
It't technically not a monopoly, it's a cartel. Like OPEC, you need oil and they create a cartel so you can overpay for it.
Well Mr. Darr:
Well said.
boltok "It't technically not a monopoly, it's a cartel. Like OPEC, you need oil and they create a cartel so you can overpay for it."
1. Compare and contrast public v private school teacher's wages.
2. Compare and contrast public v public school teacher's wages between unionized and right-to-work states.
James,
Again you are claiming that there is some grand conspiracy that is preventing liberal media from getting out.
"I said the government passes legislation like the Telecommunications Act in 96 and the FCC rulings in 03 and 07 to help Right leaning corps to dominate the media."
How do any of these laws favor conservative over liberal media outlets?
How has Ed Schultz managed to say on the air without out govt. funding if the deck is stacked against lib media? (having watched and listened to him, I am amazed he is carried anywhere, but not because of views but his production values suck)
"PBS is not a political site," That right there is the problem of the inbred liberal, they can not see their views as others see them. Run a totally bias free poll of 1000 people asking the question, "is PBS a political site", and see what your results would be.
"And truth telling is practically a capital crime with Republicans."
One response to that false statement, a simply quote you may recall; "I did not have sex with that woman..."
Your last paragraph is offensive and cannot be supported by any truth. It is simply a throw away line used by libs, when they are losing the debate and would not be accepted by libs if used by conservatives against them.
Think PBS will cover this story?
Art Robinson
In an effort to do my part in rescuing our country from the out-of-control Obama administration, last year I ran for Congress in Oregon’s 4th District against 12-term incumbent, far-left Democrat Peter DeFazio, co-founder of the House Progressive Caucus.
Although I won the nominations of the Republican, Independent and Constitution Parties and the endorsement of the Libertarian Party, a massive media smear campaign by DeFazio, paid for with money raised by MoveOn.org and from special interests favored by DeFazio in Washington, resulted in a 54.5 percent to 43.6 percent victory for DeFazio in a race that was expected to be much closer.
Although I had never run for public office before, I immediately announced my candidacy for Congress again in 2012.
However, when you take a stand for what’s right, sometimes there is retribution.
On Nov. 4, 2010, as soon as the election results were in and they were sure their candidate had won, faculty administrators at Oregon State University gave new meaning to the term “political payback.”
They initiated an attack on my three children – Joshua, Bethany and Matthew – for the purpose of throwing them all out of the OSU graduate school, despite their outstanding academic and research accomplishments. OSU is a liberal socialist Democrat stronghold in Oregon that received a reported $27 million in earmark funding from my opponent, Peter DeFazio, and his Democrat colleagues during the last legislative session.
Thus, Democrat activist David Hamby and militant feminist and chairman of the nuclear engineering department Kathryn Higley are expelling four-year Ph.D. student Joshua Robinson from OSU at the end of the current academic quarter and turning over the prompt neutron activation analysis facility Joshua built for his thesis work and all of his work in progress to Higley’s husband, Steven Reese. Reese, an instructor in the department, has stated that he will use these things for his own professional gain. Joshua’s apparatus, which he built and added to the OSU nuclear reactor with the guidance and ideas of his mentor, Michael Hartman, earned Joshua the award for best Masters of Nuclear Engineering thesis at OSU and has been widely complimented by scientists at prominent U.S. nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, faculty member Todd Palmer notified four-year Ph.D. student Bethany Robinson (OSU grade point average 3.89) that he was terminating her thesis work and taking all of her work in progress for himself. Some of Bethany’s graduate work has already been used, without credit to Bethany, in the thesis of another favored student now recently hired on the department faculty.
MO
how do the wages of private vs. public teachers compare in Canada?
I just want to throw one thing into this virulent debate.
Not all pre-school children have loving parents who read to them and those children are the very ones seated in front of the TV all day. PBS has taught them the things their parents should have been teaching them; like how to count, the alphabet and even to read.
Without PBS those children would have started school way behind their peers and they would have stayed behind all their school years, or until they dropped out.
Those kind of shows are not money makers and no commercial station would carry them. The same is true for the wonderful show on my PBS station last night. I so enjoyed 'Les Miserables' and would never have had the opportunity to see it without PBS.
Unfortunately, the ideologues cut the funding for PBS years ago and now they have to interrupt such great programs with fund raising segments.
Isn't there one good thing in America that the right wing doesn't want to do away with?
The money for PBS is a pittance compared to the things the right wing supports; the military and tax breaks for billionaires for example. De-funding PBS (along with other things the ideologues don't like) will not even make a dent in reducing the deficit. To say that it does is a dishonest red herring.
Modus,
What is your argument. Are your against right to work.
Nothing scares liberals more than libertarianism. They are polar opposites.
It would be a horror if individuals maintained their individual rights.
@ Anonymous
Why in the world would PBS cover a story about a small-time politician who advocates homeschooling with really controversial and out of date publications along with the King James Bible and creationism (no evolution) who tries to debunk human's role in global warming?? It's PBS not Maury Povich or Tyrah Banks...or Oprah
@ at anonymous there are a ton of liberal libertarians....classical libertarians, civil libertarians, egalitarians, libertarian socialism....
--"keep your rosaries off my damn ovaries!" --
MM,
Why shouldn't PBS cover the suffocation of any ones rights regardless of their political or religious view point should be the liberals real question? Or do civil rights only exist for those approved of by liberals?
If PBS is around to in the words of James to show "documentaries telling the unvarnished truth about the wars and various political subjects," why wouldn't this story be worth the tax payers dollar to cover?
In reading your post it is clear that in your point of view, civil rights only apply to those who agree with your positions on social and governmental issues.
So this is what the NEO LIBERAL stands for!
Shame on you for being so narrow minded that you would deny someone kids their Civil Rights because you disagreed with them, SHAME ON YOU MARY! You are not the opened minded liberal you would want us to beleive you are. Do you think the anchor children of "undocumented workers" should be give the treatment as MR. Robinson kids have?
SHAME ON YOU MARY FOR BEING SUCH A LIBERAL BIGOT.
@ anonymous...because all it is, is a political SCANDAL....not educational at all...
MM,
weak, very weak, that's not what James said PBS was good for. Did you read my post or his, or was this aNEO-LIBERAL knee jerk reaction>
Anonymous "MO how do the wages of private vs. public teachers compare in Canada?"
Here, let me google that for you. Or, if you're too lazy to even do that the answer is it depends (but public school employees*1, on average, make more than private school ones) (start at pg 11).
*1. Everything from janitors through teachers to top administrators (if the pattern holds, as you go down the chain, the public premium goes up. Eg: a public school janitor makes more than a private school janitor, while a teacher with a Master's makes less than his/her private school counterpart*2).
*2. It should be noted that the paper doesn't mention what perks were included. For instance, free or reduced tuition for employees of private schools, a not uncommon perk, aren't mentioned.
Darlene "I just want to throw one thing into this virulent debate."
Pah! Everybody knows that the State has no business in trying to "promote the general welfare" of The People. The State has two roles: punishing vice inside its borders and exploding swarthy foreigners outside them.
Anonymous "Modus, What is your argument."
That public school teachers aren't overpaid compared to their private school counterparts.
"Are your against right to work."
No, as a matter of fact, I’m not. I am, however, annoyed that non-union labor in shops with union laber enjoy most of the perks of union membership without having to pay dues.
"Nothing scares liberals more than libertarianism. They are polar opposites."
Conservatism ≠ libertarianism
Conservatism takes a smattering of libertarian thought, but only that which can be applied to deregulation and tax cuts or where "one man, one vote" becomes "one dollar, one vote". Social libertarianism, meanwhile, can't even get in the room.
"It would be a horror if individuals maintained their individual rights."
Like the right to join together and bargain collectively?
Anonymous @ this OSU scandal has no qualifiable facts. It's just hearsay. Why on earth would PBS cover that? Especially with tax funds? Leave that kind of nonsense to Jerry Springer or Fox News... the whole thing reeks of lies...we will see what happens when the whole thing unfolds, but I smell a rat, and I bet you it's living in 2 former OSU Grad student's dorm rooms....
either way...if they were liberal students and were going to BYU, PBS still shouldn't be covering the sh*t...hearsay is hearsay...
Mary,
"Anonymous @ this OSU scandal has no qualifiable facts. It's just hearsay"
Don't worry no one id gonna touch your damn ovaries with their rosary.
p.s. you know how to use spell check?
@ anonymous...please enlighten me...where have I made a spelling error?
Anonymous "p.s. you know how to use spell check?"
Spell check might not catch "qualifiable", since it is a word (even if "qualitative" or "quantifiable" would be a better fit), and "Especially with tax funds?", although a sentence fragment, is clear enough.
Also, take some time out and bask in the irony of your questioning the spellatical (note: not a word) skills of another the very sentence after you yourself forgot a "Do" before "you know how to use spell check?" and two after you said "Don't worry no one id gonna touch your damn ovaries with their rosary".
Note as well that, unless taken in the crassly literal sense, from sex-ed to contraception to abortion that counter-assertion is dead wrong.
In closing, while I have almost certainly made one mistake or another in this reply, your own post is a parade of fail. At least it's a short parade.
"Anonymous @ this OSU scandal has no qualifiable facts. It's just hearsay"
Is the word you want quantifiable, qualifier, qualified, or qualification? As MO would say, "Google it Mary, Google it"
@ MO, I stand by my post. I meant to use "qualifiable facts." I'm a free lance paralegal (which means I hated my job, so I just draft contracts now...ahem...notarize things for free....ahem...), and qualifiable "facts" refer to facts (or anything really, the word "facts" is used so loosely in a law office, well at least in a corporate law office... lawyers lie...a lot...witnesses...plaintiffs...defendants...they all lie...) that would qualify as evidence in court proceedings, but qualitative would work fine for you "non-legal office bitch" types.
@A- please go back under your bridge...or not...you are frighteningly entertaining...like a train wreck
LOOK it up Anonyhole qualifiable is in the regular dictionary.
The Keynesians' basic argument is that if the government increases spending during a downturn, it can employ people who are not working and the additional spending will have a "multiplier" effect throughout the economy. This can be true only if the new spending does not replace more productive private-sector spending and even more productive government spending, and uses the personal and business savings more productively than private parties would.
But in the real world, most government spending is far less productive than private spending. For example, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just released a report showing hundreds of redundant and duplicative government spending programs - hence, the forecasted multiplier effects never occur. Because the multipliers are not there, the Keynesians never reach their promised land of full employment so they are reduced to crying for more and more government spending without end.
The Keynesians have a consistent track record of failure. During the 1930s, government spending was greatly increased, yet the economy stayed in depression and the private economy revived only after the end of World War II when government spending was radically reduced. The Keynesians said this would renew the Depression - but they were wrong. They were wrong again in the 1970s when they said stagflation could not occur and the early 1980s when they said the Reagan supply-side program could not work. Mr. Zandi, Mr. Krugman and the rest were wrong when they said the Obama stimulus program would keep the unemployment rate below 8 percent. The only reason they are now trotted out is they give the big-government people an excuse to spend other people's money. How sad.
If Keynesian economics works why would there unemployment?
Keynesian economics 101, proof that it works every time it's tried(NOT).
Cuban state layoffs move slowly, workers uneasy.
Reuters) - Cuba's program to slash 500,000 state jobs nationwide has barely gotten off the ground in the provinces, as officials scramble to provide alternatives and deal with unease and anger over the layoffs.
Confusion about how to implement the cuts, a lack of alternative jobs and worker resistance have led President Raul Castro to drop a deadline to carry out the plan by March.
The layoffs, aimed at cutting expenditures by the debt-ridden government and increasing productivity on the Caribbean's biggest island, are a key part of economic reforms Castro says are critical to the survival of Cuban communism.
Let's see now, Gov. WALKER = HITLER
for trying to cut growth of pensions and laying off workers.
CUBA= WORKERS PARADISE?
What would Michael Moore do if he was in charge?
Obviously. This is why we should, as the GOP is attempting to do, bring back the conservative way.
You know. Hooverism.
Works for me!
Hey, Mo,
Since you seem to be an expert on everything, share with us what Hoover did wrong and what he should have done.
PORTLAND, Maine - The federal government Tuesday granted Maine a waiver of a key provision in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, citing the likelihood that enforcement could destabilize the state's market for individual health insurance.
The decision makes Maine the first state to receive a waiver of the requirement. Similar requests are pending from Kentucky, Nevada and New Hampshire.
My GOD what are these right wing Bible thumping southern rednecks think they are doing?
------------------------------------
"NPR Cans Ronald Schiller"
KNOW WHY? He told the truth!
GOOGLE it MO and Mary.
------------------------------------
BOSTON - Massachusetts mayors are warning state lawmakers that without dramatic changes to the way municipalities provide health care to their public workers, cities and towns will face dire fiscal straits for the foreseeable future, threatening core local services from police to road repairs.
Darn that Gov Walker, next thing you know liberal states will see the light..opps cats out of the bag.
NPR did not "can" Schiller. He had already resigned on March 6th, giving a two weeks notice to accept a job at the Aspen Institute, but after the tape came out, he agreed to resign today, and I'm glad you admitted that it was for telling the truth, because the reason he resigned earlier than planned was for being taped in an ACORN type of sting saying that the Tea Party was racist (very truthful indeed). Since NPR does not support those biased views, they had to pressure Schiller to resign early. He did say a bunch of stupid things, because the people in the sting were posing as people potentially donating 5 million dollars to NPR and Schiller was a Fundraising Exec. Strangely enough, he did say that NPR could operate without government funds, which is his opinion since he is only a fundraiser; he doesn't work in accounting or do the books. They only receive 10%. If you ever listen to an NPR pledge drive, you can hear the desperation for funds through memberships, but they do have a lot of listeners, it's just that not everyone can afford to chip in right now. A lot of people call in and say that. They donate what they can, but they can't afford the amount to become a member this year...etc. I'm glad that you tried to school someone who listens to NPR practically 24/7 though; I find it very amusing.
Browns 44,
Are you claiming Cuba applies the Keynesian approach? Are you serious? When was the last time it was fully applied in this country? It's been a while.
And whom on this site has ever implied that Cuba is a "workers paradise?
One example. I'm waiting....
NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller has resigned, NPR just announced.
This follows yesterday's news that then-NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller (no relation) was videotapped slamming conservatives and questioning whether NPR needs federal funding during a lunch with men posing as members of a Muslim organization (they were working with political activist James O'Keefe on a "sting.")
Vivian Schiller (2008 file photo).
Enlarge Michael Benabib/AP
Vivian Schiller (2008 file photo).
Vivian Schiller (2008 file photo).
Michael Benabib/AP
Vivian Schiller (2008 file photo).
Vivian Schiller quickly condemned Ron Schiller's comments, and he moved up an already-announced decision to leave NPR and resigned effectively immediately. But Ron Schiller's gaffe followed last fall's dismissal of NPR political analyst Juan Williams, for which Vivian Schiller came under harsh criticism and NPR's top news executive, Ellen Weiss, resigned.
Schiller and Schiller in one week, awesome. That's what happens when these cockroaches are exposed to the light. Now time to defund these bigots.
The best is yet to come!
Browns44,
LOL on Cuba!
Here's an oldy but goody about the infinite wisdom of the "Central Planners" in Cuba:
"Cuban Economy Worsens, Citizens Face Toilet Paper Shortages by The Huffington Post 08-11-09 12:48 PM
The extent of Cuba's economic crisis has become so severe that officials say the country is in danger of running out of toilet paper and other supplies, Reuters reports."
Lets hope Cuba's President Raul Castro keeps enough state employees in the state run "Nationale Toilet Paper Company de Cuba" or there is going to be a lot of stranded Cubans!
I just hope Michael Moore gets stranded on the toilet bowl the next time he is visiting Cuba! LOL
I don't even get it. Is it illegal to think the Tea Party is racist now?
Call the President a liar, a communist, a socialist, a pretend American and a racist, get a raise. Point out that the guys with all the racist signs are racists, lose your ability to work in America. Freedom of speech, Joe McCarthy style. What values does America stand for anyway?
Breitbart and O'Keefe are lying scumbag assholes and so is the Tea Party!
The Tea Party is racist!
1. 'Newsflash: Fundraisers agree with rich nutjobs for $5M'
2. You're surprised to find out that liberals don't respect you? You don't fool me. Modern conservatism is built on the idea that "pointy headed liberals" and "ivory tower eggheads" "think they're smarter than we are", so it's a bit late to clutch your pearls now. I'm not surprised that some stuffy Village liberal from NPR doesn't respect Teabaggers. I don't, and I'm white trash. I'd have more respect for you if you'd been Constitution-lovin' deficit hawks when a Republican was in the White House. You'd potentially be running one less war, two less tax cuts and be in far better shape to weather the recession. (Not to mention the whole "orturtay", "itmogay" things).
But you're only that when the wrong people are [nominally] in control. And yet you want respect. Bizarre.
3. Obviously the Teabaggers aren't racist*. That's why they (and the Cynical Manipulators who are feeding them) have to go out of their way to find other ways of dogwhistling "nigger". That's why a guy who essentially pushing GOP points from the 90s (Cap & Trade, Universal Mandate, tax cuts) is somehow a "secret Muslim" "Kenyan usurper" who attended a "madrassa", who has "anti-colonial values" and a "voodoo" grandmother, and who, with "ACORN" "New Black Panthers" and "Shirley Sherrod", is pushing "reparations".
They don't even have to be consistent in the dogwhistling. It all says "Not one of us".
When the Bush/Gore election settled out I said "Well. I hope he's better than he looks."
When the social conservatives lose an election it's "Usurper!". Last time they gathered around Clinton's cock. This time it's brown.
* Note: not all Teabaggers are racist. I would say that most probably aren't (at least, not on a conscious level). There is, however a nasty nativist and xenophobic undercurrent to the group.
Mo,
How many Tea party people do you know personality? How many Tea party members live in your fair city? How many Tey party parties have you attended?
Do you have an answer to the Hoover question yet?
Focus MO, Focus, one problem to fix @ a time
THIS IS THE TEA PARTIES AND BUSH'S FAULT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans, who are suffering from high gasoline prices, believe the United States is on the wrong track by a large margin, presenting a fresh challenge for President Barack Obama, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Wednesday.
The proportion of Americans who believe the country is on the right track dropped 7 points in the past month to 31 percent, and 64 percent think the country is on the wrong track.
It was the highest number of people in an Ipsos poll who believe the country is going in the wrong direction since Obama took office in January 2009.
====================================
Or maybe it's the fact that liberalism does not work and the majority of Americans reject it.
Conservatism does not work and most Americans do not support it. Conservatism is an abject failure, unless you are a billionaire. Conservatism failing America since 1776.
Ron Schiller resigned from the Aspen Institute.
Here is the full statement from the Aspen Institute
"Ron Schiller has informed us that, in light of the controversy surrounding his recent statements, he does not feel that it’s in the best interests of the Aspen Institute for him to come work here."
The Aspen Institute is headed by Walter Isaacson, whose biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein are first rate.
Told ya the best was yet to come!!
The more Lameman whines the more I enjoy this.
The more of this type investigation O'Keefe does, the more I like him. This is democracy and freedom of press at its finest.
Defunding this socialist propaganda machine next. The cockroaches must be scared how quickly they dumped Vivaian. Cantor want to defund.
This has put me in an excellent mood today.
O'Keefe does not do investigation, he does slander and lies and propaganda.
Excellent post, college of Steve Prefontaine, Mighty Ducks.
"us said...
Think PBS will cover this story?
Art Robinson
In an effort to do my part in rescuing our country from the out-of-control Obama administration, last year I ran for Congress in Oregon’s 4th District against 12-term incumbent, far-left Democrat Peter DeFazio, co-founder of the House Progressive Caucus.
Although I won the nominations of the Republican, Independent and Constitution Parties and the endorsement of the Libertarian Party, a massive media smear campaign by DeFazio, paid for with money raised by MoveOn.org and from special interests favored by DeFazio in Washington, resulted in a 54.5 percent to 43.6 percent victory for DeFazio in a race that was expected to be much closer.
Although I had never run for public office before, I immediately announced my candidacy for Congress again in 2012.
However, when you take a stand for what’s right, sometimes there is retribution.
On Nov. 4, 2010, as soon as the election results were in and they were sure their candidate had won, faculty administrators at Oregon State University gave new meaning to the term “political payback.”
They initiated an attack on my three children – Joshua, Bethany and Matthew – for the purpose of throwing them all out of the OSU graduate school, despite their outstanding academic and research accomplishments. OSU is a liberal socialist Democrat stronghold in Oregon that received a reported $27 million in earmark funding from my opponent, Peter DeFazio, and his Democrat colleagues during the last legislative session.
Thus, Democrat activist David Hamby and militant feminist and chairman of the nuclear engineering department Kathryn Higley are expelling four-year Ph.D. student Joshua Robinson from OSU at the end of the current academic quarter and turning over the prompt neutron activation analysis facility Joshua built for his thesis work and all of his work in progress to Higley’s husband, Steven Reese. Reese, an instructor in the department, has stated that he will use these things for his own professional gain. Joshua’s apparatus, which he built and added to the OSU nuclear reactor with the guidance and ideas of his mentor, Michael Hartman, earned Joshua the award for best Masters of Nuclear Engineering thesis at OSU and has been widely complimented by scientists at prominent U.S. nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, faculty member Todd Palmer notified four-year Ph.D. student Bethany Robinson (OSU grade point average 3.89) that he was terminating her thesis work and taking all of her work in progress for himself. Some of Bethany’s graduate work has already been used, without credit to Bethany, in the thesis of another favored student now recently hired on the department faculty."
Mary Mayhem: "Keep your rosaries off our Ovaries", Doubtful any man would touch you with a ten foot poll.
Hey look Darlene made a post, isn't that a great post Tom The Bigot Degan made that Reagan was president when he should have been in an assisted care facility being fed oatmeal. No doubt, Liberals, Democrats claim the Klan as their own, continue genocide today.
NPR Funding, 5.6% claimed but.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/10/how_public_is_nprs_funding.html
"10.1% Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds
That 10.1% that comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is 99% provided by -- you guessed it -- the federal government. Those university funds, whenever they are provided by a public university, represent taxpayer-provided dollars. We can safely assert that three out of four university-supported stations are publicly funded, which means that more than 10% (three-quarters of that 13.6%) is taken from the taxpayer's pockets."
And on and on it goes.
Smoke and Mirrors!
Laneman, did O'Keefe give Schiller a script to read. Nope. He was exposed being himself. That is why they won't let BHO off the teleprompter. What could come out of his mouth would sink 100 years of communistic progress in America.
Must every issue be so polarizing? I think starting out by saying conservatives hate the public is over the top. In any event, I’ll throw in what might be a minority conservative view on PBS.
I have enjoyed much of the PBS programming in the past, though I do see a philosophical/political bent. On the flip side, there was some pretty decent conservative programming as well, but not as much. But, there is nothing in life that isn’t slanted, whether public or private. For anyone to assert that the government should or shouldn’t do ANYTHING is, in and of itself, a philosophical slant.
In some respects, I don’t think the political/ideological issue holds much water with me. PBS cannot hold a candle to the “progressive” slant exhibited in most of the general programming out there (not to mention immoral filth) on networks and cable. In some respects, I’d take 10 more PBS’s and do away with the rest if I could. There NO station out there where I agree with everything that if put forward, but I do applaud PBS for at least having class. I’ve never had to flip past “Jerry Springer”, “Jersey Shore”, or “Jackass” on PBS to my recollection.
In the search for “veritas, bonitas, decorum”, PBS may not, in my opinion, always hit on the first, may be “so-so” on the second, but it has succeeded in the third. Modern programming pretty much misses all three regularly. I do think I’d miss it for that reason.
Anonymous "Mo, How many Tea party people do you know personality? How many Tea party members live in your fair city? How many Tey party parties have you attended?"
None, none and none. That has no effect on the many polls that have been done, and their comparison to the same polls done with non-Tea Partiers.
Laneman "O'Keefe does not do investigation, he does slander and lies and propaganda."
To be fair, it appears that this one wasn't overdubbed and misleadingly edited.
Harley A
I don't care if PBS stays or goes, I just don't want any of my tax dollars used to keep it in business.
GREAT NEWS TD and JG! LET THE FLEEBAGGERS HIDEOUT FOREVER!
Wis. GOP strips public workers' bargaining rights
By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press Scott Bauer, Associated Press – 9 mins ago
MADISON, Wis. – Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate voted Wednesday night to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers after discovering a way to bypass the chamber's missing Democrats.
All 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois nearly three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to consider Gov. Scott Walker's so-called "budget repair bill" — a proposal introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall.
The Senate requires a quorum to take up any measures that spend money. But Republicans on Wednesday split from the legislation the proposal to curtail union rights, which spends no money, and a special conference committee of state lawmakers approved the bill a short time later.
Poor Ed Schultz of the Ed Show:
Its good to see Ed's veins popping out of his neck over the Wisconsin Senate vote Wednesday evening. No doubt he has also sharted his pants over it.
Just get over it Ed, people have had enough of you fu*ked up socialists wrecking this country!
Obama’s approval rating among independents fell to 37 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday, down from 47 percent a month ago.
THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!
Special Ed Schultz admits his radio show used paid callers plus,he admits that some of the paid callers were staff of unnamed Senators.
“So there were, and I’m not going to reveal the names, there were a few Senate offices that got involved and got some interns involved and they started to survey and coach these kids up and a few of their communications people were coaching them up on how to call a talk show.” Special Ed Schultz 3/9/2011
BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE!
(Gallup) — President Barack Obama averaged 46% job approval the week of Feb. 28—March 6, his lowest weekly average since mid-December. Obama’s weekly approval rating had steadily improved from mid-December to late January, peaking at 50% during the final two weeks in January, before dropping below that mark in February.
Obama is now essentially back to where he was in the immediate post-election phase of 2010.
Last week, an average of 79% of Democrats approved of Obama, down from 84% in late January.
GAWD I LOVE THIS HOPE AND CHANGE.
MO,
Do you have an answer to the Hoover question yet?
Anonymous "MO, Do you have an answer to the Hoover question yet?"
The opposite of stimulus. Pulling up the drawbridge.
In the modern colloquial sense it's the State closing the purse strings (by, say, slashing discressionary spending during a recession). It's "belt tightening" and "austerity", which by a strange coincidence happened after the Titans of Wall Street got bailed out (2010 was a record year for bonuses there. It beat the previous record...from 2009. Feeling better about the recession now?) and after most of the rest of the upper class (and the pundit caste) pretty much recovered. When Wall Street almost goes tits up the cry is "Jobs!" and our Good and Honorable elected Representatives can't shovel them cash fast enough; when Main Street crumbles the cry changes to "Deficit!" and they slash spending.
Oh, and I should probably note that Hoover dipped his toes in to Stimulus near the end of his administration.
And it should also be noted that, having been out of school for many a year, I'm far from a Hoover expert (or "Hoovpert").
The best is yet to come!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-09/gross-drops-government-debt-from-pimco-s-flagship-fund-zero-hedge-reports.html
The biggest and the smartest are leaving the ship USS DEBT.
Do you monopoly money spending liberals know what this means? Take out your Keynesian text books and go to the chapters on crowding out, higher interest rates, currency devaluation, and stagflation.
February, a month with 28 days, had a deficit of $223 billion. You fools wont need NPR or PBS, because you wont be able to afford the electric when the currency goes.
Anon. Anyone in Ed Shultz's audience has to be brain damaged. I love wathcing that guy explode. He's a phony of the highest order.
MO
You are right, Hoover did many of the same things FDR and now Obama have done.
Liberalism failing American since 1931.
Tom, and the rest, don't blame me for this, blame MO for posting the truth.
MO said,
"When Wall Street almost goes tits up the cry is "Jobs!" and our Good and Honorable elected Representatives can't shovel them cash fast enough; when Main Street crumbles the cry changes to "Deficit!" and they slash spending."
MO is now a citizen of the U.S.A.?
MO is a man in search of a country that gives a sheet. He is a man of the world.
Anonymous "MO is now a citizen of the U.S.A.?"
No. "Your" sounds so accusatory. It's "our" in the sense that your madness knocked my RRSP down. See how accusatory that sounds?
Would you instead like me to regale you with the story of my own country avoiding the Mortgage Crisis with adequate oversight and regulation?
Anonymous "MO You are right, Hoover did many of the same things FDR and now Obama have done. Liberalism failing American since 1931.
1. How did the nothing he did up to 1932 help?
2. Hoover brought in a 2 cent tax on checks (which doesn't sound like much, but that's equivalent to a 33 cent tax per transaction, and back when lots of checks were used). What equivalent action has Obama done? The muddle of heathcare reform? Mild bank re-regulation (that's easy to work around, has little oversight and won't be enforced)? Continuing the "temporary" tax cuts? "Temporary" payroll tax holiday? A too small Stimulus that went out at the same time states contracted their spending?
boltok "Wisconsin Death Threats: Tea Partiers dont act like this, liberals do:"
Yes, yes, yes. I know, boltok. "Everything liberals do is wrong". Your side wouldn't do things like that. No way!
I'm done with you, boltok. Read what you just wrote, then read these three reasons why.
You're beyond Partisan. You're Tribal.
So, if it's the Republicans that want to 'dumb down America', how come they are the ones for school vouchers? You know, trying to get out from under the liberal govt schools.
If you like your tv and radio to be govt sponsored there are several utopias where you can go enjoy them. N Korea, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, etc.
Dems not taking debt seriously
In the context of federal spending that will total something like $3.8 trillion this year, $61 billion is a rounding error. Yet the Democrats resisting that amount in House-approved cuts say it will wreck the economy while leaving children unschooled, taking food from the mouths of the elderly, and casting disabled people into the streets.
Laughter is the only appropriate response to such predictions. In these absurd times, when both parties quibble over crumbs while the layer cake of debt rises higher and higher, laughter is a mark of fiscal seriousness.
How else should one greet a New York Times editorial that concedes the federal deficit, projected to be $1.6 trillion this year, is “too large for comfort” but calls $61 billion in cuts “ruinous”? Or a press release from the Every Child Matters Education Fund that deems them “harsh” and “extreme”?
The cuts represent less than 2 percent of the total budget.
Consider education spending, which Obama treats as an unalloyed good. Between 1961-62 and 2006-07, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education, per-pupil spending in public schools more than tripled in real terms, while student achievement stagnated. This was a “job-creating investment” only in the sense that it created jobs for public school teachers.
Picking up the president’s investment theme, The New York Times says it’s “obfuscating nonsense” to declare that “we’re broke,” as House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) likes to do. “A country with a deficit is not necessarily any more ‘broke’ than a family with a mortgage or a college loan,” the Times explains.
Suppose the mortgage is twice the home’s current value, the college loan was used for an unfinished degree in anthropology, and the family cannot make payments on either without borrowing or stealing because it has no income of its own. Now this family looks more like the federal government.
MO,
So Hoover's problem was he didn't raise taxes enough and spend enough tax dollars?
While FDR raised taxes and spend a boat load of money he didn't have, how long using FDR's method before the depression ended?
Didn't our current "worse economy since the great Depression" end according to the White House in June of 2010?
This is a new program on Tom's site, it's called
"Quiz a Canuck"
Mo, what do you do for a living? Live off Canadian welfare checks?
Anonymous "MO, So Hoover's problem was he didn't raise taxes enough and spend enough tax dollars?"
*Sigh* Hoover's problem, as I thought I showed with the check example, was that when he tinkered the cost tended to be greater than the gain (the hit to economic activity exceeded the minor extra revenue. Contractionary. Sort of like the GOP's untargeted, except in the sense that they hit the poor to middle class disproportionately attempts to cut the budget. And Obama is helping them. By meeting them halfway. So that they can move the goalposts. Again).
"While FDR raised taxes and spend a boat load of money he didn't have, how long using FDR's method before the depression ended?"
It took a World War to drag the country out of recession. That was the biggest Stimulus of all (then, post war, the US was left as one of the few countries that hadn't been flattened by the products of that Stimulus).
"Didn't our current 'worse economy since the great Depression' end according to the White House in June of 2010?"
The Recession is pretty much over for those at the top. Wall Street is booming (look at the DOW). It just hasn't "trickled down".
That you're still up shit creek is all your fault. If you were smarter, you should've been born with the right parents. Rich ones.
Modusoperandi, you said...
"The Recession is pretty much over for those at the top. Wall Street is booming (look at the DOW). It just hasn't "trickled down".
That you're still up shit creek is all your fault. If you were smarter, you should've been born with the right parents. Rich ones."
Tom's "new" loyal fan base hasn't figured this out. Either they refuse to, or are incapable. Not only has "trickle-down" been a ironic wet-dream for them, but they continue to hold on to illusions that it's just a matter of time and the uber-wealthy will bestow their kindness and generosity upon them, too. They haven't figured out that they're being gamed and used just like every one else. They're still in their slumber. Hopefully, before it's too late, they'll awaken and see what's really happening.
i'm gonna watch the Ed Show tonight. i normally don't but with the Wisconsin Senate passing that bill, i can't wait to see Ed's veins pop out of his neck again LOL! i hope Ed keels over and croaks live on TV!
Tom Degan, i also posted the following on JGs site:
Jefferson's Guardian,
no doubt about it, you must be a mediocre teacher in the public school system who could not cut it in the private sector!
my real wages have been constantly going up and i recently got more stock options within the last few days because i PRODUCE FOR MY COMPANY!
keep up your marxist rants, i find them extremely funny!
JG,
Ignore MO, what does he know about the USA, he's a Canadian
Well it seems the disappearing post syndrome has hit me.
The gist of my comment was on the trolls inhabition Tom's corner of the world today are trolls of the highest order and that to try and understand them which is almost impossible to read the article from the following link:
www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/ugly-trolls-set-internet-freedom-in-flames/story-e6frg6zo-1226015791415
More power to the Modusops of the world who can think and present rational arguement.
Den from Oz
Trolls from down under.
Anonymous, you said...
"Ignore MO, what does he know about the USA, he's a Canadian."
He knows more about what's going on in the United States than you'll ever know.
Could it be because you're a victim of the public school system you despise so much?
Ironic, isn't it? ;-)
By the way, I've worked in the private sector all my life, at the management level and also at the executive level for start-ups. As far as your stock options, they're meaningless. Big deal! Until you're issued stock as part of your compensation package (as I have been), you're a small cog in a large machine (a "worker bee"), like everyone else. You're apparently either: (1) too young to realize this, or (2) stupid. I'm guessing both.
I bet MO was watching Jug Ears talk about bullying while Rome burns yesterday. I'm sure MO was getting teary eyed. How much would anyone bet that MO got his ass kicked daily in grade school.
BTW, no need to employ a geographic rational to ignore MO.
Gene Haddock "So, if it's the Republicans that want to 'dumb down America', how come they are the ones for school vouchers? You know, trying to get out from under the liberal govt schools."
It depends. Seriously! With good oversight and vouchers only applying to properly certified schools, and other restrictions, it has potential.
With vouchers pulling money out the public pool to subsidize students who can afford to go to private schools that can pick and choose the best of those applying…not so much. All that does is scrape the cream off the top of the public school system, which doesn't make schools better, it just shuffles the good (and wealthy enough) to one pile.
Also, the issue of the Establishment Clause comes up, and the Supreme Court settled it with a decision that's a little more accomodationist than is comfortable. Why uncomfortable? If that's okay, the line will inevitably be pushed towards, say, YEC in science class (and with little statistical improvement, and drops in some subjects, in testing to boot). And if you don't find that uncomfortable, substitute, say, "State-funded conservative Southern Baptist charter school" with "State-funded madrassa".
And both of those (less the madrassa bit) are Republican (less the Mods, who appear to be pretty much extinct) goals.
Massachusetts brought in school reform a while ago. It added testing. Of teachers. And training. Of teachers. ("If you can't teach well, we won't hire you, and if you don't keep your skills up we'll fire you"). It worked quite well, bumping the state up in rankings of states by student grades/graduation rates/college acceptance rates/etc. That's the good kind of reform; focussing on outcomes over costs.
But that could be characterized as "liberal reform". Republican reform, as above, is either gutting the system, or using it as cover for letting religion suckle on the Teat of State.
I am a retired teacher. I taught for 16 years in NE Oklahoma and joined the NEA w/i 2 weeks of signing my contract. I became the treasurer of my local union in my
2nd year & I became a teacher-lobbiest during my 3rd year.
I have been in the "trenches" and have worked for 4 principals.
I have NEVER heard/read the following opinion (held by many teachers & myself) or supposition...maybe to some degree a factoid...in any public media about the REAL reason why incompetant teachers get tenure.
The standard protocol to obtain tenure is to work for 3 years and obtain a satisfactory or higher yearly evaluation (a form w/ weighted values for various observed behaviors) based on 3-4 unannounced classroom observations by the principal (or designee = Assistant Prin.) for 10-25 minutes.
Nonteaching behaviors are also part of the total report. The bottom line is that new teachers rated below average or lower are always given a 2nd year to teach. For this second year, they are assigned to a more seasoned & professional teacher in hopes that the poorly rated teacher will learn better teaching and classroom management skills from their "mentor". The mentor has no power to fire or terminate a fellow teacher...only to give written evaluations of the 2nd year teacher's performance to the principal[some states require all NEW teachers to have a mentor-tenored teacher assigned to them during the 1st yr..I knew a 1st yr. special ed. teacher who had an ART teacher as her mentor. She had no mentoring and mentor only came to her to sign the required paperwork every 3 months...she was scared not to sign so she did...she was a great teacher!!].
The 2-year file of deficient behavior/lack of improvement is
sent to the school board which meets in closed session for personnel issues. Along with the principal and school district lawyers, they decide if each nonproficient teacher case has enough strong evidence to send the teacher a nonrenewal of employment letter. If the lawyers think the case is not airtight...as it should be...the discussion turns to whether or not to pursue it. The crux of the matter comes down to union or non-union membership status of the teacher.
It is generally perceived that teachers are young & a recent college grad. A non-union teacher will probably not be able to hire a lawyer but can still present his/her case before an open session of the school board...maybe causing some bad press. A union teacher has access to free legal counsel at the dismisal hearing. The union is involved to ensure that the teacher's due process rights are protected.
Good teachers do NOT want poor quality teachers wasting the educational time of children. Teacher unions do NOT want it either...they only want to protect due process rights.
The real culprits for keeping lousy teachers are the PRINCIPALS, SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS & STATE LAWMAKERS who do not keep or require accurate & detailed records of the nonprofessional behavior they see in the 3-4 observation visits lasting 10-25 minutes...at the maximum that is only 100 minutes to observe poor teaching per 9 months!! Would any of us want our DOCTORS to be observed for 100 mins. during their post-med school hospital-internships!!!???
Zzzzzzzz
Actually, I found your writing a good read..with multiple smiles.. Thanks for sharing on Kick Butt Liberals FB page!
Thank you, Kathy! I'm glad I can mine a little humor out of the cesspool!
All the best,
Tom
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