Oct. 25, 2010 – PPM – Subsidized “Public” Media

This week's PET PEEVE MONDAY (PPM) is about Subsidized Public Media.

The issue finally saw the light of day this past week when NPR fired Juan Williams. Williams, a NPR journalist, was expressing his view on a non-NPR station. Unfortunately, Williams comments were on a non-liberal network, Fox News. For many years, the US government and US TAXPAYERS have been footing part of the bill for Public Radio and Television. Last year the Corporation for Public Broadcasting received $420 million. If conservatives, liberals, and independents pay for this, shouldn't Public Broadcasting be neutral? But they are not.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is the parent of NPR. Why can't it survive on its own? It should be out there in the private marketplace, and compete along with everyone else. Why should the government be in the broadcasting business at all?

Also this year, the House of Representatives approved $170 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. Art is the in the eye of the beholder. Why can't IT survive on its own?That's $590 million spent on items that should be left to stand on their own merits. Did we subsidize buggy whip manufacturers after the dawn of the automobile? I remember that everyone had a diaper service before the invention of Pampers. Are we still paying those guys? Dirty Diaper Pick-Up REALLY was a "*hit Job."

You have to wonder how much of the annual US budget is spent on wasteful or non-essential items.

Forget about pork barrel spending, let's just eliminate the items that get an annual stipend for no other reason than, "they always have."

I would endorse and campaign for someone that promised to review the US Budget, line by line, and eliminate waste.

I grew up on PBS' Sesame Street. We didn't have Wiggles, Dora, or Teletubbies.

I'm sure the characters on Sesame Street could adapt to the current environment without our tax dollars.

Right?