So yeah.. that happened. Well, one step towards happening...
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Thursday to end federal funding for National Public Radio, following recent controversies that entangled some of the organization's senior executives.
Republicans said the move, which passed by a vote of 228-192, was motivated by the need to cut spending in the face of a record federal budget deficit.
NPR, which has about 27 million listeners, was shaken last week when its chief executive, Vivian Schiller, resigned after the organization's chief fund-raiser was secretly videotaped making disparaging remarks about members of the conservative Tea Party movement and questioning whether NPR needed government funding.
Who needed car talk anyway? Bootstraps, bitches! Fix your own car without two annoying brothers who laugh at their own shit way too much...
Fuck man! Arthur sure has had a lot of left leaning guest stars. We better defund PBS! So is this the beginning of the end for National Public Radio? Whatever will Garrison Keillor do now? Well, I guess the answer to that is "Beg for money more often". Time to get your fill on local college station tote bags!
But let's face it, it's not like this will actually make it through the senate. Oh wait.. it's the Dems we're talking about. Why did I, for even a second, assume that given the voting history for the democratic senators over the past two years, assume that this had any chance of not getting passed?
We all know what will happen. The democrats will pass it in the spirit of compromise hoping the republicans will start to try cutting less - and of course they wont - and despite Obama saying he's against cutting NPR funding, he'll put pen to paper and sign this mother fucker to law. Why? Well, why not. It's Obama we're talking about.
I mean, do you know that Fresh Air is a reasonable alternative to Glenn Beck and of course that means that we have balanced media in this country. But no, that shit has got to go! I guess you should have donated to your local NPR affiliate during their last pledge drive.
I know KPCC just finished theirs. Here's hoping that enough community college kids tossed in their $11 per unit to keep the station alive. But man, isn't this a son of a bitch. It goes to show you that James O'Keefe has more influence over American domestic policy than thousands of protesters in Madison. All by dressing like a pimp to shut down acorn and having fellas dress in Arab stereotypes.
For those of you who are worried about shows like This American Life, you shouldn't be. Those are still being produced and will still be able to be purchased. As the local stations will still be given funding. But they can't use that funding to buy NPR or American Public Radio shows.
What's funny about that is that This American Life needs the money the least. TAL is honestly a show that could be made very cheaply without sacrificing much of the production values. But the news outfits of NPR actually require resources to stay alive.
And while I used to be a big fan of Radiolab, it's really starting to annoy me these days. Especially when they just echo something on and on in the background. Echo something on and on in the background. Echo something on and on in the background. Echo something on and on in the background.
There's seriously a good show trapped under all those layers of pretentiousness. I just wish they wouldn't put too much frosting and sugar-toppings on the program, with less it would be much more listenable.
NPR funding basically supports your local station news, which is really the only valid service public radio provides to begin with. Without funding you can pretty much kiss any print or online news service via their website goodbye.
If they lose federal funding, NPR will have to end up asking for money on the air. I mean, how the hell can that happen in this great nation of ours?
We already have to deal with that twice a year for a week. Ugh!
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