TVSquad

It is obvious that Bush really wants to cut funding for programs like "Frontline" and "NOVA".

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Thank God we have a Compassionate Conservative in office.

What a piece of shit.

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PBS shows are too smart for him, so he has to get rid of them.

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WTF i cannot beleive this pbs is the only channel that doesn't have violent kid shows he has got be able to find better things to cut than dragon tales

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This White House seems intent on eradicating PBS from the airwaves by hook or by crook. Who do you think has borne the brunt of the Republican-controlled FCC's "crackdown" on bad words? PBS. A single fine from the FCC against a PBS station will bankrupt it. A fine against a commercial network is little more than an annoyance, commercial broadcasters rake in cash by the barrel.
The Bush White House won't be happy until "Nova" is replaced with a "faith-based" science show that claims Earth is only 5,000 years old; until "Frontline" stops exposing the truth behind such campaign contributors as credit card and oil companies; until shows like "Sesame Street" that teach kids to think for themselves are eradicated completely from the airwaves.

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Why does Sesame Street, which earns literally a billion dollars or more a year in merchanising, etc., need a taxpayer-supported government subsidy?

This is pure political fear-mongering, and readers should be too bright to fall for it.

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It's total crap, why can't PBS be like every other freakin channel and support themselves. It's exactly whats wrong with the left. They think goverment should do everything for you, including pay your bills. I think it's a huge waste of money, especially since PBS is run by liberlas today who are feeding thier own political crap down kids throats.

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As the years have passed, PBS has added more advertising. Granted, it's not during broadcasts, but between shows it sometimes gets a bit ridiculous for a network that's supposed to already be funded by our money.

If Sesame Street and Charlie Rose are truly "good enough", they won't be leaving the airwaves any time soon, even if PBS goes belly up. I think that kind of competition is the way a lot of America works and it's served this country well for over two centuries.

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Eh...PBS SMEE.B.S. I don't watch PBS anymore...since I was 10...that was 9 years ago...if they cannot support themselves then I say call in the Trumpster.

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Less than a week ago I was watching a pledge drive on PBS where they said only 7% of their total budget came from "the government" and 50% was viewer donations. Obviously, their point was how important viewer support is.

Now, assuming this person wasn't lying, that means a 25% cut in government funding would mean less than a 2% cut in their total budget.

Given there is no reason for any tax payer funding of PBS anything they get should be pure gravy. A reduction of this amount shouldn't have much of an impact on programming. They need to learn to operate on their on revenue.

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I love how teaching tolerance is "liberal crap."

And you republicans wonder why we think we're better than you...

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Oh, my bad. CaliberSRT4 doesn't watch PBS anymore. Might as well pull the plug since Mr. grown up doesn't watch anymore. He was our sole target audience.

Seriously though. When did this country become full of full-fledged morons? Has it always been this way, or am I just noticing it more?

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PBS is a vital institution. Personally, I tune in every week when there are new episodes of NOVA and Frontline. The one, a hard science show that more Americans should watch and learn from - not the pop junk that passes for science programming on Discovery (don't get me wrong, I love the MythBusters and Dirty Jobs, but their science shows leave a lot to be desired). The other, the best produced hour long investigative journalism hour anywhere on television.

As for how much of PBS' budget comes from the government, it isn't a number that is spread evenly throughout - some programs get tax-payer funding, while others are strictly locally produced by individual stations, funded by foundations, corporate donations, and viewers contributions. But the bulk of children's programming does recieve a fair amount of its financing from government, and that's as it should be. Heavens, imagine if the last 30 years didn't include Mister Rogers, Sesame Street, and other shows like Reading Rainbow and instead where replaced by the Hasbro and Mattel Fighting Battlebot "Education" Hour.

All of this says nothing of the PBS financed and produced historical mini-series documentaries, such as Ken Burns' Civil War series from the 90s. If the benefits of financing such things as those aren't enough to convince some people that partial government funding of PBS isn't a good thing, then I guess I should get ready for being called an elitist liberal again.

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If we want to eliminate funding to PBS, that's one thing. But to chip away at their funding -- especially when the $114 million savings realistically won't matter in a $2.9 trillion budget -- is, in my opinion, petty.

I don't have a problem with requiring PBS to operate within its own revenue, as long as we have the same expectations for other companies. Personally, I'd like to see the corporations that own for-profit television stations stop taking the tax breaks and credits that we fund.

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Makes perfect sense. Bush needs to finance another six hours of the war against Iraq. These cuts oughta do it.

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I love PBS - we watch a lot of it in our house, from the animal shows to Sound Stage to documentaries. Maybe it's because we cut off our cable over three years ago - we got tired of paying Time Warner for 100 channels full of crap.

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Doesn't the CPB also fund National Public Radio? Better fire up those pledge drives...

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http://m.podshow.com/media/540/episodes/41259/jerseytodd-41259-12-10-2006.mp3

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Perhaps the true tragedy in all of this is that if Bush were to watch something other than football, he might learn something. But then being a member of the elite he probably also feels that the best way to keep us under his thumb is to keep us stupid. Which may explain all of the troubles with “No Child Left Behind”

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how many of you bleeding hearts actually watch pbs? Not many out there, huh?

Great shows on pbs. So great, many of them are already on cable. So, what's the point of continuing it? For liberal indoctination by the likes of bill moyers? Is that where my tax money is going to?

After reading many of the "as usual" nasty republican insults, it seems that it would do y'all good to actually watch the kids shows you menion. There's no place for your hatred on them, so you might actually learn to practice what you preach.

Liberals: so high and mighty, yet widely ignored. and for good reason.

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