Chalk this up to one of those items that got lost amidst all of the other crap that goes on in Congress. Last week, in a vote of 357-72, members of the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejected President Bush's plan to eliminate the $420 million dollar subsidy the federal government pays for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The CPB was created by Congress back in 1967 to shield public broadcasting from political influence. The funds they receive are distributed between PBS and local public television stations as well as National Public Radio and its affiliates. Funding for the CPB has been a point of contention in Congress over the last few years. Two years ago Republicans attempted but failed to slash the public broadcasting subsidies (Not a jab at Republicans here; just stating facts).
Man, I miss Fred Rogers. There are plenty of icons in children's programming, but you were never quite sure if the people you saw on screen were really that kind and nurturing in real life, or if the whole thing was just an act. Rogers, however, was the same kind and avuncular gentleman off camera as well as on camera. I'll admit his show didn't thrill me as a kid the way Sesame Street did, but there was something very genuine and very real about the man. 
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