Big Bird needs to pay his fair share! (Page 2)

PBS is awesome, period.  It puts out some of the best programming that informs on issues that are not front page news from the various outlets.  Plus it is a great place to have your children watch TV without all the mind-numbing commercials and just the general commercialism of anything media nowadays.

Just skimming through the previous responses I also think that education is our "best weapon" around the world.  Not in the sense that we are going to show people Big Bird and they are going to love us.  In spreading general knowledge of the similarities between everyone on this earth and expanding horizons of people with a relatively narrow view of events and cultures outside of their daily experiences.  That last part with the not understanding other cultures and world events with an alternate perspective is how, I think, many conflicts/wars/disagreements come into being in the first place. 

Basically, PBS does a good job of exposing people to ideas that are not what the mainstream media is shoving in our faces all day.  I am more than willing to put up a bit of money for them, in addition to what I donate for NPR.

It looks to me like with your response and so many others on this thread that the Federal Govt. could safely cut it's ties with PBS and there would be plenty of people willing and able to make up through private donations what PBS would lose from the Federal Govt.

I think the extra funding that PBS gets from the government helps them put out better programs and allows them to take more risks in what they report on meaning that whole thing I was talking about where they report on things that don't get reported generally.  Plus I have a hard time seeing PBS doing just fine on donations alone when we drop into a recession.  The partial support of the government probably provides for a more reliably good product.

It's just one of those things to me where I think the benefits of funding are pretty obvious and is working toward a greater good.  There is much more money that we can cut from other places before we work our way to PBS.

How timely.

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/09/army-to-congress-thanks-but-no-tanks/?hpt=hp_c1

 If we want to turn this into ANOTHER Democrat v. Republican, my side RULES and your side SUCKS ?thread, then we can do that on under another topic.   Too often those discussions have become a personal exercise to show everyone how 'smart' we are; how intuned we are about the political discourse.  I'm as guilty as anyone....  \

But we're talking about Big Bird, and Bert and Ernie, and Morgan Freeman....if EVER we had some national icons to be PROUD of-these guys are IT.  THIS is what I want MY govt. fighting for-these characters and the messages they stand for are the VERY principals I want to see protected.  THIS is the America I want the rest of the world to see.   If our oversized, out-of-touch, over reaching govt wants to STAND for something?  Stand for PBS.  It's the best product our country has ever exported.

I have an idea. Our budget is a disaster and our debt is skyrocketing. Let's cut both PBS funding AND military spending. Maybe we could also restructure SS and Medicare to make them more solvent. Hey maybe get rid of tax exemptions as well. 

That would probably balance the budget and pay off the debt too soon though.

That would involve that nasty word "compromise".  Anything other than exactly what we want is failure.

Lol, I agree with Sesame Street on that one.

Why YES, actually.  I've worn the uniform and defended my country while serving in MANY foreign countries.  I learned to speak Dutch and Turkish from watching.....(wait for it)...Sesame Street.   And your statement "they could care less..." is frankly, WRONG! 

Again, if you want to make this argument a case against the Liberal Left ALWAYS wanting the free govt. handout and the Conservative Right ALWAYS wanting to show proper fiscal restraint; then let's make it on (yet) another thread.   

U.S. kids like Sesame Street.  And I've seen first hand...WHILE IN OTHER COUNTRIES...that lots of other kids like it too.   So....what else ya got.

I'm curious, when it was on in other countries, was it via PBS, another channel, were there commercials..... I know I've got a rep for being a bit snarky or sarcastic at times but this is a sincere question.

But I'm not getting it. Romney never said he want to get rid of Big Bird, he said the Federal Government should not be funding it at a time when we are borrowing from China to pay for it.

The argument seems to be that without Federal Funding there would be no PBS. Well i don't see that being the case. PBS is a great asset... Big Bird too... I think they will be fine.

Why does the Federal Government need to fund it?

And by the way, I just got done watching Frontline. Great show.

Ever?  You have heard how we ended Japan's part in WWII, right?  Hell, they begged us to be friends.  And by the way, we were more than happy to be friends......it's what we do.

I'm sorry, when it comes to radical muslims who's stated goal is the destruction of our way of life, we don't use enough bombs....and who gives a rats arse whether they like us or not over it.  It's a war....whether most people get that or not.

Great Question.  And i don't remember the answer.  You and I have had some spirited debates.  If I feel like I'm getting 'snarked', I can always bail.  I like the spirit behind the debates.  I have NO DOUBT both candidates/All candidates fully believe their visions are the best for the country.  And I give them MAD props for putting themselves out on the tip of the spear.  We're cool, you and I.

For perspective, the income tax that Romney paid for 2011 ($1.95M) covers the entire 2012 salaries for:

• The President
• The Vice President
• House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
• Secretary of State
• EPA Administrator
• Attorney General

I'm not sure Mitt feels like he's getting his money's worth out of that lot...

BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!! 

i agree with all of this.  and PBS is not completely commercial-free...every program starts with 5 minutes worth of "brought to you by this...and this...and this...and this..." as well as pledge drives, etc.  i wouldn't care if they had ads, to be honest.  i would pay money to keep america's test kitchen on the air! 

BUT PBS is such a teeeeny tiny drop in the budget bucket, those $$$ would be spent long before the first paid commercial ever aired on PBS.  so cut it.  but it will change nothing.

Actually, here in the states it has commercials.  My daughter used to watch it on a Cable Channel called Sprout.  They had commercials.  Also being that it is on in over 50 countries (I think that is their tag line on their videos, they must be receiving income from the other countries as well.  I think they are making plenty of money.  If they "need" the money to survive, then that is one thing but Sesame Street doesn't.  Now some of the other programs on PBS probably do, but those are really the ones that should be evaluated.  Remember, the money given to PBS is not just for one program.  I personally think that they and public radio need to be self sustaining.  It's called free market, and if there isn't enough interest, then we should question it and make a decision.

Take the arts for instance.  I don't have a problem subsidizing music and art.  It is important.  But a lot of Art is crap.  This is not just an opinion, it is fact.  A lot of art is wonderful.  We need to make choices, based on requests for funding, and not just divey up a pile of money, making sure we spend every nickel even if it is on crap.

I agree.  Which is why this doesn't deserve all the airtime it's getting.  There were 9 mentions of "Sesame Street", and 5 of "Big Bird" on the major networks Monday night and 0 mentions of Libya even though they now have documents that show Chris Stevens asked for more beefed up security and was denied before he was ambushed and killed.

Romney threw this out in the debate as an example of something we don't need to continue funding and the media acts like he was saying "I want to kill big bird because then the $15T national debt will vanish."  He said "You're going to be just fine, you'll have to do commercials."

And Mehaner is right, I always hear them talk about the "John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation".  And I hear them say "corporate sponsors like...McDonalds...ATT...and viewers like you."  They don't need our funding and their message doesn't change one iota without Federal funding.