Posted on 02/17/2005 3:27:06 AM PST by Pharmboy
Edited on 02/17/2005 4:11:57 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
My Dear Bride and I both read the Mars/Venus thing a few years ago, and bravo. Everyone should be allowed to achieve whatever they want (no "glass cealing") provided they are willing to sacrifice what it takes, but it is also important to remembet that people really are hardwired differently. Viv la differance! It is coming as a revalation to some in the 21st Century that men are actually more inclined to work hard for a woman who shows she looks up to him, and that women like to be treated as if they were really something special to a man. Shocking! Have you heard? ;)
At Elmo is'nt gay - yet.
( :-D
You know, they always say that the national arts budget is such a small piece of the pie that it won't do much good to cut it, but if you keep leaving the small cuts uncut, they add up to big pieces eventually.
One of my responses to a local PBS affiliate 'beg letter':
Friday, March 07, 2003
TO: Claude Kistler, KSPS station manager
RE: Request for contribution
Dear Claude,
I received your letter asking me to contribute to Spokane’s ‘public’ television and radio stations. It was very kind of you to offer me a membership in what I’m sure is an exclusive and sophisticated group, the “Friends of Seven.” But something tells me that I might not fit in.
Sure, you mention programming such as “The Antiques Roadshow,” NOVA and “Masterpiece Theater.” Great stuff, mostly. But you failed to mention some of the other programming that you routinely present. There’s your history of showing anti-Israel / pro-PLO programs such as "Days of Rage" and "The Faces of Arafat." But this is hardly a recent phenomenon. Let’s go back ten years or so. In a well-documented example, NPR ran 32 – yes, that’s 32 – reports concerning Baruch Goldstein's killing of Arabs in Hebron in February 1994. In each case, much time was spent on the type of weapon used, and the exact nature of the casualties was described in detail. By way of comparison, let’s look at NPR's coverage of Arab terrorist attacks in that same time frame. Two months after Goldstein’s rampage, Hamas blew up an Israeli bus in Afula – multiple hideous casualties, body parts strewn about; NPR ran a total of 3 stories. One week later, Hamas bombed an Israeli bus in Hadera – same hideous toll; NPR ran 1 report about it, and like the previous report, no mention of the nature of the casualties. How about the October 1994 Tel Aviv bus bombing, which left 22 dead? Eight – count ‘em – eight whole stories on NPR – and one of them called Hamas "terrific community organizers" who help to "develop young people" and who promote "business projects like honey, cheese making, home-based manufacture." You left out the hate preached in their schools, the “home-based” bomb- and rocket-making enterprises – yes, indeed – great “community organizers.” That’s about as fair and balanced as a carnival ring-toss game.
Others besides myself notice that when Israeli men, women and children are slaughtered by these monsters, you merely call them ‘Israelis.’ True as far as it goes, but by failing to mention that the casualties are in fact men, women and children, your use of the sole term ‘Israeli’ is an attempt to strip them of their human identity. It’s an old propaganda trick, and pretty transparent to the attentive observer. But you seem to recover your sense of humanity when you report Palestinian casualties - NOW we hear about women and children and ‘unarmed’ men.
I don’t know – perhaps I lack the sophistication, the requisite multicultural sensitivity to grant a pass to the Islamic Jihad and Hamas homicide bombers for what is, to NPR at any rate, an understandable and forgivable approach to dealing with Israel.
I suppose that my outlook is positively Neanderthal by NPR’s lights because I can’t seem to nod my head with approval when you demonize gun owners and gun rights organizations. Perhaps you don’t recall that, during an NPR news magazine and documentary broadcast, an NPR commentator, Bebe Moore Campbell, gave a harangue against the NRA for having attended a particular meeting. She said that the NRA had gone there to tell Korean merchants that blacks are criminals. She said that the NRA initials should stand for the "Negro Removal Association." She said that the NRA wanted sixteen year old boys to carry Uzis because “the gun would probably be used to kill a black person.” Well, hey – one man’s ‘hate speech’ is another man’s courageous crusade against evil gun owners, I suppose.
Somehow, I don’t resonate to the upbeat, hopeful tone of voice your announcers use when the names of prominent leftists and socialists like Bill Clinton are mentioned versus the thinly veiled contempt evident when your announcers are obliged to utter the names of folks like Bush and Reagan.
You bemoan the fact that only 24% of your funding comes from money taken under the threat of force and/or imprisonment from folks like me. That just breaks my heart. In a better, freer world, I’d have some say about the ‘redistribution’ of my hard-earned dollars to your essentially anti-American enterprise. And you would receive none:
• I am not in the habit of supporting those whose views are diametrically opposed to my own.
• I won’t contribute to those whose liberalism amounts to crimes against Man, nature, justice and reason.
• I refuse to send so much as a penny to applauders of socialism, communism and any other tyrant who happens to oppose the United States.
• I will not reward sympathizers of those who bomb innocent Israeli women and children.
• I would have none of my hard-earned money go to those who regard duty, honor and a willingness to fight for one’s country as the sneering punch line to a party joke.
In short, you will receive nothing from me or my family, and I will actively work to see that you are defunded of the government subsidy that you currently receive. And by the way – your letter mentions your ‘slowing membership growth.’ Could your pro-tyranny, leftist bias have something to do with it? Ya think?
Oh, I wouldn't think they'd want to. But it could have been written in as part of the contract on these more recent shows. Even one percent would probably put them into the black.
Excellent letter. Somehow I intuit that there was no response from him...
If you want on or off this *NPR/PBS* ping list, please FReepmail me or just bump the thread
AND indicate your desire to be included. You must opt in! Don't be shy!
This is a low to moderate activty list.
Special note: PBS is having it's annual meeting...That's one reasone were are seeing a lot of news coverage and you are getting these pings.
There really isn't one. Republicans vote to fund PBS/NPR all the time. Click on my name and go to my homepage for an old list.
On a side note, $3 million of federal funds are being used to find ways for "public broadcasting" to get their hands on the "endowment". Conservative voices are notably absent from these discussions. We weren't invited.
I gotta confess that I usually like the PBS Christmas programming, albeit not enough to campaign to use tax dollars to keep the network afloat.
...and I like some of their nature shows and their nostalgia shows. But I prefer to keep my money too.
The problem is content. Nothing else.
Let's see, I can list about 200 different cable channels that carry every kind of programming that PBS carries (liberal bias and all).
PBS has outlived any usefulness it ever had. It is time to shut it down and sell off its broadcast frequencies.
I don't admire the History Channel, Discovery or A&E very much either: they are same-same and likely as not to present a program like "Ancient UFOs", or a biography of, say, Lisa Gilbert, followed by a Manson Family documentary.
I'm glad we have cable though. PBS has been drumming this "heroic 60's" perspective for so long it's hard to bear. From their essayists on the Newshour, to their Frontline show, and any other of their documentaries, it seems like they are as obsessed with Vietnam and the civil rights movements as, say, the History Channel is with WW2 and Hitler.
Then, it's not just the government funding that is so offensive. On top of that, the pledge drives! How is this even defensible anymore? I think they should fold up the tent.
___
and i feel sorry for any little kid who has to turn to "Dragon Tales" for entertainment...GAAAAH !
The stations you mentioned (A&E, History, etc.) are pretty close to the lefty bent of PBS. Not a whole lotta difference...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.