Or, we could eliminate the TWO wars the Republicans started. Oh, and Medicare Part D (you know, the gift to the GOP drug lords), or we could stop giving tax breaks to billionaires, or hedge fund managers could pay the same rate we normal folks do.

Aardvark's - The latest constituency group for the Democrats.

I can see Katie Couric now: "And in the latest Time/CBS poll, it was shown that Aardvarks favor the Democrats 2-1 over the Republicans. Ask to comment on this significant Aardvark voting gap, Speaker of the House John Boehner said 'We understand that gap, but we think we can make up for it with our legislation that favors the Giraffes' ".

Spanky-

Hey - maybe the teachers' union could pony up some cash. What's that, fat chance?

At least unions fought to get fair wages and benefits. So you need to SU. You'd probably be begging-- Please Master can I have a penny raise-- and can I stop working 60 hours 7 days a week?

Not every the Army will stop the unions.

Mightcan, why is Part D helping grandma afford her medicine bad but Obamacare helping grandma afford her medicine good? No one has yet offered me a logical reason for this.

Nothing wrong with Part D except that it illustrates Conservative Republican hypocrisy two ways;

1) Republican created a massive new entitlement program just to corral some senior votes.

2) The "part of fiscal responsibility" did it with no mechanism for payment...exploding the deficit.

What is the fuss all about? In previous discussions about NPR and in articles in the print media, didn't the NPR even indicated that government funding is but a small portion of their budget? If so, why have a discussion about it, just because any $$$$ may be cut from their program?

Heck, when does Arthur the Aardvark begin to deamonize the GOP?

Gee, Kevin, don't be shy, tell us what you really think!

But I agree with you - if I had kids, and allowed them "x" number of hours of tv a week, would I rather they spend it watching "Nova" and "American Experience"? Or Donald Trump's "The Apprentice" and "Sarah Palin's Alaska"?

"However, Blumenauer seemed worried about the lack of moderate Republicans in the House.

"In the past, we have been successful, because there has been a strong, moderate, thoughtful Republican base of support where we had dozens of people," he said,"

Emphasis on "thoughtful".....

Those people without souls just posted above you, Kevin.

Honestly.

Seems to me for the $1.39 per YEAR per person we spend on CPB Big Bird, This Old House, Rick Steve's travelogues, and especially Red Green are worth keeping.

NDD, is it true that Red Green isn't popular up your way because a lot of folks don't know it isn't a documentary? (sorry, couldn't resist :) )

Adding to the list: conservatives have no soul because they think that PBS could try to sink or swim on its own.

Ok Anna M, why is PBS so special it gets gov. money? Why not the History channel? How do you decide? How about Animal Planet? How about Spike?

Spanky -

Those are all cable channels. Believe it or not, some of us can't afford cable.

That is just pathetic. Can't afford cable channels? Life is a choice. Some choose premium cable, some choose not to go to college. Some chose to work only 40 hours per week.

Thank goodness cable is not [yet] an entitlement.

re-elected by who? Oh yea...the sorry ass scumbag parents of the poor little kid missing out on that indoctrination..er education by public media.

It is NEVER in the Republicans interest to have anyone reporting news that isn't filtered through a corperate advertisers rightwing bias. That includes MSNBC, CBS, ABC. Liberal media is a myth. At the very least the American people deserve news that is based on REAL journalism and not reporting tilted toward thier rise in the corperate hierarchy or advertisers fear of rightwing hate campaigns.

Anyone who is so far left they thing the media is biased to the right scares me. You and my sister in law should enjoy each other's company, though.

Really? Someone here was bragging yesterday about Fox News mopping the floor with the other cable news networks. Talk radio is probably 90% Conservative. The proprietors of Politico declare "Drudge rules our world."

None of these are "the media"?

How about a little cold hard reality? When Bev. and Fiesty were kids... wait that was before tv.

When Drive By was a kid...no that won't work either there was no Sesame Street that long ago.

When I was a kid all there frigging was was Seseme Street, the Electric Co. and PBS crud. But see nowdays the children 1. have a million channels all courtesy of the good old provate sector, 2. shiny new dvds, and 3. most only want to play video and internet only.

Sorry PBS, you, like the post office, travel agents, video stores and the like are just not needed.

Or hey, prove me wrong [it's easy I'm told], pull a Leverne and Shirley - make it on your own.

What about the African-American Aardvarks? Aren't they victims too? What can the Democrats do for them?

Kill all the RED ants with chlordane, and that would only leave the ........ Uh, never mind.

If they're giving spelling lessons, then you're wrong.

New Democratic Win The Future (WTF) campaign slogan: "Amnesty for Aardvarks Now!!"

Catchy. I like it.

Oh JoAnnaSmith1... have you always been such a 'mean girl'?

Lyn, how can you call JoAnna Smith1 a mean girl? Why not look to the keyboard twins for this honor? The continually revert to schoolyard taunts when confronting someone with common sense.

no joe, no bo, nj

i can't believe what some here are saying, my son was raised watching barney, and author, and thomas the tank, what is wrong with funding programs that are good for children. we don't have a problem spending money on Prisons, war, tax cuts, what the hell is wrong with PBS!!!

i watch PBS all the time, Nova, and american experince are must see TV for me and I'm 48. your never too old to learn new things.

whats going to happen is they will have to find a sponser. if the gun lobby can ask for funding what not PBS!!!!

What's wrong with PBS is what's wrong with a lot of government programs- they are not essential services that must be provided through government funding.

PBS started when there were very few channels available and there was no such thing as VCRs, DVDs, Netflix, cable, any of that. There are a lot of free channels these days- if someone wants to pick up Sesame St, they will and they will fund it privately. Or PBS will fill the other 2 weeks a year with fund raising drives. The world will not end without Antiques Road Show. Ken Burns will sell his documentaries (Excellent by the way, some of them should be required viewing) to the History Channel or Nat Geo and become even more rich so you can hate on him for more taxes. Frankly, nearly every study I've seen recently says TV of any kind turns kids to mush, educational or not, so maybe we'd be doing ourselves a favor if we, say, spent an hour reading books to our kids and grandkids instead of parking them in front of the idiot box for an hour so you can check your email. We need to curtail our spending habit. So which would you rather see, cuts to welfare or cuts to welfare TV?

"Antiques Roadshow" and "Masterpiece Theater" are leftist propaganda?

On the other hand, we gotta get rid of that "In Performance At the White House" show.....I mean, Paul McCartney and Mikhail Baryshnilkov are bad enough, but I hear they had that leftist propaganda U.S. Marine Corps Band on there one time too.....

Especially when they do that Fourth of July Show, you know the one ALL the Armed Forces Bands play at the U.S Capitol, performers from every genre of music, actors, and even on occasion, Jim Henson's Muppets show up... YEAH, THAT COMMIE SHOW!!!

We can sit 'em in front of Fox. They still have plenty of children's programming on.

But at least they would be Getting Fact. Unlike the rest of the Junk you let them watch..

Let's compare the literacy rates, the drop-out rates, and the teen pregnancy rates -- just to name a few rates -- in the red states with the rates in the blue states, shall we, Stevie? How's all that home schoolin' working out, anyway? Texas is still 50th, as far as I know.

Sure Anna. Lets do that . but lets Comapre all of the the Innercity Liberal Democrat controlled Big City Areas to the Rural Conservative Areas.. .. I mean Afteralll there is really Not much Liberalism outside of the BIG CITIES...

Chicago, Detroit, LA, NYC, all at or near the top right ANNA?

You are bagging on home schooling? What, not a fan of the Duggars? 19 and counting, and not one of those little bastards are on the dole. Odd, no?

I don't know, Steve - but you could try asking my super-libbie tree-hugger brother and his wife - they limit my nephew's screen time (and that includes tv, DVD's, video games, etc.) to two hours a day, we go to all his baseball games every summer, and the last book he finished reading was 528 pages long. But hey, he's only 9 - I'm sure he'll improve with age......he already knows when to use capital letters and when not to.....

The US Census Bureau's 2005 rankings for percentage of people 25 years and older who have completed high school:

US Average - 84.2%

51. Mississippi - 78.5%

50. Texas - 78.8%

49. Kentucky - 79.0%

48. California - 80.1%

47. Alabama - 80.3%

46. Louisiana - 80.5%

45. Arkansas - 81.0%

43. (tie) Tennessee / West Virginia - 81.2%

42. South Carolina - 81.7%

Oh come on Joanne, let's hear about your wonderful children.

Hey Da Noid, did you happen to catch to total amount of money Cali spends each year to get to 48?

So you think we here in Cali are getting a good deal?

Thanks DN. Looks a lot like the list of states that are net importers of federal funding, doesn't it?

Spanky,,

My Question would be. How do Los Angeles and San Deigo.. and San Francisco. and Sacramento stack up agasint the Rest of the State.. Liberal Bastions of each State compared to the Conservative Bastions .. this is the Real Test............

Spanky -

I know how desperately important it is to you to have the last word in any discussion, so on behalf of my fellow posters, here it is:

Zyzzyva: [ziz-uh-vuh] (-noun) - A genus of tropical American weevil often found in association with palms. It is a snouted beetle. "Zyzzyva" is the last word in many English language dictionaries.

See, it would be a lot faster to type, which will give you that much more time for that spying on your supposed employees' Internet use that you seem to be so proud of doing over there at Do As I Say, Not As I Do, Inc. - and almost as politically edifying as any other comment you make. It also probably gets you a ton of points in Scrabble, especially if you can land it on a triple word score. And it has such a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Zyzzyva! Zyzzyva!! Zyzzyva!!!!

You're welcome - any time!

P.S. I don't have any children - do you?

Last word? Really. Huh, cause I'm pretty sure the fun goes on around here all night and sometimes on Saturdays. But I like the advis. Now what is your advise for Fiesty and Bev.?

And let's get it straight - you get to do what you want when it's your show. My computers, my server, my data storage. Funny thing is many of my associates will one day be on their own, which is a very good thing. Up and out is the motto, but remeber the average first year associate at a top tier firm STARTS at $160,000 plus, so they are usually eager to get out there on their own, where they can earn the "big" bucks.

But sorry I don't play scabble.

I have two kids.

Zyzzyva. Nope, just not nearly as much fun.

Noid? 51?

You Republicans have no heart and soul To hell with classical music. To hell with international reporting of important issues and events. To hell with the PUBLIC part of PBS. This is YOUR network. I am so sick of these Republicans tearing aprt our country.

PBS presents TRUTH and unbiased reporting that is absent on every corporate network in this country. If they were to have to go with more corporate funding it would no longer be what it is today.

Republicans....you are going DOWN in 2012. Keep over reaching, and I can guarantee it!

PBS offers "unbiased" reporting? Give me a break. Look at all the "unbaised" comments made by the openly leftist commentators on PBS. Ask Juan Williams how bias PBS is! Duh!

FuS, care to provide any examples, or is this a "because I said so" statement?

Steve-505729

Wait. Wait. if we take Money away from Public TV how are the Libbies going to Teach and Baby Sit their Kids..

I mean after all .. Making them Read a book or spending time with their kids cant be good for them.

Steve your a complete Idiott, even reagan did not reduce funding for PBS. PBS is a educational engine that i can see your never bothered to watch, your post tells us this.

Well said GingerB. You really now how to make then prove a point.

I trust you read what you wrote? Did you by chance see any snark or nasty comments? Or is it really called "Faux" News? And are they all "fools on the right?"

Priceless.

Snap :)

The Democrats are the ones who want to keep people down by keeping them totally dependent on the Governmenthandouts so they can ensure their votes at the ballot box. Democrats do not want people to succeed on their own... then they would not need the Democrats. So which side of the aisle is really trying to keep people poor and ignorant?

OK, that's a thesis, how about some evidence? Otherwise you're just spitting out what you heard on the radio or Fox News.

The poor and ignorant have been consistently sold the premise that Democrats will give them anything and that they represent their interests. I agree that Democrats are very good at championing the most vulnerable poor in our society, but they always just give them just enough to survive and stay on the Government dole. Democrats never challenge minorities to aspire to greater achievements and to raise themselves out of their poverty. (For example, Democrats fought welfare reform which forced people to look for work) God bless the ones who do take a different individual achievement route. When they finally do achieve a better standard of living through work, they usually convert to being Republicans. Then as they reach Social Security age, they return again to being Democrats because they want that Government payback and again live off the Government dole. At least, they have paid into the Social Security fund by then. It is a vicious cycle that is repeated over and over again ... unfortunately. I don't need Fox News to tell me that... I see it daily! The only problem with all this is that none ever cares about the long term debt of our country or wwhat "you can do for this country" along the way! It is a "give me mine" syndrome that is taking over our country... and no one wins if this continues. We need a complete reset of our Nation's values and refocus on individual responsibilities instead of lazy managed existence that seems to be the Democrat's approach and has kept many of them in Congress. We don't inspire people anymore... We just seem to say it is okay to just exist, so many inthis Nation say Vote for Democrats .. They willl give me everything I need and never aspire to be anything more. Okay, enough of this soapbox!

Pat Boston MA

Speaking of reading and education - February - Black History Month

I'm now learning about Boston going back to the end of the Civil War and how freed slaves came north to live here in Boston. Beginning in the 1880's, things started to change for the worse for them. And it's a tragedy.

Education. The most important thing we can give our children. Especially our history. Our ENTIRE history. I have found over and over and over that we will never ever have a complete understanding of our country unless we are open to teaching and being aware of all of it. Don't let a good education go by the wayside. It's what defines us. I can't begin to count the times I have read a book about things in our past and have gone on to tell the story to countless adults who frankly, had no idea - and they feel ashamed for not knowing.

It shouldn't be.

Thank you, Pat

Good to see you back. I hope your time off did you good.

Chris Matthews speaks about the Northerns who fought in the Civil War and he is proud of it. I'm assuming he has linage from the Civil War. Even though Chris talks all over him self I have a lot of respect for and you too. Let's not forget the movie Glory.

My cousin and I have been saying we were going to the Archives in Arkansas to do our Genealogy. It would be very difficult for us to use ancestor. com. I've tried it. Anyhow as luck would have it my cousin was in a library in St. louis skimming through books. low and behold he opened a random book to find that we are related to Booker T Washington.

Anyhow, still I'd like to know since we are Franklins, if we are related to Ben? Oh, my girl friend, in, her late 60's, is the great, great, great great, granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson. I've seen the book , i guess that's what you call from their family reunions. Her mother died at 101. She could have passed for a Caucasian woman; honestly. My girl friend never had kids. so that ends the DNA for her. But, there are lots of other to carry on in her family lineage.

one thing I'd like to say is we really should know about AA history so we an see how we all interconnected. E pluris unum.

Lastly, the Right wing is trying to take AA history away and deny slavery existed. I'm proud of my ancestors because if it wasn't for their endurance I wouldn't be here. Both my maternal and paternal never jumped off the boat that brought them here either. Too me that is special.

You know the stories about the sharks following the slave ships? Some African threw their babies over board, some captured jumped rather that be a slave, and of course the dead were cast overboard.

Anyhow, I 'm here.

One more story when I was NY I took a ferry to the see the Statue of Liberty. When we passed Ellis Island, one lady said on this is so sad; that's where the immigrants had to stay. I thought, ummm, would if they had come over on a slave ship in shackles?

Beverly, what a lovely lovely post. Yes, the right are trying so hard to redefine history and we can't ever ever allow it. They are ignorant, they are liars, and they have no problem with skirting the truth in their favor. But there are so many white authors out there who are willing to tell us exactly what our history is, whether it be slavery, Jim Crow, the Indians, etc. I have attempted to use Ancestry.com and wasn't happy with it at all. Most of my background I have learned through family members, although I do question their assumptions on who we're related to dating back to the 1600's, simply because of our last name.

But I love what you just told me. You should be proud. You have much to be proud of Beverly.

I have spent so many years reading about the Pilgrims/Puritans/Founding Fathers/Revolutionary War (because of where I was brought up) and WWII/the Holocaust, The Cold War and so on. But I found in the past year, that it is Black History that moves me unlike any other subject. It touches me very deeply, because as you said, it shows just how interconnected we all are.

Keith O. has been taking lovely photographs of NYC and it got me to thinking about the city and its founding. I'm on my third book on the founding of New York by the Dutch back in the 1600's, which was then put into English hands, back to the Dutch and then finally given back to the English until the Revolutionary War. It's a great story. One thing I learned and was pretty surprised. John Jacob Astor, the first multi-millionaire in the country. I always assumed he was an early settler of NYC in the 17th Century for some reason. I always pictured him on barren lands living in the lower part of Manhattan. Come to find out he didn't arrive here until after the Revolutionary War, and he was related to one of the Hessians who fought against us in that War.

John Jacob Astor's great grandson(?I think) died on the Titanic.

Life goes on. And in the meantime, teach our children well. It's our responsibility.

Talk to you soon Beverly.

Great cut and paste Bev.......keep producing those interesting liberal comments to educate those of us from a differenct value system. Great job, good comments, boring.

Anything to refute Bev, safecracker, or is your role limited to taking pot shots at people?

Pot shots John B......My role today is to read and comment on Bev and her silly pastes.

How about I contribute this for your pleasure today. No value, no political value other than it is funny, to anyone but an extreme left-wing libbie:

My dog sleeps about 20 hours a day. She has her food prepared for her. She can eat whenever she wants, 24/7/365. Her meals are provided at no cost to her. She visits the Dr. Once a year for her checkup, and again during the year if any medical needs arise. For this she pays nothing, and nothing is required of her. She lives in a nice neighborhood in a house that is much larger than she needs, but she is not required to do any upkeep. If she makes a mess, someone else cleans it up. She has her choice of luxurious places to sleep. She receives these accommodations absolutely free. She is living like a queen, and has absolutely no expenses whatsoever. All of her costs are picked up by others who go out and earn a living every day. I was just thinking about all this, and suddenly it hit me like a brick in the head...

My dog is a Democrat ! She may also be a card-carrying member of the Canine Union!!!

You will not find it funny, but it similarity is there to many of us. And as I said, no real revelence to this.

Factually based sources of information will always be under attack by Republicans, because the facts tend not to support their ideology. THis would include news hour and the like on PBS and NPR.

There was a time when Republicans based their decisions off of facts, but that time has long passed. Now its a strict, infallible (according to them) ideology and anyone who does not agree with it, is a muslim/communist/socialist/other form of character assassination etc. etc.

I for one like PBS, I especially miss having Bill Moyers Journal on PBS and my parents regularly donate to their tv station.

If you spend a little time and really think about what conservatives think, they don't make a lick of sense. More and more I have noticed ABC becoming more conservative. The only fair game out there is PBS and NPR.

So true James and Wayne. One of the things that most people don't realize is that the Conservative media, supposed king of the "free market" for information, is financed to the tune of over $100 MILLION per YEAR by the wealthy elites who seek to gain through Conservatism's idolatry of the rich. We're talking about the Koch brothers, Richard Mellon Scaife, Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Adolph Coors was one of the originators of this model. So don't be so sure these programs exist because they have merit beyond some rich guy believing he'll achieve personal profit by promoting the hoped-for American aristocracy.

Well said, Jon Martz.

Jennifer, you are critical of the wrong party......look inward Jen, look inward.

Safecracker

I bet your dog thinks you are a easy mark, probably would run off with someone who actually let her out for walk once in while but you've bribed her to stick around. Is that what you do with your so called friends? Do you have any friends or do you relate better to your spoiled dog than people? You look inward and try to find the shriveled up human part that is left inside there. I know it must be in there some where.

People don't seem to get the idea that tax breaks and corporate charity are the same thing. Also, many corporations have a world wide ownership, so we are letting our money go overseas. Let's support PBS and NPR which keeps the money in this country.

OK mike...do I get to choose which parts of the government I want to fund? I'll gladly pick up your $1.39/year as well as my own if I can pull my funding out of corporate welfare.

Tell you what, I don't even need that. You pay for a tax break on the upper income bracket and I'll pay your CPB funding?

It's a pretty sad thought process that brings someone to the conclusion that paying over $.30 out of every dollar (and that's just in federal income tax), is a tax BREAK.

When did money that is taxed not belong to the people who earned it? There is no such thing as a tax BREAK. Just the government taking less of your own money away from you.

A true statement that makes not a bit of difference.

The government provides services. Those services need to be paid for. If you reduce taxes below a level that provides adequate funding for those services we run a budget deficit.

That's right, John, it's the IGMFY syndrome. All of these people complaining about the money being taxed 'belonging to them' forget that without this government and the services and protections it provides, they would not have that money in the first place. They forget how much they have benefited from the government services and protections that create the environment for them to make the money. Things like safe food, roads, communication infrastructure, education, police, fire protection, military protection, laws that prevent white collar crime, monetary regulations, market regulations, bank regulations, etc. You know, all of those services that allowed them to make that money.

There you go, J.T., well said, instead of just criticizing you have actually made a cogent and persuasive argument I can agree with, I even voted for your post. The tax system is very broke when Exxon can not only not pay any taxes for 2009 and still get over $160,000,000 from the government. One of the first things the Republican/TP Inc. party did in the early 2000s was to start 'refunding taxes' to companies that had paid taxes under the AMT rules. Can't provide sources right now but I'm sure you can find some if you look.