The whole idea is to wear you down

I Have no intent to be civil about this. The fucking Bush administration's screwing Americans and they seem to love it. Sure, they push back a little, but Bush, like a scroungy dog in more ways than one, will never give up a bone he wants. He wants to gut PBS and come hell or high water he will do it before leaving office.

President Bush is reopening the fight over government support of public television, unveiling a 2007 government fiscal year budget that would cut federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by nearly 25 percent.
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There was some confusion on how to tally the exact cut, but public TV and congressional sources said at least $114 million of the $460 million CPB budget for the fiscal year that starts in October would be cut. The Association of Public Television Stations said the total impact could be $145 million when cuts in related programs are added, including a program to upgrade radio station satellite facilities.

"It's more of the same," said John Lawson, president and CEO of the Association of Public Television Stations, noting previous requests to cut funding for public TV, most of which were overturned by Congress.

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's telecom panel, ripped the cuts.

"In a 24-7 television world with content often inappropriate for young children, the public broadcasting system represents an oasis of quality, child-oriented educational programming," he said. "We owe America's children and their parents this free, over-the-air resource."

Government provides much of the financial support for PBS. That makes it, in that the government is "of the people", America's channel. If you want "your" channel, contact your Congress critter (check sidebar for contacts) and tell them you won't tolerate this.

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