Constitution Revolution: 2012

[BigBallinStalin]

Public Broadcasting is as important to our children's development as a whole as almost anything else, outside of their family environment and school:

You mean "our children's brainwashing."

Seriously? What is it that shows like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, The Electric Company and Sesame Street teach that you object so fervently to?

That you can get rich by getting subsidized?

If these shows are profitable, then they'll be shown on other networks.

[spurgistan]

I'm pretty sure Fred Rogers made an absurd amount of money on PBS, so that statement makes a lot of sense.

[Woodruff]

I'm pretty sure Fred Rogers made an absurd amount of money on PBS, so that statement makes a lot of sense.

Everyone knows he was rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Big bucks, to be sure.

[AndyDufresne]

Why is an issue being made over .0012% of the federal budget again?

Actually, I think you forgot a zero in there, I thought it was .00012%.


--Andy

[notyou2]

PBS teaches children tolerance and acceptance, which used to be christian tenets, but not with this group of so called christians.

[BigBallinStalin]

PBS teaches children tolerance and acceptance, which used to be christian tenets, but not with this group of so called christians.

You're being intolerant of the intolerant. I hereby order you to attend 6 hours of PBS lessons on tolerance and acceptance.

[Woodruff]

Public Broadcasting is as important to our children's development as a whole as almost anything else, outside of their family environment and school:

You mean "our children's brainwashing."

Seriously? What is it that shows like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, The Electric Company and Sesame Street teach that you object so fervently to?

So...nothing?

[Woodruff]

It's like the reality that Sesame Street/PBS can sustain itself has never even been considered.

Privatizing NASA's The Learning Channel gives us Honey Boo Boo. Cheap production values to make money. Personally, I don't think that's a good tradeoff.

[PLAYER57832]

It's like the reality that Sesame Street/PBS can sustain itself has never even been considered.

Actually, you are assuming.. and very, very wrong.

The facts are not just that Sesame street is what it is becuase of PBS, but that PBS is what it is because of Mister Roger's Neighborhood and later Sesame street.

Could it have succeeded in commercial TV? Yes. In fact, Jim Henson had that choice. You might not remember, but he actually did produce a few very commercial shows, including the Muppets. Mr Rogers, similarly had other opportunities.

They chose PBS precisely because of its non-commercial vision. They each wanted education of children to be primary in their respective kids' shows.

That vision has not been entirely realized, because PBS has had to bastardize itself and become more and more privatized. You now see Sesame branded products and the like.

So, what is really happening is that PBS is being forced to become private.. and the result is NOT positive.

[Phatscotty]

It's like the reality that Sesame Street/PBS can sustain itself has never even been considered.

Actually, you are assuming.. and very, very wrong.

The facts are not just that Sesame street is what it is becuase of PBS, but that PBS is what it is because of Mister Roger's Neighborhood and later Sesame street.

Could it have succeeded in commercial TV? Yes. In fact, Jim Henson had that choice. You might not remember, but he actually did produce a few very commercial shows, including the Muppets. Mr Rogers, similarly had other opportunities.

They chose PBS precisely because of its non-commercial vision. They each wanted education of children to be primary in their respective kids' shows.

That vision has not been entirely realized, because PBS has had to bastardize itself and become more and more privatized. You now see Sesame branded products and the like.

So, what is really happening is that PBS is being forced to become private.. and the result is NOT positive.

.....a certain kind of brainwashing education....

[Woodruff]

.....a certain kind of brainwashing education....

Seriously? What is it that shows like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, The Electric Company and Sesame Street teach that you object so fervently to?

Why does nobody want to answer this question?

[Bones2484]

.....a certain kind of brainwashing education....

Seriously? What is it that shows like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, The Electric Company and Sesame Street teach that you object so fervently to?

Some people would hate it if the population knew how to do simple things like read and count.

[PLAYER57832]

It's like the reality that Sesame Street/PBS can sustain itself has never even been considered.

Actually, you are assuming.. and very, very wrong.

The facts are not just that Sesame street is what it is becuase of PBS, but that PBS is what it is because of Mister Roger's Neighborhood and later Sesame street.

Could it have succeeded in commercial TV? Yes. In fact, Jim Henson had that choice. You might not remember, but he actually did produce a few very commercial shows, including the Muppets. Mr Rogers, similarly had other opportunities.

They chose PBS precisely because of its non-commercial vision. They each wanted education of children to be primary in their respective kids' shows.

That vision has not been entirely realized, because PBS has had to bastardize itself and become more and more privatized. You now see Sesame branded products and the like.

So, what is really happening is that PBS is being forced to become private.. and the result is NOT positive.

.....a certain kind of brainwashing education....

No, education is not brainwashing. It means you have the ability to discern fact from opinion.... sadly, you keep showing a big lack in that regard.

Note that with the possible excpetion of the next to last sentence, what I stated is all verifiable fact, not my personal opinion. That is what actually happened, has happened.

[PLAYER57832]

.....a certain kind of brainwashing education....

Seriously? What is it that shows like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, The Electric Company and Sesame Street teach that you object so fervently to?

Some people would hate it if the population knew how to do simple things like read and count.

No, they are fine with that.. its any form of higher reasoning to which they object. Sesame Street, Mr Rogers actually promoted a tad of that.

[Phatscotty]

.....a certain kind of brainwashing education....

Seriously? What is it that shows like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, The Electric Company and Sesame Street teach that you object so fervently to?

Some people would hate it if the population knew how to do simple things like read and count.

and 500 million to PBS is the ONLY way to do that....

[PLAYER57832]

Public Broadcasting is as important to our children's development as a whole as almost anything else, outside of their family environment and school:

You mean "our children's brainwashing." The world has changed radically since the time of President Nixon. Back then most people had access to less than a dozen channels. The notion of educational programming at children in the commerical TV environment was non existant. The only other learning avenue to children at the time was the school system and that was not available to those younger than school age.

Public Brodcasting was important back then. In addition to the education, you also had cooking shows, painting shows, and coverage of local politics. (I strongly doubt that New York State's Capitol would have ever been covered had it not been for "Inside Albany.") Back then you had CONSERVATIVES on Public Broadcasting, including the great William F. Buckley Jr.

Newflash. William F. Buckley would be considered a raving liberal by today's standards, certainly according to many of your arguments. Also, he was incredibly intelligent and critical. Today... that is absolutely not what the right represents.

But that was then. Mr. Buckley is dead. Mr. Rodgers is dead. Count Count is dead.

Yes, they are dead... and it seems their vision is dying, but why? You wish to claim some great largess and benefit of the market, when in fact, it is the infusion of market economics into PBS that has distorted it.

And while Big Bird doesn't sell corn flakes, he does pimp himself. Seasmie Street metchandise is huge. Seasmie Street itself is huge, Big Bird's a one-percenter: Inside Sesame Street's tax return

The 2011 IRS 990 form for Sesame Workshop (formerly the Children's Television Workshop), the producers of Sesame Street, revealed that they received $7,968,918 in government grants last year. That sounds like a hefty amount, but the 990 also revealed that Sesame Workshop received $44,984,003 in royalties last year, which includes sales of Sesame Street brand merchandise like "Tickle Me Elmo" dolls. That means Big Bird made five times in merchandise sales than what he received in government grants.

An even closer look at Sesame Workshop's finances shows the government funding Romney wants to cut is only a small part of their budget and may not be necessary at all. In 2011, Sesame Workshop received $31,555,192 in grants and donations last year apart from the U.S. government. They also raised over $2 million in additional funds from various fundraising events. In all, Sesame Workshop raised almost $34 million in private funds for Sesame Street, aside from government grants.

One of these things ($8M, $45M, $31M) is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong.

I think MOST people who like PBS would be happy to see the market bit eliminated. Unfortunately, folks like you keep protesting against any such government allocations, so for PBS to exist means marketing.

In addition, Sesame Workshop brought in almost $30 million in revenue from content distribution and media production. In total, Sesame Workshop brought in over $122 million in revenue, not including government grants.

So cry me a river PBS, but isn't the real need for all this money because the workers in Seasme Workshop are actually well paid?

And with more advertising gains come more restrictions on the kinds of things PBS can say and do.. THAT is why the slide, not too much government money, its too much beholding to the markets and corporations.

PBS is one of the few entities that has actually published real criticism of deep hydraulic fracking operations (natural gas extraction), BUT guess who is one of the major supporters of our local PBS station? Range Resources!

However, salaries still make up a large part of their budget. In 2011, they paid out over $54 million in salaries, a high percentage of their budget for a non-profit.

Now it seems you are trying to change the subject. Maybe they are paid too much, but then.. they have to compete with very much overpaid private company executive salaries.

[PLAYER57832]

REMEMBER.. the primary reason that Sesame Street, etc have been able to maintain as much as they have is that they began with the no advertising/no influence goal. Corporations supported them because they saw it as beneficial, but then decided to change part of what made it great.

Disney used to produce a lot of educational material also.

[Phatscotty]

Nickelodeon seems to have solved the mystery

[GreecePwns]

What mystery? The only thing Nickeolodeon has succeed in doing is sucking massively compared to the 90s.

To answer Woodruff's question: sharing is SOCIALISM!!!!

[Woodruff]

Nickelodeon seems to have solved the mystery

The mystery of what...pablum?

[Woodruff]

To answer Woodruff's question: sharing is SOCIALISM!!!!

Yep...the power of greed.

[Phatscotty]

What mystery? The only thing Nickeolodeon has succeed in doing is sucking massively compared to the 90s.

To answer Woodruff's question: sharing is SOCIALISM!!!!

Forced sharing is Socialism. Voluntary sharing is Freedom

[tzor]

Why is an issue being made over .0012% of the federal budget again?

To quote my favotare deceased Democratic Senator, "A million here; a million there; pretty soon you are talking about REAL money!"

A million million is a ... wait for it ... trillion. How many millions are out there being wasted? Millions of them!

Every million that is wasted is a milllion that is borrowed; is a million that is taken out of the bond market system; is a million that isn't going to invest in business; is a million that isn't going to job creation.

[Woodruff]

Why is an issue being made over .0012% of the federal budget again?

To quote my favotare deceased Democratic Senator, "A million here; a million there; pretty soon you are talking about REAL money!"

A million million is a ... wait for it ... trillion. How many millions are out there being wasted? Millions of them!

Every million that is wasted is a milllion that is borrowed; is a million that is taken out of the bond market system; is a million that isn't going to invest in business; is a million that isn't going to job creation.

You never did answer my question...

[AndyDufresne]

Why is an issue being made over .0012% of the federal budget again?

To quote my favotare deceased Democratic Senator, "A million here; a million there; pretty soon you are talking about REAL money!"

A million million is a ... wait for it ... trillion. How many millions are out there being wasted? Millions of them!

Every million that is wasted is a milllion that is borrowed; is a million that is taken out of the bond market system; is a million that isn't going to invest in business; is a million that isn't going to job creation.

Did an audit find something like 70 billion dollars of wasteful spending in the Defense Budget? Lets tackle that, and keep the %.00012 for the corporation for public broadcasting.

Edit: I forgot to mention, this all reminds me of when in the 90's congress had a hearing regarding the Particle Accelerator at Fermi Lab, and a senator asked one of the scientists: "Is this at all directly related to defending our country?" To which one of the scientists replied: "It has nothing to do with directly defending our country, except to help make it worth defending."

I think the miniscule amount that goes to CPB is one of those budget items that helps make the country worth defending.


--Andy