Why the right really hates NPR - with or without Juan Williams

[one...two...tree 2,762]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuKoHxGwnPA

I'm going to have find a new recreational sport.

[peejay 327]

Do I think the left has any more justification for denying the government taxes? Hell no! If you're a mega-rich mofo, pay your taxes, you dirty welfare queen. All of us, ALL OF US, left and right, are supporting corporate welfare on a far grander scale than the pittance that NPR receives from governmental and quasi-governmental sources. It's filthy. We're propping up Murdoch and Soros; we're the losers left holding the bag. Every dollar that Murdoch does not pay in taxes that he might have, nay, SHOULD have, is another dollar we are spending to promote the agenda of Fox. Why should he get the benefit of the doubt?

Funny how you deflect attention away from the topic at hand. The tax codes are a completely separate issue. So you contend that what NPR gets is just a drop in the bucket compared to this or that? That justifies it?

I don't buy that faulty logic. Millions on this boondoggle and millions to that boondoggle and another tens of millions to yet another boondoggle and soon you get to talking about wasting some real money. But I digress.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Funny how you deflect attention away from the topic at hand. The tax codes are a completely separate issue. So you contend that what NPR gets is just a drop in the bucket compared to this or that? That justifies it?

I don't buy that faulty logic. Millions on this boondoggle and millions to that boondoggle and another tens of millions to yet another boondoggle and soon you get to talking about wasting some real money. But I digress.

How is it deflection when she was addressing the point that YOU made when you posted this:

The big difference here is that the taxpayer isn't propping up FOX as we do with NPR. The federal government should not be in the news business, opinion, and commentary business. I'd bet that NPR would die on the vine just like Air America and other Lefty venues without the US taxpayer being forced to subsidize so it can broadcast its Leftist slant.

This are not new revelations. This has been brought up in the past. The Juan Williams debacle just revived what many have debated for years about taxpayer funded media.

Ring a bell? You were on one of your self-righteous rants about taxpayers supporting NPR. Well, it turns out that we the taxpayers are supporting Fox News as well, in the form of corporate welfare. Sorry Peejay, you fail.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Funny how you deflect attention away from the topic at hand. The tax codes are a completely separate issue. So you contend that what NPR gets is just a drop in the bucket compared to this or that? That justifies it?

I don't buy that faulty logic. Millions on this boondoggle and millions to that boondoggle and another tens of millions to yet another boondoggle and soon you get to talking about wasting some real money. But I digress.

Believe me, I am not deflecting attention. Deflection would be along the lines of, "Keep posting like that, big boy, and I'll flash you my tits."

It's amazing to me that one can overlook the non-news, non-commentary aspects of NPR. Personally, I am a HUGE fan of LA Theatreworks Live Saturday night radio plays, which run the gamut from classics (Shakespeare, Shaw) to more modern works; hard to find drama on the radio these days. Car Talk is reactionary? The Splendid Table? Live local music? Marketplace? Tech Nation? These are important and independent voices -- I hear more interesting and provocative conservative voices on NPR than on Fox. And yes, occasionally I yell at the right-wingers on NPR and have to turn off the radio.

But ####### do I know -- better for you to dismiss me as a radical leftist. I'm outta here for a while -- gotta go get excited remembering the NHS and all that nummy socialised healthcare.

(Actually, I'm off to watch a matinee.)

[peejay 327]

Believe me, I am not deflecting attention. Deflection would be along the lines of, "Keep posting like that, big boy, and I'll flash you my tits."

It's amazing to me that one can overlook the non-news, non-commentary aspects of NPR. Personally, I am a HUGE fan of LA Theatreworks Live Saturday night radio plays, which run the gamut from classics (Shakespeare, Shaw) to more modern works; hard to find drama on the radio these days. Car Talk is reactionary? The Splendid Table? Live local music? Marketplace? Tech Nation? These are important and independent voices -- I hear more interesting and provocative conservative voices on NPR than on Fox. And yes, occasionally I yell at the right-wingers on NPR and have to turn off the radio.

But ####### do I know -- better for you to dismiss me as a radical leftist. I'm outta here for a while -- gotta go get excited remembering the NHS and all that nummy socialised healthcare.

(Actually, I'm off to watch a matinee.)

I actually do watch PBS shows that are of interest to me. I have also listened to NPR from time to time. I have even donated to our local Channel 8 PBS affiliate. That is my choice. However, I still stand by my position that public broadcast media should be cut off from the taxpayer #######. Government has no business being in the TV / radio business except to regulate the public airwaves in its administrative capacity. Not to fund one entity to the exclusion of all others.

I even tune in to Lefty venues such as Democracy Now! from time to time to strengthen my conservative resolve. An hour or so of watching the lunatic fringe in action is enough to put my core beliefs into perspective. At least my hard earned tax dollars are not funding that lunacy. But I respect their right to promote their agenda in the public forum...as long as I'm not footing the bill.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Lets just be real clear, again.

I do not hate NPR. I think NPR should exist or not on its merits and survive like all other radio networks. They do not need to confiscate money from taxpayers.

[scandal 951]

I first started listening to NPR while driving on I-5 between Merced and Bakersfield CA on the Thanksgiving weekend in Nov 2000. I haven't stopped since.

Nov 2000, you may recall, was the Gore v. Bush election. By Thanksgiving, about 3 weeks after the election, the legal challenges and "hanging chad" debates and live interviews from Palm Beach FL were in full swing.

Like everyone else in the country, I was desperate for real analysis of the process, of what the Florida election law meant, of what role Katherine Harris and the other players had. I had not grown up in the US, and since living here in the 90s was finding that the radio dial was mostly a wasteland. My reference frame for what I was looking for was the CBC in Canada, and Reshet Bet and Galei Zahal in Israel. I was looking for a similar forum of intelligent discussion of ideas, policies, and news and when I suddenly found it on the local Merced public radio station, I literally could not believe my ears.

We had planned a roadtrip from our home in the Bay area to San Diego with the kids for the Thanksgiving weekend, and all I could get on the radio was the usual AM talk radio, and FM music stations, until my dial alighted upon NPR at the lower end of the FM band. Ever since, no matter which metro area in the US I'm in, I've come to realize that thoughtful, intelligent analysis of the current events and topics can be found on public radio generally in the range 88.5-91.5MHz on the dial. Here in Chicago, WBEZ 91.5 is #1 on my tuning list.

Ever since Bush v. Gore, whether it was coverage of the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the passage of the Patriot Act, the launching of the war in Afghanistan, the building of the case for war in Iraq at the UN and in the US, the Shock and Awe invasion, Abu Ghraib, the 2004 primaries and campaign and election, the agonizing discussions of the Iraq war during 2006-2007, the 2008 subprime meltdown and election campaign, or any of the key issues since, NPR has been my trusted source of factual information, analysis and discussion of what the information means, and differing points of view on how policy should proceed. Is it liberal? Is it "centrist"? I don't know, and not sure I care. It packs a far greater signal/noise ratio than anything else on the airwaves, and I'm glad it exists for that reason. It's also fun! Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, This American Life, A Prairie Home Companion, and even MarketPlace, have a certain irreverent humor that I find delightful.

Should it continue to receive any form of government funding? I'm ambivalent. I think a case can be made for public support of the arts, of civic foundations such as schools, hospitals, universities. I can also see that it leaves any institution receiving public funding open to the charge that it is biased or wasteful or not a good usage of public funds. I support my local public radio affiliate - I suppose that if all government funding were cut off loyal listeners such as myself would respond to the funding drives and contribute more to make up the difference. At least, I would hope that we would do that so this vital institution would not suffer.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Lets just be real clear, again.

I do not hate NPR. I think NPR should exist or not on its merits and survive like all other radio networks. They do not need to confiscate money from taxpayers.

I don't hate NPR. I know they were too tame for Pacifica Radio, which dumped them from the SF Bay Area stations. They were more in the middle of the road back then. I haven't listened to them for years. Juan Williams has always been respected by the all the lefties around here. I am shocked as to his fall from grace, but since the lefties don't like NPR around here, I guess they don't care either.