[Mid] WAS OT:Save NPR and PBS New INFO

I just read a very interesting news story about the proposed cuts for the
PBS system and it seems that once again, things are not always as they seem,
or how people would prefer that we see them.

Yes, there are cuts being made to the PBS system but the majority of the
programs that are being cut are new and upcoming projects that were
designated under President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" initiative. In
fact, the panel that just approved the new budget which actually includes
$145 billion in funding that is directly under congressional control.
According to the news story (By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050617/ap_on_go_co/congress_sp
ending_1) I read, funding is cut for only a short and specific time frame.
Future funding is restored to current levels. Some of the cuts that have
been proposed affect the infrastructure, such as moving to digital
technology.

The over all funding budget for PBS is wrapped up in a larger bill - Labor,
Health and Education bill. It seems, that in order to move funds from one
program such as Pell Grants (which received an increase in funding to the
tune of 1 billion) and Medicare increases (again, another 1 billion).

So, given this new information does this change your view about the funding
cuts for PBS?

For fear of being singled out as overtly sarcastic, which would you prefer?
To reduce the costs of public television programs and allow lower income
families to have access to medical assistance - or - allow the funding for
PBS to stay the same and cut costs for Medicare recipients?

There is always a price to be paid with only so much money to go around.

Robert

From: "Randy Nicholson" <rnicholson2@comcast.net>
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Received on Fri Jun 17 11:10:11 2005