Sesame Street

Fifty Years Of Corporation For Public Broadcasting, Public Broadcasting System, And National Public Radio, Due To Lyndon B. Johnson!

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The Corporation For Public Broadcasting was signed into law fifty years ago, in 1967, by President Lyndon B. Johnson, with the purpose of providing funding for public television and public radio.

Out of the legislation came the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), and National Public Radio (NPR).

Educational programming, including cultural and entertainment offerings, and investigation of history, science, nature, and news events and analysis, have been offered for a half century.

Children’s shows, including Sesame Street among its offerings, has enlightened the lives of generations of young people.

The American Experience; Nova; Frontline; Charlie Rose; Independent Lens; PBS News Hour; and Washington Week are among the great offerings of PBS.

On NPR, such programming as All Things Considered; Morning Edition; Fresh Air; On Point; and many Music shows are regularly available.

PBS and NPR are a great national treasure, and yet, if it was left up to Donald Trump and the Republican Party, it would be wiped out completely as far as tax support, although the total cost per person is extremely low, presently $455 million out of a $4 trillion national budget.

Each citizen in the United States pays $1.35 toward public broadcasting, a measly amount now in danger from a President who devalues education in a massive manner!

NPR gains 37.4 million listeners, and PBS has 350 stations across the nation. Listeners and watchers contribute about 86 percent of all funding, with federal, state, and local government putting in the additional 14 percent.

Public Media is one of the many gifts that Lyndon B. Johnson gave us, and it is essential to keep this wonderful contribution to our national culture alive and prospering with some government support!

PBS: $1.35 Per American—Is This Too Much To Promote Knowledge And Education?

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PBS has been part of American culture since 1965, when it was created under Lyndon B. Johnson as part of the Great Society programs, to promote knowledge and education.

Reaching nearly fifty years of age, and having lots of excellent programming, not just Sesame Street and Big Bird, and being made available in rural areas that have far fewer educational opportunities than metropolitan areas, PBS costs only $445 million annually to taxpayers, less than one thousandth of one percent of the national budget!

It comes down to $1.35 per person in America annually, and yet Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and the Republican Party and conservatives want to force PBS to survive simply on the contributions of its viewers, which happen to be about 90 percent of the people at some point during the year.

While there are already contributions made by many to keep PBS able to promote its excellent programming, to use PBS as the “whipping boy” for the budget crisis that America faces is the height of hypocrisy, as it is literally a “drop in the bucket”, and it comes across as extremely petty to attack PBS, which offers so much good to the nation, and should not be subjected to becoming part of politics!

Education and knowledge should be our aim, and already, there are indications that the opponents of PBS are losing the battle of public opinion!

Sesame Street And Education Vs. Wall Street And Mitt Romney!

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Mitt Romney jokingly talked about stopping funding of PBS and Sesame Street during the Presidential debate, and “Big Bird” and the educational community is up in arms over the pettiness of what Romney is promoting!

As Barack Obama said yesterday, we need a war NOT on Sesame Street and PBS, which represents one one thousandth of a point of the national budget, but to crack down on Wall Street abuses, and prevent more tax cuts to the wealthy!

PBS and Sesame Street represent the future of America—education and knowledge–and the Republican Party is only concerned about the elite wealthy, and yet Romney lies through his teeth incessantly that he “cares” about the “one hundred percent”, and claims the “47 percent” comment was just a slip in one of hundreds or thousands of statements or speeches during his campaign!

Of course, the “47 percent” speech was NOT to a politically rally, or to a journalist, but to a group of super wealthy contributors in Boca Raton, and one can certain that this shows the TRUE Romney, and that his statement is NOT a mistake, except for the fact it got out to the public, and has caused the rapid decline in Romney fortunes!

By making 27 lies in 38 minutes of the Presidential debate, and attacking Sesame Street and “Big Bird”, and then claiming the “47 percent” statement was a slip up, when it was not, and only is seen as so because the American people know about it, Mitt Romney has “shot himself in the foot” yet again, and his Presidential fortunes will be no better on November 6!