Good evening peeps. For all the white people that means ‘people’ and not the disgusting candy covered, yellow or pink, marshmallow baby chickens we get around Easter. For all the black person that reads this, sup.
I read something yesterday that seemed unbelievable. It shouldn’t have been as shocking as it was though because it involved Republicans and the Bush Administration. The Washington Post reported that a congressional panel,comprised of ten Republicans and eight Democrats,is working with the Bush Administration, and plans to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in order for those oh so generous tax cuts we have been promised, to be put into place permanently. By ‘we’ I mean the top 1% of the wealthy in this nation, so probably not you and definitely not me.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting underwrites such shows as Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and Reading Rainbow. These are television shows that I grew up with and hold a special place in my heart for. The financial loss proposed isn’t going to bring an end to these shows but it certainly is going to impact them. Well not Mr. Rogers because, sadly, he is dead and they aren’t making new episodes of that show. It would be pretty weird and disconcerting if they were though. I digress.
Some would argue the programming is better on public television. I can see that. I would rather sit through an hour of Antiques Roadshow than any one of the second rate sitcoms or dramas on network TV. I actually have done that so maybe it’s time to question my sexuality again. I’m kidding.
Some pundits are saying that this congressional action is a result of PBS’s alleged history of liberal leanings in their programming. I can say that of all the times I’ve watched PBS I have either been told to practice tolerance or I learned a new number. I didn’t know tolerance and the alphabet were exclusive to liberals.
Let’s say that PBS is liberal. If I turn it to FOX News, which oozes conservatism like a sore, I more often than not am hearing someone who is speaking as though tolerance is a bad thing and that somehow being tolerant is a detriment to human nature. The same goes for Christian TV. Whether it is attacking Muslims, Gays, African-Americans or anyone who thinks different and who maybe questions authority, they are attacked on a daily basis. Just as Jesus was.
The only thing that PBS is doing in teaching tolerance is just that, teaching. I’ve never felt in the hundreds of hours I’ve spent in my life watching PBS that I was being judged or was being taught to dislike anyone. That is what teaching is, or should be. Teaching should be unbiased and non-judgemental. Just because someone tells you to be tolerant doesn’t mean they are telling you to become whatever it is you’re intolerant of. If I tell you that there are kids growing up with gay parents that doesn’t mean you have to be gay. If I tell you that there are Muslim children, that doesn’t mean you have to convert. I respect and believe in the right of every human being to believe what they want and to do so without the fear of being judged or tormented. I learned that from PBS and the Bible.
PBS did also teach me that ‘one of these things is not like the other’ as well as the dangers of possibly coming in contact with wet paint. PBS also taught me to recognize when a Latin business may be open or closed. Abierto or cerrado. That comes in handy when you’re in Mexico and are really drunk. Trust me.
There is obviously no proof that the cut in funding is a direct result of PBS’s alleged political leanings. Remember though that within the last two years Homeland Security, something that didn’t exist five years ago, wanted to put tracking devices on public computers in libraries as a way to protect the nation. The National Library Association stood up to that and said that they would not allow it. It was at that point the National Library Association was threatened with losing all of it’s federal funding if they didn’t comply. Just ponder that for a second. It’s almost an empirical type of tyranny disguised as protection of the homeland. Kind of like illegally wiretapping Americans. Par for the course I guess.
If the government is looking to cut corners let’s go ahead and stop having congressional hearings on steroid use in baseball, no matter how important I might think that might be as a rabid baseball fan, and maybe look at what is costing the country the most money right now. Our biggest cost? The war! You remember that don’t you? Here are some fun statistics about the cost of the war…..
At the time of this writing we have spent $240 billion dollars on the war. Now I know that might not sound like much to you or I, assuming I’m Bill Gates and you are too, but let me break it down a little further for you because I’m not Bill Gates and just in case you aren’t either. For the same amount of money we’ve spent on this war we could have given medical insurance for a year to 144 million children in the United States. For the same amount of this war we could have sent 12 million kids to a four year public college. The most disturbing fact is that with the amount of money we have spent on this war we could have guaranteed immunization for every child in the world for the next 79 years.
Maybe I’m out of line calling on the government to look into better ways to spend what is essentially our money. Perhaps that’s not right of me to assume that the money we are wasting on a war that is getting little more accomplished then increasing the number widows and fatherless and motherless children here and in Iraq. Maybe I’m wrong for wanting to see the government actually do something for it’s people instead of for themselves. What do I know though? I grew up watching public television so I guess that makes me a liberal tree hugging hippy.
On to more important things.
I officially have become a nerd. I am now on myspace. It was basically a direct result of my friend Jason B. That and incessant peer pressure from all of my other nerdy dork friends. I do have a friend however who met his girlfriend on myspace. She’s a hot Italian doctor so maybe myspace isn’t all bad. He probably got the last one though. That would figure. Check it out if you want. I’ll be your friend.
JOEL’S BLACK HISTORY FUN FACT
Ok so maybe it’s not ‘fun’ but it is a fact. The term ‘cowboy’ was originally used as a way to refer to the slave that tended to the cows or horses. So whenever you run across a racist cowboy, which isn’t as difficult as it should be, just laugh on the inside a little bit because they are essentially proclaiming themselves as a title that was once reserved for African-American slaves. Stupid cowboys.
RIGHT NOW
SONG - 3 MC’s and One DJ by the Beastie Boys - They just did a version of that song on Letterman and, as always, it was incredible. They are one of two acts that I would love to, but have yet to, see live. Ben Folds is the other. Once that’s over with I can move on to aspiring to some other meaningless endeavor. Let’s see who I’ve seen so far. I’ll go ahead and list it for you since you didn’t ask and really don’t care. Cake - Dave Matthews Band 3 times - Dr. Dre - Snoop Dogg - Warren G - Nate Dogg - Eminem - Xzibit - Sahara Hot Nights - Flaming Lips - Perfect Circle - Mars Volta - Justin Timberlake - Christina Aguilera - Reverend Horton Heat 2 times - Black Eyed Peas - White Stripes - Bill Cosby - Jerry Seinfeld - Boxcar Racer - Hot Hot Heat - Pearl Jam - Sir Mix-A-Lot - Vanilla Ice twice. I’m not proud of that at all but it was free so who cares right?
MOVIE - The Aristocrats. Not the movie with the animated singing cats either. This movie is the funniest and dirtiest movie of all time. It is just plain filthy but you will laugh so hard it will hurt. That’s right. I said hurt. You know a movie is good when Bob Saget tells one of the filthiest jokes ever put on film. I highly recommend this movie.
Holla.
- Joel
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