TIME hit our mailbox this morning. Not too often that there is any mention of South Dakota in it, but a columnist took an attention-grabbing shot at South Dakota. James Poniewozik wrote a column titled "Big Bird is A Republican.Lay off Mitt. PBS should make a conservative Proud." A long title on one of the pages that separates ads from other ads.
Anyway, this caught my attention, "And, I could keep the buck and change in taxes that I spend to offer PBS to the hearland. Screw you, South Dakota. You're on your own."
The rest of the story is mostly in effect, the incredible bargain that is CPB. Public TV is cheap and bi-partisanly supported. Conservative let their kids watch because it is not going to be selling something to them that is unhealthy or an expensive waste of time.
Defunding PBS as advocated by Mitt Romney would mainly devastate TV and education in places like South Dakota where we get more back from such funding than we put in.
Poniewozik and I are probably both scratching our heads about why anybody in South Dakota, Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, would rant and rave against government programs that benefit us all. Perhaps Public TV would be seen as better by conservation retrograde Republicans if they could just make sure that only they and their children could afford access.
*** Stay tuned. Despite the best efforts of South Dakota Democrats, over 50% of South Dakotans voting will probably vote Republican insuring themselves that they are truly brave by tolerating another of their point-blank shots into their own right feet.--- Doug Wiken
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