Double Dipping by “PUBLIC” Entities – PBS and NPR

By Bridgette

When the Public Broadcasting System (PBS)  has their week-long pledge-drive specials where requests for donations are made,  did you know that the government was also supporting them?  How about  the National Public Radio (NPR)?    It appears these “publicly supported” companies have been double dipping.    It has recently come to light that when these companies and their outlets   beg for donations to keep them alive , they are also receiving grants from the government … your tax dollars.

What ridiculous governmental agency sponsors these companies and when did it our tax dollars begin to support them?

The government takes our  tax dollars and gives  these monies to these companies, while those companies are also begging  for more dollars from you to keep them on the air.    How often have you heard PBS wail, we can’t keep offering you these programs without your support?  Who is checking out their balance sheets to see if these marketing techniques are a sham or not?   If these companies can’t operate within their budgets, why are they still operating?  These companies are receiving free money to operate..from you directly and indirectly from governmental grants!   Aren’t they operating in a free market society?  Then why aren’t they competing in the private sector against other like public companies?  Are we duped because their names contain the word “Public.”

Is there some public benefit to their offerings?  What are they providing  as a service to us taxpayers?

According to the well-known FOX Commentator,  Bill O’Reilly who was incensed after the firing of Juan Williams from NPR,  did an investigation into NPR and revealed the government sponsorship of these Public corporations.  In Bill’s commentary, it came to light that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will  receive $420 million this year from the government.  This doesn’t include the millions that individual donors will send to keep them alive.

What is NPR feeding our citizens in their broadcasting menus while taking advantage of our free tax dollars?  The answer is Marxist, Progressive ideological commentary.   O’ Reilly stated that the “news-based programming on PBS and NPR is heavily tilted to the left.   In fact, as far as their news analysts are concerned, there are 17 liberal-leaning individuals on the air and one moderate.   There are NO conservative voices” to counterbalance the Left’s voices.   Using the word ” tilted to the left”   to describe their views when the score is 17 – 0  is a joke.    Who wins with this tilt?   It is the Left voices that are permeating the airwaves and broadcasting mediums who are the winners.    While, it is the  conservative, traditional voices that are being muted or silenced and whose voices are not being government sponsored.   This is quite the opposite of what the Left says is true.  The radical Left’s  takeover of the broadcast media (ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, etc.) and their constant barraging and twisting of the news  still was unable to  persuade many people to side with their anti-American philosophy  as shown by the mid-term election results.  As the MSM  ratings keep falling because people are turning the channels; these stations vilify  FOX news and their followers instead of recognizing why they are failing.

They are failing to  present the news and information in an unbiased fashion.  That is what people want to hear and see.  Citizens don’t need nor want to be spoon fed propaganda with a one-sided viewpoint.    These media outlets haven’t learned the KISS theory;  Keep it Simple Stupid!   Instead they rely on  “Stupid, we are keeping it  Simple.”   (That made me think of the latest mantra we heard of  “Yes We Can”.  The Progressives kept it simple, it had no meaning, and it was picked up by the  uninformed masses.  Wasn’t that chant a reflection of their beliefs about normal everyday Americans?  The weakest among us, those most easily influenced were  caught up in the web of deception.)

Americans  still want to hear both sides of every story, and before making any decision, they want to hear the people on both  sides of the fence make their pitch.  What could be fairer than that?   It is still our choice to listen to and support those that we want to  hear.  It is NOT our choice to have “them” decide what we must support or hear.

It is time to Silence the Left and remove government funding from these non-“public” companies who are serving the anti-government minority party instead of the established public majority.    If these propaganda spewing companies can’t survive on their own, let them die or force them to compete for the ears of the citizens by supporting themselves.   Don’t get me wrong, I am for free speech, but I don’t want my tax dollars paying and subsidizing broadcasts that are spewing anti-American sentiments.

Who knew that our hard-earned tax dollars were supporting the Left’s take  down of the US and their attempts to move our country toward socialist/communist values.   Not I, and more than likely not you.   It is time to examine the governments books in total to see where our tax dollars are going, and put an end to our sponsorship of  the Leftist’s organizations, and democratic machine organizations like  NPR, PBS, and ACORN.  We must expose them and cut them off from all government funding.

Let the likes of  communist billionaire, George Soros,  subsidize the Left’s propaganda machine organizations  with their  never-ending sources of money.  They don’t need our hard-earned dollars if they are getting radical George’s hand-outs!   How many organizations would fold without good old George?  (George initiated or created over 500 organizations just to beat George Bush in the 2004 primaries.   His money and organizations  didn’t sway the masses to follow the Marxist  nominee’s suggestions and push. George W. Bush won again. ).

Conservative thinkers and leaners are the  majority in this country.  Let’s put a stop to the Liberals having the loudest voices, and demand the never-ending governmental sponsorship of companies and organizations that are being given our tax dollars to support an ideology that doesn’t reflect the majority of people in our nation.

What other companies and organizations do we unwillingly and unknowingly  sponsor that should be exposed and cut-off?

Turn off the government spigot! That alone will put a tiny dent in reducing the governmental deficit that is shown today as:

The Outstanding Public Debt as of Nov. 5, 2010

at 7:09:35 AM GMT

$13,724,487,313,748.12

The estimated population of the United States is 309,422,319
so each citizen’s share of this debt is $44,355.20.

Do see the increase that has occurred since this article was written by clicking on the words “Outstanding Public Debt.”

Now, after knowing that we are being duped into supporting the Left’s voices that we don’t agree with,  I wonder what is being espoused on Voice of America (VOA) which, according to Wiki, ” is the official external radio and television broadcasting service of the United Stated Federal Government.  Its oversight entity is the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).

VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio, TV and the Internet around the world in forty-four languages, promoting a positive view of the United States. The Voice of America is fully funded by the U.S. taxpayer. Congress appropriates funds annually.   The VOA’s budget estimate for 2010  was $206.5 million.

VOA’s parent organization is the presidentially appointed Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).     Interestingly, their broadcasts are “aimed at the ex-communist states and countries under oppressive regimes in Asia.  In recent years, VOA has expanded its television coverage to many areas of the world.”

Exactly whose views are we promoting to other countries about our great America?    What is the tilt of those hundreds of commentators?   Are they talking about life, liberty, and freedom and the ideals of our republic?   Are they talking about the  America we love and our allegiance to our way of Life?  Or is our government now hiring and voicing the words of the communist minority in our U. S. A.?

Wiki states,  “The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a bipartisan panel of eight private citizens appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate (the U.S. Secretary of State is an ex officio member of the Board),  is the oversight body for official U.S. international broadcasts by both federal agencies and government-funded corporations.”   The  BBG has a Congressionally funded annual $757 million operating budget.

Who was appointed to the VOA’s oversight Board (BBG)  by our radical president?   In November 2009, President Obama nominated to the board:

• Walter Isaacson, Chairman
• Victor Ashe
  
• Michael Lynton
• Susan McCue
• Michael Meehan
• Dennis Mulhaupt, Co-Chair
• Dana Perino
• S. Enders Wimbush

Below is a little information about these seven  nominated people and links on their name for further information.

The chairman, Walter Isaacson, was appointed by President Obama to the BBG that runs Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and the other international broadcasts of the U.S. government.  He has been the
Chairman and CEO of CNN and the Managing Editor of TIME.   He is now is the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute.   He is a Harvard graduate.  In December 2007, he was appointed by President George W. Bush  to be the chairman of the U.S.-Palestinian Public-Private Partnership.

Victor Ashe

Victor Henderson Ashe II is the former United States Ambassador to Poland.   For sixteen years, from 1987 to 2003, he was mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee.   Ashe is a Republican.  He is a Yale graduate and was the roommate of  Pres. George W. Bush.

Michael Lynton

Michael Lynton is an American businessman who has led several media related companies including Time Warner, The Walt Disney Company’s Hollywood Pictures and Pearson’s Penguin Group.  Since January 2004, he has been Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures.  Lynton is trilingual in French, English, and Dutch.     He attended Phillips Exeter Academy,    Harvard College, and Harvard Business School.   Lynton was born in England in 1960 after his family escaped Nazi Germany.   He is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and Teach for America and on the board of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, the Jewish Television Network and the Rand Corporation.

Previously, Lynton had worked extensively on internet related matters. He was President, AOL  International, and CEO, AOL Europe starting in 2000, where he was responsible for AOL Europe as well as for AOL operations in Asia and Latin America.  He has stated, “I’m a guy who doesn’t see anything good having come from the Internet, period.”

Susan McCue

Susan McCue is a political strategist and President of Message Global LLC, a
strategic public affairs firm she founded in January 2008 to advance
progressive campaigns, global non-profit advocacy, grassroots activism and corporate social responsibility.

Before taking her top Senate post, McCue was a Communications Director for Harry Reid and was the Press Secretary for Sen. Tom Harkin’s 1996 Iowa Senate race.  She worked at Bozell-Eskew Advertising and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo.  She also worked on media for Al Gore’s 2000 Presidential campaign.  Prior to her political career, McCue worked in the news library at the Associated Press and as a research assistant for reporters at National Journal and The New York Times.

She was Chief of Staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from 1999 to 2006. Before that she held numerous communications positions in government and campaigns.  She is currently Vice Chair of Humanity United and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

In August 2007, GQ Magazine named McCue one of the 50 most powerful
people in Washington and in 2006 Washingtonian Magazine named her one of the 100 most powerful women in Washington.

Michael Meehan

Michael Meehan is an expert at communications, national media, message development and implementation, polling and election politics.

From Senate Chief of Staff to top political and communications posts at the
three national Democratic Party Committees (DSCC,  DCCC and DNC), Meehan has held positions of influence in the public policy and media relations arenas.  He has worked in top advisory positions for many U.S. Senators, including Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer. From 2005 thru 2007 he served as Senator Maria Cantwell’s (D-WA) Chief of Staff and chief strategist of her 2006 re-election campaign.

Dennis Mulhaupt

Dennis Mulhaupt is founder and Managing Director of Commonwealth Partners, Inc.,  a firm providing  advisory services to philanthropic institutions and families.  He worked at an investment bank in London and subsequently established the West Coast international political and economic risk advisory department at a major U. S. financial services company.   He was the  Executive Vice President at KCET in Los Angeles, a west-coast flagship public broadcasting and media company.

Dana Perino

Dana Perino is the founder of Dana Perino and Company, a strategic communications firm, a member of the Burson-Marsteller Global Strategy Team, and a Fox News Contributor.    She is best known as the former White House Press Secretary to President George W. Bush. She is the creator of Minute Mentoring, a program helping young women entering the workforce, and a member of the ONE Campaign’s Women’s Advisory Board, Mother’s Day Every Day, Running Start, and Pets2Vets.

Ms. Perino served in the U.S. Justice Department, was Director of Communications for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and worked for Representatives Dan Schaefer (R-CO) and Scott McInnis (R-C).  She holds a M.A. in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois Springfield and a B.A. in Mass Communications from Colorado State University – Pueblo.

S. Enders Wimbush

S. Enders Wimbush is Senior Vice President at the Hudson Institute (an American, conservative, non-profit think tank founded in 1961.).  From 1987-93, he served as Director of Radio Liberty in Munich, Germany.  Mr. Wimbush has worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, Science Applications
International Corporation, and the Rand Corporation as a consultant, strategist and analyst of international security issues, and for Runzheimer International as director of communications.   Earlier Mr. Wimbush directed the Society for Central Asian Studies in Oxford, England.  He  studied for a PhD at the University of Chicago, where he received his A.M.  from the Committee on International Relations.  He holds a B.A. in History from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

From 1987 to 1993, Wimbush served on the front lines of America’s strategic communications efforts as director of Radio Liberty in Munich, Germany.  During his tenure, the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Wimbush had the honor of opening Radio Liberty’s offices in Moscow, Kiev,  and elsewhere in the former USSR.

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The investigation is continuing.  The Board may be the overseers of the budget, but who are the people responsible for the hiring of the commentators and for the  programing?    Who is writing their scripts?  Unfortunately, we can’t tune in because  the radio broadcasts are only available to listeners in other countries.  Wouldn’t you like to know what information about our USA is being broadcast overseas?  Wouldn’t you like to know what we are paying  these people to say to others?  What is their tilt?  Are they adding to the anti-American sentiment in other countries?  It would be great to find that all of the commentators who are broadcasting overseas are people who hold America’s  exceptionalism and loyalty in their hearts rather than otherwise.