The Rape of Public Broadcasting

If there's any truth to the oft repeated maxim, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" we're about to see it underscored in the halls of Congress.

It's no secret that the Republican party is seeking absolute power and control of everything American. The own the presidency, they own both houses of Congress, and they're wearing out horses trying to gain absolute control of the Judiciary. They don't care how blatant their power grabs appear to the public. They have the ultimate cover - "God is on our side."

But it's not the stuff that's out there easily seen that bothers me. It's the takeovers of the bits and pieces of a free America and turning them into party functionaries without the notice of most Americans that scares the knickers off my backside. Things like the replacing of environmental watchdogs as heads of environmental agencies with Republican controlled anti-environmental ex-lobbyists who have laid waste to our countries natural resources and continue to damage our air, water, and land in deference to Corporate bottom lines.

Our Repubo friends are not satisfied with having their own Pravda in the Fox News Network. Nor are they satisfied with having powerful Repubo billionaires owning and controlling most of the five major news networks in this country (think Murdoch and Sinclair). Nor are they satisfied with controlling the majority of Volksempfäänger pundits from Lindbaugh to O'Reilly, Schultz to Colson. The voice of Repubo politics can be heard 24 hours a day on a plethora of Repubo controlled radio stations.

But it's not enough for these master power mongers. Now they are zeroing in on Public Broadcasting. It started with the realization that Public Radio and TV were one of the few remaining voices reaching people with the truth concerning what was happening in the world and in our country.

The Repubos figured, "Hey, we own the government and the government owns Public Broadcasting. So why not take it over?" So they did.

They appointed Kenneth Tomlinson the new chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Mr. Tomlinson is now intent on ramming partisan "balance" (you know, like Fox News) on the airwaves. To accomplish that, he is stocking the corporation with Repubo loyalists. His next move will be to appoint the former co-chairwoman of the Repubo National Committee to the presidency of the corporation.

Repubos even have their own Reichstag Fire going in that the House Appropriations Committee recently voted not only to end taxpayers support for next year's children's shows on public radio and TV, but also to close out entirely the $400 million in federal support of the PBS.

Tomlinson is using this as justification for the changes in personnel and programming restrictions, claiming this will "make the case" for monetary support by the Feds. A true ideological putsch!

What can YOU do about this? 1. Write to your Senators and demand they block this Repubo power grab when it comes up for a vote there. 2. Get rid of all the right wing whackos in the House during the 2006 elections and restore some balance to Congress again.

Show them neither God nor the American public is on their side.