PBS Has Its Pants In A Bunch

Click the link below to see how CommonDreams. org is all worked up over the big mahoff personnel changes that are going to take place at PBS. The President of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, a Republican, has decided to give a less liberal bias to his PBS Network by adding some high profile Republicans to top jobs. Sounds like a great idea to me, but everyone seems to be afraid of the coming of the new conservatives. (Or afraid of fair and balanced broadcasting.)

Bill Moyers is particularly miffed and is throwing a male diva hissy fit. Bill O'Reilly (Fox News O'Reilly Factor for those of you living abroad forever) wrote a column about it today. The position changes have been covered by the NYT (check link below). (That's how you KNOW it's an important issue.) There's even an Action Box on the linked web page. It tells all who hate that pesky balance thing the tips they'll need so they can complain to the proper parties. (Everybody's an activist these days. I'm getting all nostaglic for the 60s.) I'm sure the PBSers are irate. They won't like the new stuff. Nobody likes change. Nobody likes to give up a piece of their "control" pie--or their comfort zone for that matter. Listen, can't you just hear the whining, "I Want My PBS."

Wait! This is a GOOD thing. Now maybe there will be a reason for the rest of us to check out PBS when there's nothing on TV. I'd almost written off a chance to recoup some entertainment in exchange for my tax dollars that have been supporting this liberal bastion. Options! We're gonna get options, too! For a hoot, check out O'Reilly's ideas for programming in his article.
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Source 1: CommonDreams.org (link below)
Source 2: http://www.billoreilly.com/currentarticle
Article Follows because it will be archived soon and you will need to be a premium member of Bill's website to access it. So here's the whole thing FYI.

The New PBS
By: Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com
Thursday, Jul 07, 2005
Because I am a simple man, I have but one simple question: If PBS is politically balanced as Bill Moyers says it is, why, then, are only liberal Americans objecting to impending changes at the network? I mean, every far-left crank in town is in a frenzy over a couple of Republicans moving into management positions. After decades of liberal leadership, isn't it fair to give some conservatives a shot? After all, the tax dollars of right-wing Americans also pour into the Public Broadcasting trough. So, hey, let's be fair about things.

Of course, there is a chance that the conservatives will not be fair, and will turn Elmo into a contributor to Tom DeLay's travel fund. That would be tragic and should be prevented at all costs. So I have come up with some new PBS programming designed to heal all partisan wounds. Here is what the upcoming fall PBS lineup should look like.

"Tax the Rich" is a news analysis program hosted by Congressman Bernie Sanders, the socialist from Vermont. Each week Sanders and his panel of regular folks from Cambridge, Berkeley and Seattle, will select one wealthy American and take all his stuff. The panel will then decide which other Americans should get said stuff and why. This program would also be broadcast from Havana on special occasions.

"Santorum's Sanitarium" will be hosted by Rick Santorum, the conservative Senator from Pennsylvania. It will focus mainly on the latest word from God about American policy. The Deity will weigh in each week with solutions to complex problems and communicate through the Senator who will occasionally speak in tongues.

"The Gay Newlywed Game" will star Congressman Barney Frank and be broadcast from Provincetown, Massachusetts. Each week, the editors of "The New York Times" will select a panel of lucky homosexual or lesbian or bisexual or transgender couples from the hundreds of articles the Times has done on these alternative lifestyles over the past few years. Barney will ask the couples questions about each other but try to avoid the double entendres that made the straight Newlywed Game so tacky. After all, this is PBS.

"Savage Behavior" is a confrontational hour where radio talk show host Michael Savage plans the nuclear destruction of America's enemies. Each week, another annoying nation is vaporized using the latest high-tech computer graphics and simulated skin meltdowns. This one is a ratings lock. Provocative talk, awesome destruction and unlimited savagery make the program a can't miss hour of TV viewing.

"The Streisand Factor" features the singer/political scientist making a rare television appearance. Babs will fill us in on her latest "war on terror" strategies, macro-economic suggestions and secular-progressive fantasies. There's high power star wattage here as Barbra brings us out leftwing pals like Whoopi Goldberg and Robert Redford to dish national security and massive entitlement spending. She'll also make reference to her friendship with Bill Clinton but avoid the touchy Hillary "issue."

And finally "The Conundrum with Moyers and Liddy" features those zany ideologues Bill Moyers and G. Gordon Liddy debating the latest issues and zinging each other with good-humored barbs. Moyers hammers home his philosophy that President Bush is the anti-Christ and also demands the Chief Executive actually undergo an Exorcism even if that does violate separation of Church and State. Liddy will do the program armed and, at least once during the hour, will burn his hand in an open flame without flinching. He may also, on occasion, call Moyers "fey."

So there you have it, the new PBS where all Americans can be equally offended. Can't wait to see it.
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