Now...the Party is Started!

[Nbadan]

Oh no he didn't!

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/545627_10151060554536498_1320455136_n.jpg

[DMX7]

That mother fucker is getting our tax dollars!!!

[Nbadan]

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/web05/2012/10/3/23/enhanced-buzz-18463-1349322585-2.jpg

[Nbadan]

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/web04/2012/10/4/0/enhanced-buzz-28278-1349323774-1.jpg

[Nbadan]

Good night everyone...I leave you tonight with this classic from the original bird man


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bY8trVya5aU#!

[baseline bum]

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/web04/2012/10/4/0/enhanced-buzz-28278-1349323774-1.jpg

:rollin

[Spurminator]

Even though I didn't watch any of the debate, I'm assuming this was probably the issue of absolute least importance discussed in the debate. So it probably doesn't merit all of the response it's gotten, but it's also pretty baffling that Republicans continue to crusade against it.

http://i.imgur.com/yUG0h.png

[DMX7]

Two F-22 Raptor Jet Fighters cost more than the entire PBS budget.

[z0sa]

Even though I didn't watch any of the debate, I'm assuming this was probably the issue of absolute least importance discussed in the debate. So it probably doesn't merit all of the response it's gotten, but it's also pretty baffling that Republicans continue to crusade against it.

PBS endorses/teaches evolution and other controversial but proven facts. Republicans will do anything to keep the facts of science at odds with religion out of people, especially kid's, heads. Plus it's a good selling point for some of the more extreme members of their base who rally around this "Big Government is Bad" theme, actual costs be damned.

[Spurminator]

Having quality public media should be considered a source of pride for the patriots of a civilized, wealthy nation.

[jack sommerset]

Big bird is old enough to collect social security. He'll be fine. God bless

[ploto]

The attack on PBS really angers me as a parent. PBS provides educational programming for people without the means to afford cable television. When my child was young, we had no cable and just a handful of networks plus PBS. PBS was on everyday, whether Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, or even Barney. Also, older people with limited incomes watch PBS for cultural programming. Rich people will never understand the value of public television.

[boutons_deux]

The attack on PBS really angers me as a parent. PBS provides educational programming for people without the means to afford cable television. When my child was young, we had no cable and just a handful of networks plus PBS. PBS was on everyday, whether Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, or even Barney. Also, older people with limited incomes watch PBS for cultural programming. Rich people will never understand the value of public television.

PBS, NPR, CPB have long been targets for Repugs and conservatives, above all, as you attest, because they actually contribute to American civilization. For those philistine assholes, if it's a govt function, or a non-profit, then it has no value and must stopped, killed.

St Ronnie: "Govt IS the problem". It's the fundamental, defining concept of Repug/conservative "thought".

[possessed]

The attack on PBS really angers me as a parent. PBS provides educational programming for people without the means to afford cable television. When my child was young, we had no cable and just a handful of networks plus PBS. PBS was on everyday, whether Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, or even Barney. Also, older people with limited incomes watch PBS for cultural programming. Rich people will never understand the value of public television.

Get a job and buy cable.

[DarkReign]

Get a job and buy cable.

Crazy talk. PBS, NPR are the only worthy, educational, unbiased news sources out there in TV and Radio land.

[Trainwreck2100]

Then he went on to say that cutting Exxon's breaks will only net 2 billion

[boutons_deux]

Get a job and buy cable.

gfy

[RandomGuy]

Even though I didn't watch any of the debate, I'm assuming this was probably the issue of absolute least importance discussed in the debate. So it probably doesn't merit all of the response it's gotten, but it's also pretty baffling that Republicans continue to crusade against it.

http://i.imgur.com/yUG0h.png


The federal funding that Romney was referencing isn’t a direct subsidy to PBS. The funding actually flows to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB was created by Congress before PBS existed, in 1968 after the promotion of public media was noted “of appropriate and important concern” to the federal government. By statute, the board of CPB is to be bipartisan: three Democrats and three Republicans. As part of its mission, it supports not only PBS but also National Public Radio (NPR)

(And yes, I am well aware that all of these acronyms feel very much like an episode of Sesame Street…)

For fiscal year 2010, federal funding for PBS through CPB accounted for about 12% of PBS’ revenue. In terms of dollars, that works out to about $300 million. There’s not much wiggle room to be had: the money that actually goes to CPB is split according to a mostly statutory formula. For 2015, Congress has budgeted $445 million for CPB. That’s less than 1% of the budget. Way less. It’s about 1/100th of a 1%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States

Defense Budget:
$683 bn

V-22 Osprey program $2.8 billion

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/U.S._Federal_Spending_-_FY_2010.svg

You aren't going to balance the budget by cutting PBS.

More budget myths from the GOP.

2004 farm subsidies: Total $8,022bn

Jesus jumped up christ on a crutch, this never ceases to amaze me.

PBS is something I fully support.

If republicans want to cut stuff, find something else that will provide a lot more "bang for the buck" in terms of effort and money.

[Glenn Holland]

The attack on PBS really angers me as a parent. PBS provides educational programming for people without the means to afford cable television. When my child was young, we had no cable and just a handful of networks plus PBS. PBS was on everyday, whether Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, or even Barney. Also, older people with limited incomes watch PBS for cultural programming. Rich people will never understand the value of public television.




PBS is absolute bullshit and I am tired of paying for people who are poor and cant be a decent person who makes money to support themselves.

I fucking hate working to support poor trash and I fucking hate having to pay for bullshit television.

[RandomGuy]

PBS is absolute bullshit and I am tired of paying for people who are poor and cant be a decent person who makes money to support themselves.

I fucking hate working to support poor trash and I fucking hate having to pay for bullshit television.

V-22 Osprey program $2.8 billion

If you hate supporting those people, you should hate the useless fucks who make this albatross even more. 5.2 times more, in fact.

[ploto]

PBS is not primarily funded through federal tax dollars. In contrast, it’s largely supported by, well, viewers like you (sound familiar?). Almost 60% of funding for public television comes from private donors or grants. Additional funding is provided by dues paid by member stations.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2012/10/04/romney-promises-to-cut-taxpayer-funding-for-pbs-but-says-he-still-loves-big-bird/

[Clipper Nation]

PBS represents something like 0.014% of total government spending, tbh.... a waste of taxpayer money? Sure, but not nearly as wasteful as Willard's desired expansion of military spending....

[Wild Cobra]

You aren't going to balance the budget by cutting PBS.

And you aren't going to balance the budget without cutting any place you can.

[Glenn Holland]

PBS is not primarily funded through federal tax dollars. In contrast, it’s largely supported by, well, viewers like you (sound familiar?). Almost 60% of funding for public television comes from private donors or grants. Additional funding is provided by dues paid by member stations.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2012/10/04/romney-promises-to-cut-taxpayer-funding-for-pbs-but-says-he-still-loves-big-bird/



pbs serves no true purpose.

if you depend on pbs to educate your kids then you are shit

if you depend on any media/tv to educate and entertain you, then you are shit

you argue that pbs is good for people who dont want to pay for tv, i say if you are that poor and can not afford a cable tv bill each month, then you should be working more and not have any time to even worry about tv watching time.

the government has no place funding any tv stations.

you want to watch it, then pay for it 100% assholes.

[LnGrrrR]

pbs serves no true purpose.

if you depend on pbs to educate your kids then you are shit

if you depend on any media/tv to educate and entertain you, then you are shit

you argue that pbs is good for people who dont want to pay for tv, i say if you are that poor and can not afford a cable tv bill each month, then you should be working more and not have any time to even worry about tv watching time.

the government has no place funding any tv stations.

you want to watch it, then pay for it 100% assholes.

But here in the real world, the government funds a billion other things that could probably be cut that would bring back a lot more in revenue.

[RandomGuy]

And you aren't going to balance the budget without cutting any place you can.

Fine. Cut the CPB budget. (shrugs) I don't see wasting effort on such a small portion of the budget as worth while, but if it makes you happy, lets go for it.

You have now cut 1/1,000th of the Federal Budget. Yay.

What else do you want to cut?

[RandomGuy]

pbs serves no true purpose.

if you depend on pbs to educate your kids then you are shit

if you depend on any media/tv to educate and entertain you, then you are shit

you argue that pbs is good for people who dont want to pay for tv, i say if you are that poor and can not afford a cable tv bill each month, then you should be working more and not have any time to even worry about tv watching time.

the government has no place funding any tv stations.

you want to watch it, then pay for it 100% assholes.

Wrong. Government has every place in doing these things.

My, that was easy.

[DMX7]

I'll admit that I was surprised to learn that PBS gets $450 million for the fed. I was expecting something more like 250 million. Still chump change in the grand scheme of things though.

[Glenn Holland]

pbs is just liberal bullshit propoganda just like npr

fucking absolute bullshit

[TeyshaBlue]

Not really.

[LnGrrrR]

pbs is just liberal bullshit propoganda just like npr

fucking absolute bullshit

Given your relative lack of grammar skills and social graces, I take it that you never watched Sesame Street growing up?

[FuzzyLumpkins]

pbs is just liberal bullshit propoganda just like npr

fucking absolute bullshit

Do you feel Fox News lives up to its slogan "Fair And Balanced?"

[Glenn Holland]

I feel that most poor people are poor because they choose to be lazy and sit at home and watch bullshit pbs since they cant afford cable

[clambake]

I feel that most poor people are poor because they choose to be lazy and sit at home and watch bullshit pbs since they cant afford cable

maybe they're just driving around in free golf carts.

[Juggity]

Education > War

Pretty simple.

[Wild Cobra]

Fine. Cut the CPB budget. (shrugs) I don't see wasting effort on such a small portion of the budget as worth while, but if it makes you happy, lets go for it.

You have now cut 1/1,000th of the Federal Budget. Yay.

What else do you want to cut?
Phase out earned income credit,m exemptions, credits for children, loan interest, etc. Maybe grandfather the deductions and credits and not allow any new entries added starting in 2014 or so.

Why should anyone pay less taxes for having children vs. someone who chooses not to with the exemptions? Each tax payer should have an equal exemption. No more or no less than any other tax payer.

Why should a home owner get to write of expenses a renter cannot?

Why should people get rewarded with the redistributed money of other tax payers for being low income and having children?

Have a one time mandatory increase in wages for employees of 7.65%, and eliminate the employer payroll tax. Change the SS and medicare deduction rate to 14.21% and call it a social tax. Fix the tax tables for federal income taxes. Adjust the social tax on a quarterly basis by government spending and tell the people this tax increases of decreases by the actions congress takes in spending or reducing costs.

As for this social tax. For every $100 an employee makes, $6.20 ($4.20) goes to social security and $1.45 goes to medicare deductions. Before paying income taxes, he has $92.35. The employer also pays $6.20 and 1.45 for the privilege of having this fine worker. Most people are blind to the fact that this is also part of their money that is cost shifted. I want to make it real. Therefore, for every $107.65 an employee makes, he pays $14.21. From the $107.65 in new wages, he now pays $15.30 (107.65 *0.1421 = 15.3) and still has $92.35.

I can come up with more. Any particular type of item?

[boutons_deux]

"Why should anyone pay less taxes for having children vs. someone who chooses not to with the exemptions?"

EVERY person gets a personal exemption.

Persons with dependents like children and wives (before women quit being "Biblical wives", got progressive, and went to work) get claim dependents as exemption.

The exemption is badly outdated, (2012: $3,800 ) since the number was set to allow a person an untaxed revenue for subsistence (food, clothing, shelter). Who in USA can subsist on $10/day total?

I notice your "tax reform" leaves all business "exemptions" in place. "corporations are people, my friend", so why should Corporate-Americans get pretty much unlimited exemptions but not your Human-Americans?

[Wild Cobra]

So you are a Marxist. I understand.

[ploto]

Big Bird on SNL!!

[boutons_deux]

...

[boutons_deux]

So you are a Marxist. I understand.

You're reflexively wrong, on both statements.

[Wild Cobra]

You're reflexively wrong, on both statements.
So why are you so enthusiastic to redistribute wealth? PBS gats most of their funding outside of government grants. Why can't they get all of it without tax payer dollars?

Yes... I engaged in name calling. However, so many things you say are right out of Karl Marx's playbook.

“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”
― Karl Marx
“All I know is that I am not a Marxist.”
― Karl Marx

How do you feel about this:


What is Progressivism? Progressivismis the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat. What is the proletariat? The proletariat is that class in society which lives entirely from the sale of its labor and does not draw profit from any kind of capital; whose weal and woe, whose life and death, whose sole existence depends on the demand for labor....

[boutons_deux]

"So why are you so enthusiastic to redistribute wealth?"

As a member of the proletariat, why are you so enthusiastic about the 1% sucking wealth out of the 99%?

[Wild Cobra]

"So why are you so enthusiastic to redistribute wealth?"

As a member of the proletariat, why are you so enthusiastic about the 1% sucking wealth out of the 99%?



But I'm not. I have a rather generous amount in my 401k retirement savings, and good savings account also.

Besides. It's not the 99% sucking wealth out of the 1%. The 99% are too stupid to plan for the future. Too stupid to get ahead. That's why they are in the position they are. Besides, it's not really 99% either. it's much smaller.

People who do well financially are simply good at planning ahead. Sure, some are just lucky, but normally... they earned it.

[RandomGuy]

I feel that most poor people are poor because they choose to be lazy and sit at home and watch bullshit pbs since they cant afford cable

12 cents out of every thousand dollars the US government spends.

A lot of people disagree about the value of PBS.

Quite frankly, it is a distraction from the real things we should be worrying about. This, of course, is why I think Republicans harp on it so much.

Easy to whip up faux outrage about.

Who wants to actually take on real reform? That doesn't get you votes.