NPR Thanks Obama For Continuing to Fund Their Leftwing Propaganda
Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 6:10 AM
NPR released this statement yesterday following the news that Obama would not gut their leftist news organization of taxpayer funding in his new budget.
Via The Examiner:
Public broadcasting received a vote of confidence today from the Obama Administration. The President’s FY 2012 budget submission to Congress included $451 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for the two year advance appropriation for FY 2014, an increase of $6 million over FY 2013 funding.
NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller said, “We are grateful to the Obama Administration for recognizing the importance of public radio to the life of communities across the nation. Every day, over 900 public radio stations present fact-based local, national and international news, as well as local arts, music and cultural programming that can’t be found anywhere else.”
Of course, Schiller scoffed at the taxpayer funding NPR received just last year after Juan Williams was fired.
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Published May 22, 2012 at 5:04 am - 33 Comments
Mark Kuhn commented:
Hey, hey, ho, ho… Nazi Party Radio has got to go!
(Nazi = [Post-]National Socialism)
Robert commented:
If a family’s tax bill were $10,000 then this would be equal to taking the total taxes from 45,100 families and giving it to the national propaganda radio service.
Over 45 thousand families forced to pay to be propagandized.
I wonder if the constitutional law professor-in-chief could show where in the Constitution that was authorized.
Granny commented:
Obama might not gut it, but the House of Representatives gets first and final say on the budget. “president” IWon WTF can “award” all he wants and propose whatever he cares to, but all budget proposals have to originate in the House. Something tells me that NPR and CPB had better be planning to replace their federal funding.
olm commented:
I w as just reading a sob story on the evil GOP cutting funding for Elmo and how there will be huge bipartisan backlash.
Gosh, what f ing crybabies. If it is so valuable they will be able to raise funding. Hell, if Obamster can raise a billion for his re election campaign, he can fund them.
tadcf commented:
There must be a national network dedicated to the truth in order to counter the propaganda–not to mention out-right lies, in some instances–promoted by FOX and other reactionary media programs.
If you want to be entertained, watch FOX, MSNBC, or CNN. If you want real news and analysis, watch LinkTV or FreeSpeechTV.
bg commented:
++
NPR flashback..
more here..
==
bigkahuna commented:
I say we cut 451 million from the budget and help it get a bit closer to being BALANCED you freaking moron.
Its PUBLIC Radio that nobody listens to that is pushing leftwing propaganda daily.
Shut the spigot off. Let Big bird pay for it with all the money they make from it.
Advertise like the rest of the world and compete. We dont need this today. We have more freaking news available to us on an hourly basis.
Slash and Burn away !
Militant Conservative commented:
#5 February 15, 2011 at 10:39 am
tadcf commented:
internet searches and live video feeds are killing the MSM.
Good riddance as I am the reporter now and they (MSM) are all just selling product to the sheep.
powder is dry.
bigkahuna commented:
Tadcf
Listen to NBS, ABS, CNBCBS, PBS, NPBS, and listen to the totally coordinated messages from the left/whitehouse/media its all the same pathetic loser message attacking the right, the country, the citizens, the taxpayer, law abiding ctizens, teaparty etc.
Screw off you putz
Shut the flow of money to NPR and let it sink or swim on its own
You just want to kill babies instead of letting a leftwing radio survive and compte on its own.
Its called WELFARE RADIO & TV I know if you let it try to compete on its own Its called ERROR AMERICA !
Alana commented:
They are grateful to the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION for giving them OUR money.
Airon Later commented:
It’s not only very interesting but all too telling that the modern American Right creates boogeymen out of groups like NPR and then howls for them to be “defunded”. What should also be noted is that a majority of NPR’s funds come from individual donors and and moneys raised by the stations that carry their broadcasts – NOT by direct government funding. The only direct funds are given to “member stations” and not to NPR the organization, and that is only 6% of their annual revenue. That is literally fractions of pennies when compared to other government funded programs. The deficit hawks in the modern American Right claim to have priorities and fiscal understanding, but when you look at it they don’t seem to be taking the situation seriously at all.
Rachelle commented:
The Commie network shouldn’t count it’s pennies yet.
Obama can recommend they be funded.
Only the House can actually fund them.
They are fools if they do.
Paul in N. AL commented:
Oh yeah thanks for the reminder of where to cut. Time to cut all of it out.
greg commented:
Its time to face up to the impact of technology change and the necessary restructureing of obsolete business plans. NPR needs to go the way of Time and Newsweek mag. and a whole host of print media. NPR had a purpose, before internet, cell, twitter, Ipad, etc came on the scene. Sirius will eventually push out the remains of radio. Car manufactures will soon no longer provide a disc player on the dash board. The huge variety of entertainment/news sourcing will allow every indiviidual to tailor there specific needs.
NPR is dead……Time to defund and back off the debt and make room for new programs without increasing the net cost.
bigkahuna commented:
Airon…Your argument is a joke. If they dont need it Then cut it. I dont care if it goes to the stations or to PBS or NPR.. WE ARE BROKE and do not need to spend ANY money on this crap. Fund it yourself .
Its a great start. There are 100,000 other similar ridiculous programs just like this that need defunded. I dont want the Govt studying cow farts, turtle bridges or any of the other garabage we DONT NEED
Obama Worshipping Idiot commented:
TADCF:
I’m with you, bro!!!
The evil, racist private sector and vile conspiracies to steal money from poor, undocumented democrat voters and dope addicts must be eradicated.
America must be wiped off the face of Gaia.
You nazis are lucky we let you keep any money.
Guy in Ohio commented:
The point is not how much tax money NPR gets, it that it gets ANY at all. It is has clearly become a partisan organization, and as such, should not be allowed to receive ANY tax dollars. If they would restore their format to an unbiased and balanced, facts-only network, with some sort of non-partisan oversight, I wouldn’t mind allowing some taxpayer funding. But if NPR is going to continue to be a propaganda arm of the progressive left, it shouldn’t be receiving one dime of taxpayer money.
SSBN 627(B) commented:
“over 900 public radio stations present fact-based local, national, and international news…”
‘fact-based’, indeed. Kinda like an LMN movie.
Stuart commented:
The real question is not how much of our money NPR gets, but how much of it finds its way back to the DNC and other Democrat Party organizations, and fronts.
Oh yes, in about a month from now NPR will put on its spring begathon. For two weeks listeners will be forced to hear heartbreaking stories of how bleak our national cultural landscape will be when NPR is forced to turn off the transmitters due to lack of funds. It will be all YOUR fault you heartless bastards. So call in you pledges… NOW!
Muffler commented:
The real elephant are the farm and oil subsidies. These are the real wastes of money and huge at that. Please keep looking at the shinny object being show to you today.
Big L commented:
Look up npr.org
See the salaries that the apparatchiks are paid.$300,000 here and $180K there. Actually it is not to kill NPR (tho imo that would be great!)but that the people thatsupport it PAY for it. Yes, that is a shock that the lefties would haveto shell out some dough.
Airon Later commented:
I would wager that most of you on here that are foaming at the mouth wanting to destroy NPR any way you can have never even listened to any of their broadcasts.
dr. jomojava the infidel commented:
“Every day, over 900 public radio stations present fact-based local, national and international news….”
One question: whose “facts”?
Chisum commented:
Via Doug Ross:
QOTD: “Question: How many libs does it take to out argue 1 man with a brain?
Answer: Unknown, but definitely more than 5.” –Jim P.
∅ commented:
If it isn’t essential, then it needs to go. We don’t have the extra money, which includes “pennies.” There’s no reason that the 6% of government funding NPR now receives couldn’t be raised via donations.
Larkin commented:
Okay, I’m the president.
I have to decide between the nation going bankrupt or funding NPR.
Hmmm….bandruptcy…or NPR….bankruptcy…NPR….bankruptcy…NPR…
Oh, wait! How many VOTES do the dems get as a result of NPR propaganda?
Yes, it’s looking much clearer now. It would be RACIST to defund NPR. Yeah, that’s it…racist.
I’ll have to talk to TOTUS about that.
burt commented:
We already have ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, CBS, FOX, and CNN. They kiss up to Obama daily. We have no need for Public television and radio to do the same.
bitterclinger commented:
The House should give Barry a choice with every one of his liberal pet causes: You decide Ogabe: Medicare or NPR? Medicare or the EPA? Medicare or the NEA? Rinse and repeat.
Stuart commented:
Airon Later #23 And you would likely lose that wager. I listen to NPR every morning when I get up. I just know enough about how the world works to detect propaganda when I hear it. You see I grew up in the sixties when Alinsky’s comrades were just snot nosed kids marching in the streets. They had yet to take over the education system. Hence, my instructors provided me with something that today’s educators fail to provide, namely a damn good B.S. detector.
I used to love to listen to Radio Moscow, and Radio Peking back in the days when agitprop was real agitprop.
Now days the masters of propaganda are all employed in the West (although Al Jazera gives them a pretty good run for the money.) In contrast the clowns at Huffington Post and Daily Kos are strictly amateur.
bigkahuna commented:
Airon Later,.. That is exactly the point very few if any people on the right listen to it because its filled with left wing hacks spewing left wing propaganda. You are welcome to spread it as thick as you want. You simply dont have the right or expectation to be able to do it with 450 million dollars of TAX MONEY You friggin idiot. It is not needed in todays flooded media coverage from tv, papers, magazines, radio and web. Morons like you are exactly why we have the largest freaking defict in our HISTORY and growing daily. You clusterf*cks cant figure out how to stop wasting OUR money period. Show me how it is constitutional or even needed ? Eliminate the crap. Farm subsidies can be eliminated too if you want however be prepared to pay much more for your food and products that include food products. Lets also tax all imports10-20% on countries who manipulate their currency. Use it to pay down our debt. Eliminate the Education dept. The IRS, EPA by 50% or more. Sell off govt lands stolen fro people. Open up our oil and gas drilling.
Then eat sh*t and die you Obama humping leech. Liberals are parasites
Airon Later commented:
Stuart,
So, what programs do you find are “propaganda”? The reason that I ask is that is generally what one would expect a member of the modern American Right to say when pressed on their alleged belief systems. Secondly, your Alinsky name-drop does fall in line with the current climate being overly stimulated with Alinsky references when most have never even read or heard of the man prior to Obama’s election. But that’s why it works so well, doesn’t it – the “unknown figure in the shadows” meme does tend to get you guys all worked-up, doesn’t it. Lastly, which portions of the education system to you feel that the “snot noses” of the 60s have “taken over”? Education, by and large, has been a target of the modern American Right for as long as I can remember. But there has been a palpable change in that line of attack. What was once a call for everyone to have the same opportunities in higher education has turned into a call for people to NOT seek a degree and to literally re-write text books to create a RW atmosphere in primary schools – that, and the push for a “voucher” system that does more to alienate children of lower-income families than people realize. I will agree that Huff Po isn’t all that great, and Markos’ site tends to be more infighting amongst bloggers on any given day – though there are some great pieces there – simply saying that “you drool and we rule” is part of the sophistry that is all too prevalent amongst retorts from people on the Right. The broader point is that rather than take into consideration that there is a world outside the confines of the Fox”News” studios, the modern American Right simply shouts “propaganda” in favor of exercising some intellectual honesty.
Airon Later commented:
BigKahuna,
Awesome, a death threat AND more talking points leveled at me with absolutely no sense of what you are talking about.
Since you are so against the Dept. of Education, can you tell me what they do and why you think it’s wrong? And if you want to do away with the EPA, would it be fine if people started pumping nuclear waste into the river systems near your home? And eliminating even 50% of the IRS would make the very real nature of tax collection even worse than you perceive it is now. What lands do you think were “stolen” and which do you want back? What would you do with them? Can we start drilling and fracking for oil in your county with no regulation? Would that be “constitutional” enough for you?
Chisum commented:
Oh brother! Now telling someone to Then eat sh*t and die you Obama humping leech. Liberals are parasites. is a death threat.
Please would someone get the candyarse Airon some smelling salts and a fainting couch.
bg commented:
++
Airon Mirror Time Now Not Later
==
Chisum commented:
Because They’re Better Than You
http://theothermccain.com/2011/02/15/because-theyre-better-than-you/
Chisum commented:
The Intellect And Wit Of Obama Lives In Irony
Fearless Reader proves his prowess at speaking extemporaneously and without benefit of his faithful friend TOTUS.
We are seldom allowed insight in to the intellect of our president as an extempore speaker and the folowing quotes will clear up several misconceptions as to why.
http://floppingaces.net/2011/02/15/the-intellect-and-wit-of-obama-lives-in-irony/
bigkahuna commented:
Airhead. It was’nt a threat it was a suggestion you twit.
The Department of education wastes our money. Period. Education is a states right not the federal govt. Their budgets have skyrocketed out of control in the past 20 years . In the past 2-3 years alone it has increased by 30-50%. Per liberals we are one of the worst educated in the world. Their budget is bloated beyond belief for something the STATES are supposed to run…add whatever the states spend and you get alot of wasted money.
The so all that money is failing to correct the problem. The problem is the govt not education.
We dont need a department of education at the federal level period. The few things they should do if you want them could be done with 1 billion a year. Stay out of states rights. YOU LIBS SCREW IT ALL UP. ie post office, BMV, etc etc etc
Annual U.S. Department of Education spending on elementary and secondary education has increased from $27.3 billion in 2001 to $38 billion in 2006, up by nearly 40 percent. According to the department, annual spending on the Title I program to assist disadvantaged children grew by 45 percent between 2001 and 2006. In 2007, the department will spend 59 percent more on special education programs than it did in 2001.
President Obama proposed a 2012 Department of Education budget on Monday that would, if approved, significantly increase federal spending for public schools, and maintain the maximum Pell grant — the cornerstone financial-aid program
The administration’s education proposal asks for $77.4 billion. That includes $48.8 billion for the portion of the education budget that does not include Pell grants, or an increase of about 4 percent above the 2010 budget. Congress has not yet enacted the 2011 budget.
•Budget 2010: $46.7 billion
•Enacted 2009: $45.4 billion
Nobody in the private sector gets those types of increases or power over people.
The Federal Government owns nearly 650 million acres of land – almost 30 percent of the land area of the United States
Republicans are in a fuss following news that Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT) was leaked a “secret memo” outlining a plan for the Interior Department to place 14 new land tracts on a list of federally controlled “national monuments.” The memo outlines 14 areas spread across 9 western states (see memo below for full list of states), amounting to over 10-million acres of resource rich lands that Obama could, according to the Antiquities Act of 1906, take unilaterally.
He wants to take another 10 million or so acres
http://washingtonexaminer.com/node/467931
Go to a flat tax and make the 40% of American leeches who dont pay any taxes pay them as well. Or take away their right to vote if on welfare paying no taxes. You wont need 50-60% of IRS then.
The Epa
We dont need epa regulating everything especially carbon monoxide.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/science/earth/19epa.html
We have been just fine for years before liberals pushed all the garbage rules. Let the states take care of what they regulate and permit. Shove the federal Govt up youre a$$.
2012 epa requested budget: $9 Billion
The EPA FY 2011 budget requests $10.020 billion in discretionary budget
2010. $10.3 billion
These are out of control. Cut them in half or more. Federal govts budgets are wasteful and it hurts businesses period.
We have more rules and regulations than we can enforce or need. Lead paint crap legislation is case in point. Its costing construction industry( passed onto the people) BILLIONS in lost money for nothing. a toatal waste. Go eat lead paint chips you chump.
This doesnt even count all the welfare programs, idiotic bridges to nowhere, turtle bridges, cow fart studies and the thousands and thousands of other idiotic programs wasting our money.
Obama has killed more jobs than he has created. He banned drilling and has ignored federal judges against that ban just like he is ignoring the judges orders to stop Obamakilling care.
He stole GM from bondholders and gave it to the unions.
He has killed 50-100 thousand jobs in the opil drilling industry alone. that doesnt count the others that they create to support them. The only jobs he has increased are GOVERNMENT tax wasting jobs that increase our debt and deficits.
This president is a clueless clusterf*ck. I wouldnt hire the prick to run a lemonade stand.
When we vote his jerkoff a$$ and his fat skank wife out of office I want him and his liberal buddies to go out an invest their own freaking money and build solar panels, electric cars and windmills ( without subsidies) and hire all the workers they want, pay them union wages, union healthcare plans subject to Obamacare, EPA regulations, give them all pensions and do it in California to boot. Then lets see them compete on the world stage.
Freaking communist scumbags
jimg commented:
What should also be noted is that a majority of NPR’s funds come from individual donors and and moneys raised by the stations that carry their broadcasts – NOT by direct government funding.
Good. Then they won’t miss it when it’s cut.
Next.
bigkahuna commented:
Oh and by the way The douchbag in chief expects us to believe his pathetic budget proposal is going to decrease the deficit by 1 trillion over the next 10 years ? 6 years of which his boney teleprompter reading a$$ wont be in office? He assumes 4% growth and everyone else is projecting 2%. The man is a complete and total joke. The cuts are in places where many believe nobody will allow to happen anyway. He lied and told us he would go line by line and cut cut cut. He is a joke. He is a fraud and phony. The liberals controlled congress last year and did not even pass their budget they were constitutionally bound to do. They are cowards and total scum. They should have been impeached for failing to do their job. Every last one should lose their pensions period. No pension at all. At best they should be put into Social security like the rest of us. They have stolen it and wasted it.
Paul in N. AL commented:
Hmmm Department of Education, sounds good to me. Cut it all out.
I see your Department of Education and raise you a Department of Housing and Urban Development
I would love to squash all the housing authorities out there, they’re just welfare nipples.
bigkahuna commented:
Oh yeah…. Obigears has in the past 2 years alone hired 200,000 new Govt jobs. and increased spending 36% overall. Just in case idiots like you dont get it…we are BROKE if we dont correct the budgets and balance them It wont matter how much our budgets are… The parasites will kill the host ! How will that help schools, epa, green gcrappy jobs that cost more jobs than they create( just ask Spain)
Every program liberals start or promote is a total failure.
No Man commented:
@ #31 Stuart,
I had to stop using my super-secret BS decoder ring in February 2009.
I was going bankrupt replacing batteries every three hours.
befuddled commented:
our budget has increased from 2 trillion to 4 trillion, since 2002. we don’t have anymore money to flush down a liberal toilet that has been clogged from overspending. how hard is it to understand, cut the damn spending. i don’t care if you have to slice everything under the sun. when government agencies are flushed with cash they seek to justify by grabbing even more power. look at the EPA wanting to regulate milk spills.
the house needs to say, the budget is 2 trillion dollars, just as it was passed in 2002. it’s up to the the white house to submit a budget under that ceiling;otherwise, the house gets to decide. if NPR can’t get along with the same money that was given at 2002 levels than they go begging somewhere else. 2 trillion extra dollars in spending cuts is a heck of a lot better than 100 billion.
befuddled commented:
“Every program liberals start or promote is a total failure.”
preaching to the choir. let’s defund every liberal program.
LibertyAtStake commented:
How many rolls of gift wrapping will Vivian Schiller need to sell to replace $451M when We The People cut off her little propaganda organ.
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
“Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive”
Stuart commented:
Airon Later #33 You seem to be an individual worth debating with, unlike so many of the trolls, who spit venom and run. So I will answer your post in the spirit in which it was offered.
What NPR programs do I find to be propaganda? I find that the predominant point of view of NPR programing in general is that big government solutions are always the answer to all of society’s problems. In international relations, that pacifism is always the solution. That the United states has no rational or moral self interest that should be regarded if it conflicts with the desires of any designated (by the left) victim group. This point of view is part and parcel of NPR productions as a whole, and manifests itself in many ways.
At this point I realize that I could expand this idea far beyond a simple post, so I will use but one example, NPR’s failures. NPR fails to report all of the relevant facts, a prime propaganda ploy. For example: “The recession was caused by George Bush”: NPR’s thesis, their narrative. Yet they fail to cite how the corruption at Fanny May or Freddy Mac which, along with the Community Reinvestment Act and corruption at the DOJ Civil Rights Division, set this country up for an economic armegeddon unlike any since the thirties. The entire economic scenario is explained in terms of “George Bush; bad”. (oversimplification another propaganda tool. And I could go on. NPR has an agenda and it presents its programming as an integrated whole in its service
One more point before I go. As to Saul Alinsky: I got my degree from the University of Illinois Chicago in the 70s. Alinsky at UIC was nearly holy writ, along with Marx. At that time I was amused by Alinsky and bored by Marx. Now I am older, much older, and, given the immense body count for which Marx is responsible, appalled by both. I told you I had a good B.S. detector.
Airon Later commented:
#39 bigkahuna
Firstly, and considering the metric used by not only the modern American Right but also the proprietor of this blog, what you leveled against we is/was a “death threat”. But, I do know that the “standards” that you have for your ideological kindred are much different than those used for any opposing viewpoint, hence my response to you. All that I did with that response was to use your own narrative against you – and you apparently don’t think to kindly of it.
The second point, and I’ll be brief, considering your seemingly endless preamble – your “concerns” with the DOE and EPA are primarily predicated on funding and have little to do with any substantive analysis, favoring rather this “Tenther” standpoint. Again, much in the way that Right Wingers continually shout “UNCONSTITUTIONAL” at the proverbial drop of the hat whenever they can’t exercise the least iota of intellectual prowess, this sounds like a perfectly reasoned response to your base, but lacks even a fraction of substance. To put it in more blunt terminology, you trot out the Constitution as a stick to beat people with without considering what you are saying. It’s posturing – nothing more.
Beyond that, you still can’t answer my initial questions. Do you know what the DOE and EPA are for? Why did you not address your alleged passion for creating a minimalist IRS? The same is true for your “stolen lands” claim. But as per your “drill here, drill now” chant, even if there were 20 new oil rigs along the Gulf, the East Coast, or even rigs in the protected wildlife areas in Alaska, we wouldn’t see any immediate benefit from them – and that is what people like you consistently chant for – immediacy.
But in terms of the build-up of debt, I think that is something that we can all agree upon, regardless of political alignment. It’s a serious problem. But what becomes more of an issue is when people like yourself favor cutting programs that aren’t so much the root of the problem but convenient straw men to tie to the whipping post.
Airon Later commented:
#49 Stuart
I will offer the same in response to you, as you have at least been more forthcoming in a rebuttal than the others here I have attempted to converse with. However, referencing me as a troll does tend to dampen your credibility somewhat. Not in-so-much that you lack specific perspective ( by that, I am referring to your claim that you attended college in Chicago at a time where you were privy to the current socio-political climate ) but that it’s a rather popular internet tactic that far too many people use when they would rather attack the messenger in favor of addressing the message. I could be wrong, but I wouldn’t consider our “back and forth” complete without at least bringing that point up.
While you have at least laid your claim out in reference to NPR as an organization, it still sounds like pure generalization rather than specificity. If it has to do with how my initial question was formatted, then perhaps I should ask again. Is it “All Things Considered”? Perhaps “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross? How about “Science Friday” with Ira Flatow? Each of these programs I mention have taken up topics from both sides of the socio-political spectrum and have given the opportunity for people aligning themselves with the modern American Right to voice their concerns. Most predominantly, and most recently, Flatow’s program dedicated nearly all of the “call-in” portion to a single caller who was against vaccinating toddlers because of her perceived connection between it and Autism. I bring that up solely because her thesis was based on her disdain with the CDC – a popular Right Wing target of late, even mentioned by Jim Hoft here.
And per your reference to “Bush = Bad” as far as NPR is concerned, your insistence that Fannie, Freddie, the CRA and the DOJ Civil Rights Division reads rather vague. By that, I mean that many people could read more into that than you intended. What specifically are you concerned with?
As far as lending is concerned, the popular thesis from the Right is that “too many poor people” bought houses. You speak of “over-simplification” – that’s a BIG one considering the various reasons the recession had such a far reaching impact. Yet, that is only one example in a sea of many.
But let’s get back to Alinsky.
People within proximity to him and his writings have surely been stimulated in some way. The same holds true for anyone of prominence within any movement. However, as I have been reading “Rules For Radicals” and trying to see it in reference to the 60s as well as the modern socio-political climate, there are many things that he speaks about that the alleged “Tea Partiers” have embraced in full. Some have backfired on them ( see: Scott Brown ) and some that have brought many to a more elevated platform ( see: Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and Rand Paul ). And this all goes back to how perception and perspective relate to the modern day “national discussion”. Do people swallow whole what they are fed or do they honestly question what is on their metaphorical plate before they binge?
Stuart commented:
Airon – Later # 51
Perhaps the use of the word “troll” was too harsh. If so I apologize, for you seem to be willing to state your case rather than hit and run the way many trolls do.
I do not object to NPR globally, but rather specifically. Morning Edition and All Things I consider to be especially egregious offenders. I do not listen to Terry Gross so I cannot comment. Science Friday is actually one of their better offerings. I do note wryly that the SF program that you cite involved a woman who would not vaccinate her child because she feared autism. You do know that the studies which backed this claim were found to be fraudulent, in much the same way that the global warming hypothesis- oft cited by Ira Flatow on Science Friday was.
As a side bar: My position on global warming has changed over the years. I once believed in AGW, trusting James Hansen, the NASA, and the East Anglia data. I helped publicize it in the early 90s, working with, among others, Steve Schneider, an AGW guru. I produced science shows for over 22 years. Over the years, exposing myself to other sources, and conflicting opinions, I came to increasingly doubt the validity of AGW. When the data favoring AGW was found to be fraudulent in November of 2009, I noted that All Things Considered and Morning Edition tended to downplay the fraud. Did I say downplay? Actually I don’t recall them mentioning it at all. It didn’t fit the agenda. As a good friend of mine, a field Geologist, remarked , “If you don’t like global warming, MAN ARE YOU GOING TO HATE GLOBAL COOLING.”
As to Alinsky: I do not doubt that the Tea Party has used some of his tactics. Rules for Radicals is after all a two edge sword. Did Alinsky have some valid points? Yes, a few. But then again I can find a few valid points in Hitler’s Mein Kamph. (yes I have read it) It doesn’t mean that either Alinsky or Hitler had valid arguments when taken as a whole.