House Pulls The Plug On Federal Funding Of NPR

Yahoo:

The House on Thursday voted to end federal funding to National Public Radio. Republican supporters said it made good fiscal sense, and Democratic opponents called it an ideological attack that would deprive local stations of access to programs such as “Car Talk” and “All Things Considered.”

The bill, passed 228-192 along mainly partisan lines, would bar federal funding of NPR and prohibit local public stations from using federal money to pay NPR dues and buy its programs. The prospects of support in the Democratic-controlled Senate are slim. Seven Republicans broke ranks to vote against the bill.

Of course, it’ll never get through the Democratic-controlled Senate. But, as I keep saying, sometimes it’s a good thing to make your opponents take a clear so everyone knows what it is. And having the Democrats vote to keep funding this clearly overwhelmingly biased set of increasingly unnecessary radio stations just might have lasting repercussions, in 2012 and beyond.

NPR Biased? Who Knew?

And now, the story of the day:

In a new video released Tuesday morning by conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe, [NPR senior executive Ron] Schiller and Betsy Liley, NPR’s director of institutional giving, are seen meeting with two men who, unbeknownst to the NPR executives, are posing as members of a Muslim Brotherhood front group. The men, who identified themselves as Ibrahim Kasaam and Amir Malik from the fictitious Muslim Education Action Center (MEAC) Trust, met with Schiller and Liley at Café Milano, a well-known Georgetown restaurant, and explained their desire to give up to $5 million to NPR because, “the Zionist coverage is quite substantial elsewhere.”

On the tapes, Schiller wastes little time before attacking conservatives. The Republican Party, Schiller says, has been “hijacked by this group.” The man posing as Malik finishes the sentence by adding, “the radical, racist, Islamaphobic, Tea Party people.” Schiller agrees and intensifies the criticism, saying that the Tea Party people aren’t “just Islamaphobic, but really xenophobic, I mean basically they are, they believe in sort of white, middle-America gun-toting. I mean, it’s scary. They’re seriously racist, racist people.”

Schiller goes on to describe liberals as more intelligent and informed than conservatives. “In my personal opinion, liberals today might be more educated, fair and balanced than conservatives,” he said.

Of course, I am sure this is going to receive just as much Dinosaur Media coverage as the prank call to Gov. Walker claiming to be one of the Koch brothers.

And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you with a wonderful view of San Francisco Bay.

In Case You Were Wondering How NPR Sees Tea Party Participants…

…they’ve helpfully provided this animation, entitled “Learn To Speak Tea Bag.”

Your tax dollars pay for NPR, by the way.