House GOP Leader John Boehner comments exclusively on the Juan Williams firing to National Review Online: “We need to face facts — our government is broke,” Boehner tells us. “Washington is borrowing 37 cents of every dollar it spends from our kids and grandkids. Given that, I think it’s reasonable to ask why Congress is spending taxpayers’ money to support a left-wing radio network — and in the wake of Juan Williams’ firing, it’s clearer than ever that’s what NPR is.”
Good on him for wanting to defund NPR, but it's chump change. (Anyway we could defund all of it except WNYC's RadioLab?)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThree cheers for the next Speaker of the House.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNPR actually does not get much federal money in any direct way, although every cent that they do get should be eliminated.
More importantly, NPR was created by, and is a creature of, its local affiliates. It exists to provide them with the leftward slanted news product that they reliably provide.
While NPR may not be heavily dependent on government funding, many of its local affiliates are. Everyone should be looking at their local affiliate and its local government funding and state-university affiliations. NPR only does what their affiliates want. Go after the affiliates.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"NPR CEO: We Don’t Need Public Funding"
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Looks like we're all in agreement.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCongressional hearings into the inconsistent employment policy would be awesome. A Senate committee doing a public compare-and-contrast between public comments made by Nina Totenberg and Williams would warm my heart.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's good that Boehner is asking this question. But he's just figuring this out now?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGood job NPR!
Make enemies out of the new congress before they are even elected!
They can massively cut your budget!
IIRC they get around 1/3 of funding from The Corpioration for Public Broadcasting, the same organization that funds the biggest chunk of PBS -- that's the taxpayer's share. The rest comes from listener pledge drives, corporate underwriting ("NOVA is brought to you in part by Boeing"), and grants both public & private (McArthur foundation, state goverment, etc.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDefunding NPR is a good start. How about next defunding the National Endowment for the Arts....again, mainly filled with left wing types. If you want to get into arts, then sink or swim by your artistic ability and ability to market your own work, not by your ability to line up for feeding at the taxpayer trough.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@JohnDD -- My thought exactly. Cut the National Endowment For The Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhen the GOP took the congress in 1994, I knew that they were not serious about governing--much less cutting government spending--when they did not defund National Propaganda Radio. When they don't do it this time, I will know it again. If anyone wonders why the GOP is being slammed by the Tea Party, this one fact is all you need to know.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDidn't Gingrich also vow to do this in '94? I'll believe it when I see it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDear Mr. Boehner:
YES, please DEFUND NPR! While we're at it, let's DEFUND THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS, and I support eliminating the Department of Education.
While I'm letting you know my concerns, here are some measures I would like to see implemented by the new conservatives:
1. Raise the minimum voting age to 25.
2. Establish term limits for Congress to four years.
3. Reduce Congressional salaries and benefits and pensions.
4. Put all Congress members through a course on the Founders' intent for the Constitution.
5. Return to the method of selecting Senators that the Founders set up in the Constitution Article 1 Section 3 which was changed by the 17th Amendment.
6. Remove the unconstitutional barriers set up by governmental agencies regarding the Congressional establishing of a religion and the free exercise thereof, to get the interpretation and application back to what the Founders intended ~ which is "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". THIS WAS INTENDED TO BE SURE THE GOVERNMENT GETS OUT OF THE WAY OF THE CHURCHES AND PEOPLE, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. This has been so misapplied that we have generations of citizens who have no idea what the Founders really set in place with the First Amendment.
This is a basic start to what needs to be a returning the original principles of the Founders.
NPR is no longer what it was when it was when it actually could justify some public funding. NPR has recently been "bought" by George Soros and in my opinion, all media SOURCES are at risk as long as they accept financial or other favors from George Soros, who is perhaps one of the most evil men on the planet.
Thank you for your consideration.
M.M. Lytle
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHouston
And why are we paying to fly Bela Lugosi Pelosi back and forth to San Francisco every weekend?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWaaaaah. Conservative crybabies.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy does this guy feel the need to comment on this fiasco? It sticks out as very opportunistic. Did he even who Williams was until a staffer stuck a 3x5 card under his nose with a talking point? This guy is pathetic, and will be a disasterous SoH if the membership votes for him. I hope the "Young Guns" can pull off a coup in January...
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse1) REPEAL THE LOOTERS VERSION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (yes I'm YELLING) RESTORE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO IT'S HONOURED,CONSTITUTIONALLY ENUMERATED DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse2) DEFUND THE LEFT - NPR & PBS are minor examples of the way the insidious Left lives maggot-like off the Federal Tax dollar. FOR EXAMPLE: The Education Department is a tax payers paid fund to employ the insidious Left to propagandize American children and college students against our Constitutional Representative Republican form of government that preserves our freedom and the free enterprise system that provides our prosperity. All the lecture hall Marxists and Clift Note Commies need to be looking for employment just like any other unskilled worker.
3)Ditto to the rest of the slush funds masquarading as Programs and Departments.
clgood, I'll drink to that. Music is fair enough. Lame left wing trash can be kicked out. No one sane will miss it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWow! NPR is left wing? Seems pretty balanced to me. Then again, anything that doesn't spout "free-market capitalism" and "Obama-is-a-socialist" nonsense over and over again is automatically considered "crazy left wing bias" by you people. It sucks that you are aloud to vote.
I heard someone actually say here that churches and people should be protected from government but not the other way around?? Now THAT is some scary crazy talk right there! So churches and people are on ONE side and government the other? Someone explain to this person that it is people and government on one side and CHURCHES on the other. The first amendment was designed PRESICELY to guard us against people like you. Thank god!
We will see if my comment even makes it. I have found that often anything other than right wing propaganda or left wing bashing gets banned from sites like these.
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