Air America. We hardly knew thee...

[pgwenthold]

Which "anti-left" website would that be?

I was thinking the anti-aclu website

 

[fishbob]

I don't care if you run it through 1000 washing machines, it's still coming from the same pot. Passing it through a distributor does not make the funds privately donated.

So it was you that bought the broom that was used to sodomize prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

 

[Upchurch]

What service does CPB provide the taxpayers that is worth $400 million?

Nothing. It simply goes to the taxpayers and says, "Can you give us $400 million so we can dole it out to our member stations?" And the taxpayers say, "Okey doke."

And what do base that on?

source
The services that the CPB provides:

• Promote financial sustainability by helping to improve station practices
• Support stations in activities that strengthen service to communities
• Support local service by informing station investment in new technologies
• Assure programming represents public interest and need
• Strengthen programming through research and reform
• Nurture development of new talent and technology
• Initiate new media
• Bolster support for public broadcasting

Not exactly "nothing", but I'll admit that I don't know how successful they have been in this venture. It certainly isn't just to dole out $400 million.

Is it CPB's money? Yeah, sure, in the same way that a kid's allowance from his parents is. If the kid buys a package of Hartz Mountain Hamster Treats for his pet hamster, he bought it with "his" money. But what could the kid do if dad cut off his allowance? Answer: Nothing. And the hamster wouldn't get treats any more.

Yes, the government can decided to not give the CPB anymore money, but so what? Once they give it to the CPB, it is the CPB's to do with as they see fit.

When you donate to the JREF, or any other organization, is it still your money? You even admit that once it is in the CPB's hands it is their money. Yes, it is possible that they may not get any more, but what does that have to do with the ownership of the money they already have?

And when the hamster starved to death, who would you blame? The kid? No, you'd blame the mean old daddy.

I have no idea what you are talking about. We're not talking about an organization that is not entirely responsible over its actions, as a child would be. Who holds the government responsible for the decisions of the CPB and why would they do that?

And if an NPR station were to go belly-up because the taxpayers cut off CPB's funding, would you blame CPB? No, you'd blame the taxpayers. Because they, not the CPB, are the source of the charity.

Wow. Talk about your confusing metaphors. Let me see if I have this straight:

Who am I going to blame if both the kid and the hamster go belly up because the dad cut off all resources to the kid?

Well, you've got me there. I would blame the government for the demise of the CPB and the public broadcasting initiatives that it sponsors. The public broadcasters may or may not survive with out the CPB (probably a little of both), but the CPB and the services it provides would be gone.

But that would be the government's decision, not the CPB's. If the CPB were to decide to no longer fund public broadcasting, then I would blame the CPB for the demise of its public broadcasting initiatives.

 

[SkeptiKilt]

Funny, here in the states we long ago elided it to recur. From Dictionary.com:





Now I know OED trumps American Heritage, Merriam Webster and Random House, all of which prefer recur, but it's still considered guttural here.

re‧cur  /rɪˈkɜr/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ri-kur] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–verb (used without object), -curred, -cur-ring. 1. to occur again, as an event, experience, etc.
2. to return to the mind: The idea kept recurring.
3. to come up again for consideration, as a question.
4. to have recourse.

[Origin: 1610–20; earlier: to recede < L recurrere to run back, equiv. to re- re- + currere to run]

"Considered guttural"? What does pronunciation have to do with this?

"Here in the states we long ago elided it to recur. " Actually, from the 1610-20 and earlier cite, it was elided on the other side of the pond better than a century and a half before "the states" existed.