The LuLac Edition #848, June 15th, 2009

PHOTO INDEX: BIG BIRD AND GRANDMA.

BIG BIRD AND GRANDMA

Governor Ed’s budget has no money in it for Public TV. That worries people in that industry as well as citizens who support the entity through membership dollars. It should also worry people who are supporters of the arts, alternative music, educational programs for children as well as people who tune to 44 and FM 89.9 for news and information. With a 1.6 billion dollar shortfall in the budget, the administration which has been spending like a drunken sailor for 7 years with the acquiescence of our bloated, overpaid, underperforming state Legislature have decided to make up the money on the back of public TV. The stations are asking Rendell to restore at least some of the $7.995 million the stations were allocated. WVIA’s share is $860,000. Or about the cost it would be to clothe and feed and provide first rate travel amenities to about 7 lawmakers. It is interesting that nowhere in this budget crisis has there been a peep about the Legislators taking a pay cut. Of course they are listed as “essential” employees. The worst part about the state funding is that it undercuts federal funding. Public broadcasting’s monies from the federal government are based on the dollars they get from the state. Plus the Governor’s press flunky said that the cuts are not likely to be restored because it doesn’t fall in the category of health, safety and welfare of Pennsylvania residents. Gee maybe they should have thought about that long and hard when the Governor (who I like very much) was tooling around the state with those big cardboard checks and KOZ tax breaks as if the money tree was never going to face an autumn. And how about this from state Representative Phyllis Mundy. From the Times Leader: “How do I tell grandma in the nursing home that we’re going to cut her funding so we can fund public television?” Aren’t nursing homes private entities where seniors must pay their own freight? Don’t seniors have to sell their assets to get into assisted living? Just what programs was Mundy thinking of cutting for the seniors? Are there attempts to tax seniors who are living in assisted living centers? Is this a trial balloon statement to see if more money could come from still another disadvantaged, less powerful, more vulnerable group? Is there going to be a reduction in the subsidies to nursing homes that maybe we’re not hearing about? See, no one seems to think this Public TV thing is a big deal. But it is part of an incremental way to chip away at things funded by the state that improve the quality of life. Thinking about this brings to mind the poem by Martin Niemoller. “When they came”. Granted this is not as dire as the holocaust but we could paraphrase it, “Then they came for Public TV, I rarely watched Public TV anymore so I did not speak.” After they came and got Big Bird, could grandma be far behind? Or was the Representative just trying to be cute? All on the back of Public TV.

MONEY BACK

The state Department of Public Welfare wants some money back from the felon Judges. The agency has filed a $4.3 million claim against the pensions of former judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan. They are seeking to recover additional money it claims it was forced to pay to house juveniles due to the kickback scheme the judges were up to their eyes in. Now let’s bring on the IRS to see how much these guys didn’t declare. If they cheated the kids, you know they cheated their uncle, that guy named Sam. .