Sesame Street: Job Killers!

Yesterday the House voted to defund National Public Radio, (NPR). And our favorite U.S. Representative, Anthony Weiner of New York took to the House floor to deliver a sarcastic rant against the vote.
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Weiner said, "Crisis averted, ladies and gentleman. What a relief. What a relief. I'm glad we got the economy back going. I'm glad we've secured our nuclear power plants. I'm so glad the Americans are back to work. We finally found out our problem. We discovered a target that we can all agree on. It's these guys [holding up a cardboard poster]. This is the problem. It's Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers. We're finally getting rid of them. Thank god we solved this problem for the country. I am so relieved that we had this emergency session, that we waived the rules of the House that require 72 hours so we finally get these guys off my radio."
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Weiner is, of course, referring to the wildly popular NPR show, "Car Talk", which features two brothers who offer advice to callers about automobile maintenance all done with a humorous slant.
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Listen, people, here's the deal. The Republicans are trying to pull a fast one on us, once again. They're making claims against NPR, the EPA, public school teachers, etc., all under the guise of balancing the budget. But let's get real. The Republicans have been trying to eliminate these programs/institutions for decades. And just as Bush/Cheney used the 9/11 attacks to justify going after Saddam Hussein, something they'd wanted to do for decades, the Republicans are now using the cover of national debt to rid America of some things they don't like. It's so hypocritical and so unseemly. When these same Republicans also go after farm subsidies, corporate welfare and out of control military spending, maybe we'll lend an ear, otherwise, they're just shallow opportunists who see an opening for their craven agenda, and they're going for it.
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The real truth is that America has plenty of money, it's just being wasted in so many of the wrong places. Which would you rather have, millions paid to Afghan warlords every week so they won't attack our soldiers, or that same money to fund public health programs for the elderly and the needy in America? Would you rather have the largest corporations in America continue to receive billions in tax loopholes or that same money freed for loans to small businesses? When you examine the bigger picture, it really does seem unbelievably crass that the Republicans are going after institutions like NPR instead of solving our real debt problems.
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And in the end, so what if the U.S. government spends some public tax dollars on art and theater and music and public television? The arts have a definite place in society; they make us smarter people, and add color to otherwise drab worlds. Do you really want to live in a Republican world without the arts? We'd all be in dark, dank caves with only cave drawings of buffaloes to entertain us. Fun.