Something is Rotten at PBS

[leftchick]

Getting Sick of Them

http://counterpunch.com/mokhiber04022009.html

By RUSSELL MOKHIBER

Last year, former Washington Post reporter T.R. Reid made a great documentary for the PBS show Frontline titled Sick Around the World.

Reid traveled to five countries that deliver health care for all – UK, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Taiwan – to learn about how they do it.

Reid found that the one thing these five countries had in common – none allowed for-profit health insurance companies to sell basic medical coverage.

Frontline then said to Reid – okay, we want you to go around the United States and make a companion documentary titled Sick Around the America.

So, Reid traveled around America, interviewing patients, doctors, and health insurance executives.

The documentary that resulted – Sick Around America – aired Monday night on PBS.

But even though Reid did the reporting for the film, he was cut out of the film when it aired this week.

And the film didn't present Reid's bottom line for health care reform – don't let health insurance companies profit from selling basic health insurance.

They can sell for-profit insurance for extras – breast enlargements, botox, hair transplants.

But not for the basic health needs of the American people.

Instead, the film that aired Monday pushed the view that Americans be required to purchase health insurance from for-profit companies.

And the film had a deceptive segment that totally got wrong the lesson of Reid's previous documentary – Sick Around the World.

During that segment, about halfway through Sick Around America, the moderator introduces Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, the lead health insurance lobby in the United States.

Moderator: Other developed countries guarantee coverage for everyone. We asked Karen Ignagni why it can't work here.

Karen Ignagni: Well, it would work if we did what other countries do, which is have a mandate that everybody participate. And if everybody is in, it's quite reasonable to ask our industry to do guarantee issue, to get everybody in. So, the answer to your question is we can, and the public here will have to agree to do what the public in other countries have done, which is a consensus that everybody should be in.

Moderator: That's what other developed countries do. They make insurers cover everyone, and they make all citizens buy insurance. And the poor are subsidized.

[rateyes]

1. I hope they get called on this. nt

[Raineyb]

28. I bet FAIR will be on top of this

It's the type of thing that's right up their alley.

Regards

[tooeyeten]

84. Insurance companies are evil

[DaLittle Kitty]

54. Precisely THE PROPAGANDA THAT IS PREVALENT ON ALL DISCUSSION OF HEALTH CARE Now!

This IS the FASCIST alignment between industry and the media together w/ government! Obama is pushing "Health Insurance for all" NO PUBLIC OPTION! Precisely WHY John Edwards was disemboweled along the way. Edwards was a threat to the ALL POWERFUL Insurance Industry! This IS just how bad and corrupt this country is! Corporatist Governance! THERE is no denying it!

The propaganda is delightful is it not? Trouble is most people will NEVER recognize the message for wHAT it is ... the stealthy persuasion of corporate America running our political system!

We will not win this battle here... :think:

Go to www.johnrussellforcongress.com for information on a workable single payer health care plan incorporating a public option!

[Enthusiast]

77. You are exactly right, DaLittle Kitty.

The country is under the control of the corporations right now. Most people won't recognize it because they are victims of a massive misinformation campaign that permeates media. And the internet is next. They will take a neutral internet away, they must. This is fascism.

[pam4water]

66. I was wonderign about this. I only caught part of the show but it seemed really biased.

Since I did see all of it I wasn't sure. Ack hit the wrong reply bottom oh well. :o

[arcadian]

2. And guess where AHIPs headquarters are located.

On Pennsylvania Ave, between Capitol Hill and the Whitehouse.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=601+Pennsylvania+Avenue,+NW+Washington,+DC+20004&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=34.861942,53.349609&ie=UTF8&ll=38.893805,-77.020512&spn=0.008367,0.013025&z=16&iwloc=addr

[leftchick]

4. not surprising

I wonder when congress will make an office for them in the Rayburn building at no cost.

[arcadian]

12. Have you ever seen lobbyist hit the Capitol Hill office buildings full force?

When you do you'll never call this country a democracy again. They'll wear little catchy "uniforms", like if they are doctors they'll wear lab coats. Otherwise they'll wear gaudy buttons proclaiming for who they lobby. I've been up there when there was hundreds of them. Going from office to office, methodical.

[razors edge]

62. Maybe we shouldn't call this country a Democracy to begin with.

Last I heard it was a Republic with no mention of a Democracy in the Constitution of the United States of America, or any of the fifty state constitutions for that matter. (But I'm sure none of our elected leaders have bothered to read those documents, anymore than they bother to read the legislation they are hired and paid to vote on)

But I digress. The lobbies do run this mess, and that makes this an Oligarchy. (Just like everyone else)



BTW, love your sig pic, makes a great background.

[14thColony]

79. A republic is simply one of the many forms democracy can take

Democracy is a political philosophy which can manifest itself in many different ways when implemented as a form of government. Everything from a Demarchy to a Totalitarian Democracy falls in the wide spectrum of 'democracies.' Republican democracy (a Republic) is firmly accepted as one of the many possible implementations of democracy.

[Blue_Tires]

3. well, at least "Sicko" wasn't compromised...

so hopefully the word keeps getting out and people eventually start changing their minds

[EFerrari]

5. I saw that! It totally let insurance companies off the hook.

PBS now stands for propaganda broadcasting system apparently!

[progressoid]

14. Yep - it's like they pretended the ins companies were blameless.

[BonnieJW]

36. I saw it too.

I kept thinking, NO! that's not how it is. People don't have to buy anything in the UK; they are covered.

[Supersedeas]

91. sad really

[hunter]

6. PBS has been dead for a long time.

It's Fox News for the towns where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.

[DangerousRhythm]

38. I thought something was weird when I saw Nancy Pfluffernutter on this weekend.

I saw her on a show, maybe To The Contrary is the name? I kind of forget but it normally has a small panel of women who talk around a table. I was like WTF is she doing there? Ughhhh. :mad:

[Moochy]

60. ~ 1995 ... when Big Bird was taken hostage in the budget fights

"Terri, if you book Noam Chomsky on Fresh Air, Big Bird gets it!"
-- Some Republican operative to Terri Gross, circa 1995

[jaksavage]

7. PBS has been slipping

for some time now.
Maybe in a few years they will recover their former stature.

[janet118]

18. It began with de-funding

Public broadcasting was severely compromised when the Republicans drastically cut funding to them and they had to go begging for money from corporations. Now it's almost worse than network news/documentary journalism, because you don't expect public networks to be corporate whores. I think the first time I really noticed the transformation was in 2000 when they came out with their election year Frontline "Choice 2000" featuring then Governor G.W. Bush and then VP Al Gore. It was an insidious whack job. I don't know where that film is now, but anyone who is interested in the art of propaganda should take hard a look at it.

[tosh]

26. K&R for reply #18.

[Orsino]

83. Yes, if we fully funded PBS, they could be independent.

That may sound a little paradoxical, but it's true. As it is, they have to whore for corporate bucks and tip-toe around legislators who influence funding.

As it is, we're paying much of the bill for media that are only sometimes independent, sort of. And for the worthless Cokie.

[Stuart G]

8. K and R

[stubtoe]

9. This shows that big business has US media in a headlock.

Now Frontline has been compromised.

[step up]

10. I am so disappointed in PBS for the last few years...

I don't know if the whole Janet Jackson Super Bowl obscenity FCC crap was the impetus, but it seems like for several years now, you cannot watch a documentary as is. If there is nudity or profanity, they cut it out. It's a shame because I always appreciated how they wouldn't censor these things and treated the audience like grownups. No longer:(

[Stevenmarc]

11. Two words ..... Patricia Harrison

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Harrison

[stubtoe]

13. Well, there it is, then. These RW plants have got to go!

Thanks for the link.

[LisaM]

21. Yep, you are correct.

I have some hope that the Democratic congress will restore some funding, and that they get a decent president.

I don't mind if PBS shows two different points of view for its editorial shows. I was no fan of William Buckley, but he was a mainstay there for years. But documentaries should be neutral. In fact, I would PREFER that PBS be neutral rather than leaning either left or right (and if the correct, left point of view prevails - so be it!)

[progressoid]

15. And her predecessor wasn't much better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Tomlinson

[Enthusiast]

78. Republican operative. Imagine that.

And we get "liberal media" thrown in our face every single day.

[PA Democrat]

16. I DVRed this and finally got to watch it last night.

I thought the show did a decent job of portraying how people are suffering from our current system, but I felt the fell short in that single payer was completely ignored. At one point, I found myself screaming at Karen Ignagni, the lobbyist for the health insurance crooks. What a vile woman. Massachusetts has forced people to buy private insurance, and guess what? The cost of private insurance is still astronomical.

The insurance industry is looking at universal health care as a way to rake in even bigger profits. They will pass on a pittance in lowered costs because they are not interested in anything other than maximizing profits. That's what corporations do. They don't have a soul, they don't feel empathy. They exist to make a profit and the ends justify any and all means, even if it means that people die.

[Turbineguy]

17. If everybody's in, it would work

Sure. You would have people who use emergency rooms as primary care not doing that anymore- savings. You would have people who are healthy and don't pay in now, paying in- premiums.

Let's do the math: savings + premiums = PROFITS!

Maybe we can go to 25% of GNP toward health care.

[Fumesucker]

19. "I can envision a day when you will have to show proof of insurance at the job interview"

-Hillary Clinton

Forcing everyone to buy private insurance is where we are headed, this "documentary" just makes ever that much more clear.

No insurance, no interview, no job.

Can you say "Catch 22"?

Sure I knew you could.

[readmoreoften]

27. What a great "vision"... :sarcasm:

I'm worried that Obama will have the same sort of dream. The great American nightmare. Can't pay your bill? Can't get a job! What's the next step? Jail?

[SoCalDem]

37. Try registering a car in California..without insurance

Health insurance is different, though.. Getting it requires a LOT of cash upfront, and if you are unemployed, you are unlikely to be able to afford that..

When it comes to health care, insurance is the PROBLEM..not the solution..

[AlexDeLarge]

41. Maryland, too.

I donated a car and the MVA sent me a nasty letter that the car was not covered between the time I donated it and returned the tags to them (It was around Xmas time and I didn't have the spare hours to go immediately to the MVA and wait around their auditorium just to return the tags). They sent me two separate notices stating that I would lose not be able to drive the car if they didn't receive documentation that it had insurance. After I talked very calmly to a rep at the MVA, they decided that since the car had been donated they would drop the requirement. How kind of them(?).

[Wizard777]

64. What makes our auto insurance so high is MAIF. We're a cherry picking state.

We don't require auto insurance companies to assume liability. That's what MAIF is for. If you are not that lil old lady from Pasadena that only drives her car on Sundays to the church she lives next door to. You're going straight to MAIF. You can also inherit a private policy from your parents but otherwise it's pretty much MAIF.

I moved to South Carolina where they do not have a state liability pool. They are not a cherry picking state. They require insurance companies to insure everyone or no one. I thought my premiums would be through the roof. I went from paying 1,500.00 (including several discounts) per year in Md. to 600.00 (no discounts) in SC. But in Maryland were robbed so often it doesn't even phase us anymore. Being robbed, especially by our government, is just the norm. We really don't know any better.

[Fumesucker]

46. Same here in Georgia, no insurance, no tag..

I agree though that we are talking apples and coconuts here.

[rhett o rick]

20. Thanks LeftChick. someone should interview T.R.Reid. nm

[leftchick]

29. here is a Charlie Rose interview from a year ago

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/9036

[area51]

22. The medical insurance industry in this country needs a stake driven through its heart.

Every day, 273 people -- that's 100,000 per year -- die due to lack of healthcare in the U.S.

We need single-payer healthcare NOW.

Newt Gingrich wanted a law to force people to buy expensive, private, for-profit health insurance. Hillary Clinton embraced that idea. MA tried it, and it's failed.

[hunter]

43. I do agree.

Strap the staked corpse of the blood sucker to a rocket and fire it into the sun.

[earth mom]

23. * put rethuglicans in charge of PBS several years ago and it hasn't been the same since.

I'm surprised more people haven't noticed the weird slant to most of the programming on there these days. :argh:

Edited to add that it's probably the reason that there is increasingly more odd and downright boring music programming on PBS now more than ever.

They can't get anyone who is willing to make programming that supports the rethug view.

[mistertrickster]

25. Airing bloated and bald performers from the 60's is a funny way to "fund raise."

The fund raisers are wasted weeks on PBS. I remember one time when they preempted Charlie Rose interviewing Noam Chomsky so that we could thrill to "do wop" or some crap.

[mistertrickster]

24. Good point. I watched both of these recently. I wondered where TR Reid was

in the second one.

"Moderator: That's what other developed countries do. They make insurers cover everyone, and they make all citizens buy insurance. And the poor are subsidized."

Actually, that's false. The UK has the National Health Service, a single-payer program not based at all on health insurers.

The key thing that "Sick in America" left out is that in every other country, medical costs are controlled either by gov't or an insurance-medical consortium.

[Enthusiast]

80. Controlled medical costs

are the insurance company's great fear. Anything that would expose them for what they are.

[nashville_brook]

30. we need a complete change of concept: INSURANCE is the WRONG tool for healthcare

the business model of "insurance" is to profit from the mitigation of "RISK." you fortify your house to mitigate the risk of damage from hurricanes or earthquakes. you get 'safe driver' certifications to mitigate the risk for auto insurance.

there's no corresponding "risk" to mitigate with our lives. we're all going to need healthcare -- it's a commodity that we need to use. the way insurance treats healthcare is that it's a cookie that you only get if you completely exhaust their ability to deny you.


for the "insurance" concept to work for healthcare we'd have to be able it mitigate all risk of ever needing it. we'd have to all be robots. that's absurd, but no more absurd than this Ignagni exchange. She makes it sound like "the people" would have to all agree. bullshit. what other countries do is nothing like that. you get healthcare whether you "agree" or not b/c it's SINGLE PAYOR.

i am so tired of this bullshit game they're playing with our lives.

[LuckyLib]

32. Yup. Cut the insurance piece OUT of the equation. People get medical care.

Period.

[nashville_brook]

94. i can't imagine what it must be like to be a primary care physician right now in this country.

to have people looking over your shoulder, vetoing your decisions, based on profit motive. must be horribly demoralizing. i can't understand why docs aren't on the vanguard of change in this respect. some sort of Stockholm syndrome i suppose.

[LittleGirl]

76. excellent view

We have to remove the 'profit' from health care and that is going to be the toughest battle of all. But your point about mitigating risk with having health insurance is spot on. Exactly the light bulb moment I needed in my head to counter all of those against single payer health care. Thank you.

[nashville_brook]

93. i can't take total credit for it, but i can't remember exactly where i heard this put forward either

i'm thinking it might have been a guest on DemocracyNow or Market Place. it gave me the lightbulb too. conceptual framework is so important. other countries that don't share our conceptual framework on this issue think we're insane. it makes no sense to them. and this is why -- insurance has never been the framework they used to understand general welfare (and for good reason). once we jettison this toxic idea we might be able to re-imagine a system that works.

my hope is that a generation from now Americans will have the same cognitive traffic jam about 'health insurance' that europeans have now. hopefully it will seem like a giant historical boo-boo -- an unexplained wrong turn.

[Jakes Progress]

31. About a year ago,

I stopped contributing after twenty-three years of being a "member". The neocons have just acquired a new media outlet.

[GentryDixon]

33. This is exactly why Greg Palast reports from the BBC.

We do not have honest reporting from our MSM. Very sad indeed.

[PatrynXX]

34. Netflix has the first doc online to watch

Really strange I noticed it this morning little passed midnight. But was watching CSI thru the tv using a vga cable (new tv)

[Bette Noir]

35. Are health insurance companies big donors to PBS?

edited for typo

[Wapsie B]

39. Note to PBS, you don't have to pander to the losers.

Note to Dems, lets rock the very foundation of the insurance industry, not allow them to set policy.

[PatSeg]

40. I saw the original broadcast

and at the end of each country he asked if people could go bankrupt because of medical bills. In all cases they thought that was unthinkable.

[ProudDad]

69. It's standard operating procedure here (n/t)

[tomm2thumbs]

42. The internet is the new 'public broadcasting system' - PBS is a 'public' joke

A few shows stand out, but overall, it's on its last legs - perhaps they got a few bills paid that way

[Jkid]

53. They already have ads on MPT.

But these ads are in the most part, no different than some ads on TV. The last step is to bend over to local advertisers, and by then the republican plan destroy PBS into another commercial tv station will be complete.

[1monster]

44. And that is wrong? How?

Moderator: That's what other developed countries do. They make insurers cover everyone, and they make all citizens buy insurance. And the poor are subsidized.

If it is true that it will be harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich person to see the kingdom of Heaven, they gonna be a lot of rich people denied that sight, for sure.

[ColbertWatcher]

45. Are there any clips of "Sick Around the World" online?

Perhaps a link to a clip from the first movie with a comment about the second movie could use a little internets exposure?

[jtrockville]

48. You can watch the full episode of "Sick Around the World" here:

Sick Around the World:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/

After watching this, it seems pretty clear the SINGLE thing we could do to fix our health care system is to ban PROFIT on basic health care.

It's that simple.

[tomreedtoon]

47. You just found out? PBS ALWAYS was wrong!

I only worked at a PBS affiliate one year, 1975-6, but I saw enough problems with the system that this is no surprise.

Originally, any PBS station had the right to offer their shows to the network. Actually, it was only the big PBS stations in Boston, Los Angeles and New York that won the bids. Because those stations were funded by rich and powerful corporations that little teeny affiliates coudn't wine, dine and...well, you know the rest.

Is it such a surprise that PBS is willing to suck up to the rich? It wasn't to me in 1975, and it shouldn't be to you today.

[MetaTrope]

50. Hard enough to stand the stench when Cokie Roberts is infesting the airwaves

I wonder if she ever got over the devastation that Hurricane Katrina did to the New Orleans yacht club?

[tomreedtoon]

89. Don't compare commercial to non-commercial TV.

The thing that's been drummed into our skulls forever is that "public TV" is simon-pure and better than commercial TV. Bringing up Cokehead Roberts or George Stuffitupyourass is not the point. The point is that PBS is an entity that claims to be free of influence, but is even more in thrall to corporations than the commercial guys.

[chill_wind]

49. Thanks leftchick. We're up against huge forces.

K & R

[truedelphi]

51. I tried to watch the PBS program and found that every other

Film clip focused on people who are part of the problem. Karen what's her name - oh no, Frontline mentions -- she pays for her insurance out of pocket. Nary a mention of how she wants the major health insurers kept in the equation. (And no investigation of how much shje is paid to be their lobbyist!)

Frontline is very watered down. I cannot believe this is the same series that did such fine programs five or six yearrs ago. But it now is definitely slanted to protect Corporate Interests.

OF course, what in this country isn't?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

52. It's no coincidence that HBO, not PBS, produces some of the best programming around

HBO is subscriber-only, so they don't have to kowtow to either advertisers or the Republicans.

[cascadiance]

55. Maybe we should start reediting their work...

... and put some of our own editorial comments in amongst their corporate mantra spew, and put it out in other alternative theater venues, etc.

And in effect challenge them to sue us in a well-publicized trial, and THEN show this show and ask why "corporate persons" are allowed to steal and manipulate other peoples' work and we're not allowed to!

[snot]

56. Been rotten for years.

[EPIC1934]

58. PBS Employed CIA journalists for Oswalds Ghost Disinformation

Also the made the film Oswalds Ghost with KNOWN CIA JOURNALISTS

HUGH AYNESWORTH AND PRICILLA JOHNSON

very significantly this was aimed at the left. Classic gatekeeping a la CIAs Encounter Magazine.

See

Hugh Aynesworth Spartacus
Priscilla Johnson Spartacus

the go over to the Education Forum for debate/discussion about these two CIA journalists.

Why the Kennedy Assassination for left censorship?
Simple the legislative Executive and Judicial is a basic common denominator in all 300 million heads. They will not let that get messed with, because it is the common denominator of power, even if it has very little to do with the way power really works now. Also they lie constaantly about JFK s policies trying to make him seem like just another cold warrior. Must read JFK and the Unspeakable on this. Irerefutable.

[BrklynLiberal]

57. PBS/NPR has been infiltrated....long time passing.

The repukes have been trying to destroy public ----- anything, forever.

[dem mba]

59. strange that he used different producers (i assume, the article doesn't say)

than he did with Sick Around the World.

I normally love Frontline so this is sad to see. I just set my DVR to record all new episodes.

But what's strange is that while watching it, I still came to the conclusion, or I should say it reinforced my previous conclusion, that basic health insurance companies should be non-profit only. I actually started to daydream about starting my own non-profit health conglomerate that would put all the for-profit insurers out of business. Sadly, it can't be done unless everyone (i.e. the young and healthy) are forced into the system. It was a nice dream though.

[bajamary]

61. email MacArthur Foundation to protest

Wow, this is a critically important story that must get a wider audience.

Thank you so much for posting it here for us all.

I'm going to email the major funder of Frontline, the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation to protest this censorship. I suggest others should do the same.

www.macfound.org

[spindrifter]

63. I wonder if Bill Moyers has the clout to call foul on this.

[defendandprotect]

72. Moyers left PBS at least twice . .. only to return!

[Raster]

65. "For profit" healthcare providers = parasites.

[ProudDad]

67. the Petroleum Broadcasting System strikes again (n/t)

[ProudDad]

68. Good reason to lobby your congress-critter

HR676 - Single Payer Health Care for All!

[defendandprotect]

70. Well . . . PBS has long been gone . .. last time around on health care . ..

someon gave Phil Donahue an hour on PBS to tell Americans about Single Payer ---

fantastic . . . but corporations still won!

PBS has for at least the last 15 years been called "Petroleum Broadcasting System" --

it's totally co-opted.

Bill Moyers . . . OKay . .. but my argument with him is that he is not the guy

to get anyone up off the couch! It takes a Phil Donahue to do that.

Plus, with all the other people around capable of telling the stories Moyers tells,

why aren't they are PBS?

They're not going to be!

If we truly want public service broadcasting, we need to either rid PBS of the

private "Corporation for Public Broadcasting" and all the right-wing neo-con influences

on it -- plus the very heavy now corporate influences on it.

We'd also need to renew funding which was viciously cut by GOP over decades to nothing.

For real free press, we need to pay for it ourselves -- licenses, perhaps, as other nations

do it???

[defendandprotect]

71. For another thing, they're now our music and movie channel . . . !!! and . .

they could be playing Michael Moore's "SICKO" which would educate the public re

health care! Why not?

[Miss_Underestimated]

73. A couple of wks ago they had on an energy "expert' who was singing the praises of nuclear power

his comments went unchallenged by the zombie weekend host

How do those hosts live with themselves? I hope they don't list their job experience as "journalist"

More like "mercenary mouthpieces" or complicit, "passive transitional entertainment inbetween right wing agenda driven guests"


:crazy:

[Miss_Underestimated]

85. oops, meant to say I heard this on NPR

[ContinentalOp]

74. This program brought to you by the Pew Charitable Trust,

the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Viewers Like You. :eyes:

[autorank]

75. A PBS thread!

I'm a contrarian on PBS. I don't see any reason for public funding. They can keep the "Public" in
their name, fine by me. But they're always licking somebody's boots. It's entirely opposed to the
concept behind public broadcasting.

This was a cheap trick on a writer/director. How sad that they behave this way towards an auteur.
But I'm not surprise. It's Grants Land -

The Bush PBS chairman is probably still in office.

I don't watch a single PBS show and they continually refuse to add professional wrestling to their
menu of options no matter how many letters I send them;)

[WillyT]

81. Big K & R !!!

:kick:

[sendero]

82. NPR...

.. switched to the dark side around 2002. It's no surprise the PBS did the same.

When faced with the reduction of Federal funding they had two choices, cut the ties to govt completely and count on their contributors, or start licking corporate boot.

They made a big mistake and are now hurtling towards irrelevance.

[antimatter98]

86. Lookit: PBS is owned by corporate America.

It's like NPR---beholden to corporations for funding and underwriting. And this includes from the local level too. I hear the same underwriting on my "your NPR station" as I hear during Rush Limbaugh's show. Same on the local PBS affiliate---those big corporate names we all can cite---sponsoring PBS shows, with a smattering of local underwriting that is just as business/corporate.

If you accept that American business truly hates a powerful American citizen, then you get it.

What boggles my mind is that people still give their hard earned money to NPR and to PBS---when these networks are doing all they can for corporate America to undermine the American citizen.

[ihavenobias]

87. Kick.

Disheartening to say the least.

[keepCAblue]

88. I am so SICK of the rampant corruption in this country. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

90. Kicked and too late to recommend for full government funding of PBS,

get the corporations out of it.

Thanks for the thread, leftchick.

[pam4water]

92. I just heard some of the same shit in Charlie Rose.