Here, Let Me Give You a “Big Bird”
Two things. First, a few weeks ago my beloved told me that I can sometimes sound “mean” in my articles. In retrospect that might be true. I feel like this 90% of the time I write:
So I can see how it would come across that way.
Number two. I had a friend write me and say that I come across “narcissistic” in my writing. Pfffffff…Narcisa-What!? I have two things to say to that: One, I don’t have a narcissistic bone in my smokin’ hot body; and two, even if I were, do you know what is awesome about being a narcissist? Me.
So…on to today’s article.
At the risk of repeating myself, I wasn’t born with enough middle fingers to fully express how I feel about this. It is maddening to me.
It seemed like it was just a few minutes after Mitt Romney got finished handing the President his…butt the other night at the first Presidential debate, that I received this picture in an email:
I chuckled. It’s funny. The fact that the Obama campaign has turned this into the focal point of this election is NOT. Honestly. It is now in the realm of the ridiculous.
For those of you that may have missed it, Mitt Romney pointed out the government shouldn’t be borrowing from China to pay for things such as public broadcasting. He even said he liked Big Bird. And who couldn’t? I love Big Bird. I watched Sesame Street growing up. (I’m still kinda angry no one told me how to get to Sesame Street. Stupid song). But here is a little secret.
SESAME STREET DOESN’T NEED THE TAX PAYERS MONEY!!!!
On CNN last Thursday (October 4th), Sesame Workshop Executive Vice President Sherri Westin said it was “misleading” to say that ending public funding for Sesame Street would hurt the program. She said, “Quite frankly, you can debate whether or not there should be funding for public broadcasting. But when they always try to tout out Big Bird, and they say we’re going to kill Big Bird—that is actually misleading, because Sesame Street will be here…Big Bird lives on.”
And it’s true. In 2010 Sesame Workshop former CEO Gary Knell received $988,456 in total compensation. That’s almost a million bucks. I don’t berate him a penny of it. I wouldn’t care if he made $10 million. I just don’t think the program needs a dime of the tax payer’s money.
Sesame Workshop’s 2011 financial statement showed the program made $46.9 million in licensing from June 2010-June 2011, and made $41.9 million in distribution fees and royalties. Overall, Sesame Workshop showed more than $136 million in total operating revenues. At the end of June 2011, its net assets totaled $227 million. Financial reports from 2003 – 2006, show ‘Sesame Street’ made more than $211 million from toy and consumer product sales. From 2008 – 2011 they made $244.4 million in licensing alone. In other words, they aren’t hurting.
So why is it the Obama Campaign released this commercial even though Sesame Street has asked it to be taken down?
I’ll tell you why. No, I think the President’s own words will be more effective. He said, “If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things.”
It looks like the President is following his own advice. I guess if I didn’t have an idea on how to fix the economy, energy, Libya, out of control gas prices, or unemployment, I would be focusing on a big yellow talking bird as well.
According to Forbes we, the tax payers, spend $300 million on public broadcasting, which in the grand scheme of things is not a lot. A fifty cent coupon in the grand scheme of my household budget isn’t a lot either. But if I use a hundred of them, it’s fifty bucks.
Put a fork in it. This bird is done.
LIFEZILLA: Proudly read in many FINE, FINE establishments…and where you are.
I’ll raise you one Big Bird and throw you a double! ( ;
I have been chompin at the bit to have a go at the Big Bird logic, have tried to stay out of politics and let Romeny ride his wave of victory, didn’t feel like raining on that parade and to be honest, I would have only been called a sore loser and wasn’t about to have that conversation. Yes, I would loved to see Obama a little bit more aggressive that night, but for me it wasn’t about winning and losing. It was a debate. It was two heavy weights going at each other, both with their version of the country’s best interest at heart. You have to give those two credit…that takes nerves of steel, and I have no problem tipping my hat to both. Seems everybody has an opinion about what ISN”T the answer, but nobody is willing to step up and offer a solution…little bit like an underage back seat driver…never actually driven but has all the advice in the world. I will give it to Mitt hat at least he had the guts to say, I am not happy with the last four years and here is why…now, am I willing to agree with his vision of the next 4 years…well, I could be, I might be…I guess I would have to have to actually see his plan before I can judge. We have seen absolutely nothing. NOT ONE THING from Mitt. So, do we just roll our dice, close our eyes and hope for “snake eyes.” Is that how we vote? Because I am not ok with that…I don’t know who Mitt Romney is, and as soon as I think I start to see him, it changes.
Let’s start with the debate…now, like I said I am not going to defend Obama for not lunging at Mitt. Personally, an obviously I am the ONLY person in the entire country that thought Obama did just fine. One of the reasons I like him is the fact that he keeps his cool. He is always collected. He had words for Mitt and any educated person that watched and listened knows that Obama had answers…did he yell? No. Americans wanted…they wanted a dog fight. They didn’t get one. Obama loses. I am completely fine with that. What I am not fine with is how he distorted the truth and not just once. I am not going to outright call him a liar here, but I do think he was well aware that some of the things he said that night were absolute untruths. That is fact. And, yes, I get it…they all say things to skew our line of thought. If you want to pull one over on me…please don’t do it wih unemployment numbers, because I see them every single day and I can even read. Here again, why Barack let that slide?? Who knows…needless to say, it did not thrill me, whatsoever. I know it is not in his nature to be a confrontationalist, but there are times that you fight…this is one of them. You will never win a debate by being agreeable.
Ahhhh…which brings me to the Bird…Big, Big Bird. I love how you mention that Democrats are making this a focal point of the race. Really? I do believe Mitt brought up Big Bird. Correct? Oh, wait…let me add…not just brought up Big Bird, but had rehearsed that line for a month now. Let’s face it, Mitt didn’t pull that out of his hat, it wasn’t his wit…It didn’t just happen to be Jim Lehrer was moderator when he decided to bring up Big Bird…this was one of his “zingers.” Zing! You make it…You take it. Period. The references to Big Bird are so absolutely ridiculous. The commercial is hysterical, a creative piece of art. Nail it. That is the best part about it. They are taking this and making it into the big deal that Mitt made out of it…Big Bird, menace to Capitalism. Mitt is the one who brought it up, as if it were an answer to the debt problem. Well, Jim, I would end PBS. I truly laughed out loud when he said that. Come again, I thought?? PBS? That just happened? Therein is your answer Captain Capitalist, Mitt Romney? And, this is the man that is trying to pass himself off as an economic guru. Cut PBS, or in your words, the fifty cent coupon…hmmm….makes sense I guess, cut enough of those coupons and you might one day equal what you could cut somewhere else in one hundred years. Mitt goes on and on about not paying for things with borrowed and in the exact segment says, hey, here is an idea…let’s grow our military. Oh, I get it now…right…because the military finances itself. Silly me. Wars too, they actually pay for themselves. Exactly, now I follow. It is not a matter of whether or not we need to cut back spending…we have to…but when you take a deficit like that and go spouting off about coupon cutting, pardon me if I tune out. It makes zero sense. None. It tells me he hasn’t even really thought about it. I could be right and I could be wrong…I don’t know because he won’t tell me enough to let me decide. I am to just blindly follow what he says will work. I just can’t. I am supposed to believe that by putting more money into the hands of a very few through lowering of capital gains is going to be better for me, even though the gap now between those rich and the working class is bigger than ever? What would possess me to think it will work now? What did those rich do with the tax cuts from Bush? Did they turn around and make new jobs for all the rest of the people and if so, where are those jobs? It is simple. When people make more money and when corporations, and I speak of the huge, gigantic multi-million, billion dollar profit per year companies turn out with record high income…do you see more jobs in oil? No, because there is no proof that with that extra tax money they save that they will in turn use it to benefit this country. I would love to see some recent statistics, because I am even willing to say that it happens less often than it happens. They don’t create more jobs, they invest…and it isn’t always in America. That is the only thing I have heard from Mitt about the economy and it just doesn’t make sense.
Last, I have to chuckle about the comment made about not addressing or having answers to Libya, gas prices, etc. We have yet to hear anything about Libya because this debate was the domestic debate. Domestic does not include Libya. It only makes sense that not every issue facing this country was discussed. This is the reason for a series of debates.
There is this part of me that secretly hopes Mitt wins the election. I want to witness this man in action that has an answer for everything. I just wish I believed in fairy tales and still hoped for a man with all the answers. I want the next four years to sit back and watch. Truth is…there is no perfect candidate. Barack did not ruin this country and Mitt can not save it. This one election is not the end all be all. There is no man with all the answers. Each President brings to the office his own strengths and his own weaknesses. These men are human, they make mistakes…they can’t right every wrong. We would like them to…but, fact of the matter is…they can’t.
That being said, I can’t wait for the VP debate Thursday. I love it all. Every single bit of it. If this debate comes down to Big Bird, heaven help us on Thursday. ( :
Great points Danny. The government shouldn’t be funding things that belong in the private sector. PBS is only one example, and Mitt was right to bring it up. Solyndra, Fiskar, and green energy are other examples. If the government would stick to the powers granted to it by the constitution, we wouldn’t have the debt problem we have now.
This is not about Mitt or Obama. They are men. Neither are perfect. And men will come and go. We are a nation of laws–not of men. What we need are men who will follow those laws.
Thank you for the Big Bird video… Hillarious!!! Now, would the real Mitt Romney please stand up??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPgfzknYd20&feature=player_embedded
Wasteful spending is wasteful spending, no matter how small. So what if PBS is 0.014% of the budget? It’s not why we pay taxes people!!
The TRUTH (if you care to know) is that PBS would survive via viewer donations (aka “viewers like you.”) PBS gets just 15 percent of its budget from the government, and NPR just 2 percent. ”Sesame Street” makes a killing in merchandising deals. So it is a scheme, a lie, to post these ads that suggest the big yellow bird will get the “ax”, as Obama put it. C’mon now, be fair!! If your goal is to render the American people less able to vote intelligently, to undermine the educational system, and produce a nation of ignorant sheep in order to effectively eliminate democracy, then you don’t need PBS or NPR.
I’m personally for the budget cut, I think that sitting down and teaching your children yourself is far more important then having them watch TV. I’ve also noticed that everyone is concerned about Sesame Street, but the stations that are labeled as PBS for my local changes don’t even air Sesame Street. They will do fine without federal funding, if you want to watch it, then donate.
TVs are privileges not rights, so with our financial debt, we need to cut privileges!!
And Tish… you’re willing to re-vote for the guy who FAILED (don’t even try to argue otherwise), rather than vote for the guy who made his living (a rather good living) advising businesses how to cut spending in order to stay alive?!?!
That video of Mitt debating himself is so out of context, anyone who listens to any of Mitt’s speeches all the way through can discern exactly what he was saying and what he meant…again, these are misrepresentations designed to mislead. You’ve been duped Russell. How about this, ACTUALLY listen to each and every one of those interviews/speeches (at the risk of changing your affiliation). Side note: Is it unreasonable to say you can’t go out and get health insurance when you start getting sick (NOT to be confused with “pre-existing condition”) – you gotta have been paying it all along like the rest of us… that’s the very definition of insurance after all. Derrrrrs!!! You don’t go out and buy insurance AFTER the car accident, do you?? There was NO “flip-flop” there, nice try!
Everybody is crying and carrying on and on about Romney not being specific enough about how he is going to balance the budget, reduce the national debt, and eliminate the estimated one billion dollars per day we borrow from China.
He makes a benign comment about cutting funding to PBS and you’d think he was harboring Nazi’s.
What if he had said he’s going to cut The Defense budget? How would people react to THAT little nugget? He doesn’t tell you because YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW. You are ignorant in your bliss – you do not want to hear what cuts it is ACTUALLY going to take to get us off the gravy train of endless debt because deep down inside you know it’s going to hurt, it has to. People don’t want to hear they’re going to get their “obama phones” taken away – among other entitlement.
Your mother calls you home BEFORE announcing what punishment she is going to give, otherwise you’d never come home. It’s time to come home and take the punishment America! Too many years of overspending and reckless decisions with absolutely little to no foresight.
Our ambassador to Libya was dragged through the streets, sodomized and murdered….and our president is talking about Big Bird??? DROP IT! We need an adult in office now who is going to make the tough decisions without worrying about not getting an invitation from Beyonce and Jay-Z.
I almost followed up with a rational argument, until you just posted this last one…
First and foremost, Grace…really? Libya? Oh, please carry on…tell me how much you know about the situation on Libya, that you didn’t get off the 5 o’ clock news. Educate me about the Middle East and what goes on there. Please, tell me about Libya…I am all ears. I beg you. Please…educate me in your vast knowledge of the intimate details of the Libyan tragedy. Tell me who you talked to at the funeral? Please tell me about the sodomy and the dragging of our Ambassador through the streets. You obviously are so well versed in this tragedy, I beseech you to tell me more. Your comments here define ignorance.
Next, I couldn’t help notice your casual reference about the Nazis. Looks like there is a subject you can help me with too. ,I would to hear about their reign of terror. Give me all the fory details, please…will you? I would be so honored to learn about the Nazis from you. I wonder if you lived in any of the cities in Germany that I did? I want to hear how it felt when you stood at Bergen-Belsen. I can’t wait to compare experiences. Offensilich, du musst Deutsch sprichen? Du bist so klug. Aber naturlich…
Could we not discuss Obamacare? Mitt is quite a fan, so I am assuming you follow suit, correct? Well, Mitt was a fan, or is, or was….oh snap, I just can’t keep up. Romney said he was proud that his healthcare plan in Mass. was being considered on a federal level, well before it wasn’t cool to say that…of course, he still loves it, but just on a state level, because I guess only people in certain states get sick. Perfectly rational. I am assuming you have read all 2000 pages of it the way you are throwing around the term, duped and ignorant. You must be quite the expert. You parody to car insurance is adorable though, that is one statement which can’t be argued. Of course, you wouldn’t buy car insurance after your accident, silly girl. I don’t think they let you purchase policies from jail, which is where you would be after being in an accident without insurance. Funny, how that works, isn’t it?
The dig about Beyonce and Jay-Z must be my favorite of the night. Oh yes…because Mitt is above that. Was it the RNC or the DNC that teased it’s members with a mystery celebrity guest that would blow them away. Mitt’s crowd may not be celebrities, but if you think Mitt does not pander to certain people and is not worried about getting invites from certain groups…well then, we see who is truly ignorant.
Obama phones? Gravy Train? Do you even realize how presumptuous it is to infer the above stated judgments on people you don’t even know, to suspect the worst about people and stories you have yet to understand? And, before you surmise that I am one of them or refer to me as ignorant and condescendingly wish me well in my state of bliss…make sure, make really sure, that you know me. You don’ t know the first thing about me. You think you know me, but I assure you…you have no idea who or what I am. Now, to answer your question, “am I willing to vote for Obama?” When I hear people like you going on with thoughtless rants with such animosity and judgment as you just did…believe me when I say, I want to be as far as possible from the person you support. I want nothing to do with the man you think represents similar beliefs…So, am I willing?? Let’s just say, I am not only willing…I am chomping at the bit. I can’t wait.
It’s called HISTORY. We’ve all learned some in school…those of us who went onto higher learning acquired a little more. It is absurd to say no one can make a judgment about the Nazi’s unless they themselves were hiding in Corrie Ten Boom’s attic…simply preposterous.
Why learn about history if not to make these assessments and learn??? For someone who loathes hypocrisy, to spend the whole morning ranting about how I have no right to say ANYTHING at all because I’m not deemed an “expert” , a label I assume only YOU can afford?
I don’t know you Tisha, but I know your type. You want to heal the world of all it’s maladies. Except you can’t do it yourself, so you enlist the government so your burden can be light… your heavy heart can rest…yes, so you can be in bliss. You think you can wrap yourself up in a warm little blanket called government? But therein lies the problem because the government was never intended to do that – it never will, NEVER. Swallow that pill and accept that it’s the roll of humanity; people must care for their own.
Which brings me to the “taxing the rich” debate. No, I’m not in that 1%…so does that mean I cannot have an opinion? Uh oh, I’m not an expert …continue reading with caution…
Look, you can talk all you want about asking rich people to pay “their fair share”, so it can be “re-distributed” but don’t kid yourself: You’re just trying turn private opinions into public policy. Talking about anyone’s fair share is an invitation to abuse. It’s dangerous territory.
Ben Affleck (who I love, btw) said “I don’t spend so much that I cannot afford to pay a higher tax”. Bless you! But Ben my darling, if you want to give your money away then by all means do so – YOU yourself will do so much better deciding where your money is spent than the government can… again, history!!!
Moreover, the Tax Foundation calculates that even if you took as much as half the annual income “from every person making between one and ten million dollars,” you’d only reduce the federal deficit by 1%. People wanna talk and talk about how absurd and insignificant cutting the funding to public radio and TV is in the grand scheme of things (in an effort to keep these comments on topic).
The message we continually get from Democrats is that the way to dig ourselves out of the record-breaking deficit we’ve amassed in the past 4 years of the current administration is to impose ever higher tax rates on businesses and the rich. Ok, here’s a little more history…every time you try to raise taxes you eventually reach a point of diminishing returns, that is, it drives companies to re-located jobs and employees off-shore and it drives capitalists to move their wealth.
Think about this on a personal level. If the sales tax in your area was 6% and a neighboring state has no sales tax, wouldn’t it be worth it to drive a little farther to save the money? Especially on a big-ticket item such as a television? Why would the owners of corporations act any differently? All other factors being equal, if you were on the board of a company looking to build a new plant, wouldn’t you vote to locate it in a low-tax country?
There’s a group of voters who are very susceptible to arguments that the rich or corporations should pay more. They’re not interested in thinking it through…THINK IT THROUGH PEOPLE!
Lastly, NONE of us should be shy about our opinions…nobody should bully anyone into keeping shut because they’re “not an expert”… Historically, these very debates and opinions have been crucial to the development of the federal tax system, and all other laws.
Yes, I am a Romney supporter, if not for any other reason than to keep the other guy OUT! The guy who said “If I don’t have this done in three years, it’s a one-term proposition”. Your one term is up dude!
Yahtzee! Yep, you nailed me. Dead on. I can’t believe how well you know my type. That is SO me…expecting government to solve the world’s problems while sitting back in my big, cozy government blanket (that was purchased by the sweat of your brow and hard earned money.) You got me.
And, by the way…you win! Your higher learning is no match for my elementary education. I just have one question…when you talk about making judgments about the Nazi’s, what exactly do you mean? The Nazi’s what? The Nazi’s behavior?their culture? their attitudes? The apostrophe is a difficult concept for those of us without your level of higher learning to grasp…let alone the intelligence it takes to understand the economics of free enterprise. I officially deem you the expert. Carry on.
Really, your asking about my apostrophe, are you on medication? That was diffcult to read. To answer your question…all the above!
Allow me to make an observation… If you want to understand politics, all you have to do is think back to third grade. Even at 8 years old – it was probably clear to you that the only reason the class bully picked on other kids was because they were unable to defend themselves. Obama is doing it, and now you are.
And no thank you, you can keep the “expert” label all for yourself. Pin it to your lapel the next time you’re at Bergen-Belsen, because I couldn’t possibly know about that, because I’ve never been anywhere in the world… I get my info off the 5 o’clock news.
I wish I was on medication. It would make this apostrophe dilemma much easier.