"This petition is being passed around the Internet."

So is the e-mail that Microsoft will pay you for passing SPAM around. If you wonder about PBS, wonder this: where is the return on investment for commercial successes like Barney? When was "public" radio and TV audited?

This thing has actually been circulating for years. What's irritating is that some guy who didn't hire me right when I got out of college (somebody at his same firm did) was one of the people who sent it to me (and probably his entire address book) this week.

They can have my $1.12. And I write checks every year to 3 different listener-sponsored radio stations. NPR can be pretty tame, but I'd miss it.

There are many anti-abortionists that don't want their tax dollars going to women's health care;

There are many peaceniks (myself included) who don't want their tax dollars going into excessive defense spending (notice I said excessive - of course there must be some defense spending);

There are numerous policies concerning the direction tax dollars go that each individual may or may not disagree with. It doesn't necessarily mean that the money shouldn't go there.

NPR is a valuable resource to me, and I would much rather have my tax dollars go there than to the production of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons (and I daresay far more money goes to weaponry than $1.12 per year).

In my opinion, the notion we choose anything about our government is erroneous and illusionary (okay, okay, I'll cop to being a big conspiracy theorist)...

Today, I'm just wondering if we choose anything about anything. For those who have been following this drama, I attended Louis Niedermeier's memorial service today. Good, clean-cut, polite, respectful young man gets killed in Iraq so he can deepen the pockets of human debris such as Cheney and his buddies. I worry about the race. We're losing the good and retaining the scum.

Contrary to what I said earlier on this thread, Louis, strictly speaking, was not 20 when he died. His 20th birthday would have been tomorrow. He died on the first of this month.

His mother was touching(and I cynically note, a tad self-flattering)in her eulogy. She recalled the day she delivered her son when she thought to herself, "I am 100% responsible for raising this child. I hope I do everything right." Then she added, "And I did."

His father, my former neighbor, was especially poignant. He had the entire assembly bawling. He talked about Louis as a child (since he was barely out of childhood before he died), saying that Louis was always well-behaved, a defender of the weak, never a bully, patriotic and loved his country. None of this I had any trouble believing, from what I knew of Louis based on my own conversations with him. He really was an exceptional human being. He wanted to join the army right after the 9/11 attacks, but he was only 17 and his mother said no. (What could I possibly say about his character that would top that?) It was a difficult time for me, and not just because it was a humid 91 degrees and I was dressed in black.

The service was mercifully brief, at least. The military chaplain who conducted the service was especially disappointing. He stammered through it like a schoolboy and led us through the Lord's Prayer twice (or I was experiencing massive deja vu).

The senator spoke well, and presented his parents with two flags that were flown in D.C. to honor their son. Shame I don't like him. He did very well.

After the parents' eulogies (the inept military chaplain actually terminated the service before the parents were allowed to speak but asked the assembly to sit down again while the parents gave their remarks), I saw Louis' mother first, whom I had never met. (Louis's parents are divorced and she has remarried. Louis's father hasn't.) I explained briefly how I knew her son, and that he was always polite, friendly and respectful. She could only manage, "Yes, he was."

I worried about his father especially, but if today was any indication, I needn't have. Ed seemed in surprisingly good spirits after sobbing through his eulogy and giving hugs to all of the well wishers who came to attend the service. He told a young child (apparently a great nephew of his) as he pointed skyward, "Remember, Uncle Louis is watching."

I personally don't believe that the dead and the living can have any cognizance of each other, but if this belief helps to sustain Ed, who am I to say he's wrong? Besides, not having died, I can't say for certain whether or not he IS wrong.

Then he saw me and I couldn't think of anything to say (that I hadn't already said in my card that I mailed to him) so I said, "Ed, I'm so sorry." And he hugged me and said, "I'm just taking it one day at a time."

Me too, Ed.

Amy, nice post. A token of my gratitude. And that from a guy who used to work for PBS....

Patrick, thanks for the warm report. Your AOL mail won't accept my Hotmail.

Crid -- thanks -- that's just fabulous!

I prefer to show my support for my preferred music by buying and listening to CDs and my disdain for Infinity and Clear Channel by playing those CDs in my car. The only time I hear NPR is when I'm switching disks, and it's usually a DJ with an overly soft voice that somehow annoys me more than shock DJs with purposely annoying voices.

If NPR wants to survive, maybe they should find a way to keep the no-payola-band thing, while eliminating the "who played the most obscure Meteors song, me or the guy who's on an hour from now on Thursdays" game that its DJs seem to play. Then they wouldn't need tax dollars.

I do try to support PBS in some way every year (worked a telethon this year-what dedication, right?) and if that goes, I will miss it.

PS Goddyss, thanks for the link, agreed.

Very sad, Patrick. Very moving.

"from a guy who used to work for PBS...."

... before that pretty Trotskyite girl broke your heart, yes?

Crid, I got your email, and I have no idea why my AOL account won't accept your hotmail. I personally have no such controls set. I'm guessing it's some kind of bug in AOL spam controls. As sending spam doesn't cost anyone anything, you can make your "customer" base to include every email address in existence. With this kind of unchecked license to spam, the major ISPs are vying to create the best spam blockers. Maybe some glitch is blocking hotmail. I have no idea why, though.

Patrick- I think that's right, it's a pissfight between two enormous companies about which one is spamming the other more.

Lena- It ain't about commies exactly... After all these years I have no patience with broadcasters who are too chickenshit to face market forces. There's no one at NPR or PBS who deserves your money so much that it should be taken from you at gunpoint. You're entirely competent to judge what media services are worth to you.

>> too chickenshit to face market forces.

What a stunningly ignorant statement. Of course PBS stations "face market forces" you dunderhead -- no audience, no income.

*restrains self from writing another 5000 words*

Obviously a nerve has been touched. You're so offended that you're unable to support your position. I love when that happens.

> no audience, no income.

Why then do they need tax money? Don't restrain yourself... Let it flow. "Trust your feelings, Luke."