Doug Powers asks us to imagine “the outrageous outrage if Republicans were fighting for public funding for a radio network supported in part by Roger Ailes.”

Democrats, however, are digging in their heels and ma’am, those are some pretty high heels to protect funding for a radio network whose political bent is to the left and whose executives take home salaries well into six figures.  Now two Senate Republicans have introduced legislation to cut off the gravy train, a bill which should be a no-brainer to any legislator concerned about our burgeoning budget deficit:

Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) introduced a bill Friday to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which doles out federal funds to radio and television stations.

DeMint said it “should be an easy decision” to halt taxpayer money for public broadcasting while the nation is “on the edge of bankruptcy.”

He pointed out that the bipartisan debt commission convened by President Obama suggested ending the subsidies.

The pair focused on NPR and PBS, two major recipients of public media dollars — particularly on the salaries of media execs at both outlets, including the nearly $1 million a “Sesame Street” president takes home each year.

No, Ma’am, Republicans don’t have a vendetta against Elmo.  To even make such a comment betrays an ignorance of our nation’s precarious fiscal situation and Republican support for free market ideals.  Or it just shows an individual so blinded by her partisan instincts that she could only see animus in Republican actions. (more…)

Look, I’m not the first to say it, so I’ll just put this observation out there for your consideration and commentary.  People in LA want to be noticed; they want to be the center of attention.  And many don’t care how they get your attention just as long as they have it.

Charlie Sheen has ours now.  He’s all over the tabloids, in print, pixel and video.  When I got to the gym, I hear people talking to him.  When I go out to eat, even in restaurants outside LA, I hear people talking about him.  Certainly, he seems like he’s off his rocker.  But, is he?  Right now, everyone is paying attention to him.  He’s being noticed.  He has become the number one celebrity this week.

(A google search for “Charlie Sheen” (in quotation marks) results in over 500 million hits.)

To Hollywood celebrities, it used to matter what people thought of them.  Now it only seems to matter that people think about then.  And people are sure thinking about Charlie.

NB:  Moments after posting this, I decided to modify (albeit slightly) the title.