Elmo Better Tighten His Belt

'Cause the GOP's finally sick of the left-wing taxpayer-funded propaganda machines:

Public television stations and National Public Radio would lose 25 percent of their funding next year under a bill cleared by a House committee Thursday night, although some of their funding for future years would be restored.

The moves came as the House Appropriations panel approved a tightly drawn spending bill for labor, health and education programs. For the first time since the early days of GOP control of Congress 10 years ago, the measure, taken as a whole, makes actual cuts to the programs funded by the bill.

The bill is perhaps the most controversial spending bill that passes Congress each year, and Senate GOP moderates have traditionally forced more money into it. Tight budget times, however, promise to make that difficult this time around.

And when the usual suspects complain about the implications for "Sesame Street", I hope the Republicans have the stones to demand that they'll fund PBS only if it runs the beloved show 24/7, thus replacing the biased political content which has endangered the enterprise in the first place.