| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Buster the Gay Bunny" |
| Date: |
29 Jan 2005 12:14:33 PM |
| Object: |
Buster the Bunny promiting Gay Lifestyle! |
Education secretary condemns public show with gay characters
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's new education secretary denounced PBS
on Tuesday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian
characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to
such lifestyles.
The not-yet-aired episode of "Postcards From Buster" shows the title
character, an animated bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont -- a
state known for recognizing same-sex civil unions. The episode
features two lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and
maple sugaring.
A PBS spokesman said late Tuesday that the nonprofit network has
decided not to distribute the episode, called "Sugartime!," to its 349
stations. She said the Education Department's objections were not a
factor in that decision.
"Ultimately, our decision was based on the fact that we recognize this
is a sensitive issue, and we wanted to make sure that parents had an
opportunity to introduce this subject to their children in their own
time," said Lea Sloan, vice president of media relations at PBS.
However, the Boston public television station that produces the show,
WGBH, does plan to make the "Sugartime!" episode available to other
stations. WGBH also plans to air the episode on March 23, Sloan said.
PBS gets money for the "Postcards from Buster" series through the
federal Ready-To-Learn program, one aimed at helping young children
learn through television.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said the "Sugartime!" episode
does not fulfill the intent Congress had in mind for programming. By
law, she said, any funded shows must give top attention to
"research-based educational objectives, content and materials."
"Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the
lifestyles portrayed in the episode," Spellings wrote in a letter sent
Tuesday to Pat Mitchell, president and chief executive officer of PBS.
"Congress' and the Department's purpose in funding this programming
certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to
children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of
television."
She asked PBS to consider refunding the money it spent on the episode.
Three requests
With her letter, Spellings has made criticism of the publicly funded
program's depiction of the gay lifestyle one of her first acts as
secretary. She began on Monday, replacing Rod Paige as President
Bush's education chief.
Spellings issued three requests to PBS.
She asked that her department's seal or any statement linking the
department to the show be removed. She asked PBS to notify its member
stations of the nature of the show so they could review it before
airing it. And she asked for the refund "in the interest of avoiding
embroiling the Ready-To-Learn program in a controversy that will only
hurt" it.
In closing, she warned: "You can be assured that in the future the
department will be more clear as to its expectations for any future
programming that it funds."
The department has awarded nearly $100 million to PBS through the
program over the last five years in a contract that expires in
September, said department spokesman Susan Aspey. That money went to
the production of "Postcards From Buster" and another animated
children's show, and to promotion of those shows in local communities,
she said.
The show about Buster also gets funding from other sources.
In the show, Buster carries a digital video camera and explores
regions, activities and people of different backgrounds and religions.
On the episode in question, "The fact that there is a family structure
that is objectionable to the Department of Education is not at all the
focus of the show, nor is it addressed in the show," said Sloan of
PBS.
But she also said: "The department's concerns align very closely with
PBS' concerns, and for that reason, it was decided that PBS will not
be providing the episode." Stations will receive a new episode, she
said.
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| User: "Larry Heath" |
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| Title: Re: Buster the Bunny promiting Gay Lifestyle! |
29 Jan 2005 05:19:13 PM |
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"Buster the Gay Bunny" <buster@bunny.gay> wrote in message
news:U13G5B8C38381.3008912037@si93kru1.poster...
Education secretary condemns public show with gay characters
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's new education secretary denounced PBS
on Tuesday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian
characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to
such lifestyles.
Would you expect anything less from the homophobic administration we
presently have. The far right religious views of our current president
demand nothing less. With W's current idea that he has some sort of mandate
post this current election cycle, it seems highly likely that he will push
this agenda is far and as hard as he can. I think he also has to pay off
the religious radical right, that helped elect him in this current election
cycle. This is one of the things that he is doing to prove that he is a
true Christian right radical.
I think the next four years are going to be a terribly difficult time for
anybody who is left of hard right on the political spectrum. Even moderate
conservatives are going to find themselves faced with loss of political
clout. Even they will have their political agendas mowed down.
I think that atheists, human secularists, religious progressives and anyone
with a progressive agenda as far as politics are concern needs to start
campaigning now to retake both the House of Representatives and the Senate
at minimum, plus start looking for a candidate that can take back the White
House. Even if these measures come to pass. We will still have to deal
with a hard right religious standing of the Supreme Court, that will
undoubtedly be augmented by an even more conservative religious appointee.
I think it is imperative that we, the centrists and progressive leaning
portion of this nation, as a group, need to find a way to politically
motivate the 40% of the population that did not vote in the last election
cycle. It seems a shame that so many of these people feel that their vote
does not count for anything. It is painfully obvious that if just a few
percent of these people had voted in the current election cycle, we would
not have our current predicament.
Later Larry.
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| User: "Roedy Green" |
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| Title: Re: Buster the Bunny promiting Gay Lifestyle! |
29 Jan 2005 10:32:24 PM |
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On 29 Jan 2005 12:14:33 -0000, Buster the Gay Bunny <buster@bunny.gay>
wrote or quoted :
The not-yet-aired episode of "Postcards From Buster" shows the title
character, an animated bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont -- a
state known for recognizing same-sex civil unions. The episode
features two lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and
maple sugaring.
While they are at it, they had better ban all those old I Love Lucy
reruns. Fred clearly did not love Ethyl or vice versa, and Ethyl and
Lucy were inseparable.
Then they had better seal up the old Honeymooner's episodes. What was
that strange Norton guy hanging around Jackie Gleason all the time.
Then of course all the 50s cowboy movies were based no same sex
couples riding the range, sleeping together unsupervised.
The male bonding of King of the Hill is pretty suspicious -- all those
men wanting to drink beer rather than hang out with their wives.
And Canadian Red Green show should be banned. They don't even have
female characters.
And M*A*S*H needs to be banned to -- all those men sleeping together
in a tent. All that heterosexual banter fools no one.
Thelma and Louise, tsk tsk. If a woman can't love a male chauvinist
pig, she must be lesbian.
The Browning version should be X rated. A male student is kind to his
male teacher. We can't have students exposed to such improper
behaviour.
"Never in human history have such genocide and cruelty been witnessed. Such a genocide was never seen in the time of the pharaohs nor of Hitler nor of Mussolini."
~ Mehmet Elkatmi, head of Turkish parliament's human rights commission on Bush's genocide in the Iraq war. 2004-11-28
--
Canadian Mind Products, Roedy Green.
See http://mindprod.com/iraq.html photos of Bush's war crimes
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