Tear Down This Wall

I did quite a few roughs on this.  I’m pretty mixed about this.  I think NPR really messed up with this.  They shouldn’t have fired Juan Williams for what he said.  Having him on your  network while he’s appearing on another network opens you up for anything that can come out of his mouth.  If NPR is allowing him to appear on Fox, then whatever he says they should be able to live with.

Yeah, they didn’t like him on Fox.  They told him and Fox not to identify him as a representative for NPR.  I’m sure they fired him out of their frustration of him being on Fox.  They should have had a policy for outside work and made all of their contributors live by the same policy.  They should have enforced it equally and fairly.  They haven’t done this.  Others from NPR have said worse than anything Juan Williams said.

That said, NPR should keep receiving what the government gives them.  They’re not as wildly liberal as has been reported.  They do provide a very useful service.  Calling to defund NPR is a knee-jerk reaction, and shows how ill informed the critics are.  NPR receives their government money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which Congress keeps cutting and cutting.

It’s funny conservatives along with the Tea Party set, who’s all about restraining government spending, call to defund NPR, but they don’t have a problem with a lot of government spending when it goes to big business, subsidies or wars.

Having said all that, what Juan Williams said was bigoted.  Usually when someone starts a sentence with “I’m not a bigot”…then you know they’re about to say something bigoted.

Here’s the rough.

Tear Down This Wall rough

Here’s three roughs on the same subject.

Juan Willaims Rough

This is attacking NPR.  I did this the day the news broke.  It had a very short shelf life as Juan Williams was immediately hired by Fox and given a $2 million dollar contract.

Juan Williams rough 3

I find it faulty when Fox wants a competitor defanged.  How about everyone who’s paid by the government, like congressmen and senators, to stop appearing on Fox?  Not likely.  Juan Williams now wants NPR defunded…now that they’re not paying him anymore.  His hypocrisy will suit him well for Fox.

Juan Williams rough 4

Hitting NPR again.  No matter what side you come out on…even if you think NPR was 100% right to fire Williams, you can’t get away from the fact they shot themselves in the foot.  The Tea Party set has a new boogey man to attack.

I do find it funny when people who watch Fox and appear on Fox, cry about how biased NPR is.