New Education sec'y goes after lesbian rabbits for her first act

[Bluebear]

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.....

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.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/01/26/education.secretary.pbs.ap/index.html

[DrWeird]

1. How ironic.

That somebody with the title "Education Secretary" would be so fucking stupid.

[stevedeshazer]

2. Ironically stupid, no doubt

The Senate confirmed her by a unanimous voice vote.

Now, THAT'S stupid.

[Bluebear]

3. Is that a rabbit avatar? Is is homosexual?

Your papers, please?

[stevedeshazer]

6. Bongo's not gay...

Just a victim....

[AllegroRondo]

4. OMG - I've watched this series

(with my daughter, of course)

its an offshoot of the "Arthur" series. this one actually uses real people, with the character of Buster (the rabbit) supposedly holding the camera on his trip around the country.

[RBHam]

5. Achtung! Lesbierinnen verboten!

Load them on the cattle cars! Off to the camps!

SCHNELL!!!!

[Bluebear]

7. Los! Aber schnell!

[yellowcanine]

8. We should be so lucky as to have a few lesbian rabbits - maybe they

wouldn't breed like all the other rabbits do.

[RBHam]

9. Australian scientists are trying to clone some...

mild chuckling...

[Swamp Rat]

10. "Many parents would not want their young children exposed..."

Ok so, TURN OFF THE TV!!! ... D'oh!

Read your child a BOOK! x(

[RBHam]

11. Exposed to what?

Is it communicable?

Yikes...

and these people purport to have brains...

[Swamp Rat]

12. That's why lobotomy discounts are offered to some folks. n/t

[bluedeminredstate]

13. This is absolutely frightening and apalllingly ignorant!

Here is another excerpt from the article in addition to the hillarious statement below:

"The episode features two lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and maple sugaring."

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."

How is someone's sexual orientation possibly an issue on an episode that focuses on farm life and maple sugaring?
I read the article and there is nothing in there that describes how it is known that these women are lesbians other than the fact that they apparently live together. There is no reference to their sexuality except for the inference that they share a home and are "together." It's not like the women are engaging in unnatural girl-on-girl fornication as they collect the buckets of syrup!!

That ridiculous aside in the article: "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" is absolutely unnecesary. Where else do they do maple sugaring? It's not like the show could do a program on maple sugaring in Arkansas or some other red state where thehy don't have LESBIANS (gasp!) and civil union laws.

This makes it crystal clear how this administration plans to control what PBS shows.

[kcass1954]

14. Okay, here's the deal with "protecting" your children...

Sooner or later, you're going to have to deal with someone in your life who's gay, and if you don't deal with it, someone else will, although not necessarily to your satisfaction. No big deal - might be a family member, neighbor, acquaintance from the kid's school, whatever. And if you have raised your children well, it's NOT going to be a big deal. My kids know about my brother's life (the 18-yr-old obviously knows and understands more than the 8-yr-old).

I hate using the word "tolerance". To me, this implies that you're "putting up with" something. I prefer using "acceptance", the implication being that no one is really all that different solely based on how God made us.