Crystal Visions

Welcome back! It's SUNDAY (55 degrees, Farenheit, and sunny here in Atlanta).

This JUST in (yesterday)... Stevie Nicks will be touring this summer, with Chris Isaak, to promote her new Greatest Hits CD, "Crystal Visions," which will be released on March 27th. The tour will begin mid-May!

Does anyone care about celebrity birthdays? We here at the "Corner" have a "service" that informs us of celebrity birthdays, because, hey, you may want to stalk these people and it would be GREAT to know how old they are, right? Anyhoo, today is Jennifer Aniston's 38th birthday. It is Sheryl Crow's 44th birthday, Brandy (who may be facing vehicular manslaughter charges) is 27 and Burt Reynolds is 71. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BITCHES!

Watch the GRAMMY's tonight at 8:00 p.m. (ET) on CBS. Click GRAMMY to view a list of the nominees.

We are nearing 4,000 "visits" to the "Corner!" If traffic predictions are correct, we will reach 4,000 by Friday of this coming week! As always, we like to say THANKS for stopping in here. We have loyal readers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Phoenix, San Francisco, Canada, and a few countries in Europe! Folks in Asia "stop in" quite a bit as well. As always, your comments are appreciated. So, to all of you, we say, "kiittää te," "je vous remercie," "gracias," and, for the local red-necks, "thanks y'all."

Finally, we have said before, if there is a cause that is important to you, let us know and we will write about it here (unless it's illegal). The information below was sent to me via email by my former teacher, Mrs. S., and I thought I would share it with you.

George W. Bush is trying, yet again, to slash funding for NPR and PBS. This week, Bush proposed a new budget with devastating cuts to public broadcasting. "Sesame Street" and other ad-free kids' shows are under the knife. So is the independent journalism our country needs. Enough is enough. We've fought this fight before and won, but we can't afford the risk anymore.

With the new Congress, we can make sure this never happens again. We need Congress to insulate NPR and PBS from the political winds.

We can make it happen if enough of us sign this petition: "Congress must save NPR and PBS once and for all. Congress should guarantee permanent funding and independence from partisan meddling."

Click HERE to sign the petition.

After you sign, please forward this link to your friends, family, and co-workers to keep this campaign going (and maybe they will read "Kev's Corner" too). We'll deliver the petition to members of Congress as they consider Bush's budget—offering a public counterpoint to this dangerous attack.

Congress can protect NPR and PBS from future cuts. The long-term solution to save public radio and TV is to:

* fully restore this year's funding
* guarantee a permanent funding stream free from political pressure
* reform how the money is spent, and
* keep partisan appointees from pushing a political bias

Bush's budget would cut federal funds for public broadcasting by nearly 25%. According to PBS, the cuts "could mean the end of our ability to support some of the most treasured educational children's series" like "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," and "Arthur." As telecommunications chair Rep. Ed Markey said, "In a 24-7 television world with content often inappropriate for young children, the public broadcasting system represents an oasis of quality, child-oriented educational programming. We owe America's children and their parents this free, over-the-air resource." The cuts could also decimate one of the last remaining sources of watchdog reporting on TV, continuing the partisan war on journalism led by the ex-chair of public broadcasting, Ken Tomlinson.

More people trust public broadcasting than any corporate news media. President Bush would rather undermine our free press than face reporters who are asking tough questions.Let's put an end to the constant threats to NPR and PBS.

Let's ask Congress to guarantee funding and stop partisan meddling.

HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY EVERYONE!

Hugs,

"Kev"