The Austinist grew up with Sesame Street. We could even say we survived on it, and there are still VHS tapes of old recorded episodes in our parents’ house. So when we heard about the proposed budget cut for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, we were more than a little appalled.

Fortunately, public broadcasting won a reprieve yesterday as the House voted (284-140) to restore the $100 million cut to the $400 million budget. Thanks to a national outcry (MoveOn.org alone garnered more than a million signatures on a petition to save the budget), lawmakers pulled their heads out of their asses (on this issue, anyway) and realized that subsidies for educational programming, technological upgrades, and hundreds of public radio and television stations are actually good for everyone.

However, this is a slightly tainted victory as the $142.5 billion spending bill for health, education, and labor programs will still force cuts in many domestic programs, including President Bush’s much-touted No Child Left Behind education initiative.

Isn’t that just peachy?

Also related, yesterday CPB’s board elected Patricia Harrison, former Republican National Committee Co-Chairwoman, as its CEO. This decision comes on the heels of inquiries into Chariman’s Kenneth Tomlinson’s possible partisan interference within the agency. Several Democratic lawmakers and public-interest groups have criticized Harrison’s appointment, saying that she will inject more partisanship into a supposedly non-partisan entity and that she does not have necessary public broadcasting experience.

So, that's great, CPB. The Republican-controlled House threatens to cut your budget, your Republican Chairman is under investigation for partisan intervention, and then you choose a Republican CEO with no public broadcasting experience? What the hell is going on with these people? It's madness, we tell you!

Excuse us while we curl up in the fetal position and watch reruns of Sesame Street.