If you listen to NPR but don't support it, you might be an asshole.

Angelyn and I regularly support WMFE, our local NPR and PBS affiliate. This year we went months without contributing, due to the current strain on our finances, but we finally anted up the other day. Listening to the pledge drive in our car, we could tell these folks were getting desperate, perhaps a sign that the recession is hitting our public broadcasting providers pretty hard.

I firmly believe that NPR remains the finest source for news and analysis available today. I recently read this piece via BoingBoing, which draws some pretty drastic comparisons between NPR's operation and that of the network news organizations. When you consider that Katie Couric earns more in one year than the annual budgets of NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered combined, and that NPR maintains 17 foreign bureaus to CBS's 12, it isn't difficult to determine each organization's priorities.

Commercials pay for entertainment. Your support pays for quality news. I encourage anyone out there who listens to public broadcasting, please give a few dollars to your local affiliate today.