Sickle me, Elmo.

There's an air of doom at both PBS and NPR this week amid the current PR disaster over comments NPR's fundraising chief made during a video sting by conservative political activists. The result could mean the end of government funding for public broadcasting.

During a lunch meeting with activists posing as wealthy radical Muslims pretending to offer a $5 million grant to the public radio network, the impostors secretly filmed NPR's Ron Schiller making disparaging comments about Republicans and Tea Partiers. But even more damning may have been Ron Schiller's filmed remark that NPR doesn't really need federal funding and might even be better off without it.

NPR brass quickly disavowed Schiller's comments and booted him out the door (NPR CEO Vivian Schiller, no relation, was forced out as well), but the remarks seemed to validate the vote House Republicans made last month to cut funding for NPR and PBS from about $450 million per year to zero. The elimination of all federal funding for public broadcasting may not pass the Senate or President Obama's veto pen, but still, the whole imbroglio raises questions worth asking: Could public broadcasting survive and even thrive without federal money? Should the government be involved at all in funding culture? Can it afford to? In a 500-channel universe, is the programming provided by PBS and NPR not just a redundancy but an irresponsible luxury? Or would public broadcasting stations, along with many beloved shows, wither away without taxpayer dollars?

The BAFTA Award-winning BBC program Spooks will be appearing on U.S. public television. Okay, it's now called MI-5, but the theory is the same. The show seems to be Britain's answer to 24 and from what I understand it's pretty good.

The interesting thing about the article for me was the fact that it's being released to public television. Let me put on my old person's hat for a moment and say that I remember the good old days when public television was the only place to watch BBC (or even British) shows. How do you think Monty Python got famous in the U.S.A.? Or Doctor Who? Now we have BBC America, Sci Fi and various other cable channels that show British imports.

Mind you, the nice thing about having this program on public television is that anybody with a set of rabbit ears on their T.V. can watch the program. However, you may need a digital converter box if you do.

Recently, Julia posted a piece about a lawsuit filed against a man that made fun of Barney on his little website. The end result favored the satirist, so Julia said, "America, you are free to mock Barney" and... y'know what? I think I will.

I don't recall how I stumbled across this video (probably late-night YouTube surfing), but I definitely remember watching it at, like, three in the morning and laughing deliriously for an obscene length of time. It's a charming mash-up of Barney video and Tupac audio. That's right. Somehow, the flailing of Barney's tiny hands suddenly become the aggressive gestures that conduct the beat of a west-side thug. Plus, the dancing children and sparkles add a nice touch.

Obviously, the visuals are work-safe, but, since it's gangsta rap, you may want to turn down the volume or pop on some headphones. Here we go...