WHO SET UP GOVERNMENT ‘PROPAGANDA’ CONFERENCE CALL? Newly Revealed White House, NEA Audio Contradict
by Patrick CourrielcheAnother conference call has materialized, revealing a concerted effort by government to use the arts to address political issues.
Lee Rosenbaum, a blogger for Artsjournal.com, posted her experience with a meeting that occurred on August 27th and confessed that she also felt “uneasy” about the government’s arts effort. The meeting invitation (viewable here) went out to all “member local, state, and regional arts agencies, community-based arts organizations, and national partners of Americans for Arts.” Americans for Arts is a non-profit arts organization that has received substantial grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
As with my conference call, the art group was invited to the meeting to work together to “tackle some of the nation’s toughest issues: education; health; energy and the environment; community renewal; and safety and security.” Also like my call, it included a private citizen moderating the phone call with key White House representatives participating. Kalpen Modi, Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, was to represent the White House and key representatives from the National Endowment for the Arts were also to participate.
Even more disturbing than learning that the White House and NEA are using the arts to address specific issues, is to learn what was discussed on this new conference call. Rosenbaum mentions that there was much talk of “leveraging federal dollars” to get artists and cultural organizations involved in social-service projects.
Leveraging federal dollars? This is the problem with marrying issue specific topics, like health care and energy, with a group that is funded by tax dollars; it increases the potential of taxpayer-funded propaganda.
As mentioned in the invitation, the NEA was to be on this phone call. However at the last minute, as Rosenbaum blogged, “Modi informed us that ‘unfortunately our colleagues from NEA and NEH [the National Endowment for the Humanities]’ were tied up in meetings and couldn’t participate, as had been planned.”
Could it have anything to do with the article I posted two days earlier? We can only guess but Rosenbaum also hopes that they might have been “having second thoughts about commandeering their constituents for this political adventure.”
What appears to be emerging is a concerted and deliberate effort by the White House and the NEA to encourage the art community to create issue specific art. This new conference call shows the same modus operandi, including a “third party” individual moderating the call to apparently distance the NEA and the White House from initiating the meeting.
The National Endowment for the Arts has yet to comment regarding their involvement with this effort, except for one small, but damaging, comment by their Communications Director Yosi Sergant.
When asked by Kerry Picket of the Washington Times about the NEA’s involvement in inviting artists to my conference call, Sergant said that “the NEA didn’t invite, we were a participant in a call, there was a third party that did the invitations.” When asked for a copy of the invitation, Sergant responded that the invitation “didn’t come from us…so I don’t have it…” He went on to state that Michael Skolnik was the “third party” and that the Corporation for National and Community Service was the party who set up the conference call. This dialogue can be heard here:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
We’ve already proved there are two dishonest remarks in this statement from the NEA in a previous post, namely that the NEA did have the invite and they did send it out to the art community.
When the “Corporation” (referenced by Sergant) was asked by Josh Miller of Foxnews.com about my conference call, a representative stated that “the call was organized by an ‘individual interested’ in the group…”
Interesting. Because this same interested individual, Michael Skolnik, contradicts both of these federal agency’s statements in his opening remarks of the conference call I was on.
Skolnik states that it was the White House and the National Endowment for the Arts that asked him to bring together this independent art group. Skolnik’s statement can be heard here:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
These obvious contradictions, as well as the documented dishonesty on the part of the National Endowment for the Arts, support a conclusion that the NEA may feel their involvement with this effort is outside of their mandate. George Will, Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper journalist, appears to agree with my conclusion. On this past Sunday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, George Will referenced the NEA’s involvement in the conference call and stated, “I don’t know how many laws that breaks but I’m sure there are some.”
With the building evidence of bad behavior by the NEA, you’d think this federal agency would have issued a statement explaining their position on this “brand new” direction for the arts. But as the cliché goes, the silence has been deafening. This taxpayer funded agency and their civil servants haven’t even returned phone calls from legitimate press outlets such as the Boston Globe, Foxnews.com, or the Washington Times.
Even more deafening is the silence on the part of the mainstream media. Documented dishonesty by White House appointed officials should easily draw the ire of our media watchdogs. But the liberal media, historically a protector of the arts, has turned its back on the community of which it adores. Like the Van Jones story, it appears that the blogosphere and conservative media are the only two forums that break news anymore. And the news that they break has dire consequences for those involved regardless of the mainstream media’s blind eye.
We need the National Endowment for the Arts to respond to these issues immediately. The NEA needs to issue a statement explaining the agency’s involvement in encouraging the art community to create art on issues being vehemently debated, contradictions made by their Communications Director, and lack of response to the inquiries of both the concerned public and press outlets.
As the former deputy chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Lynne Munson, stated in a recent post, during her tenure as deputy chairman “any action resembling this call would have triggered immediate dismissal.” I think we’ve shown action resembling this call.
Bad behavior must have consequences, or else that behavior becomes the norm. The actions of the National Endowment for the Arts are leaving the agency vulnerable to attacks on its credibility and rationale for existence.
The NEA needs to address this issue.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Tips & Feedback
318 Comments
"leaving the agency vulnerable to attacks on its credibility and rationale for existence"
What is the rationale for its existence? I would think artists would want art to stand on its merits, not on government money.
Quite frankly, there should be no national endowment for the arts.
And no more money for NPR either.
Similar efforts worked well during the American Depression but not so well in the Thirds Reich.
Keep The Government OUT of my life!!! I want freedom NOT bigger Government! Capitalism will make you free. Socialism will make you a slave.
If I put a Hope and Change sticker in a glass of urine – will they pay me?
Artists can't make a living doing what they do.
They want a government subsidy.
Keep exposing these people, Patrick. This should never happen in the Republic.
Excellent column. And the silence is deafening to say the least.
The main stream media should be ashamed of their behavior, they are miserable failures when it comes to reporting the truth.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bill Bongiorno, Greg Mueller, Jo DeNicholas, Drudge Report and others. Bill Bongiorno said: GOVERNMENT ‘PROPAGANDA’ CONFERENCE CALL? Newly Revealed White House, NEA Audio Contradict, http://tinyurl.com/l7787l [...]
"Kalpen Modi, Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, was to represent the White House and key representatives from the National Endowment for the Arts were also to participate."
Or most people know him as Kal Penn
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0671980/bio
So this is his role in this administration? That's just great Kumar.
I am an artist. i would cut off my hands before accepting money from the government for my art work.
When the hell are people going to realise that government is the enemy of all freedom and liberty.
Well over 200 million have been slaughtered by governments and baurocrats in the last 90 years. That does not include the millitary slaughter.That is just the mass murder by the above. Government using art to indoctrinate is criminal.
Shut the NEA down. Now.
artist should be forced to grow up and get real jobs instead of welding two odd shaped pieces of metal together and calling it art
This is getting more and more medieval, as pointed out by this parody: "Obama Announces Creation of Royal Arts Patronage Program" http://optoons.blogspot.com/2009/08/obama-announc...
Any spokesperson that gets paid by a group will have a tendency to speak for that group. We all know that!
Artists need to eat too, and if their art is crap and they still get paid to make crap then where's their motivation to do anything else?
Propaganda = government saying something you don't like.
That there's something out there that someone wants to call "propaganda" merely indicates that the popularly elected official is doing something about the status quo. Which is to say: THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING!
Art should not be supported by the government.
Thank You, Mr. Courrielche, for your writings on this important topic.
Get the Federal Government out of my life! Military, interstate highways, PERIOD!
The NEA should be ashamed of themselves. Why any artist would think we should support them, if their art doesn't, is beyond me. If you can't make it with your talent, you should get a day job and practice your art on the side, or until it is good enough to be your sole means of support. It is arrogant to expect the rest of us to pay for your mediocrity…..but it really is tacky to get into bed with government to force this awful plan down our throats…it is pimping for the administration. Sleazy is the only way to describe that sort of behavior.
This stuff that 's happening that the Obama Whitehouse is commandeering is getting downright frightful.
Could lead one to think about conspiracies and paranoia.
What I see is the Great Obama building up armies wherever he can. They're hard at work on building up a citizen army. They have most of Media, Acorn, Soros, legions of lefty/commie groups, Obama's attempt to get into the classroom…
And most disturbing, how they're always going back and rewriting the "history".
Is this still America?
I am an artist and view this effort with much suspicion.
I will say this the NEA does have a vital roll to fill in our culture today, they help small communities with arts programs and help to fund community outreach and school programs, They help with festivals and culutrally significant programs. But it should not be used as a Golblinian program for propaganda.
You are risible. Government funding for the arts, in our vulgar Philistine society, is crucial. We're not exactly talking Stalin statues and Franco memorials here.
Too bad the NYT, which printed the REAL propaganda of Bush/Cheney via Judith Miller, didn't come under your glass.
Or maybe FOX "News"?
As for the "artist" above, who would NEVER take govt money: Who cares?
The main stream media is devoid of reporters it is populated by repeaters. They repeat the democrat party line word for word.
In this day and age you have to get the real news from the alternative media and your own investigative analysis of the legislation put for by the far left leaders in congress.
We can defeat this attempt to take over America by these facist wannabe's.
"Leveraging federal dollars." What can I add to that. Information is a commodity. The statists will use any means possible to control that commodity. And the media is quietly complicit in tax-payer supported dissemination of the President's agenda. Fourth estate my ass.
This is yet an other government sponsored, tax payer financed "information operation" (otherwise know as propaganda) similar to the concerted US/UN IPCC Global Warming/Climate Change campaign, all of which have the stink of the "New World Order" Obama keeps talking about. For a Manchurian Candidate, he and his soviet-style socialist minions are doing good work compromising the foundations of our republic.
If you throw enough $hit against the wall something will stick. Until then the can eat what on the floor. Did I just say that? Sorry folks just working on an Art project to expand the senses of the Progressive movement.
That's right. And it's ILLEGAL. (What is it with this administration and the 'do anything but do SOMETHING' mentality?)
Oh, and congratulations on another idiotic post. Keep it up! You're batting 1000!!!!!
Ok, you get the Billy Madison quote for this….
what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I've ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul!
Totalitarian art has always been a lucrative field for the graphically inclined to exploit…so what's new? The Stanford collection of 8000 pieces of Soviet and Nazi propaganda should be put on display for the purpose of educating the public on this timely subject.
I'm assuming the writer probably voted for Obama. I appreciate his honesty for calling something wrong, wrong.
Demand proff of Obama's eligibility. Demand his records be unsealed. ALL OF THEM!!!!
This "vital role" is something that communities themselves, patrons and volunters should be doing, NOT the federal gov't and our tax money. The communities can decide if they want to fund paintings of Jesus created with human waste or fund string instruments for elementary school kids.
I say the NEA needs to go. We can't afford it with all the other liberal spending going on.
I'm an artist and my father was before me.
Neither of us would take a dime from the NEA it's nothing more than a mutual stroking society.
Never trust the government………….keep up the great work!
Why yes, CgntvDssdnt – they are doing something.
Most of us would prefer that they did something positive instead.
Sounds like you're going to voluntarily give up your Social Security payments, and refuse Medicare coverage when you become eligible. NOT! Shut up you hypocrite.
Government funding for the arts is not "crucial". Especially considering the vulgar art the NEA has funded.
That you brought 'FOX "news" into it shows you're a partisan IDIOT who understands nothing.
Once again, an independent blogger brings to light an important bit of news that the majority of the "fourth estate" has completely ignored.
Thank you, Patrick, for doing the job which CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, NYT, etc. have utterly FAILED to do.
Let me get this straight… White House Office of Public Engagement, or White HOPE. Hmmm…. you gotta be kidding me, right?
Face it. This Admin, this President, doesn't like our form of government OR our economic system. He wants to change them both. The type of government he wants starts with an F, but if you spell it out your posts are removed from most internet sites. It involve a strong leader who passes out ownership of various industries and resources like the quick version of monopoly where they deal out the cards rather than making you go around picking them up. Join ANY pro-O site and you get all sorts of invitations to join mobs and demonstrations and picket people from "the other side"……
And we should quit supporting the UN and tell them all to hold their little "I hate America Club" meetings somewhere else.
Patrick,
Thank you so much for your courage!
This is all part of a much bigger monster called "Ideological Subversion" which has been going on for about 50 years.
There is an excellent recent article that describes how it works and a great series of interviews given by an ex-KGB member back in 1983-1985 that details what it is and how to spot it.
It reads/sounds like a play-by-play of what we are experiencing today.
Please read/watch and learn as I did so that you understand exactly where all of this gov't control of message this is coming from.
People in the arts community are simply being used as "useful idiots" to promote a radical political agenda.
Thanks again… take care and be safe,
Painesright
Article: http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/from_russi...
Interview pt 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_xdBnFPqOI
I've never seen a picture of Perez Hilton without a cock in his mouth.
You will all be paying for the salami smuggler's (PREVEZ THE PERVERT) aids test while he throws caution to the wind and tramp himself out to the blind, which is what it would take I'm sure.
What's the big surprise? This is just the next logical step. The NEA has always had a liberal agenda and supported the artists that share their philosophies. Artist = liberal about 98% of the time. The good news is that 98% of the public has no idea and no interest in art.
That is one uglee dude.
Is he real? or is he "Art"?
[...] more: WHO SET UP GOVERNMENT ‘PROPAGANDA’ CONFERENCE CALL? Newly Revealed White House, NEA Audio Contra… This entry is filed under America – Blogs, Big Hollywood. You can follow any responses to this [...]
I love how artists who are funded by the NEA rant against corporate America. Do they really not know where the government got the funds for the grants the NEA hands out? Through taxes on corporations and high income earners. So, go ahead, you feeders at the government teat….put all those mean, evil corporations out of business. Then watch how fast your little subsidized, no-talent lives go down the drain.
True talent supports itself. You'd think it absurd if a restaurant owner, who couldn't sell any food because it was sub-par and nobody liked it, started demanding that the government buy his food so he could keep his restaurant open. In a sane society, he'd have to shut his doors, suck up his over-inflated unearned pride, and go find a way to make a living elsewhere. Now, replace "restaurant owner" with "artist", and you'll understand why I hate the NEA.
And I'm a designer/illustrator who's been able to support himself for 22 years without a speck of federal cash.
I remember visiting East Berlin for the first time, 2 year before The Wall came down. I remember the only things of beauty in the city being murals, statues and other art. Strange thing though, all of this art was state sponsored and depicted comunist leaders such as Lennon, and various scenes of workers and soldiers paying omage to the State. The peopIe I saw in East Berlin were void of the human spirit. Thier eyes were dead and looking down. I talk about that trip often, as it was my first experience with Communism. As a young man in my early twenties, it was a wake-up call for me that forever changed my view of our own country. It's time to wake-up America!
Seriously?!?! Like SS and Medicare is gonna be around to be a benefit. I've already written it off and will give it up if it means I don't have to pay for it anymore. BTW, where is that form to give it up and not have to pay for it… OH right, IT DOESNT EXIST!!! Another useless government program to STEAL from taxpayers with no benefit unless you are an ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT!!!
If artists are being courted through the NEA to illustrate the answers to the White House's public policy questions because the W.H. doesn't have the answer or won't give the honest answer (i.e. How does socialized healthcare end up getting paid for? – still waiting on that answer although the answer is higher tax) then there is serious issues on that policy. The W.H. pulling the art community into their arguments should prove to the artists that they are not appreciated for being independent minds free to express but instead tools of the very machine they claim to rage against. What our government needs to do is present solutions with fully transparent answers that can be clearly articulated, when the message has to be delivered through what traditionally has been looked at as the propaganda machine (healthcare version of Uncle Sam needs you! posters?), we should all be screaming foul together. The Feds dangling carrots of cash to artists to sell policy should be reported as the vile idea that it is. President Obama should be able to sell good policy on it's merits alone, just like an artist should be able to sell their work on the value it adds, not because you should just "get it". Please start seeing this for what it is, I remember people used to have a pretty clear picture of government overstepping for the first 8 years of this decade but seems all those cannons have now gone silent.
We all know many in the mainstream public would vote for a man because pop culture said it was cool to do so that is why it is obvious pulling the art community into the fight by the highest levels is so disgusting. Maybe instead the W.H. should just have a Springsteen concert on their backyard and Bruce could tell us what to do because he is a rocker. Thanks for your report.
Having government tax money spent to help any political party is propaganda, cognutcase. Only you could be stupid enough not to see the obvious problem.
No, it isn't Stalin statues. It more subtle. It is wrapping an image or message up as American, in the sense of principles and values of American, but the content is pro-big government. Or by necessity, anti-limited government.
As far as the artist above… at least we know his opinion is genuine and not state supported. Or tax-payer supported monetarily, even if the tax-payer doesn't support it on principle. Now whose art has real value.
How many MINUTES have you spent watching FOX news? You obviously feel they do not deliver factual info on the topics of the day,but what is that view based on? Any personal observation? Really?
As a professional artist I will not allow the government to dictate my art which means I will not take government money. However, I will use my creative ability to expose their sorry agendas of socialism.
prop·a·gan·da (prŏp'ə-gān'də) n.
1. The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.
Now that we got the proper definition out of the way. What the OB Admin. is engaging in is propaganda. Government funded to help one singular party and purpose (to help Obama). This I a total violation of ethics, and I don't consider the march to totalitarian stateist control of America "doing something".
The wrong "Something" is just as bad if not worse than nothing.
Hey I would gladly do that – if they, the "government" would give me back all of the monies I have paid into those systems. I think I can do a better and more informed job of investing those monies. I would be immediately debt free on all of my loans and own my house and car outright and have a tidy sum to setup college funds for my kids.
So, the White House is using the Taxpayer funded National Endowment for the Arts as a Propaganda tool to further their Marxist agenda! Is there ANYTHING this President won't do or any laws he won't break or any Constitution he won't thumb his nose at? Glenn Beck was SPOT ON when he covered this little tidbit over a couple weeks ago. It is time for the Taxpayers of this country to rise up and say NO MORE money to these self-indulgent narcissistic Parasites! That goes double for ACORN and all their agencies. If these so-called "Artists" need a handout, they can starve as far as I am concerned. I don't happen to consider a Crucifix in a bottle of Urine "ART!"
Social security is expected to go bust before i retire. I too have also written it off. I expect to live out my retirement by paying off my house early and saving up. If I could add that 12.5 percent they take to the extra 7 percent I put in my 401K I could retire early……
Free-ish…
Nice try RH. Please review your history. Social Security was established and is sold as a retirement plan.
You pay in while working and when you cannot work, you'll get your money back to supplement your income. It was never intended to be an entitlement. Unfortunately, one cannot opt out.
What disgrace is there in receiving back the money you have paid in?
Thats the type of art I make only I use J B Weld and it serves a mechanical function afterwards.
Glenn Beck on Fox News was the first to disclose this NEA/Whitehouse connection. He is ON TOP of ALL the crap this White House is trying to get away with. Good luck, is all I can say. GB is like a pit bull! Go Glen!!
Ahh, so if its Bush, its "real"? Do you actually listen to the words coming out of your mouth?
The question is: whose content?
Will an artist express theirs or that of he Federal government?
The role of the government in the arts is to foster creativity and self expression, right? The problem of the far left in the arts is that art ceases to exist in that realm. Art is reduced to Graphic Art. Bureaucracy is a natural enemy of the arts. We might tame the lion enough to make it jump through the flaming ring, but we should never forget that it would always prefer to eat us instead.
Same thing happening in the banking sector with the bailout. Can't imagine there's much to fear from bailing out newspapers too.
If you haven't read "The Forgotten Man" do so now as Amity Schlaes' brilliant tome shows how closely Obama mirrors the activities of the Roosevelt administration. He too, was a socialist and put the country through years of uncertainty and stagnation. Particularly galling was all the federal money directed towards what could only be called propaganda. The WPA was directed to show how bad it was for people and how well the government was helping. "Our comrade brothers were gloriously captured building a bridge for the people and the fatherland" – you could just imagine this description applying were this the Soviet Union.
From an incredulous website about a Depression-era history lesson: "Like other New Deal remedies, however, the arts programs endured controversy. Critics charged that these programs were wasteful, amateurish, or that they flagrantly promoted the New Deal agenda and radical politics." Hmm…any resemblance?
Pull funding for NEA and NPR and PBS. They are CLEARLY politically slanted, and frankly a violation of my rights. I don't pay taxes to advance a political agenda. I don't want MY money seized to support liberal nonsense.
The "DOING SOMETHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING DEFENSE" is about as stupid as it comes.
Doing something positive towards the taxpayers would be to remove all government money from
optional and unnecessary plans that tend to feed one political party.
Doing something STUPID would be to increase the NEA budget.
Doing something SMART would be to cut the program altogether.
Why spend tax money on art? We have plenty of private buyers
that choose to buy good art on their own. Why give away tax money
on such irrational nonsense?
Funny, I didn't realize paying for SS was voluntary…..
"It may not be art, but I like it."
–The Joker
–Also, Barak Obama
Pat, ride that dead pony, no NEA, have Hollywood money People pay for the arts there doing a rotten job with there goofey movies but getting paid a handsome sum, also why dont they hold a telethon for California who nuture them and save there homeland: ahuh
by "artist" do you just mean you are unemployed and have no life skills to fall back on?
Whether or not any of this is in violation of any laws is irrelevant. I checked and Algore assures me "there is no controlling legal authority" that covers this so we just have to be quiet, sit in the dark, and wait for the magic of Obama-art to appear.
They will make you recycle it.
Does Obama have Soros? or does Soros have Obama????
Maybe we need to get Glenn Beck on this.
These guys don't seem to want to do things above board and in the open. Perhaps a little civil disobedience is in order, they don't seem to understand anything else. We can take our cues right from their playbook. Frankly I don’t think being a nice guy is working. Time to change tatics.
Communists and Fascists always conscript "artists" and school children into their propaganda apparatus.Its what they do when they take a break from running neighborhood snitch programs like flag@whitehouse.gov.Nothing new here
all you artists will be forced to do what the obama administration tells you to do after the take over is complete. so shut up and get in line. or we will make you get a REAL job and you cant finger paint anymore.
Yeah! The kids can appreciate art thanks to all these dollars being wasted. Too bad they can't read or write.
[...] :: UPDATE: The NEA and Mainstream Media Remain Silent [...]
You know what scares me? It's the deadly silence of the NEA and government organizations when the Marxist Messiah gave his orders. I mean, there wasn't even the sound of a minor scuffle near the water cooler. The Messiah just gave his orders and all we heard was the whishing sound of government heads nodding instantly in compliance. The NEA and the government entities didn't say a word. Not a word of protest.
My God, I never thought in my lifetime that I would see Pastor Niemoller's warning applied to MY country.
Welcome to the Fourth Reich!
I defy those who vilify Fox News to watch its news programs —not the commentaries or opinion shows — and NOT see NPR's Juan Williams or Mara Liasson appearing as guests, on almost any day of the week. I defy those who vilify Fox Nws to watch O'reilly or Hannity and not notice the numerous lefties who appear on them: Bob Bickel, Ellis Hennican, Charlie Rangel, David Corn, Katrina van den Heuvel, Kirsten Powers, the learned "Doctor" Lamont, etc… Those who vilify Fox News and do no know who those people are….I am not surprised at all!!!
Art should NOT be used as a mouthpiece of the government.
The artist's role in society is an important one. The artist should have the freedom to make commentary about all aspects of our society, including the government. It is the artist who dares ask, "Just because we can do something, should we do it?". The artist holds a mirror up to our collective lives and allows us the chance to reflect. The engineer and scientist asks "How?" or "What?". But the artist is the only one in our society who specifically and constantly asks "Why?".
Now this administration and a group of government paid artists wish to hijack this freedom of expression for their own political gains? They should be ashamed of themselves. They have sold their freedom for a bag of silver. The NEA should no longer be trusted. Neither should the Obama administration.
wait… basic necessities for human survival should only be extended to those artists who don't make "crap"?
i must be confused.
" I would think artists would want art to stand on its merits, not on government money."
maybe i'm missing something… who, in this country, hasn't received some amount of federal assistance (directly or indirectly) in their lives?
Truthfully, America could do handily without either the NEA, National Endowment for the Arts, or the NEA, National Education Association. Neither is worth anywhere near the millions of hard earned dollars thrown at them, and in fact, they are both dangerous. America, we must stop the runaway train that is the American Government. THis pertains to both sides of the aisle, too. Republicans, as well as democrats, need to clean up the cesspool that has become Washington D.C. It just stinks, back there.
The worst part is that the government uses our tax money without even asking us if it's ok to fund an artist who's medium is elephant feces or urine….
If some people like that stuff, then they should be on the hook for it. I think it's not only disgusting with absolutely no value on any level, but criminal to use my money to fund it without asking me if that's a good use for my taxes.
Fortunately I have never seen that…I would be scarred for life seeing that gorilla-headed moron in such a pose….
So the NEA is on a mission to mainstream and destroy art: Where is the counter-culture edge that artists clung so fervently to? Why are they so enamored with the corralling of thought and enthusiastic about becoming part of the Corporation? Why aren't they concerned that thier First Amendment rights will be whittled away by Government? Oh, I forgot… leveraging federal dollars is just too attractive to pass up.
Shame on any artist who goes along with this. Shame on any artist who would sell out in such a despicable way. Turning local art communities into government run agency cattle should make any true spirit tremble… do you think you won't be subjected to controls and regulation for your 30 pieces of silver? You won't be artists anymore, you'll be DC ad men — and for myself, I will make a concerted effort to enjoy the work of artists that is funded through philanthropy, community and pivate promotion.
NPR and PBS have been doing this for decades.
Hilarious!
But be careful, that could be construed as racist.
Basic necessities should be provided by the individual for themselves. If they can't make enough for the basic necessities with their art, then they need to get a job that will. And yes you are confused, this is America where one is responsible for their own "basic necessities.
And I think you're confused by the term "federal assistance". The fed doesn't assist anybody without taxpayer money. Don;t you want a say in where your tax money goes? Or are you ok with the way things are going?
Basic necessities should be provided by the individual for themselves. If they can't make enough for the basic necessities with their art, then they need to get a job that will. And yes you are confused, this is America where one is responsible for their own "basic necessities.
And I think you're confused by the term "federal assistance". The fed doesn't assist anybody without taxpayer money. Don't you want a say in where your tax money goes? Or are you ok with the way things are going?
[...] WHO SET UP GOVERNMENT ‘PROPAGANDA’ CONFERENCE CALL? Newly Revealed White House, NEA Audio Contradict By: Pam On: Sep/8/09 – Leave Your Comment WHO SET UP GOVERNMENT ‘PROPAGANDA’ CONFERENCE CALL? Newly Revealed White House, NEA Audio Contra… [...]
The issue is that most of us work for a living. If I spend $500 printing, matting and framing photographs, and none sell, I'm out 500 bucks and countless hours of my time, and I'll then need to go out and get a day job. But, if I say that my photography is "an exploration into non-traditional gender roles and their place in quotidien lifestyles of the American bourgeoisie" then the government will pay me thousands of dollars to turn in a photograph of a steaming pile of human excrement served up on a dinner plate.
In a free market, no one in their right mind would pay money for that photo. But because of the NEA, I can make a nice profit for crap that no one wants. Because of the NEA, your taxes, my taxes, go to pay artists who put out garbage. If they had to make art that people liked in order to get paid, the quality might go up, and the offensiveness would probably go down.
Another thanks to you, Mr. Corrielche.
If people will buy it, it's art. If the government has to fund it, it's crap.
Whatever happened to the patronage system?
All serious artists I know share your thoughts on art and merit. I have no contact whatsoever with the NEA and I do just fine selling my work.
Why a surprise? In the defunct USSR (thanks, RR) the arts were just a section in the propaganda department. And so here, what with Abu Hussein from Kenya in charge…
"Basic necessities should be provided by the individual for themselves."
a kind of social-darwinism, so to speak?
i'm not at all confused about the term "federal assistance". when you say "the fed", are you referring to the federal reserve, or the federal government?
The NEA, NPR and their ilk are simply parasitic and manipulative pawns for the leftist agenda. We need to slash federal non-defense spending by at least 50% right off the top, and then start weeding out further from there. What a vermin-filled cess pool the federal system has become……… too much money sloshing around. Bring it back home and keep it here!
[...] This is, however, the Obama administration, and the only thing they have proven during their short tenure is that they are not very adept at figuring things out. With this undeniable display of impropriety by the NEA and the White House still fresh in the public's minds, they went ahead and had another conference call. WHO SET UP GOVERNMENT ‘PROPAGANDA’ CONFERENCE CALL? Newly Revealed White House, NEA Audio Contra… [...]
Social-Darwinism?? Uh…no. This country provides the opportunities to provide for yourself. If your art doesn't sell, then get a freakin job, don't whine and stamp your feet to get a handout when you are capable of providing for yourself. This to me is fraud, and the government enables it by funding it with our money.
The government is what I was referring to. And you didn't answer my question. Are you ok with just handing your money over with no idea where it's going?
Patrick was on Glenn Beck last week. Maybe he should be on again this week.
Part of A poem.
Search Order
by Raúl Rivero
What are these gentlemen looking for
in my house?
What is this officer doing
reading the sheet of paper
on which I've written
the words "ambition," "lightness," and "brittle"?
Raúl Rivero was an ardent member of Fidel's revolution, He also served as chairman of the pro-regime National Union of Writers and Artists in Cuba. He was convicted to 26 years in a Cuban jail, for crimes against the Cuban State. His crime, in 2002, was wondering why they could not have free elections in Cuba. He was released after 11 months of living in a small cell due to world pressure. He now lives in Spain. Artist such as Oliver Stone , Sean Penn and many others have long been, as Carl Marx puts it, useful idiots to left wing governments.
"They help with festivals and culutrally significant programs". ……. I've never seen them help fund a "gun show" and I would call that a culturally significant program. Look, ….festivals are for the vendors and that is why people go……to buy. Get real
And we're all idiots to suspect the President's address to students today was another attempt to inappropriately promote his agenda?
Evidently you don't understand what propaganda is.
Evidently you are still asleep, taking the Unisom that the Mainstream Media is feeding you.
I would encourage you to stop taking your daily ration of BS and wake the frak up.
One other thing… as soon as the government "suggests" topics for "art" that the taxpayers will "fund," they are, in effect, implying that the "artists" should follow the "suggestions," if they want "funding."
And, just because a lot of artists are liberals who agree with the policies also doesn't make it right… if they choose to take up political commentary, that's fine, but they shouldn't get government money for that. Government funded political advertising is propoganda.
If you can’t drag whatever it is that you create and sell in the town square, then starve. The NEA becoming a propaganda tool, …what’s new?
PS: Great job Patrick.
PPS: Anybody want to subsidize Perez's healthcare? (Does that coverage include psychiatric treatment?) My God, he'll single-handedly force rationing!
You should see the garbage they display as art out here in the S.F. bay area…it's not anything any one would give a nickel for, at least not volunteerily. That's where the government comes in. They have so many young adults that want to become artists that they have created another government entity. Most of these people find out that they have to get an actual job, when they finish art school, because there is vertually no demand for disgusting, idiotic art work. But not to worry, the government is going to shove it down our throats, (just like government run health care), and we will pay for it, whether we like it or not!
Wouldn't it be great if we could simply check a box on our tax returns for each and every organization we want our tax dollars to support? Now *that* would be some hope and change I could believe in.
Welcome to CgntvDssdnt…all of his posts are like that. He seems to be more bent on just trying to piss people off these days instead of giving a coherent argument, seeing as how he barely ever comes out from under his bridge to answer our replies anymore.
These people are all rookies…and they're showing their stupidity!!!! Is this the CHANGE you voted for???? Give me back PResident Bush!!!
Oh I'm well versed in his technique. My question is, how did he get such a high rating with this type of rhetoric?
http://www.TheseSelfEvidentTruths.com and read the re-declaration of independence.
Full court press! Again Patrick…truly a heroic effort against a monstrous – and illegal – power grab.
Why do the personalities of Obama's strategies wreak of Rahm Emanual? Creepy. Soros. Aggressive. Totalitarian. Soros. Sinister. Vengeful. Sneaky. Soros. Fishy. All wee weed. Backdoor. Highly organized. Hyper-coordinated. Soros.
Let's see… cut funding for NEA, NPR, ACORN, handouts to special interest groups like SEIU/AFL-CIO, ALL pork projects since 2007, return the leftover stimulus to the taxpayers so revenues go up, salaries and overhead costs for "czars", non-critical travel for congress (with all the tech savy in the admin, you'd think they'd use meeting .com), limit staffers to two per senator, one per congressman (they may have to read the bill themselves then) No MORE junkets… oh you know can add to the list, but the point being… don't you think there would be enough money left over to cover the estimated 37M legal American citizens without insurance? If not, maybe Congress could chip in thier reelection campaign funds – cuz' I don't think they should waste it on trying to get MY vote.
My life should be controlled by corporate oligarchy, not a democratically elected government. PROMOTE FREEDOM, END DEMOCRACY!
CD, let's engage in some critical thinking, shall we? If President Bush conducted similar phone calls in order to gain support for his policies, including the War on Terror, what would your response be? Propaganda no? You and your ilk would have been screaming the place down. Cries of "Nazi" would have been heard from the rooftops.
Prove me wrong and tell me you would have no problem if Bush were doing the EXACT SAME THING.
If you would have protested, then answer this: WHY? What is the difference? If "Propaganda = govnerment saying something you don't like" then you shouldn't have a problem with it, right? Just like we shouldn't have a problem with this.
Can't wait to hear the response this one, if he's even brave enough to supply one.
Will anything ever make a difference with this administration?
http://mw1.meriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%2...
please explain the differences between that definition and your position.
i'm certainly not content to remain unaware of where money travels in our economy. however, i'm also not about to decry massive government corruption only when it suits me. furthermore, i refuse to buy into the notion that lies and deception are only proffered by one party in Washington. i've seen nothing, thus far, suggesting the majority of both democrat and republican politicians are primarily concerned with our well-being.
I'm all for something like 401(k) elections.
"Please contribute my tax dollars, in these proportions to:
[ ] utilities(roads, water lines, sewers, etc)
[ ] military and law enforcement
[ ] public schools
[ ] art
[ ] salaries for elected officials
[ ] other (please fill in)__________________
"In a free market, no one in their right mind would pay money for that photo."
that's a little hyperbolic, don't you think?
"I can make a nice profit for crap that no one wants"
couldn't this statement be applied to much of our marketplace? if the purpose of working is to earn yourself enough credit from the market in order to feed, clothe, and house yourself and/or dependents, then isn't "crap" inevitable? it's far cheaper (and financially sound) to produce a film with excessive product placement, and broad market-tested themes and storylines. having to rely on the ever-broadening perceptual subjectivity of the marketplace to both approve and consume your work (in order to care for yourself or dependents) seems, at the very least, injurious to art in principle.
Unfortunately, I've been paying into these two ponzi schemes ever since I drew my first paycheck. So YES, I do want some of that money back. And for me, it would be getting MY money BACK.
I'd be happy to make a deal: give me all of my FICA (SS and medicare) taxes back, with interest, and I'll be more than happy to opt out of your Ponzi scheme.
The difference is that everyone in this country has the opportunity to provide for themselves, not just what your link calls the "elite". Everyone. And if someone is capable of taking care of themselves then why should they get free money so they can continue to pursue some fantasy?
"i've seen nothing, thus far, suggesting the majority of both democrat and republican politicians are primarily concerned with our well-being."
Ahhhh….there's your problem. It is NOT the government's job to be concerned for our well-being. It is OUR job. The government only gets in the way. And for the record, I do agree that both parties are staffed by career politicians concerned with only their survival and advancement.
[...] a group that is funded by tax dollars; it increases the potential of taxpayer-funded propaganda. Big Hollywood Blog Archive WHO SET UP GOVERNMENT ‘PROPAGANDA’ CONFERENCE CALL? Newly Rev… All funded with our own tax dollars and used against us….beautiful. Obama is a dangerous [...]
That's a good questions… I'm not sure how the scoring goes yet. At first I thought it had something to do with the thumbs ups and thumbs downs, but I'd bet good money that his downs waaaaaaaay outnumber his ups.
Or maybe he uses his IntenseDebate login on a liberal website, and they all love him. Either way I don't get what enjoyment he can get out of posting on here. At least if we post on here, it's among people that agree with us, and some of us even seem to become better acquainted and know eachother. He's like the angry kid in the back of the class that everybody avoids.
If we can submerge Miss Perez into a vat of rodent urine, then I am all for it.
HERE's some art that the Obama Admin might like to see posted around town:
http://www.AntiObamaSticker.com
"In a free market, no one in their right mind would pay money for that photo."
that's a little hyperbolic, don't you think?
In a large enough population, you'll always get a few crazies who were looking for that exact picture in 24×30 to go over their dining room table. It may be the right mind for them, but to us sane people, it doesn't seem rational.
As for your other statement, there's some Law that says "90% of everything is crap." Crap is inevitable, but it has one difference–free market crap is not government funded.
I can see what you're saying about making 'art' to appeal to the widest audience possible in order to make money–it's selling out, no way around it. But everyone has free time. If people want to be full time artists, then they have to make what people will pay for. If that means compromising their own beliefs/artistic integrity, that's a desicion they have to make for themselves.
cont'd
However, everyone, in any job, gets days off. Artists can make what they want to make in their spare time. It's great if someone can get paid to do what they love to do. But if they love to do something, and don't get paid for it, why should I support them? I love to play video games, but no one pays me to do it. Why does the government pay for one type of hobby and not another?
The "government" will gladly give back all your money, if you promise you are not going to drive (or walk) on the roads they built.
The "government" will gladly give back all your money, if you promise you are not going to drive (or walk) on the roads they built.
Did he do the exact same thing?
I do not recall that all Krystina.
Obviously, the White House is extending its tentacles into every corner of the Left – from establishment liberal organizations to flaming anti-American Marxist groups – to consolidate and increase their power. The compliant media isn't ashamed of itself, although I don't doubt that there are those in their ranks who need their jobs and stay quiet about it.
In such a short time in office, these guys have clearly been planning what they would do for many years in advance. The speed of their movement is analogous to bank robbers who have cased a place first, so when they get in, they know exactly where to go and what to do.
Yadda yadda yadda
IF you don't recall, de-funding NEA & PBS was one of the things the Repubs DIDN'T deliver on after 1994 take over.
Some of us true believer conservatives are still angry about that.
But I am heartened to hear that perhaps we may get another crack at them.
To be fair, he's not as vile as some liberal posters are. I've had a few decent exchanges with him. But he comes here to fling poop….
This is unbelievable…wait, no it's not. I will believe anything now.
Wake Up, America!
http://www.echoesbridge.com
Hitler was also very big… into using artists and movies…. to push his agenda!
[...] brazen use of classic propaganda methods paid for by American tax dollars. Read more about the story here. blog comments powered by Disqus var disqus_url = [...]
Once the government gets involved, the Arts should no longer be entitled to this label, it is now simply controlled & paid for propaganda as detailed well in "The Rise & Fall of third Reich". The Party left no stone un-turned. It used & manipulated class conflict, children, the arts, all forms of media, effective chants/slogans, constant well orchestrated public presentations/demonstations, private security force/ community organizers, created artificial crisis, redistribution of the wealth of the oppressed, & the messianic oratory of a self annointed one. All these actions were simple incremental steps to complete power. We are blindly allowing the repeat of one of the worlds worst historic lessons. The people should have known better.
hello…this what he always was. Nothing is surprising to those of us who actually paid attention and didn't drink the cool-aid. MAYBE some others are starting to wake up.
Long live the Republic. Congress should reclaim the legislative wing lest Barry aka BHO sends them home as irrelevant and unnecessary under New Management.
In a Republic, there would be no arts support and no NPR and no PBS. PBS has some fine programs but these stations need to sink or swim on their own.
Longdrycreek Ranch
Texas Panhandle
Neither should people.
If I'm the POTUS, I would effective immediately issue an executive policy shutting down the NEA for good, never to be reactivated by future POTUS or an act of Congress. NEA is a waste of government money and resources. Let artists learn to get by on private or corporate funds or compete in the markets.
The NEA should be supported by the ACLU.
If I'm the POTUS, I would immediately issue an executive policy shutting down the NEA for good, never to be reactivated by future POTUS or an act of Congress. NEA is a waste of government money and resources. Let artists learn to get by on private or corporate funds or compete in the markets.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing the work you are doing to expose this corruption patrick! You are a hero.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing the work you are doing to expose this corruption Patrick! You are a real hero. Good luck.
Can't spell, but I agree with your statement. Art should be judged on it's merit not on what some beuracrat thinks in trendy or used to do the Govt.s work.
My tax dollars hard at work to pass an agenda I vehemently oppose. If Dear Leader wants my art to reflect current issues my next sculpture will be an old man lying on the ground holding a paper stating, "Coverage Denied". Barack will be standing over him holding a hammer and sickle with his foot on the man's neck. I'll submerge it in a tank of urine of course to make sure my right to free speech can be defended with a precedent. How soon can I expect my government check for this masterpiece?
So you would pimp your soul for uncle sam's $$$? I alway's suspected that Bush haters where a "Few fries short of a happy meal"
No, and handing it to the nose in the air art "community" really burns my ass! If I couldn't make it at what I do, I'd find something else to do. Owe that right it's called a starving artist sale!
Good comment. BTW Lenin, not Lennon. pics of John Lennon all over the place would have been rockin.
======================================
The "Arts" are now Obama's new arm of his propoganda machine.
======================================
um, Leni Riefenstahl anybody….At least they are doing something??? ARe you kidding? Yes, they are, But WHAT are they doing? Using a government funded 'arts' council to create government funded art to push a government funded agenda is called PROPOGANDA. This is not American in spirit, it is fascistic. I find it frightening that the sheeple out there can't see what is going on. WAKE UP before you are carrying around large pictures of our fearless leader and pledging your servitude.
[...] diabolical alliance between Obama and his art-gangsters was struck in two shadowy conference calls last month, one allegedly hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts, and the other by the NEA-funded [...]
I think CD posts in the wee hours of the morning, when rational, working people are asleep and there is no one to thumbs-down the idiotic posts. That's my guess. Everytime I see CD's garbage I pan it (if it's stupid, which it usually is).
Rev. Wright is Bill Ayers is Fr. F leeger (sp?) is Van Jones is George Soros is Barack Obama. They ARE what Obama is. Obama told us (warned us) in his campaign speeches that he was going to transform America and still millions voted for him. Millions of others took him literally and now look what is happening. One day we will wake up and wonder what has happened to the United States of America.
NPR is ridiculous – they are publicly funded, their local management is better paid than most commercial operations, and still they beg for money. And non-commercial? Hardly.
propaganda, brought to you by the letters NEA
Guys, please don't attack the artists. You may disagree with some, or most, of their politics, but focus on what is really wrong here. This is an attempt at creating a state sponsored propaganda machine using tax-payer dollars. The artists are not the bad guys, they are ordinary citizens like you. The government loves it when we get into groups and attack each other and forget where the real problem lies..
Capitalism will not make you free. It hasn't made us free in 200 years.
What it has done is made us into wage slaves.
The problem with capitalists is someone else always has to do the work
for them. Capitalists are useless, non-productive parasites who survive by exploiting the
hard work of others.
You sound like two kids fighting in the back seat of a car, each claiming that the "other one started it". The correct parental response is "it doesn't really matter who started it, does it? What matters is that you are both continuing it. Now stop." Just because you can point to a Republican example of abusing the system, does that excuse a Democrat abuse? If you pull your head out of the partisan politics bucket, you will see that bad behavior is just that, whichever party it comes from. Now on that basis, what section of the Constitution gives the federal government the right to fund partisan artistic efforts?
I would rather government fund art than war.
As a long time artist, if this is what the National Endowment is to become, I agree with you Tennessee Jed.
I don't know what's worse: using taxpayer dollars to fund propoganda or using Perez Hilton in one of its ads.
" It is NOT the government's job to be concerned for our well-being. It is OUR job."
so, if government isn't supposed to look out for the well being of its citizens, what, if anything, should be its purpose?
i ask in general, not in America specifically.
The fact that they don't ask our permission isn't the worst part- it's the fact that they take so much of it in the first place and THEN proceed to waste it.
I liked Perez Hilton better when he was blubbering and bruised from his run-in with Will.i.am.
Hey Perez- They're not called the BLACK EYED Peas for nothing!
I can't speak to other governemnts.
You really need to read our constitution…..
No, Sanmon, since most "artists" have an artistic ability to remain on the dole their entire life.
Quite frankly, quit your job & pick up a paintbrush, let's see how well you manage.
The endowment is a Good Thing but it's been hijacked.
My dad always called it "National Pinko Radio"
Ever hear of a research grant?
You're an ahole. I would respond but I have a feeling you're the type who has trouble comprehending much of anything you read, so I'll stop now.
THANK you. We just need to free the endowment, not kill the idea. Flush out the crooks from government, don't burn the Constitution. Not a tough concept to grasp.
Everything anyone needs to know about making a country great is in that amazing document.
Even artists are losing their freedom of expression. I'll bet many of them fell for the government takeover.
Keep a close eye on "Comics Industry for Obama" to see another front in this Socialist propaganda war. These people must be stopped.
You see the attitudes of these folks? It proves our very point how necessary the NEA is (when working properly, not taken over like it has been) — I can practically see these ingrates' lips curling in disgust, as if ART is something to be squashed like a cockroach. Makes me sick. Without the NEA they'd probably find a way to ban using paintbrushes for anything other than whitewashing fences.
Go fuck yourself, you soulless automaton.
Sorry, but no. Why should anyone be provided a living by the Government because they decide they want to spend their time producing non-marketable "art" instead of working a job?
If you can't sell your stuff, produce it on your own time. I don't feel like subsidizing you.
hey where's my money? i want to produce something unmarketable (ie npr) and get paid big bucks for it! woohoo! hope! change! hope! change! woohoo!
But… uh… you uh…. never will be POTUS, so uhhh… nvm.
so what is it?
Why, yes, Boog, I have. A lot of those are scams also. But sometimes they result in cures for cancer and stuff. Things that are actually beneficial to society's corporate interest.
Now, you're going to tell me that "the arts" improve quality of life, and I agree. That's why I pay to look or listen to the stuff that appeals to me. If there's no market for your crap, you aren't improving my life by creating it.
The next argument is that Mozart and Beethoven had patrons. True enough. In today's free market those would be known as "private citizens". Support all the art you want. Just stay out of my back pocket.
Patrick, You are a Patriot – for bringing this to light ! I quote from a really good book about this:
"The Modern Liberal believes in the supremacy of the state, thereby rejecting the principles of the Declaration and the order of the civil society, in whole or part. For the Modern Liberal, the individual’s imperfection and personal pursuits impede the objective of a utopian state. In this, Modern Liberalism promotes what French historian Alexis de Tocqueville described as a soft tyranny, which becomes increasingly more oppressive, potentially leading to a hard tyranny (some form of totalitarianism)".
Agreed.
And before I forget to mention it, that question & answer scene in Billy Madison was hilarious.
this just in: THE JEWS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR BACK PAIN.
the pathetically low percentage of the united states' budget that is used in the arts is shameful.
ANY increase of funding is warranted.
"there is a connection between progress in the arts and progress in society"
exactly!
Plenty of artists make a living at it, without help from the government. Those that can't, because no one will buy their work, seek grants.
So, let's get rid of the NEA, but don't make stupid, sweeping comments.
Benzopf,
Artist and capitalist.
Notice the issues that the artists were asked to consider, in the lead up to this "day of service" on 9/11. They're the EXACT issues that the Dept. of Education mentioned in the lesson plans, that were supposed to accompany today's speech to school children.
Of course, those lesson plans had to be changed (as well as the speech) AFTER the public rightfully became outraged about this attempt to propagandize the country's school children.
These lesson plans told children to choose an issue to "help" President Obama. They were supposed to write letters to themselves and teachers were to save the letters and follow up with the children to see how well they lived up to their goals of helping Obama.
Whatever, he still got his face time with the kids, furthering his cult of personality. The people of this country must be ever vigilant. The NEA owes the American people an explanation. The Congress ought to convene hearings. Back in the 90s, they DID have hearings to investigate Pres. Bush using the Dept. of Education resources when he spoke to school children. Why the difference?
yeah it was, and that quote above is very useful….
as a conservative, am reticent in govt. subsidy of the arts: as an actor (artist), acknowledge the historical fact of great art epochs having their benefactor (greek classicists their infrastructure, rennaisance the medici's, shakespeare elizabeth 1); and as an aussie (now in nyc) suggest the most fruitful proposal is what started the great Oz film scene in late 70's; ie a tax write-off for investment in the arts (10ba tax code). That way, you encourage, but don't subsidize, art, whilst realizing that the soul of a country is beyond selling hamburgers.
Sorry, man, but an endowment for the Arts was not included in the Constitution. We're not going to agree on this point.
She set up a hypothetical. He didn't do anything of the kind.
OK, Boog, that was a pretty quick trigger. I read his post and agreed with it.
Hey you guys, lay off the artists! The Obama administration wants art on the cheap just like everyone else. What they are doing may be incorrect or even illegal, but the artist – except in few special situations – is always looking for a sponsor. To get the gig, you drink the Kool-aid. How many Elizabethan portraits showed pox marks? To get a commission for a bit of swirly stuff on a corporate website, you kiss the hand that feeds you. Simple as that. Otherwise No Art. Do you like the Sistine Chapel? Michelangelo needed dough to do that. Guess what! It completely represents the views of his sponsor. Don't like gansta rap? Blame the label, not the artist.
Well good for you, you pay your rent by working for clients. You're telling me they wouldn't fire you if you did what you wanted, instead of EXACTLY what they told (and paid) you to? Corporate designers are artists like typists are writers. In any case, with all the gov't waste out there, you have a problem with even the idea of aid to help a scrub trying to break into the cliquish art world? Gallery fees hurt & everyone has to start somewhere. Right out the gate one has to be a superstar? puh-lease. Blind luddites want to stomp out art at every turn, they think it's pathetic.. Besides the NEA is a drop in the bucket, man. If you are a real artist then you know the stigma and shit-talk you have to endure by clueless retards who give you no respect. NEA helps legitimize your career choice don't you think?
It's just too bad…the people who always start the fights on here are people like CD and people who register as "guests" only to rattle off some obscenities and then never be heard from again.
Guys, I know this is going to be hard. But if nobody ever replied to anything CD wrote, after awhile he'd go away. Isn't that what we all want?
By the way, I'm pretty sure the "reputation" score is heavily weighted toward thread traffic. So if you reply in any way, even if all you do is call CD a dumbass, you're contributing positive weight. It's statistician's logic.
Well, we need a Treasury. And a (small) State Dept. And some form of regulation of commerce.
A few other things as well, I'm sure.
I'll bet if the government was handing out free naked lady mudflaps and calling it art you would change your tune. Why are you hillbillies opining on high culture, anyways? Art isn't directed at you – it's meant for educated people.
Yep I was going to bring up Mike & the chapel too, its the same shit, and they just don't grasp it. OH I DID FINE WITHOUT THE NEA, IM A DESIGNER! So uh your portfolio is full of Charmin Ultra toilet paper logos? LOL 'artist', GTFO. They blame the artists instead of the administration, what are they, twelve? Kick out the crooks & free the art again. And if all the liberal cancer in the art world in general bugs ya, don't kill Art you retard, just take the NEA money & bite their hands off with your work! Libs have been doing it for years so lets see the conservative art FFS.
Do you think I can get some of this Arts Money to distribute my rendition of the Obama MAY DAY Celebration.This rendition is a Picture of the Soviet annual Parade of its' Military Prowess and the Stage featuring the Soviet Premiere and His Commissars. My rendition is Photo Shopped to show the Premiere being OBAMA wearing his IDI AMIN Medal Bedecked Uniform and his Commissars being all the Csars he has appointed..The Military is a bunch of Goose Stepping Men and Women wearing Uniforms of the Obama Special Forces that he has vowed to establish ..I'm not holding my breath that I'll get help,BUT I'm sure if I make a rendition of President Bush being boogered by VP Cheney,I could get plenty of support and cash from the NEA..
i'm
The old media behaves more like a fifth column than the fourth estate.
I think you need to lighten up, Boog. Yes, there are people who don't think much of the arts, just as there are those who don't think much of Nascar or ice skating or Chinese cuisine. Viva la difference!
The POINT is that none of these activities need to have our tax dollars supporting them. Many of the great artists and musicians were supported by individual patrons – because they liked their work, not just because someone used their money to do so.
You're probably right about thread traffic.
But it's so much fun to wail on him.
I tried for a long time over at Townhall to get people to ignore trolls. TH is positively OVER-RUN with them. No one could do it. Now I'm here. At least Breitbart HAS a rating system so folks can bypass the idiots when they aren't in the mood for them.
Well said. I agree!
· 7 minutes ago
The NEA has time and time again proven that it serves no valueable purpose other than to fund loser artists that do not have the talent to be successful in a free market economy. The more taxpayers subsidize these losers, the more waste, fraud and garbage "so called art" we'll see from them. If these losers have to depend on the government to make a living in the "art" world, then society in general believes that their work has no value or "sucks" to use their parlence. Taxpayers should not have to foot the bill to subsidize the talentless. Voluntary support of the arts should be left up to communities and the private sector. The Fed's should have no part in using taxpayer funds to support the art community no matter how self important the art community thinks it is.
Afraid that your precious NEA funds will be taken away for your booger art project?
Artists excepting money from the NEA are no different than welfare addicts. At taxpayer expense, they take from workers/producers to statisfy their own desires .
Those who can, do.
Those who can't, teach.
Those who can't do either, are on NEA welfare.
Communism is as Communism does.
Welcome to it, America, brought you to by the illegal Kenyan Marxist Muslim usurper, squatting in OUR White House and his "Democrat" comrades in Congress. Many of YOU voted for him/it and ALL of us got it.
Agreed. The rest can be handled by states.
I resent the government redistributing MY hard earned money to the NEA, or to any organization really. It amounts to nothing but forced charity. If I personally want to donate I will. However, the government knows not many would donate to an organization whose idea of art is the Virgin Mary made out of dung. For good reason.
With the conservative revolution going on in this country, I'm betting that in 4 years there is going to be a lot of real change within the US government. Hopefully, an one axe to fall will be forced charity.
[...] so that we can speak to each other safely . . ." Is the hair on your arms standing up yet? http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pc…remain-silent/ This link includes short audio telephone interviews that point to the White House as the source of [...]
If these pseudo-artists can not make a living through their "art" why in the hell should they be subsidized by taxpayer dollars. Let them find work that pays them BUT not with my tax dollars. Lots of artists are just lazy and think the world owes them something for "being". Being WHAT????
Any artist that takes government money is nothing but a whore; their art has no purity or meaning!
You are a fool who has swallowed the progressive Kool-Aid. Read your history before bloviating about which you know nothing. You owe your standard of living to the fruits of capitalism. Care to move to Cuba?
NEA should be defunded…until it is investigated..same as all federal government programs..they all need to be investigated that they are doing as they are chartered for….all stimulus dollars need to be accounted for immediately for fraud…NPR as well..they have and push an agenda…
I think that it would fall into the category of "performance art". I wouldn't mind getting a piece of that action myself. What have I been thinking all these years? Working – what a ridiculous concept.
This is really simple…if your art doesn't sell, the government gets to put a gun to the taxpayers heads and say "pay-up," then give the money to the artist anyway. If the taxpayers wanted to fund crap-on-a-plate art, somebody would buy it. If they don't buy it, it shouldn't be funded anyway, because the market-place has spoken.
Truth is, NEA has always been a propaganda arm of the government, regardless of whether D's or R's are in charge. The proof is left as an exercise for the reader…
And big murals of Groucho Marx would have lightened up the dreary atmosphere as well. All hail Lennon and Marx! (for all of you Firesign Theater fans out there)
[...] violent opposition from mediocre minds." – Albert Einstein Click Here for More Broken News Nice art grant ya gots der. Pity if sumptin shuld happen to it. Now, we'd like a picture for a heltc… Hope·ocrisy: Hey fatty, pay up. Smoker prez suggests sin tax on soda and foods. No health [...]
[...] propaganda? Big Hollywood CONFERENCE CALL? Newly Revealed White House, NEA Audio Contradict [...]
[...] WHO SET UP GOVERNMENT “PROPAGANDA” CONFERENCE CALL? Newly revealed White House, NEA audio contradict. [...]
Don't give the NEA one more RED CENT of American tax-payer money.
Let them eat their art if there hungry.
Don't give the NEA one more RED CENT of American tax-payer money.
Let them eat art if they're hungry.
the answer to your question……no
and the sad part is the American people voted this Regime into power.
I wouldn't call those people artists. I am an artist with a real job. My sculptures are beautiful and I get so depressed when I see the crap that is being called art.
Thank you someone. No one yet, in months of observation since madoff, has correctly identified both SS and medicare as a PONZI scheme.
In fact, no other single word comes close to entirely describing both vote buying scams.
Is anyone surprised by this. These are the same tactics all of his radical friends use. He either learned it fast or he grew up with those same radicals. Then again, Rahm and Axelrod have some interesting backgrounds also. Anything to get them ahead, fix the sinking polls, or show the youth 'We're hip."
I heard this on Rush Limbaugh and was a little skeptical at first. I then found the link on http://www.americanparchment.com and found the George Will video and watched that too. This is beyond low. This is just dishonest and illegal according to the White House lobbyist laws at least.
Artist's remind me of that nurd Keith Doberman ////
Is Perez the Pervert the new Health Care Poster Pimp?
[...] and the reasons all of us ought to be concerned, VERY concerned I would think about the possible leveraging of federal dollars to to get artists and cultural organizations involved in social-service [...]
Icons are a common and identfiable form of propoganda used by many governments but its power was never really realized until the communist revolution in Russia. This is the federal government attempting to mass produce iconography that will overwhelm our senses with images that would serve the purposes of the elite or soon to be established aristocracy if you will. This is precisely what popular culture is built upon. You don't think it is any coincidence that communism is taught as a viable form of government in our institutions of higher learning as we begin to see its tenents and mores all around us do you? What these artists don't realize is that once they have served their usefulness to the state they are usually the first to end up in the gulag.
P.S. That guys shirt should read 'We can, We will, Socialism' Cause that is what they are really after isn't it. I mean that is why they always say, 'socialism just has a bad reputation' when you bring up socialized health care isn't it? That guy looks like a douche anyway. No offense to any douches that may be reading this
Now that's what I would call a masterpiece!
[...] Courrielche has more on the NEA/White House attempt at propaganda over at Big Hollwood. He’s got audio of the NEA contradicting itself, too. Oops. [...]
Unless I was mistaken on my last pay stub, I paid in for those benefits some day.
Why are liberals acting like republicans on medicare and social security are moochers? They paid for many years to earn those benefits. If the left is this way about republicans on medicare, it bodes very badly for republicans that may need medical treatment on the obamacare plan.
Different money, gas taxes pay for the roads. Not income taxes, for the most part.
Do you know anything?
Not quite true. We capitalists provide services and products and if the customers don't want to be exploited by us, they go to a competitor. You want to not be exploited open up the system to competition. There is none under huge government and exploitation by a huge government is not a pleasant thing. Ask the unexploited in Zimbabwe or Iran.
I expect the MSM will do a scathing expose of this nonesense. Katie is probably working on the story even now.
[...] And now Beck has his sights on another unbelievable situation: (Via Ace of Spades HQ) I’m guessing it’s the National Endowment of the Arts’ conference call urging the beneficiaries of taxpayer largesse to make propaganda art for Obama. [...]
My God! And I'll bet you vote too,. don't you.
Capitalism allows two people to enter into a voluntary consensual agreement. I provide expertise and effort, my employer provides a paycheck and benefits. If you don't like the terms of the agreement then you don't have to enter into it, or can terminate the agreement.
A "slave" is someone who doesn't have the ability to terminate the relationship; who isn't a party to a voluntary exchange; who isn't entitled to dispose of the product of his labor as he sees fit. Sounds more like the relationship between the individual and the State. I cannot enter into a transaction without the State unilaterally stepping in. The State, like Massa of old, decides how much of the fruits of my labor I get to keep. If you don't think Massa will use the whip on you just try to escape from this slavish relationship of coercion.
Build my roads, secure my borders, then get the FUCK out of my life.
Jeez Szore, now I read your post. I PROMISE I didn't steal your lines. LOL.
Use the F word next time. You'll feel better <g>!
I hope some of you people here that feel so outraged will direct at least some of that outrage at the schools, especially K-12. Do any of you really think that the crap Obama removed from his speech was innocent? How many of you realize that your children are already being indoctrinated in these schools? No, you say? You say the schools your children attend are different?
Ask yourself one question: Do the schools my children attend teach my children how to develop critical thinking skills? If you don't know the answer, then perhaps you should ask the their teachers.
Schools, the overwhelming number of them, teach children what to think – not how to think.
[...] Goverment going ahead with using the arts for propaganda http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pc…remain-silent/ [...]
[...] Goverment going ahead with using the arts for propaganda http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pc…remain-silent/ [...]
Ha ha ha ha, Irony kicks ass sometimes. I don't really see how your comment could be construed as racist tho. The acronym is what it is. Then again someone can call you a racist for just about anything these days.
I just love this crap Obama is spouting about Education..Maybe He had better check with his Party about getting Kids to think for themselves…Anyone that really thinks for themselves would never allow a Democrat to get within ten feet of an Elective Office..Especially a Person of Obamas' Ilk…I can see why the Liberal Women would follow a Conniving Socialist Old Witch like Pelosi.,but it baffles me as to why supposedly Alpha Males would crawl on their bellies trying to gain her favors…
It is this very situation that makes my blood boil. I used to believe that something like the NEA would make my loive for the art of ballet be more acessible to those that might not have the opportunity to see and/or participate in an actual performance.I have since come to the conclusion that if I want this type of classical art to be available to the public, I and only I should and must use my abilities and talents, BY MYSELF , ON MY OWN, AND IF WHAT I PRODUCE AS A TEACHER AND COSTUME DESIGNER MAKES THE GRADE, AND PEOPLE WANT TO PUCHASE THE PRODUCT OR ENGAGE ME TO TEACH THEIR CHILD, THERE IS NO REASON FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO GET INVOLVED. TO ACCEPT MONEY IS TO SELL YOURSELF OUT TO AN ENTITY THAT ULTIMATELY DOESN'T GIVE A RAT'S REAR END ABOUT WHAT YOU DO!
Thank you so much for continuing to write on this topic. Art is only art if it is the FREE expression of the artist.
I don't know what's worse: Using taxpayer dollars to fund the administration's propoganda or using Perez Hilton in one of its ads.
"You really need to read our constitution….. "
Amen, Brother. This is what I do all day…teach high school students about the Constitution…and these are upper-middle class kids. They, and their parents, are amazingly ignorant of our constitution. Not really a surprise, since we now have a president who uses it like two-ply…
I'm not an artist so I can't really comment on the difficulty of breaking into the industry. I don't really have that much of an issue with public support of the arts to a degree. However, the issue becomes; does the government then have a right to dictate the content of the art they are essentially paying for? Apparently the current administration and many liberal thinkers do. Sounds a lot like censorship to me. By your very argument then, the artists affiliated with the NEA are essentially employees of the government, paid to tow the company line.
I appreciate the sentiment, but don't cut off your hands. Just get a job like the rest of us, and produce your art on evenings and weekends.
By the way, golf is something that I passionately love to do, but my golf is, for some reason, not commercially viable. It has to do with not being able to make a putt outside the diameter of a hula hoop.
Anyway, since I've decided I should devote all of my time to my passion, I need a big government check so I can quit my job and give it my full concentration and energy.
This is different from a non-commercially marketable "artist", exactly how?
Jacgar said:
I just love this crap Obama is spouting about Education..Maybe He had better check with his Party about getting Kids to think for themselves…Anyone that really thinks for themselves would never allow a Democrat to get within ten feet of an Elective Office..Especially a Person of Obamas' Ilk…I can see why the Liberal Women would follow a Conniving Socialist Old Witch like Pelosi.,but it baffles me as to why supposedly Alpha Males would crawl on their bellies trying to gain her favors.
########################
Don’t worry, Jacgar. Alpha males never crawl. And in the rare instances when they do, you can be certain that hell is on the way.
Can't spell? Try bureaucrat.
The NEA has time and time again proven that it serves no valueable purpose other than to fund loser artists that do not have the talent to be successful in a free market economy. The more taxpayers subsidize these losers, the more waste, fraud and garbage "so called art" we'll see from them. If these losers have to depend on the government to make a living in the "art" world, then society in general believes that their work has no value or "sucks" to use their parlence. Taxpayers should not have to foot the bill to subsidize the talentless. Voluntary support of the arts should be left up to communities and the private sector. The Fed's should have no part in using taxpayer funds to support the art community no matter how self important the art community thinks it is.
SCREW THESE PEOPLE. I AM GETTING VERY SICK OF ALL THIS CRAP. I SEE WHERE A VIDEO HAS BEEN PLAYED ON THE INETRNET WHERE ALL OF THESE MOVIE-STARS IF YOU WILL PLEDGE THERE WHATEVER TO THIS PRESIDENT, AND I SAY IF YOU LIVE HERE IN THIS COUNTRY HOW ABOUT PLEDGING YOUR ALL TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THAT IS ENOUGH TO PLEDGE ANYTHING TO. SCREW ANYBODY, OR ANYTHING ELSE. GOD FIRST, THEN COUNTRY. MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON US AS A NATION AGAIN.
lARRY d. cRUMBLEY
"Propaganda is communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda." ~~ Wikipedia
More specifically, the Obama administration lying to its voters both by omission and by commission. Daily.
If you throw enough $hit against the wall something will stick. Until then they can eat what is on the floor. Did I just say that? Sorry folks just working on an Art project to expand the senses of the Progressive art movement.
This should never happen in the Republic.
…or smear elephant dung on assorted posters of The One. As I recall, a similar exercise a few years back garnered something like orgasmic praise for its creator (won't say "artist'.)
So you can find no art directed at you specifically? That's sad. Not even graffiti? Some of that is pretty good. And those artists don't get NEA grants!
I don't know. Someone already did a crucifix in a jar of urine, a symbol of their new Messiah in a glass might not be considered original enough. And too blasphemous.
I consider it a sign of the horrendous nature of this administration that I finally broke down and memorized the unnatural spelling of that word, I was using it too often.
I would rather it be spelled burrocrat, since that indicates the natural connection to the donkey party.
[...] Courrielche / Big Hollywood: WHO SET UP GOVERNMENT ‘PROPAGANDA’ CONFERENCE CALL? Newly Revealed White House, NE… — Another conference call has materialized, revealing a concerted effort by [...]
I'll bet if the government was handing out free naked lady mudflaps and calling it art you would change your tune.
Oh look. Projection combined with some ethnic bigotry. How… unsurprising.
Terry,
I am glad to hear that serious artists would want there work to stand on merit. I know that the work I do should stand on merit.
Isn't that the gay Nazi that screwed up the Miss America pagent? He's a socialist too? Naaaah! Go figure.
When are folks going to wake up to the fact government is in it for themselves so therefore will support big government types and undermine conservatives. Remember all those leaks during W's terms?
[...] AM – WHO SET UP GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA CONFERENCE CALL? Newly Revealed White House, NEA Audio ContradictCan you imagine if Bush wanted the NEA to create art to support the war in Iraq – [...]
Just how much more evidence is needed that they are breaking laws? Suggest Kal-Penn put down the bong and get busy learning what he can and can't do. Apparently, he doesn't understand politics. Of course, he's probably friends with Sean Penn, who would think this is a great idea. Fidel and Hugo probably told him that's one of the tools the use on the useful idiots. Sean probably gave the stoner the play book from these two dictators to use.
2010 can't get here quick enough. Hollywood is running the WhiteHouse and the director appears to be Oliver Stone. I don't think it could get any worse.
I almost suggested that MDs who do not want to a) become public employees and b) have to dump their Hipocratic Oath in order to practice rationed medicine and the more "hands on" end of life issues BOYCOTT
Hollywood patients. Then I thought about Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Anna Nicole Smith and realized MAYBE THEY ARE.
Quite frankly, artists have no right to money confiscated from others. The endowment is crap, both in theory and execution — that money should either have never been borrowed in the first place or used in a manner consistent with the real purpose of government.
Hint: funding the arts isn't a purpose of government.
"Guys, please don't attack the artists."
I will if they insist on taking money confiscated from gainfully employed people.
"We just need to free the endowment, not kill the idea. Flush out the crooks from government, don't burn the Constitution."
Where in the Constitution is the National Endowment for X created?
"I will say this the NEA does have a vital roll to fill in our culture today, they help small communities with arts programs and help to fund community outreach and school programs"
They still have no right to do so with my money. Let them get by on what people will voluntarily contribute.
"Government funding for the arts, in our vulgar Philistine society, is crucial."
If you care for the arts so much, fund it your own damned self. Stop taking money from others by force. If it's so damned important, no doubt you'll have millions of other people WILLINGLY contributing along with you.
IT'S NOT YOURS TO GIVE.
Then get a job, fund your artistic pursuits on your own time, as I, a 75 year old author has done, be responsible for your self, and don't expect to live off someone else's sweat.
[...] Hard to argue, given this report, that the NEA isn’t now involved in a political role. Courrielche wasn’t the only one who was concerned by what he heard. Lee Rosenbaum was “creeped out” by the call she participated in as well. She validates Courrielche’s report and conclusions. Courrielche writes a followup post here. [...]
If you want to get rid of the NEA, you will need to amend the US Constitution. The Constitution requires that Congress provide funding for the arts. Look at Article 1, Section 8 if you don't believe me
Article 1, section 8 says Congress shall have power to promote "useful arts" and then specifies how it is to do so – "by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries". In other words, copyrights and patents.
This is not what the NEA does. One might also quibble on the issue of "useful" arts.
I can't make a living doing what I do, either (playing Civ IV: Warlords).
I want a government subsidy.
As an Artist (Painter by Trade / Oils), you sir are full of it. I have always opposed the NEA, far to political in its nature. You will not get a grant without a little a$$kissin & / or parroting the artistic ideology of the day. The way it is run is antithetical to its stated purpose. It produces group think art, nothing new, no groundbreaking work. So stow your elitism, it is misplaced & more than likey unfounded.
I am guessing you did not hear the satire dripping from his statement. The point is relevant regardless of how the government chooses to steal it from you, they will never give it back even if you never receive the presumed benefit.
I read it as "Borrow"crat & thought it creative. No Government or Gov. employee makes any money they do not borrow / steal from you first.
When I interned at the NEA in the halcyon days of 1976 or "77 (I forget which), politics was even then an endemic part of the decision making. The only difference is how obvious it has become.
Hi, Patrick,
Your blog has finally attracted some notice. (According to Fox) Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) has written a letter to Pres. Obama calling for an inquiry into the NEA's involvement here.
It would seem that the best thing we can all do is to call/email our senators and ask them to support Cornyn and look into this before it gets swept under the rug.
Sad to say, you have a very good point. What makes it hard to spot is that it is so well intentioned and widespread. The liberal agenda is programmed into the young. I know it was programmed into me.
[...] Patrick Courrieliche’s latest Big Hollywood post regarding the National Endowment for the Arts, he reveals that the federal agency is now refusing [...]
Maybe I'm too sensitive, but I have heard this line of thought several times.
Republicans that complain are hipocrites because we accept the benefits that they worked for all their lives. Look at the medicare drug benefits. Many retirees had drug benefits under pension plans, and didnt' want it. They spoke up loudly against it, since the country couldn't afford it anyhow. They were bypassed of course. The pension plans dropped the drug benefits as soon as medicare offered it and they had no choice but to accept it. Now anyone to claim conservatives are phony to accept it is disingenuous.
You did hit the nail on the head though, we will never get our money back. Not unless they take a substantial portion of it first to run the 'people's programs'.
[...] NEA hadn’t broken a few laws. Coerrielche followed this up on Tuesday with a post complete with contradictory audio with Sergant claiming a filmmaker named Michael Skolnick was the “third party” responsible for [...]
You're right on point about the NEA but you are a fucking idiot for getting in bed with Glenn Beck.
Kalpen Modi, Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, was to represent the White House and key representatives from the National Endowment for the Arts were also to participate
Valerie Jarrett is the Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Michelle Obama is neckdeep in the Corporation for National and Community Service. I believe her former #1 aide left her office to head this up. The chairman of its board is Alan Solomontor. He was involved in the firing of IG Walpin. This crowd is a can of worms.
Should have added another dot to the last post for connection. United We Serve is one of many projects of the Corporation for National and Community Service.
please do tell. How is it illegal?
you mean that the fact that Bush lied to us about WMDs….should be something that he could be arrested and thown in jail for(!)…surely you jest.
most of us? Well I know I do, but I'm not too sure about too many others around here.
problem? I'm too positive of a guy to see it as a problem. I admit there are some challenging things about it. But I see it as an opportunity.
Propoganda is just a lable that those who disagree with you will throw at you.
"Saddam Hussein has WMDs" <– I SAY: That is propaganda. You say was in fact the truth. Okay, well there you go.
The thing about it is… this is a democracy. We should expect there to be opposing sides… and we should expect heated debates where each side accuses the other of lying. The winner? The winner is the one who makes the better more believable -the more sustainably believable – case to the public.
Sounds cynical maybe, but please everyone, lets recognize this much. as you get all hoyty toyty with accusations of "propaganda".
or did he?
problem? I'm too positive of a guy to see it as a problem. I admit there are some challenging things about it. But I see it as an opportunity.
Propaganda is just a lable that those who disagree with you will throw at you.
"Saddam Hussein has WMDs!" – I SAY: That is propaganda. You say this was in fact the truth. Okay, well there you go.
The thing about it is… this is a democracy. We should expect there to be opposing sides… and we should expect heated debates where each side accuses the other of lying. The winner? The winner is the one who makes the better more believable -the more sustainably believable* – case to the public.
(*actual truth helps!)
Sounds cynical maybe, but please everyone, lets recognize this much. as you get all hoyty toyty with accusations of "propaganda".
the thing about liars- such as Mark Sanford – its possible to catch them in a lie.
another example of lies: all of those forgeries that the interestingly named "truthers" keep finding.
isn't that interesting? now those are two examples of substantial lies. there are less substantial things, like what Sarah Palin said about "Death Panels". Sure. All you people here can tell me the underlying items that support that notion…but ah, yeah, I still think your point is b.s. from the word go.
where's the full audio?
My teens recognized “Kumar” (sigh) and so paid a bit more attention to this story. It was easy to explain: Perhaps today, the vision of the artist coincidentally is aligned with that of the government agency funding his work. How nice for the government. But perhaps tomorrow, the artist will have a different vision – one that does not align with the interest of the government, whether due to a change in the government or the artist. So tomorrow, with that difference in vision, should the artist still have the full support of the government agency created to support the arts? Does the government serve the artist? In a free society, of course. In a repressive socialist regime, no. The artist serves the government. The wonder is that so few liberals understand that freedom and socialism are opposing concepts. And that any artist would sacrifice artistic integrity/personal vision to assist a political machine – even one they agree with. Next we will have a video of artists chanting "We Serve Obama".
Hope someone kept a copy of the invitation; the page has gone 404 (it's been scrubbed). You might want to double check your links to make sure. Thank you for bringing this out in the open and for your insightful blogs I ran across.
The legitimate porn producers are having trouble staying in business what with free internet piracy of this fine arts genre. At least with the taxpayer support a newer generation of porn artist can tune their craft. I do however wish they would cut down on the gay stuff, but maybe that is just me? J
Gee Patrick, you must have "hit a nerve", once again. It seems that that "invitation" has miraculously disappeared from the "United We Serve" web site. I wonder how that happened (he says sarcastically).
If it looks like you can do it yourself,it's not art !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[...] If the NEA has done nothing wrong, why have they been dishonest? [...]
You must be logged in to post a comment.