From Fox News:

A senior official at the National Endowment for the Arts encouraged artists to promote President Obama’s political agenda in a conference call he organized with the White House. The NEA’s communications director Yosi Sergant eventually resigned in August amid accusations that the grant-making organization was becoming politicized. The administration called it a “teaching moment,” but the media didn’t seem to catch the lesson. (more…)

It has been almost one year since I began writing here at the Big Blogs of Breitbart.com.  When it all began, I was motivated by the events that brought down Sacramento Music Theatre executive Scott Eckern.  Ironically, his story, which inspired this new avocation also served as a real-life lesson in the new political world we inhabit.  You see, Mr. Eckern was forced to resign his position because it was discovered that he donated money to the anti-same sex marriage Prop. 8 campaign.  Knowing that, I would have been a fool to put my name on the things I’ve written here.  So, “Stage Right” was born.

Since then, I have been fortunate enough to have free-reign on all things theatre at Big Hollywood (gently guided by the collective wisdom of Andrew Breitbart and John Nolte) and I’ve had a fantastic time writing about the industry, about the non-profit world… even about my favorite shows.  But now, things have changed just a bit.

It started with Patrick Courrielche’s now famous expose’ on the NEA Conference Call.  Just like the Scott Eckern story, what bothered me most at the time was the media and especially the left-leaning theatre writers’ attack on Patrick.   Instead of showing any level of skepticism over the appropriateness of staff members of the NEA and the White House coordinating discussions with artists about how they can help move the President’s agenda by creating works of art in favor of specific issues, Patrick was attacked and libeled for the sin of telling the truth and bringing the subject to light.

Next came the media’s reaction to James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles’ blockbuster series of videos exposing the corruption at ACORN offices from sea to shining sea.  Again, the venom and outrage is directed at the messenger while the message gets rationalized and obfuscated.  This story raised my ire to such a degree that I began posting at Big Government. (more…)

When Big Hollywood correspondent Patrick Courrielche exposed the infamous NEA Conference call, where members of the NEA staff and the White House encouraged artists to use their talents in promoting causes that were closely associated with President Obama’s aggressive, left-wing agenda, apologists and defenders on the left and in the media began to parrot the Administration’s defense as if it were Gospel Truth.

The most linked-to and referenced defense came from Ben Davis at the well-respected artnet Magazine.  After spending many paragraphs attacking Patrick and questioning the nefarious motives behind his unforgiveable act of betrayal (I’m not referring to Patrick recording the conference call, the real betrayal was Patrick appearing on “The Glenn Beck Show”), Davis goes on to repeat the Obama talking point:

This notorious conference call, in other words, was essentially a pitch for artists to make glorified PSAs about volunteer work. As far as I can tell, the truth is exactly the opposite of the ominous attempt to yoke artists to the Obama Agenda that critics suggest; if anything, the call was an effort to take the inspiration for radical change that led many creative types to vote for Obama and channel it into low-level, local activism.

This article has been rallied behind and taken as the final word on the subject as far as the left-wing blog world is concerned.  Only problem:  it’s spin and obfuscation.  First, through the Freedom of Information aAct, Courrielche further proved that artists responded to the call with tangible, policy-oriented ideas that went way beyond a call for volunteer work. (more…)

Last week under mounting pressure from protesters, the Iranian Government promised a new and deadly crackdown.  “From now on, we will show no mercy” to protesters or their families, the government’s chief prosecutor, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, said Tuesday. It is par for the course in a totalitarian regime to not only threaten protesters, but to also target their families for punishment.  This acts as a cruel yet effective means of intimidation in silencing dissent.

Which brings me to Hollywood Producer Jane Hamsher.

‘Hollywood Jane’  Hamsher

After cutting her teeth in the business by producing what many feel is the most offensive and degrading main-stream film of the past twenty years (and, some would say, screwing Quentin Tarantino in the process) Hamsher seems to have finally found her calling as a more abrasive, and dangerous version of Arianna Huffington.  With her oddly named blog FireDogLake (named after her three favorite things, sitting by the fire with her dog watching Lakers games) she has created a left-wing haven for bloggers not merely content with attacking their opponents with words, but with some serious action. (more…)

The allegations raised in “White House Creates ACORN for the Arts” and prior stories about the NEA enlisting artists who receive government grants to support President Obama’s political goals certainly raise a number of issues.  Foremost among them is whether such actions violate White House policy and potentially federal law.  The White House Counsel was concerned enough about the conference call that it was compelled to issue new guidelines for public outreach meetings, noting that some of the comments on the call may have been “misunderstood as seeking to inappropriately politicize activities of the NEA.”  But beyond violating these White House guidelines, which could result in further forced resignations but little else, what is really at issue with the alleged conduct?

By seeking to enlist the private sector in lobbying for the President’s agenda, the alleged conduct may have violated the Anti-Lobbying Act (18 U.S.C. §1913), which as Ben Shapiro pointed out in a previous piece, explicitly provides:

No part of the money appropriated by any enactment of Congress shall, in the absence of express authorization by Congress, be used directly or indirectly to pay for any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written matter, or other device, intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress, a jurisdiction, or an official of any government, to favor, adopt, or oppose by vote or otherwise, any legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation, whether before or after the introduction of any bill, measure or resolution proposing such legislation, law, ratification, policy or appropriation.

The Anti-Lobbying Act, according to government handbooks, prevents government employees from engaging in “substantial ‘grass roots’ lobbying campaigns … expressly urging individuals to contact government officials in support of or opposition to legislation …. Provid[ing] administrative support for lobbing activities of private organizations”

(more…)

“What the hell is a political PR agency doing on a conference call for artists in the first place?

“Are we talking art, or are we talking professional political campaign ads?”

Ace of Spades:

A bit of backstory.

Before the election, My Pet Jawa found that very-professional style supposedly “grassroots” nasty hit job videos on Sarah Palin were being posted on YouTube.

He discovered that these were created by a Democrat-connected California PR agency named Winner & Associates.

The suspicion was that the ads had been created, covertly, with Axelrod’s connivance, to create a fake “grassroots viral video” that couldn’t be traced to Obama.

But it couldn’t be proven. In the end it was smoke but no fire. A lot of smoke, and yet no smoking gun.

Ethan Winner confessed to making the video, but claimed he hadn’t had contact with David Axelrod for ten years, it was all just something he felt like spending thousands of dollars on himself. As a goof. …

What was a rep for Winner & Associates doing on that conference call? (more…)