Over the last few weeks, a lithograph in a public art museum in Loveland, Colorado has drawn a lot of attention. The reason for the attention is that the lithograph, titled “The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals” and created by Enrique Chagoya, seems to have depicted Jesus Christ receiving oral sex from another man. (I say “seems to have” in describing the piece because the sections of the lithograph that depicted Christ thus were torn out by a protestor with a crowbar on October 6.)

Others, who have not used crowbars, have nevertheless ripped the display with labels such as “pornographic” and “offensive.” And while there’s no doubt such labels are well-suited in this case, I believe we miss the greater point if we fail to see the display in light of the fact that it is first and foremost an example of the ongoing cowardice of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

That’s right: the tax-payer subsidized NEA, now basking in the attention it’s receiving from “The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals,” has yet to proudly sponsor a piece of “art” that mis-characterizes Islam or depicts figures of various other religions (outside of Christianity), in a provocative, if not perverted, sexual posture.

What’s up with this feigned bravery? This propounded art-above-all-else mentality that is actually nothing more than an assault directed at the one religion the NEA trusts won’t react violently?

What a bunch of scaredy-cats.

This all reminds me of my October 13th post on Big Hollywood which pointed out the sheer hypocrisy (and cowardice) of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)’s criticism of Vince Vaughn’s line, “electric cars are gay,” in the trailer for the movie The Dilemma. It was hypocritical (and cowardly) because they chose to criticize a line in a comedy but remained completely silent about the fact that Malaysian officials were, at that very time, censoring Adam Lambert’s flamboyant homosexuality by allowing him to perform in their country on the condition that he curtail his sexuality in front of the crowd. (more…)

When I first met Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) in February of this year (full disclosure: we have the same publisher, Fidelis Books) I heard him say something that resonated…”We’ve been duped into believing government alone can solve our country’s problems. I believe often the government is the problem. America’s greatness is found in its people and its values not in its government…with every round of new regulation and increased spending our country slides further away from liberty and closer to socialism. ” He had my attention. 

Apparently I wasn’t the only one recognizing his efforts to put his beliefs into action. The National Journal named him the Senate’s most conservative member and the National Taxpayer Union ranked him the number one senator for responsible tax and spending policies.  (more…)