by a Republican senator when asked what was wrong with this bill. Even when 200 million (four times the NEA amount) is going to reseed the national mall! How is that less ‘porky’ than the NEA?

Fine. Then look at any other example in the bill. How about PELL Grants? You never did address my point about anti-smoking initiatives. You’re just waffling to buy yourself more time or think that I’m going to drop this. You know you can look in that bill and see that there is something that uses more money and would be considered just as useful as NEA grants. But you’re dodging this point because you know I’m right. Thanks for playing, though.

And again, you haven’t addressed what I’m talking about.

I know what you think of government spending. You are a fiscal conservative, and have demonstrated as much. Now, Jeff Flake singled out the NEA as the worst offender in this bill. “If that’s not pork, I don’t know what is,” he says.

Now, if you are LISTENING to what I am saying, and wish to respond to the topic I am discussing, I would be interested in you justification for this cheap shot at the arts themselves. If the problem is this spending 875 Billion in tax money, why didn’t Jeff Flake pick some other part of this bill that cost more? Why is the ‘porkiest of the pork’ in this bill 1,000th of half of one percent?

I can see why you don’t like government spending but why, of all things, this pointed out at the WORST offender in a spending bill of 875 Billion? And it was pointed out, in a quote, by a Republican

That is the topic of conversation. Also, I’d be interested to see how you “got here” to CDM. Personally, I think you just realized you didn’t know what you were talking about and that you were, well… out of your element.

That was $10 billion dollars that was stolen.
Stolen, it never got used.
Sure, a measly $10 billion known to be lost to incompetence greed out of over $200 billion budgeted, so who cares?

If you feel that your 1/7th of a penny has been stolen by the arts, then email me your address and I will mail you a whole penny!

Dance has proven to be good exercise and it has even been praised as a suicide preventative. Yet, it does not deserve stealing from my neighbors to support it. If my neighbors want to support dance, they can do so via numerous venues.

I had a ballroom for 6 years with about 200 customers a week. We didn’t make it. Tough. That does not qualify me to steal my neighbor’s hard-earned money to keep my ballroom in business, no matter how much my customers loved it.

You compare $10 billion to restructure an entire society with $50 million for your precious arts? Newmiracle compares money for food for the poor with money to NEA. You both need to check your priorities, ‘cuz I think they stink.

You call bombers death machines. They are no more “death machines” than the guns in the holsters of your local police as they attempt to enforce laws. You bore me and I will not be back here to listen to your dribble.

Really. Not one penny!

Not one penny for something that is for the public/common good, not just in terms of job creation and production, but also in encouraging a healthy cultural environment for progress and innovation.

That is powerful stingy.

Well, you are in luck. The amount in your personal tax burden that currently goes to the arts is somewhere between 1/7th of a penny and 1/12th of a penny.

Of course it is not just about industry, it is about access and opportunity.

That is one of the problems with free market thinking: there is no free market. It is a myth like the Easter Bunny except that the Easter Bunny never hurts anyone with its recalcitrant absurdity. Access and opportunity are not evenly distributed and large concentrations of money tilt the playing field in favor of things that have nothing to do with quality.

The Bush Administration lost nearly $10 billion in Iraq that was slated for reconstruction. Is this completely forgotten and water under the bridge? Pallets loaded with blocks of $100 bills, gone, just disappeared down the rabbit hole most likely right wing cronies, think tank hacks and incompetent party stooges and corporate shills for ghost corporatiuons. The Republicans refused to do oversight and the Dems wimped out holding anyone accountable.

Why not email your friends and call your representatives about that?

I teach dance. I would NEVER ask anyone to subsidize it and I don’t want to subsidize these jobs, either.

Just because this bill is full of crap, does mean it’s OK to steal money from your neighbors to support something you endorse. Throw the whole bill with all of its crap in the toilet where it belongs.

Again, I don’t think you’re listening.

I am not talking about the general economics behind the stimulus bill. Neither are most of the people here.

The point is this,
Using 875 (b)billion as the base figure. With the figure of 50 (m)million going to the NEA:

.000571429% of this bailout bill consists of funds for the NEA. That’s one 1,000th of half of one percent. So no, in the scope of this bill I do not think it is “a big deal”.

20 (b)billion of this stimulus plan, “includes $20 billion for a temporary increase in food stamps” says the NYT article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/business/economy/16webstimulus.html?ref=business

Now, that represents .229% of the money. This number is 400 times larger than the amount given to the NEA. Now why talk about the NEA instead of this? I can’t imagine anything more anti-conservative than food stamps. Yet, he chose not to address this. What we are examining, here at this site, is the phenomenon of choosing to reference “the arts” as a blanket negative.

Now the reason that we here are looking upon this phenomenon as negative is because most of us here on this site are artists. Many musicians come to this site. I thought you might be too, until I read what you wrote here:

“I sent out emails telling my friends why I oppose this bill and NEVER EVEN KNEW ABOUT THE $50 MILLION TO NEA. That’s how I ended up at this site, AFTER the House had already voted to pass it.”

How exactly, did you get to this site? Do you know what this site is about? Do you understand why we don’t like what Jeff Flake has said? He has taken a cheap shot at art itself, when there was no logical reason to. I really don’t think you are paying attention to what we are talking about.

This reminds me of one of my favorite movies.

Walter: Were you listening to The Dude’s story, Donny?
The Dude: Walter…
Donny: What?
Walter: Were you listening to The Dude’s story?
Donny: I was bowling.
Walter: So you have no frame of reference here, Donny. You’re like a child who wanders into the middle of a movie and wants to know…
The Dude: (interrupting) Walter, Walter, what’s the point, man?
Walter: There’s no reason – here’s my point, dude, there’s no fucking reason why these two…
Donny: Yeah, Walter, what’s your point?