How Stimulating

Our tax dollars are going toward pornography in Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's district.
Hard to believe?
According to news reports, the National Endowment for the Arts is spending some of the money it received from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund nude simulated-sex dances, Saturday night "pervert" revues and the airing of pornographic horror films at art houses in San Francisco.
The NEA was given $80 million of the government's $787 billion economic stimulus bill to spread around to needy artists nationwide. Most of the money is being spent to help preserve jobs in museums, orchestras, theaters and dance troupes which have been hit hard during the recession. I don't have a problem with that as cultural things are needed in our society.
But some NEA grants are being misused, in my opinion, for things which Americans should be up in arms against. One such matter is a $50,000 infusion for the Frameline film house, which recently screened "Thundercrack," "The world's only underground kinky art porno horror film, complete with four men, three women and a gorilla."
Makes you wonder what else has slipped through the cracks concerning the stimulus package. Guess that's what happens when Pelosi and her cohorts decide to pass bills without reading them first.
A few members of Congress raised questions as the stimulus bill was being drafted and approved, but President Obama, while admitting there were problems with the $787 billion legislation, stressed the need for immediate action.
Surely Obama didn't intend to have stimulus money help fund the weekly production of "Perverts Put Out" at San Francisco's CounterPULSE, whose "long-running pansexual performance series" invites guests to "join your fellow pervs for some explicit, twisted fun."
CounterPULSE received a $25,000 grant in the "Dance" category; a staffer there said they were pleased to receive the grant, "which over the next year will be used to preserve jobs at our small non-profit."
Wow. So basically, our tax dollars are going to porn stars in Pelosi's district.
Victoria Hutter, an NEA spokeswoman defended the agency's choices and said its grants would help "preserve jobs in danger of going away or that had gone away because of the economic downturn."
"Our review process is very comprehensive -- we take great care with applicants and with grantees," said Hutter. "It's a thorough, rigorous process that they all go through, and we're proud of the projects that we've been able to support."
Really?
"The Symmetry Project," which has received past NEA funding and stands to get an additional boost from a $25,000 stimulus grant, is a dance piece by choreographer Jess Curtis.
According to Curtis' Web site, "The Symmetry Project" features (hold on to your hat) "the sharing of a central axis, [as] spine, mouth, genitals, face, and anus reveal their interconnectedness and centrality in embodied experience."
Basically, it's a live sex show.
Curtis said the NEA funding will help keep his art afloat.
"I think art is an incredibly important part of our culture and our life and ... that it's very much appropriate that our government should be supporting it," Curtis said.
Well, I think it's a complete waste of our tax dollars and San Francisco may be as out of touch with mainstream America as a remote village in Nepal.
"With these stimulus funds San Francisco arts organizations will be able to weather the storm and continue to provide jobs and to generate revenue while enriching people's lives through innovative, high quality programming," said Luis R. Cancel director of cultural affairs for the San Francisco Arts Council.
High quality? Doubtful.
No question, the stimulus bill needs oversight BEFORE money is handed out. Porn, questionable art, etc... - these things need to be funded by patrons and not the taxpayer. As for Nancy Pelosi, she's needs to be run out of office in the worst way.

Copyright 2009 by Christopher Blackburn