We really wish video was available of this clip, but if it’s out there, we can’t find it. Pity because this sounds like a classic.
Republican Congressman Jeff Flake went after Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts, about federal money given to San Francisco mimes and to an international accordion festival.
The Hill squeezes out the details of the accordion story:
“Those just kind of grants lend themselves to ridicule,” said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing. “These are a bit tough to justify…how can we justify these types of grants?”
Flake questioned NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman over a number of grants, including those to an international accordion festival and to the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Making grants like these “feeds the cynicism out there about everything we do,” Flake said.
Landesman responded that many of the programs that win NEA support could not exist without the help.
“The marketplace shouldn’t be the sole determinant of what is allowed to flourish,” Landesman said, adding that the renowned San Francisco Mime Troupe would likely not be able to survive solely on ticket sales.
No, of course, not. Some nameless, faceless bureaucrat with an overinflated sense of his artistic judgment should make that decision, Rocco.
Flake said he will do anything it takes to kill funding for the accordion festival, a statement that prompted Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) to say that Flake will be getting hate mail from Polish folk musicians.
“The renowned San Francisco Mime Troupe”? We had no idea any mime troupe was renowned, but now that we know there’s one in San Francisco we shudder at the thought of the things they may mime.
UPDATE: We just found this video clip of the renowned San Francisco Mime Troupe and now we know why the Democrats want to fund them. The troupe performs a skit called Red State in which they make fun of Middle America and the group’s set appropriately features a red star. That being said, the clip does reveal why the renowned San Francisco Mime Troupe is so renowned – it is apparently the world’s most talkative mime group.
Source: The Hill
It’s been a good week for Glenn Beck. A very good week.
We hate the media. Especially when it manipulates kids for political purposes. Like in “Dear Mr. President,” a new e-book chock full of kids’ over-the-top hopes and dreams for President Obama. 