Let's Get Stupid Like It's 1995

From Ocala.com:

U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, joined by 50 fellow congressional Republicans, has fired off a scathing letter to the head of a federal arts agency, expressing outrage that taxpayer money went to groups that produce “objectionable and obscene movies, plays and exhibitions.”

Moreover, the Ocala Republican and the other GOP signers also demanded that the National Endowment for the Arts, or NEA, explain how some of the millions of dollars in stimulus money it received wound up in the pockets of these groups. The government, Stearns added, should get the money back immediately.

The NEA made more than 600 direct grants totaling almost $30 million to myriad recipients – including dance troupes, opera and acting companies, museums, symphonies, literary groups and local governments with arts programs – across the country.

Stearns, who is a moron represents portions of Marion, Alachua and surrounding counties, cited some examples of this “obscene” art that will most definitely impact his constituency . . . which I (probably wrongly) assume is aged and not that into San Francisco theater:

Frameline film house in San Francisco, which received $50,000. The group’s films include “Thundercrack,” which was described as “the world’s only underground kinky porno horror film, complete with four men, three women and a gorilla.”

CounterPulse, another San Francisco group that reaped $25,000. The dance company, according to Stearns’ letter, used the grant to fund a weekly production called “Perverts Put Out,” characterized as a “pansexual performance series” that invites people to join their fellow “pervs for some explicit fun.”

Jess/Curtis Gravity Inc., another dance group from San Francisco that also got $25,000. Stearns highlighted one of their productions called the Symmetry Project, which entailed “nude couples, including children, (that) are mounted on each other in various poses.”

There’s never a good response to people like this. The fact that $100,000 total went to three productions that Stearns will never see pales in comparison to the what, trillions (is googles a value?) of dollars spent on our various wars which actually do impact peoples lives without their consent.

And that’s what really has me pissed about this particular NEA attack. These productions serve a very specific audience. Hell, most artistic endeavors funded by the government are for a rather limited group of self-selected people. It’s not like “Perverts Put Out” is going to replace fucking Dora the Explorer on Nick Jr. or anything.

So Mr. Stearns: Let the Perverts have their fun and get back to focusing on horse breeding, or whatever it is your constituency actually cares about.

And Fox News—who kicked this all off by contacting Stearns for a comment—why don’t you go lose a few hundred more million dollars and put yourself out of business.