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1. Ken
   Member Profile

   

   Stealth Republicans everywhere get instant amnesia.

   http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/06/28/today-in-idiotic-ideas-from-local-candidates-and-too-long-posts-from-exasperated-stranger-writers-save-arts-education-by-cutting-arts-fundi

   Posted 8 months ago #         

2. Klause
   Member Profile

   LOL! Awesome article.

   Posted 8 months ago #         

3. Ken
   Member Profile

   

   An excerpt for your edification and amusement :)

   Writing this post kinda feels like kicking a three-legged, arthritic dog with a bad case of mange, because its subject (King County Council candidate Diana Toledo) was so thoroughly trounced the last time she ran for office, it would take major intervention by a wrathful, Old-Testament God (who hates His children and wishes disaster upon them) for her to win. Plus, she's clearly challenged in the whole facts/logic/political-strategy department.

   Posted by Brendan Kiley on Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 10:49 AM

   Posted 8 months ago #         

4. kootchman
   Member Profile

   Indeed. Cut the Arts Council and 4 Culture. Getting a State Audit saying they do a great job is tantamount to having the Department of Energy doing an "on going enterprise" audit of Solyndra.. we are sooo long past believing a state audit is anything but a self affirming excuse for continued taxation. Arts is completely appropriate in school curriculums to teach the fundamentals of art and music, to bring the children to a place where they can develop the "base" skills" Later education, apprenticeship, will determine if that base skill can translate into an on ongoing vocation. nooo... arts is subjective and tax support is a travesty. It's a "jobs" program for bad art and bad artists that can't market their "creations".... I support the arts that appeal to me by. I do so by patronage, admissions, purchases. Arts grants, ANY grants in Seattle are driven by connections, inside tracks, social agendas. Good art should speak for itself. If it needs taxes.. it's bad art. After the first couple of years of the insiders self congratulations, Olympic Sculpture Park is a destination for ? Lotsa crap art... see the Wikepedia entry... some great forsight eh? "Eagle"... recycled as an eyesore from TX to Phliadelphia...in Seattle.. we call it "art"... next time I have a worn out couch... I will call it art, and dump it there. maybe spray some grafetti and take a 20K tax deduction. just like half the pieces.. crap dumped off for tax deduction... Paul.. take that "eraser" and stick it in Vulcanville..and maintain it on your dollars... not mine. 4Arts should be eliminated.

   Posted 8 months ago #         

5. KBear
   Member Profile

   I'm writing up a grant request for public funding for an art installation I'm going to call "Kootch's Couch"...

   Posted 8 months ago #         

6. metrognome
   Member Profile

   so, kootch, what I hear you saying is that if a farmer needs tax dollars to keep the farm running, esp if s/he is paid to NOT grow things, then they are bad farmers and should go out of business if the free market doesn't support their business model (note: substitute any business for 'farmer'.) So, basically, government should stop funding anything that is not a direct government service. Great idea!!!! You've finally said something I can agree with ... although all those wealthy Republican business owners, incl corporate 'farmers', may take issue with your proposal.

   Posted 8 months ago #         

7. DBP
   Member Profile

   kootchman, you can be depended upon to take the minority position on almost any question. I commend you for your courage, sir.

   By the bye, is there any public art in this city that you do like? Surely you can find something.

   ***************************************************************************************

   I agree with you that some of the stuff to come out of 4Culture has not been worthy of taxpayer money, but that's a risk you take with any government-sponsored enterprise.

   I do not agree (with Ms. Toledo) that 4Culture grants are given only to "elites." In the first place, the individual grants are between $1,000 and $8,000 — hardly something an elite artist with wealthy patrons would be interested in. If you pencilled out the per-hour artist "pay" rate based on the number of hours a typical artist spends on a project, I believe it would work out to considerably less than minimum wage. Grant money often does not even cover the entire cost of the project. The rest comes from other sources, including the artist's pocket. Again, not something an "elite" would be interested in pursuing.

   I know a bit about 4Culture because, in addition to looking closely at some of the recent grant applications, I've worked with artists to prepare applications. In every case I looked at, the project involved lots of hard work on the artist's part for very little cash return.

   In summary, I believe that 4Culture grant recipients are in it for the art, not the money. Others may disagree.

   I'll give some more details in a subsequent post. In the meantime, I invite you to visit the 4Culture "Individual Artists" Web page and click on the "Recipients" tab to see what's been funded recently.

   http://www.4culture.org/apply/individualartist/

   Just one more thing: Please remember that 4Culture is funded by lodging taxes, which are paid mostly by out-of-town visitors.

   Posted 8 months ago #         

8. kootchman
   Member Profile

   Right...and when I fly to SF, San Diego or NY they think the same thing...and tax accordingly. Fine... art away if that is your calling... I don't want to pay for it. Metrognome how's that? Farming? Waht are you talking about? Yea... I like chain saw carvings of bears, eagles, and fish.... with for sale signs on them. If you have read my posts... I do not support farm subsidies.. or any subsidy... it is at the heart of of why our political system is so corrupt.

   Posted 8 months ago #         

9. funkietoo
   Member Profile

   ...and I don't want to pay for two illegal invasions of sovereign nations; or tax incentives that send our jobs overseas; or tax loopholes for corporation; or Abstinence birth control as the ONLY way to prevent unwarranted pregancies; or phony science; or creationism being taught in public schools; or etc.

   Posted 8 months ago #         

10. kootchman
    Member Profile

    I agree... and when we pulled the trigger on a THIRD invasion...I was stunned.. now we have to go chase down over 100,000 heat seeking misssles..now in the middle east black market..it's a dream come true for radicals..passenger jet killers.. but there ya go.... our government...out of control, up for sale. I was stunned to see just how gullible the Democrats were when they signed and passed NAFTA and conferred most favored nation status on China... but.. when you spend too much money, outstrip the taxpayer... ya gotta borrow money from somewhere. If we weren't borrowing 40 cents for every dollar of government expense... well, you know the story. When you spend soooo much and become a beggar nation.. you don't dictate the terms of your surrender.

    Posted 8 months ago #         

11. DBP
    Member Profile

    Ha. Chainsaw bears! Those're cute, aren't they? But I betcha even the guys who carve the bears can appreciate a Rodin.

    Anyway, kootch, what about the Vietnam Memorial in D.C.? Isn't that an example of publicly financed art? —But it's really just a wall with some names on it. Big deal, right?

    What about the bus tunnel murals?
    Pike Place Pig?
    Hammering Man?
    Alki Liberty?

    Public art is like cultural DNA. It's one of the things that distinguishes this place from every other place. Without it, Seattle would just be another generic metropolis. A "McCity."

    Blecchhhh!

    Posted 8 months ago #         

12. KBear
    Member Profile

    The Vietnam Memorial is a very interesting example of public art, because the original design was SUPPOSED to be just a wall with some names on it. It was elegant in its simplicity. Then a bunch of guys who supposedly worked for the public, but didn't know the first thing about art (our Congress), "improved" it by adding that sculpture next to it, due to public outcry against the original design. And then they added some more. And more. And now it's a hodgepodge. But even though it was public outcry that caused it to be modified, the wall itself is now one of the most beloved sites in our nation's capital. And I daresay it would have been so even if it had been left as the artist intended.

    Posted 8 months ago #         

13. kootchman
    Member Profile

    That is a memorial..in a national cemetery..not an ongoing porky pig program. The pig is cute.. not worthy of taxes,.. hammering man.....and the minature replica of the statue of liberty.. no. Now if you think a bronze cast of a pig is art.. I think that is great..go buy it. That is McArt. Sure there is public display art I like. An art piece commissioned for a public space.. fine. A jobs program for "pre-screened" artists? Nooo. We don't HAVE to have a tax subsidized program for evey little wish and want... that paint by numbers "Yak" was..pure crap. And therein lies the crux of it all... if art inspires... patronize it. Yourself. 8 million bucks? The only patronage going on there is political patronage...

    Posted 8 months ago #         

14. oddreality
    Member Profile

    Is there anything at all you do like about this country Kootch?? Seems like you are not happy living here with all us people that are not just exactly like you.
    What do you like about America as it is today?? Anything??
    I'd really like to know.

    Posted 8 months ago #         

15. datamuse
    Member Profile

    

    Kootch, the Vietnam Memorial is not in a cemetery. It's in Constitution Gardens and is maintained by the Park Service.
    .
    The closest national cemetery is across the river in Arlington County.

    Posted 8 months ago #         

16. redblack
    Member Profile

    

    hey, kootch. i don't like my tax dollars building corporate sports stadiums or subsidizing their sweetheart "lease" deals.

    can we put a stop to that, too?

    yeah. maybe pretty soon we can live in some dreary, drab stalinist-looking hell-hole because no one wants to pay taxes for things they don't want. we can have policy created for us based on some completely objective person's opinions about what the rest of us "need." we'll elect a teabagger to comb through the budget and slash spending for anything he feels is frivolous. like bridge repair, or waterfront statues. maybe you guys can axe KEXP from UW's budget while you're at it.

    oh, say. can you see?

    by the way...

    you want to see what massive, runaway government spending looks like, including spending for public art? look at downtown bellevue.

    want to see what free market capitalism looks like? look at aurora avenue north. no public art there except graffiti.

    Posted 8 months ago #         

17. kootchman
    Member Profile

    Sure. The democratic process where we get to toss out elected officials that think our wallets are their personal domain. I love those that are in resistance to the constant erosion of freedoms. I am encouraged by the rise of a younger generation who are appalled at how much of their future we have stolen and are mobllizing to throw out "business as usual" politcians. I love those new charter schools who, despite organized labor, are actually delivering great education, regardless of race, income, and flip the bird to paternalistic liberalism. I am delighted with the progress of environmental protections..not the absolutists, who demand perfection at any cost. Want more?

    Posted 8 months ago #         

18. kootchman
    Member Profile

    I voted against every stadium initiative. The same cabal that gave us the stadiums... gives us the rest of these "progressive spending" agendas. Their agenda ... my money. Even in the face of a majority vote.as in stadiums.. no problem, they will tip the playing field..the midnight "essential facilities" clause.... giving the stadiums the status of water treatment and sewer plants... the deal did resemble the latter though.

    Posted 7 months ago #         

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