Egypt deposed its pharaoh and now Kansas is having its own little revolution…
I call it The Culture War. It may not be very bloody, but what it lacks in the red stuff it more than makes up for in bitchiness.
My conservative friends are all playing it cool. Like John Malkovich in a drawing room drama. Complete with lace hankies and faux politeness. Faux, as in, foe! And it’s delicious to watch! They’re all, “Gosh, we’re exceedingly sorry, but it had to be done. Hope you understand. We’ve set up an itty bitty back-up arts foundation- non-taxpayer funded – on the side. So don’t cry, it’s just a transfer.”
But everybody knows it’s not!
It’s political hardball, baby. Nobody thinks cutting $300,000 from the Legislature’s budget will fix anything. Drop in the bucket.
This is all about retribution and revenge.
Truth is conservatives are punishing overbearingly smug moderate Republicans (aka RINO’s, Republicans In Name Only) and Democrats. This past election year was exceedingly ugly.
The RINO’s had been a bit too blatant saying mean things about conservatives. So now Brownback wants to teach them a lesson. A conservative lesson. In other words, it’s payback time!
Time to slash the enemy’s pet projects.
Their endless tax and spend plans. Time for a little smackdown in Topeka.
Cutting off funding for the arts sends a message. And it tests the opposition’s mettle for fighting other cuts. So new Governor Sam Brownback launched the first volley ending all funding for the Kansas Arts Council. That goes into effect July 1 unless this current conservative-dominated legislature overrides his budget.
Uh, fat chance.
What I positively love is the veneer of unctuous niceness exhibited by Brownback and former local televangelist Ronnie Metsker, Chairman of the Johnson County Republican Party. If this were the 1800’s, Ronnie would be wearing a powdered wig, to cover his gloriously bald pate.
I love Ronnie. He’s smart and respected as a uniter not a divider. he got the JoCo Republicans through the 2010 elections without bloodshed. And apparently, as the son of a preacher man (his father founded Channel 50) he can hold hands with all the brethren and sing KumBayAh with a straight face.
Full disclosure: Tracy is a former arts administrator in Kansas. In 1972, she was the first Executive Director of the (don’t laugh) the Civic Arts Council of KCK. In 1973, she was one of the first seven interns with the National Endowment for the Arts, in WDC, where she learned how to fib on grant applications in order to steer federal tax money to politically favored arts organizations. In 1974, she quit the rackets and went into advertising.
brownback
It’s only a matter of time until Brownback and his ilk bring back the evolution debate to embarrass the shit out of us again. This guy is a slave to special interests (I know they all are but he is worse) disguised as an evangelical and must be stopped. He has the Koch brothers behind him pushing him all the way to the Presidency if they have their way.