No Bailout for Rotating Pastel Lights!

It has been brought to my attention that one Republican Senator from Oklahoma has introduced an amendment to the Economic Stimulus package. His Amendment #175 to the Federal Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, says, "None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, arts center, or highway beautification project, including renovation, remodeling, construction, salaries, furniture, zero-gravity chairs, big screen televisions, beautification, rotating pastel lights, and dry heat saunas."

I agree with Senator Coburn on one point. Rotating pastel lights, improperly applied, can be tacky. Moreover, rotating pastel lights employ fewer than 100 people nationally. Let the Chinese corner the market on rotating pastel lights. As Americans, we should be spending our tax dollars responsibly on rotating lights in saturated colors.

On all other points, I will have to agree to disagree with Senator Coburn.

The National Endowment for the Arts is slated to receive $50 million as part of the Economic Stimulus Package. Even if one million of that were to somehow end up in the hands of people making or using rotating pastel lights, that would still leave $49 million dollars to be distributed to arts groups and individual artists spanning the entire country.

The arts are an important component of a healthy economy and social ecosystem. I am not sure how Senator Coburn missed the memo on this. I have emailed him a copy of the report created by the Arts Council Silicon Valley in 2007 called Arts and Economic Prosperity III to help the guy out. If you would like to read it for yourself, you can download it here. It is admittedly a dry read, so let me sum it up for you. Arts = jobs and revenue. The End. In 2007, arts and culture organizations who participated in the study were responsible for almost 4,000 jobs and $166 million in economic activity. Admittedly, very few of these organizations were employing rotating pastel lights.

Under most circumstances, I am not a very political person. I tend to glaze over when people use words like Economic Stimulus, and Federal Recovery and Reinvestment. But come on. Am I really supposed to sit here and let this gentleman from Oklahoma attack my entire industry? I am calling my perfectly sane Senator and asking her to vote no on this absurd proposition. I encourage you to do the same.

In the mean time, I intend to get in my vehicle and try and navigate the luxuriously beautiful road to my home where I can enjoy my big screen TV in my Zero Gravity chair. But what I really need is a big glass of Pinot Grigio and a dry heat sauna!