THE TIME IS OUT OF JOINT….

OMG—it’s the end of the world as I know it!!!!

I agree with something Bill O’Reilly is doing!?!?!? [what the eff???!!!???]

Generally O’Reilly and his ilk have me screaming at my TV set as they vomit out their conservative crap—most of it highly inaccurate. I get seizures when I hear some of the stuff Fox News puts out there under the guise of news. It’s even scarier that so many people buy it all. But the other morning I got the shock of my life when I agreed with something he’s doing.

Okay, let me walk ya through it.

A soldier, Matthew Snyder, was killed in Iraq in 2006. At his funeral, the Westboro Baptist Church picketed and carried protest signs—as they have done at a number of soldiers funerals in the past 8 years. [The least offensive of these signs states “God loves Dead Soldiers.” (charming, isn’t it)] Their rationale is that soldiers are dying because of America’s acceptance of homosexuals. [They make Glenn Beck look reasonable] The families of these young people have had to try to bury their relative—and grieve—while having epithets hurled at them by a bunch of religious zealots. It’s disgusting.

The Westboro Baptist Church and Fred Phelps are very familiar to me. They protested outside of Matthew Shepard’s funeral and the trial of his murderer. When I directed a production of

THE LARAMIE PROJECT a year and a half ago, I learned a lot about this group and its founder [a despicable human being]. One of the most powerful scenes in the play is when Fred Phelps is depicted spewing out his hate—while carrying a sign that says “God Hates Fags.” [It was a very difficult scene for all involved—especially the actor playing Phelps. My cast burned the sign after the final performance]

Lance Corporal Snyder’s father was appalled at the horrendous events at his son’s funeral and took action. He sued the church and its founder,

Fred Phelps for harassment. A Baltimore jury awarded him $5 million in damages for invasion of privacy and emotional distress. But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision on First Amendment grounds in September 2009.

AND—ruled that Mr. Snyder had to pay the church’s legal fees to the tune of $16,500. Apparently, according to a Philadelphia attorney familiar with the case, that’s how it works in appellate court—the winner pays the losers fees. [That is just wrong in my opinion]

Well, word of this got out and as Albert Snyder was being interviewed on TV, Bill O’Reilly called the program and offered to pay the bill for Mr. Snyder.

And that’s when my head exploded…….

Let 's go hand in hand, not one before another

Anyone who knows me will be very surprised that I have managed to NOT get blatantly political here for almost 3 months now! But, all things must come to an end….
And here’s what did it: The PA legislature finally passed a budget last Friday—at around midnight. I am thrilled for my friends who work for the state because some of them went without paychecks for a couple of weeks. What I’m not thrilled about is the planned 6—8% tax they want to impose on the purchase of tickets to non-profit cultural events. Really folks? You wanna kick non-profs when they’re already down?
Non-profit arts organizations have been struggling mightily for almost a decade now. Corporate sponsorships are down as large corporations tighten their belts—or go under. Grant money has been slowly drying up. And ticket sales and subscriptions have dropped an average of 20% per season. And now this—it will be the death knell for many of the area’s small innovative companies.
Here’s a little bit from the city’s main newspaper
“Peggy Amsterdam, head of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, drew sustained applause when she framed this question for Gov. Rendell and legislative leaders: ‘What were you thinking?
‘Your proposal to extend the sales tax to arts and culture activities - a proposal snuck in at the last minute in a backroom deal - attempts to balance the commonwealth's $28 billion budget on the back of one of its most valuable and vulnerable industries,’Amsterdam said.
‘It will price everyday people out of arts experiences, and it will push key cultural institutions to the brink. Yet with as much potential for economic and social damage as this tax threatens, it yields only a paltry one-third of 1 percent impact on state revenues.”
And to add insult to injury, movies and sporting events are not included! Does that seem fair? Everyone needs the arts. It has been proven time and time again that
a) Children who receive arts education in school do better in other subjects
b) Arts organizations actually bring in more revenue and positive impact to a city than a sports team does.
The state claims they need to do this in order to continue a modicum of arts education in the schools. Every arts organization I know of has an educational department that offers—many times free of charge—in-school programming and live performances. If this tax goes into law, ticket sales will go way down and the companies will no longer be able to continue their educational outreach.
Gotta love our government at work……