Patrick Courrielche, an artist who blogs at Big Hollywood, writes of an interesting conference call he was invited to by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Can you say creepy?

“I recently wrote a critique of the art community’s lack of dissent in the face of many controversial decisions made by the current administration. Entitled “The Artist Formerly Known as Dissident,” one of the key points argued in the article was the potential danger associated with the use of the art community as a tool of the state. Little did I know how quickly this concern would be elevated to an outright probability.”

“Sometime between when I finished the critique and when it went live online, I was invited by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to take part in a conference call that invited a group of rising artist and art community luminaries “to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda – health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, community renewal.”

“Backed by the full weight of President Barack Obama’s call to service and the institutional weight of the NEA, the conference call was billed as an opportunity for those in the art community to inspire service in four key categories, and at the top of the list were “health care” and “energy and environment.” The service was to be attached to the President’s United We Serve campaign, a nationwide federal initiative to make service a way of life for all Americans.”

“It sounded, how should I phrase it…unusual, that the NEA would invite the art community to a meeting to discuss issues currently under vehement national debate.”

I think the word unusual is an understatement. I might have used a term like third-world-dictator-ish.

Just so we’re clear on what is happening here: The federal government is taking the tax money of American citizens and “awarding” it to artists who will use their talents to create propaganda which advances Obama’s agenda.

Ace points to Obama’s inflated sense of self as an additional reason for this:

“Ever think you can get away with doing something, probably, but then stop yourself from doing it because you don’t like where it might lead you? That is, your super-ego checks in and argues “Can you really trust yourself entirely?” and, being not altogether confident in your own integrity and capacity to resist temptation, you refrain from taking the problematic action?”

“Yeah, well, Obama has no idea what I’m talking about.”

“You know, I don’t drop the N-word much (Nazi, I mean), but seriously, if you don’t want to be called a Nazi, stop doing Nazi stuff.”

“Remember, before the NEA told them to, photographers and mainstream magazines were shooting Obama with halos and nimbuses (yes, nimbi, whatever) suggesting that he was in fact The Risen Christ.”

“Now, if the artistic community is already portraying you, ludicrously and blasphemously, as a deity, is it really necessary to ask them to work on your behalf?”

I can answer that last question, Ace. It’s necessary if you start to believe the media’s deification bullshit story about you. As most of us already suspected, Obama is drinking his own Kool-Aid.

This is the second time this week I’ve been pleasantly surprised by reporting at the Huffington Post. They’ve obtained a memo which points to an unholy union between the White House and the pharmaceutical lobby and they are not happy about it:

“A memo obtained by the Huffington Post confirms that the White House and the pharmaceutical lobby secretly agreed to precisely the sort of wide-ranging deal that both parties have been denying over the past week.”

“The memo, which according to a knowledgeable health care lobbyist was prepared by a person directly involved in the negotiations, lists exactly what the White House gave up, and what it got in return.”

“It says the White House agreed to oppose any congressional efforts to use the government’s leverage to bargain for lower drug prices or import drugs from Canada — and also agreed not to pursue Medicare rebates or shift some drugs from Medicare Part B to Medicare Part D, which would cost Big Pharma billions in reduced reimbursements.”

“In exchange, the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) agreed to cut $80 billion in projected costs to taxpayers and senior citizens over ten years. Or, as the memo says: “Commitment of up to $80 billion, but not more than $80 billion.”

“Critics on Capitol Hill and online responded with outrage at the reports that Obama had gone behind their backs and sold the reform movement short. Furthermore, the deal seemed to be a betrayal of several promises made by then-Sen. Obama during the presidential campaign, among them that he would use the power of government to drive down the costs of drugs to Medicare and that negotiations would be conducted in the open.”

Be sure to read the whole thing and then read these reports from Ace of Spades HQ and Hot Air.

You should also watch this 2008 campaign video from then Senator Obama.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don’t dare call it ASTROTURF though.

An eleven year old girl “picked” by Obama at his New Hampshire ObamaCare town hall today asked the Dear Leader:

“How do kids know what is true, and why do people want a new system that can — that help more of us?”

This afternoon, the question was raised as to whether the girl was the daughter of a woman who made large contributions to the Obama campaign.

1. The question was first asked by Above Top Secret where the bloggers did some amazing detective work.

2. Then it got posted at Ace of Spades HQ.

3. Now Michelle Malkin confirms.

Boston.com has written a story about it, completely missing the blatant irony of Democrat astroturf and fakery.

“A girl from Malden asked President Obama a question at Tuesday’s town hall meeting in New Hampshire about the signs outside “saying mean things” about his health care proposal.”

“The question opened the door for the president to respond to what he called an “underlying fear” among the public “that people somehow won’t get the care they need.”

“Julia’s mother was an early Obama supporter in Massachusetts during the presidential election, so she had previously met First Lady Michelle Obama, the Obama daughters Sasha and Malia, and Vice President Joe Biden.”

Isn’t that nice?

Final question for Obama supporters: Do you know what we’re going to say the next time one of you obnoxiously claims that Sarah Palin used her children as props? Hope so!

UPDATE: In the first 10 seconds of the video below, from today’s meeting, Obama says “Cause I don’t want people thinking I just have a bunch of plants in here.”

Well, we do now!

The words “Krauthammer” and “wrong” are two words I’m not accustomed to using in the same sentence but in this case, I have no choice. On last night’s FOX All Stars segment of Special Report, Charles Krauthammer suggested that the protests taking place in townhalls all over the country are counter productive.

Dr. Krauthammer is wrong. Had the American people spoken up the way they are now, we may not have had to pass the so called Stimulus. Perhaps we could have stopped Crap and Trade from passing in the house.

In this case, people are speaking out loudly because they are defending their very liberty. Andy McCarthy at National Review makes the point most eloquently:

“With due mountains of respect to Dr. K, his suggested approach of “quietly and civilly raising questions,” politely pointing out that the numbers don’t add up, etc., is exactly how we have come to be stuck with the stimulus, the bailouts, and obscene trillions in budget deficits.”

“This is not a nice, ivory tower, Oxford debate. This is gut-check time about whether we are going to maintain the bedrock American relationship between the citizen and the state. We are in the battle against ruthless, radical ideologues who have the media and the daunting numbers on their side.”

“I am not, and would not, endorse criminal mob behavior.  But exhibitions of anger and spirit when one is justifiably angry and spirited are entirely appropriate.  Making clear to a pol who is trying to insult your intelligence that you don’t appreciate it is entirely appropriate.”

“I just don’t get the detachment from the real world here.  We’re not talking trivia here.  We’re talking about what kind of country we’re going to be from here on out.  That’s something worth getting whipped up about.  If we’re not whipped up, we lose.  If we are whipped up and the Democrats try to use that fact as an excuse to ram this through, then they were going to ram it through anyway.”

“We are a heavy underdog.  To prevail, the needle we have to thread is to convince enough Dems and RINOs that there will be electoral hell to pay if this monstrosity is enacted.  That requires an authentic demonstration of fervor.  It’s unfortunate that some people will go overboard — as happens in any human endeavor — but that’s no reason to treat this as if it were an academic exercise.  If that’s the approach, the game — like the country as we know it — is lost.”

DrewM at Ace of Spades HQ weighs in further, reminding us that all Krauthammer was doing was offering analysis:

“For those who want to write Krauthammer off over this, don’t. Let’s not put litmus tests on our guys. He was offering an analysis, that’s all. It may or may not reflect where his sympathizes lay but he owes people his best and honest take on issues, nothing more. He’s one of the best, if not the best, spokesmen for conservative on many issues. So please don’t kill the guy over this.”

I completely agree with DrewM. which is why I only say that in this one instance I respectfully disagree with Charles Krauthammer.

I agree with Krauthammer the other 99.99999 percent of the time and admire him greatly.