George Bush appointed Lee Greenwood to the National Arts Council. [View All]

[madfloridian]

File this under just very weird and sort of in your face.

Bush appoints Lee Greenwood to National Arts Council



Lee Greenwood's main claim to fame is writing and singing the hit patriotic hymn "God Bless the U.S.A." Soon Greenwood's blessing will matter on the American arts scene -- at least the part interested in tapping into federal largess via grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate, the Nashville-based country singer is scheduled to be sworn in Nov. 17 as one of the 14 regular members of the National Council on the Arts. Council members advise the NEA chairman, and their portfolio includes reviewing and making recommendations on applications for grants from the $145-million-a-year federal agency. Greenwood will serve a six-year term.

Compare and contrast to another Bush appointee.

Another new appointee, JoAnn Falletta, the music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Virginia Symphony, will serve three years, filling a vacancy created last year by the resignation of octogenarian jazz drummer Chico Hamilton.

Greenwood, who grew up on a farm near Sacramento, is the lone council member appointed by Bush who will serve throughout the four years of an Obama or McCain term. The other 13 slots are occupied by Bush appointees but will come due during the next president's term.

If I were applying for a grant, I would be a wee bit leery. So odd.

I love the comments by The Weekly Volcano

Seldom do the arts and politics come together in this country. When they do, the results can be uplifting or depressing, depending on who happens to be in power at the time. Just as America was rejoicing in the election of Barack Obama, George W. Bush reminded us that he still has three more months to screw the United States by appointing Lee Greenwood to a six-year term on the National Arts Council. For those watching at home, that’s country singer Lee Greenwood of “God Bless the USA” fame.

PREDICTION: Under Greenwood’s influence we will have a new national anthem: “Let the Eagles Soar” as sung by John Ashcroft. On Broadway six theaters will run, simultaneously, High School Musical 4 through 9, and the only other current hit play will be The Rest of the Story, a one-man-play starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Paul Harvey. And the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., will install a permanent exhibition of paintings by Thomas Kinkade, the father of schmaltzy, Christmas-card-inspired landscapes. Finally, all books by J.K. Rowling, Mark Twain, Salmon Rushdie and Judy Blume will be banned from distribution in the United States.

:rofl: