Hillary's not perfect, but at least she supports a Woodstock Museum

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

So that's pretty cool. But now John McCain (aka Captain Bring-down) wants to harsh our national mellow. He probably wants to spend the money on a memorial to the National Guardsmen at Kent State, or a plaque commemorating the lab where napalm was developed.

Show HillRod some support when she deserves it. Let that freak flag fly, girl!

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hippies used to say if you remember Woodstock, you weren't really there. Republicans say presidential contender Hillary Clinton can forget about getting $1 million in taxpayer funds for a Woodstock museum.

Clinton and Charles Schumer, Democratic senators from New York, want to earmark the federal money for a museum that would commemorate the 1969 music festival in their state.

"Woodstock Museum is a shining example of what's wrong with Washington on pork-barrel, out-of-control spending," said John McCain, Arizona senator and Republican presidential hopeful. An example, he said, of "the earmark pork-barrel spending which has made the American people disenchanted and angry."

Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, and Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, were trying Thursday to strip the Woodstock earmark from a massive health and education spending bill on the Senate floor. Democrats moved to kill their effort, but Republicans won a key 52-42 vote — seeping with presidential politics — signaling the Clinton-Schumer earmark would soon be gone.

Five Democrats voted against the Woodstock provision. So did old-school GOP members of the Appropriations Committee who had on prior occasions voted against conservative criticism of senators' earmarks.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

[Semper_FiFi]

1. Go Hillary RahRahRah!

kick and recommend

[MADem]

2. That's NOT a boatload of dough for that effort. AND it will promote tourism.

Beats the hell out of the waste we see over in Iraqistan....

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

4. Yeah, I'm like "a million dollars?" That wouldn't buy a townhouse around here.

I drive past 2 million dollar macmansion-style town-home eye-sores every day.

A million dollars sounds like seed money for a fund drive for a very modest little museum.

[rucky]

3. I want to see brown acid under glass. n/t

[sazemisery]

6. NUMBER 9.......NUMBER 9 n/t

[XemaSab]

5. This is part of the irritation-factor I have for Hillary

In addition to being a corporatist Goldwater-humper who expects my vote because SISTERHOOD IS POWERFUL, she reeks of the self-indulgency of baby boomers.

Like, let's make Kurt Cobain's house a national monument, give the congressional medal of honor to Eddie Vedder, and build a museum to 90's rock near the site of the first Lollapalooza. :sarcasm:

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

8. What a Buzz-Kill! Dude.... try yoga.

[MADem]

17. Those that don't know history are condemned to repeat it.

Hope she doesn't get a crappy draft number in the next lottery--that'll REALLY harsh her mellow.

Edit to correct gender; noting that the next time around, there WILL be a challenge to the all male draft standard!

[MADem]

16. Oh, please. You may not like it, but Woodstock DID signal a massive sea change.

It was an event unlike anything that preceded it. It's a HUGE piece of American history, that was tied up with major societal changes, the antiwar movement, that quaint thing called "women's liberation," "black power" and it was a point in time that to this day resonates with a massive number of Americans. Many of whom still turn out to protest wars, while far too many youngsters sit on their asses playing World of Warcraft.

Even if you don't like that. Or don't KNOW that.

"Kurt Cobain's house" didn't bring us the live recording of Alice's Restaurant. Go listen to it, sometime. Poor dead Kurt wasn't a spokesperson for the antiwar movement or a touchstone for millions of draft age Americans and those who cared about what was happening in Southeast Asia.

But hey, whatever. Never mind the history--that's for people who care about silly things like the past. Can't possibly learn anything from our past, can we?

:sarcasm:

Indeed.

The effort will promote tourism in an area that could use it, too. And provide a history lesson to those of us who actually do give a shit about our history during a very tumultuous era.

[XemaSab]

21. I'd be in favor of a 60's museum

that told the WHOLE story of the 1960's. To give credit where credit is due, *some* of the boomers DID accomplish social change.

I'll say that it was the first time in a LONG time that large numbers of people stood up to the government. There's also a lot of history tied in there. Black power and the women's lib movement were certainly part of the social change of that era.

I just don't get how a rock concert is like, the defining moment that's worthy of a government funded museum. I think Woodstock NY is a flaky place to build a museum to the real history of the era. Unless it's just going to be a rock museum, and yeah, you had good music, but state funding for a shrine to Hendrix when schools are going begging just seems pretty crummy.

[MADem]

31. Woodstock was something that never happened before. EVERYONE was talking about it.

Before it happened, while it was happening and after it happened. Then, there was a movie, records, books.

And this was before the internet. It was THE topic.

Maybe it would help to look at the footage, and listen to the music.

I'm quite sure a WOODSTOCK Museum would encompass more than just that event, too, FWIW. I would gues they'd use the event to examine the entire societal sea change that really reached a tipping point at the end of the sixties and continued through until the end of the war, as well as the antiwar activism, against a backdrop of the music and the event.

Try renting the film, and see if you can appreciate the context. It's not just about Hendrix.

It's also about guys like this fellah, who were young once and told a helluva story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_7C0QGkiVo

[XemaSab]

32. That's not really true though

The Monterey Pop Festival happened before Woodstock. :shrug:

[MADem]

37. There were CHAIRS at Monterey Pop.

The crowd was MINUTE compared to Woodstock, not even half the size. Lovely music, great artists, but not as raw. Summer of LOVE, not Stop the Fucking War.

Different focus.

Not the same thing at all.

[XemaSab]

40. "We slept in the rain and the fog in tents."

-My Mom, who was there. :P

[MADem]

41. But no mud!!! nt

[RandomKoolzip]

22. GodDAMN I'm so tired of the fucking 60s.

And no, there's no sarcasm tag here.

L.S.D.: Let the Sixties Die

[MADem]

28. Well, they do have something to do with what's happening today.

Most of the people who are protesting this war are the same ones who protested that Vietnam thing...

I think Woodstock is emblematic of a massive culture change. You just can't let the sixties die, even if you want to, because they won't--they live on in changes that have persisted and become ingrained in our society like women in the workplace, having careers outside the home, birth control, divorce, minorities on campuses and in corporations where they never were found before, that whole equal rights push that took the issues beyond segregation and voting...and that whole war protesting thing, there.

Sure, there was a whole lotta "self actualization" and introspection and angst and whatnot associated with the era, but go back ten years before Woodstock, to Aug 1959--it's like the difference between the moon and the earth. The sixties DID Change The World. They didn't do as much as they wanted to, but they did set us on a different path.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

36. I doubt most curent war protesters are in their 50s

But some are.

[MADem]

39. MANY are. And many are in their sixties and seventies.

The people who protest not far from my house every weekend, rain or shine, heat or cold, not one of them is UNDER fifty, and most are in the sixty-something range.

I haven't seen a shitload of teens on the barricades on a regular basis, frankly. It will take a draft to get a critcal mass away from the keyboard, I guess.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

19. (For the record, in 25 years I will gladly support a Lollapalooza museum)

[incapsulated]

26. Man, some people will bitch about anything

"Oh, fuck you warmongering bitch who wants a Woodstock museum too!!"

lol

[XemaSab]

30. Um, let me remind you

that my generation... and my kids... and my grandkids... are going to be paying off the Bush debt for years.

It's time for responsible spending, not self-aggrandizing pork.

[MADem]

33. Not if a Democrat slaps a war tax on the rich, you won't.

And don't forget, those poor bastards who marched in the sixties, and who still march today, will likely end up paying too until you guys cremate us and scatter our ashes because funerals cost too damn much and they're bad for the land...so much for those "Golden Years" -- they'll be spent working at the "Golden Arches" to pay for those prescription drugs...Ya want fries with that?

And those kids of yours are our grandkids, and their kids our great grandkids, and so on.

Ya know, just because we're closer to a hot date with the grim reaper doesn't mean we don't give a shit. After all, Al Gore is one of those 'Woodstock Generation' types.

We're not the enemy. We're the bastards that squawked about Love Canal and Acid Rain and gave a shit about the environment so much that Nixon declared EARTH DAY to placate our angry asses. That's what got Al all up in arms, and maybe, just maybe, he's in time so those grandkids and great grandkids have a shot at surviving on the Big Blue Marble.

Trillions are wasted in Iraq, and you can't spare a lousy million for a museum that will bring jobs--jobs that those kids and grandkids will fill--to a region that could use them? AND teach an important lesson to subsequent generations, as well?

You don't learn your history, you repeat it.

It's not pork, it's history.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

34. $1,000,000 for a museum is a legit investment, $1,000,000 for a bomb is gone forever

Little investments in cultural projects actually improve people's lives, and for a long time.

The national park system is a good investment. The Smithsonian is a good investment. Cultural sites are a form of infrastructure, and well worth their cost.

It would be better if NY state paid 100% of the money instead of the 90% or whatever--no museum costs only a million dollars--but NY pays a LOT of fedral taxes and benefits relatively little compared with everything out west.

If you think your generation is going to be paying anything meaningful for non-defense discretionary spending, you are mistaken. It's a pittance. Each of your grandchildren would pay 1/3 of a cent (adjusted for inflation) for the woodstock boondoggle that will provide employment for a small staff and tourism income for an entire area. (In practice your grandkids will probably not pay even that much. Unless they're well off payroll taxes will be most of their federal tax burden, not income tax.)

Your genration will be paying for the war, for deficit spending on medicare and for deficit spending against the social security trust fund.

If we need to daw the line on spending, a million dollar cultural grant is the silliest possible place to start. That was Ronald Reagan's whole deal... trying to convince people that non-defense discretionary spending had any meaning in the budget. It's squat.

[incapsulated]

35. Then bitch about all of them

Not just Hillary. A million for a museum is a drop in the bucket. Obama has 3 million for a theater in a planetarium.

In case you didn't know, the upstate region is severely depressed economically and tourism is one of the few mainstays.

[XemaSab]

43. The days I spent in the Chabot planetarium I credit (in part) for a lifelong interest in science

http://www.chabotspace.org/

[monktonman]

7. Dont get mad at McCain.

He's just mad he couldnt attend woodstock.
Yes there's a joke in there, a sick one, but a joke none the less.

[AlCzervik]

18. he would have gone just to narc on people.

[monktonman]

20. He was spending time at the Hilton.

He's just jealous

[Hippo_Tron]

46. I'm not easily offended but even I find that in bad taste

[JohnnyLib2]

9. Mud! It's gotta have mud!

And I mean for historical accuracy. :hippie:

[ruggerson]

10. If this doesn't fly there's always Watkins Glen

"I shall be released..."

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

11. It's a bridge to... like... everywhere!

[ruggerson]

13. "I feel your pain... want a soaper?"

[d_b]

12. best thread title ever.

[rufus dog]

14. for 1 million

Maybe they plan on buying a used Airstream, park it on the farm and pass out some cheap dope while playing an 8 track of the concert.

DLCers won't be allowed to inhale though!

[MichDem10]

29. Don't be fooled - She did it for the MONEY!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-10-16-earmarks_N.htm

"The million-dollar earmark was included in a Senate education spending bill that came out of committee on June 21. On June 26, the Gerrys and two of their children who sit on the foundation's board made $20,000 in contributions to the Schumer-led Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. On June 30, the couple made $9,200 in contributions to Clinton's presidential campaign — the maximum allowed by law."

[incapsulated]

38. He also courted republicans and IS a republican

It's a 100 million dollar project and he has also gotten state money for it, although most of the money is his OWN.

Schumer spokesman Brian Fallon said the senator backed the project because it was "long sought after" by state and local leaders, not because of contributions.

The man behind the project is Alan Gerry, a former cable television mogul and registered Republican. State government pitched in $15 million for the $100 million project, most of which was funded by Gerry himself through a foundation.

Making political contributions is "something we think a good citizen should do," Gerry said, adding that he believes the earmark is unrelated to the donations.

On the federal level, Gerry, his wife and three children have given $507,800 since 1998, including $272,050 to Democrats and $212,750 to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Gerry's wife, Sandra, is a registered Democrat.

Most of the Democratic recipients helped the Woodstock venture. Since 2005, the Gerrys have donated $150,000 to the Schumer-led Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $18,600 to Clinton.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., who earmarked $200,000 for the project in 2003, has received $19,500 since 1998. Hinchey spokesman Jeff Lieberson said the project would offer a "huge economic boost."

Gerry bought the site in Bethel, N.Y., a decade ago to make it a tourist center. A performing arts center opened last year. The two-story museum, under construction, will place Woodstock in the context of the 1960s counterculture movement.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

42. Your "point" is absurd. Let's tell the real story...

Gerry's foundation DONATED 85 million fucking dollars to build the museum. New York paid 15 million. The federal government was going to pay one million.

The Gerrys gave Hillary contributions, along with every other politician they like from either party. They give money to everybody.

They also gave New York 85 MILLION FUCKING DOLLARS for this museum. What is your theory? Do these people give campaign cash to Hillary to further their sinister dream of giving away tens of millions more of their own god-damned dollars?

The million dollar earmark was going to benefit them how? They DONATED 85% of the money in exchange for NOTHING (except the tax benefits of a foundation, which they get without any political influence... it's the tax code.)

I immagine the paltry 1% earmark was sought to grant a federal imprimatuer to the project, making it a fedral cultural landmark or some shit... the million obviously doesn't matter one way or another.

Be sure to check out the clearly non-RW headline:
_______________________
Clinton blasted over 'hippie museum'


...The man behind the project is Alan Gerry, a former cable television mogul and registered Republican. State government pitched in $15 million for the $100 million project, most of which was funded by Gerry himself through a foundation."

On the federal level, Gerry, his wife and three children have given $507,800 since 1998, including $272,050 to Democrats and $212,750 to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Gerry's wife, Sandra, is a registered Democrat.

Most of the Democratic recipients helped the Woodstock venture. Since 2005, the Gerrys have donated $150,000 to the Schumer-led Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $18,600 to Clinton. ...

[incapsulated]

44. Actually, the more I think about this the more pissed off I am

They cut this off, what the fuck, why? Jesus, there are so many bullshit earmarks that are easily seen as quid pro quo, this isn't any different.

As a New Yorker I resent this.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

48. I've worked with precisely this kind of foundation

A million from the feds for a project shakes loose tens and hundreds of millions from rich people's private foundations. It's like matching funds donations times ten.

Th rich donors like to see some government involvement and they like to hob-knob with powerful people at fund-raisers. In exchange, they donate lots of money to little cultural projects like this.

I've handled private foundation donations to a lot of small museums, and in every case the foundation wants some show of faith from the government... they don't want to pay 100%, but they will pay 90%.

I can't explain the psychology of it, but it's how the game is played, and it's a game that benefits real people.

[Colobo]

15. It's a cool idea. I'm with Hill on this.

[TwilightGardener]

23. One million is chump change--shame they couldn't let this go. I'd enjoy seeing the museum, even

though I was a fetus at the time.

[Rhythm and Blue]

24. Well, that's what's most important, you know?

Seriously, for one million dollars? I'd like to see a Woodstock museum, and I'm only 22; nothing self-centered here.

[Colobo]

27. I'm 24 and I support Hillary on this. See?

I'm quite fair.

[NewHampster]

25. Gotta love woodstock

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

49. No, the one with the big leaves was Prudestock

[David Zephyr]

45. Chelsea was named by Bill & Hillary after Joni Mitchell's song which Judy Collins recorded.

And Judy Collins was one of the first overnighters at the White House. Joni Mitchell penned the song "Woodstock".

[MADem]

47. Good tune, too! nt