I am the Elizabeth Taylor of the feline world.

Friday, June 15, 2007

And now a ten year old message from the former Attorney General

"Now, the opera gets a subsidy from the National Endowment for the Arts, but by and large, Willie Nelson and Garth Brooks don't. Those of us that drive our pickups to those concerts don't get a subsidy, but the people who drive their Mercedes to the opera get a subsidy."

-- John Ashcroft, then Republican Senator-- Missouri, September 18, 1997

If you would like to subsidize Willie Nelson or Garth Brooks, I'm sure they'd take donations. The easiest way would be to start purchasing CD's and stop illegally downloading their music!

I asked Karen for some insight and she said she wasn't familiar enough with Garth Brooks to comment, but she thought any subsidy given to Willie Nelson would most likely go to purchasing large quantities of pot or various hallucinogens. This didn't sound like something I wanted to support.

Karen did have a good chuckle at the idea that Ashcroft would include himself in the pick up driving sect, though.

Anyway, this typing has made me tired. I hope Mr. Nelson and Mr. Brooks can find food tonight. If they can't, I'm not sharing mine!

15 comments:

"The Captain" said...

My cubs are close to 500. get rid of comment moderation. If a villain posts just delete them. Take care,
Jeff

Penelope said...

GO CUBS!!!

The 'Stros won tonight and no one got ejected. Life is good.

Biggio is within twelve hits of 3,000. This means he can begin to be selective again.

I think Houston is ten games below five hundred, just like everyone else in the NL Central.

The comment moderation is driving Karen crazy, as the notifications are sent to her email. I know I need to fix it, but I really don't want to make it that easy for her!

Go Stros

--P

Daisy said...

Sorry this is off topic, but I wanted to let you know where I get my cat fashions from. One of the best places I have discovered is Build-a-Bear workshops (I usually shop on-line). The t-shirts are very very cute, and don't cost too many green papers!

Dawn said...

You certainly a well informed moggy, Penelope. Maybe you could take up a career in sports journalism!

Penelope said...

Daisy--

Thanks for the clothes tip. I'll send Karen out to check it out.

--P

Penelope said...

Dawn--

You are always trying to give me a career. Like I've said a million times before, I'm a cat. Cats don't work. It's against our principles. We merely comment on
the world, as we could do better.

-- P

The Lee County Clowder said...

We don't know where you got that 'Ashcroft' quote, but Bill Clinton did not nominate John Ashcroft for anything in 1997. George Bush selected Ashcroft for Attorney General in December, 2000, although the formal nomination likely didn't happen until after the inauguration.

Penelope said...

You are very right.

I did not mean to infer that former President Clinton nominated Ashcroft for anything. I am in the process of checking the date on that quote. I found it in an old New Yorker a couple of weeks ago. My guess is I fouled up the year. I'll let you know directly.

--P

Penelope said...

Here is a link about the statement on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/dmg/popup.php?id=37347&type=1&date=19-Dec-1997&au=1&pid=41540535&random=0527122632&guid=0006FD42976B05E967C8966261626364&uaType=WM,RM&aaType=RAM&upf=Win32&topicName=&subtopicName=&prgCode=ATC&hubId=-1&thingId=1037347&mtype=RAM

This is a wretched link, I know, but it works.

Here is a Washington Post article referencing it as well:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A7322-2001Jan1¬Found=true

I did screw up the date of the statement. I'm in the process of fixing that as well.

--P

Penelope said...

OK, I really didn't screw up the date thing. I just screwed up his title.

The statement was SAID in 1997. He was not the nominee for anything. It was a comment in an interview.:

This came from San Franscisco Classical Voice:

http://www.sfcv.org/arts_revs/music_shorts_1_9_01.php

Bush's nomination for Attorney General might just have an investigation of the NEA's support for opera on his agenda, if he holds to his sentiments of three years ago. In a 1997 interview, Sen. John Ashcroft told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "I tend not to be an individual who has invested a great deal of my life in opera," noting that his musical tastes run to gospel and country.

"Now the opera gets a subsidy from the National Endowment for the Arts, but, by and large, Willie Nelson and Garth Brooks don't. Those of us who drive our pickups to those concerts don't get a subsidy, but the people who drive their Mercedes to the opera get a subsidy."


Anywho, I'll make the correction. Thanks for letting me know.

--P

Crabby McSlacker said...

A cat of your refinement should not have to expose herself to the likes of John Ashcroft!

However, as to the subsidizing of marijuana--you should know that marijuana is sort of like catnip for humans. It makes them very mellow and if John Ashcroft and his ilk were to partake of a little more human catnip, the world might be a better place. (However, I agree, people like him and Willie Nelson can pay for their own).

Penelope said...

This is true. Poor guy. He did lose to the dead man.

I know about catnip. Wretched Karen banned all catnip from the house a couple of years ago when Sadie and I were chasing the catnip ball through the house at four in the morning. She said something about not allowing "kitty crack" in her house anymore.

Karen can be so uptight.

Anytime her sleep is interrupted, she acts like it's a national crisis.

Whatever

--P

Dawn said...

Just looked in. I see Penelope is off carousing again!

Reid said...

Yep. Remember, Penelope, Ashcroft did get his tail whipped by a dead guy. And he wrote a song about eagles, which I would assume cats always have to look out for.

Penelope said...

Reid--

I don't worry much about eagles,as Karen doesn't allow me to venture outside. This is OK as it's so friggin' hot, I don't have much desire to do much more other than hang in the AC.

-- P