The Arts get organized and win! Huzzah!

News
Great article in the The New York Times about how arts advocates -- with a little assist from Robert Redford -- fought and won $50 million in the stimulus bill, to support artists who will be devastated by the economic downturn. Relative to the size of the bill, it ain't much, but relative to the total budget of the NEA, it's huge, so -- Take that Senator Coburn! The paragraph that I'm going to be chewing on for days though:
“I just think putting people to work is more important than putting more art on the wall of some New York City gallery frequented by the elite art community,” Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia, was quoted as saying in the Congressional Quarterly’s online publication last month. He described arts as “the favorite of the left.” “Call me a sucker for the working man,” he said. (Americans for the Arts later challenged Mr. Kingston’s assertions, saying that as of last year his own Georgia congressional district was home to 778 arts-related businesses employing 2,663 people.)
In all sincerity, does Rep. Kingston think that I don't "work" or does he think that the work I do is only enjoyed by people he doesn't like? Either assumption is wrong -- but why would he think them?
Alan M. Berks

Alan M. Berks is a Minneapolis-based writer whose plays have been seen in New York, Chicago, Phoenix, Indianapolis, San Francisco, and around the Twin Cities. He helped create Thirst Theater a while back. Now, he’s the co-founder of this here magazine. He’s also written Almost Exactly Like Us, How to Cheat, 3 Parts Dead, Goats, and more.