--- Charles Bernstein <bernstei at BWAY.NET> wrote:
> The Homeland Security Cultural Bureau site is a
> hoax.
>
> Otherwise, we would actually have an
> attorney-general who said this in an interview with
> "Director-General" of HSCB, on the HSBC site --
> <http://www.hscb.org/> --
>
>
> >HSCB -Carolyn Parker Mayes: So can you tell us more
> about the more recent discussions, which led to the
> formation of Cultural Bureau of Homeland Security?
>
>
> >Atty Gen. John Ashcroft:Well Tom Ridge and I are
> avid painters and we share a passion for the arts.
> Our wives have even started an art collection with
> several other member of the Presidents cabinet, we
> purchase works and rotate them among one another's
> homes. We have attended a few Broadway shows, we
> attend the opera regularly, La Traviata is my
> absolute favorite, so yes, we generally just share
> an interest in the arts. When we were meeting more
> casually over a few intimate dinners, shortly after
> his appointment as the Director of the Office of
> Homeland Security, I told Tom about my passion for
> linking culture and politics.
>
> >And we agreed, which great civilization has not
> used its culture to form a mark on the history of
> the wolrd. Which Empires did not further their cause
> directly through the use of cultural attachments,
> whether they be architecture, poetry, sculpture,
> painting?
> >We agreed on all of these matters, so it was a
> question of convincing our President and despite
> what many may think, President Bush is very much
> inclined towards the arts. Of course, he does not
> have the sophisticated interest in color or the
> contours of the figure that Tom Ridge and I share,
> he goes much more for Hollywood, and popular music
> like Britney Spears, but nevertheless, he recognizes
> that Elvis did as much for spreading out the
> tentacles of America, or Jackson Pollack for giving
> a face to freedom against Communism, as any our
> great politicians of the time.
>
> ...
> >HSCB -Carolyn Parker Mayes: Well, we have arrived
> at the end of our interview, it was a great one at
> that. Despite our meanderings into many areas, I
> think our readers will appreciate your candid
> responses and I look forward to more online chats
> like this in the future.
>
>
> >Atty Gen. John Ashcroft: Likewise! I just want to
> add something for any of the young readers out
> there. Follow your dreams and if you have a passion
> for painting like I did, think about it less as some
> subversion or division from normal patriotic life.
> On the contrary, realize that you can also paint
> such lovely things as flags for example, as Jasper
> Johns did, or military portraits or scenes, as some
> great painters of the past and present like Leon
> Golub, Anselm Kiefer, and Jean Louis Ernest
> Meissonier have done. In short, culture can service
> this great nation if used in an acceptable fashion,
> one which recognizes the beauty and power of the all
> mighty God and the power that he has vested in this
> blessed land, good night and thank you!
>
>
> The official site for the Department of Homeland
> Security is <http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/>.
> There are no references to Leon Golub on this site,
> alas.
>
> White Box's web site is:
<http://www.whiteboxny.org/>
>
> For further, you may wish to note the appointment of
> Abe Golam, Director of the Office of Political And
> Economic Insecurity at
>
<http://www.usdept-arttech.net/release_06_14_02.html>.
> Not a minute too soon, either.
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