Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-NV) thinks Nevada needs the Feds to pay for poetry, cowboy poetry that is.
Reid slammed the Republicans' budget proposal on Tuesday, because it eliminates $50,000 of government money spent on a cowboy poetry festival in rural Elko, east of Reno, NV.
Ratcheting up his usual attack on all things Republican, Reid said, “The mean-spirited bill, H.R. 1, eliminates National Public Broadcasting... It eliminates the National Endowment of the Humanities, National Endowment of the Arts... The National Endowment of the Humanities is the reason we have in northern Nevada every January a cowboy poetry festival. Had that program not been around, the tens of thousands of people who come there every year would not exist.”
Well, Harry, we beg to differ. The people who attend the annual cowboy poetry festival would most certainly continue to exist, regardless of government funding. And if tens of thousands of people go to the festival, why does it need government help?
According to their website, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is "a week-long celebration of life in the rural West, featuring the contemporary and traditional arts that arise from lives lived caring for land and livestock. The annual gathering takes place "in the small community of Elko, Nevada, which will overflow with thousands of cowboys and cowgirls, poets and musicians, artisans and scholars, rural people and city folks."
Sounds like a real money maker there, as are many wonderful northern Nevada events that manage to survive and even thrive without government intervention: the Great Reno Balloon Races, the Best in the West Rib Cookoff, the Reno Rodeo, Hot August Nights, Street Vibrations, the Eldorado Great Italian Festival, and dare we mention it, Burning Man. Speaking of which, the annual Burning Man Festival in the Black Rock Desert lasts 4 days, draws nearly 50,000 attendees, and charges a minimum of $300 per head. Burning Man officials report they've already pre-sold nearly 30,000 tickets to this year's event, and their website accepts charge cards via PayPal.
Harry and his fellow Democrats don't seem to understand that the federal government can no longer be expected to support events like the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, which will have to take its cue from Burning Man and other great northern Nevada events by asking for the support of private businesses, organizations, charitable groups (suggested by Nevada Gov. Sandoval) and, dare we say it, the attendees themselves.
So yes, Harry, the Republican plan would slash $57 billion from the budget for the remainder of fiscal year 2011, and that would include $50K for a cowboy poetry gathering in Elko.
If people want to hear cowboys spit out poetry instead of chew, then let them pony up to the bar and pay for it.
Like Kelly's article? Click "Subscribe" by her picture; befriend her on Facebook and Twitter.
Want to read more? Here are recent articles from "Wright In Reno!"
- Ensign to step aside, opens 2012 Senate race
- Libs cry foul when NV gov asks charities to help
- Media still obsessed with Reno's Angle after loss to Reid
- Good money after bad won't fix Nevada's schools
- Will Nevada ban cell phones in cars?
- Nevada is right: Obamacare is unconstitutional
- Will our government change by 2012?
- Obama and congress: just give us the facts, please
- Reid has a lot of favors to repay
Comments