Barry is probably too polite to respond to this flame, so I'll do it.
Here is the relevant part of the message.

> ...I spent the entire day TRYING to get information...All I can say is
> that I had wished that I too could have been privy to the info in your
> alert BEFORE it was a done deal...

> Further I urge all on the list to encourage national arts organizations
> to see beyond their strategy of limiting troups in our declared
> "culture war" to only Generals! ... So sorry for the FLAME

1) Information is extremely easy to get -- just call us.  If you don't
want to call us, there are lots of other people inside the Beltway
(horrors!) who are knowledgeable.  We encourage questions.  We don't know
what you want to know, or when, unless you tell us.

2)  We've been saying for months -- in posts to this list, FAX alerts to
the advocacy network, and in AVISO -- that House appropriators were
threatening to zero out the NEA.  The last post was in mid-May.  We could
have done posts every day from then 'til yesterday, but how many times are
we supposed to send the same message?

3)  Our participation in this list, as well as our advocacy network of
about 2,000 volunteers (mostly members of the AAM), is indeed an effort
to include more than just "the generals."

4) As a 501(c)(3) charity, we have limited ability to urge those outside
our membership to take lobbying action.  If we even attempt to mobilize
"millions," we'll jeopardize our tax status.  *The same consideration
applies to advocates in individual museums.*

5)  As we say in the alert, the action by the House Interior
Appropriations Subcommittee is just the first step in a long process,
including action at the full Committee and on the floor, and then in the
Senate, and then a House-Senate conference.  The alert is not after the
fact -- it is just the beginning.  Which probably accounts for my present
bad mood.

Andy Finch
AAM Government Affairs
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Usual disclaimers apply.