Mr. Mansoor, I though you said that governement funding for
culture/museums is misguided and has negative consequences.  Interesting
that you have an ally in a fellow that we're all paying to ensure that
whatever Depression, war or natural disaster stikes any particular
community or all of the country, that we won't loose our national
patrimony.  Odd too that he says right on in direct contradiction to the
mission statement that he supposedly operates under - namely that the
government develop and maintain cultural sites and programs, making them
and the information available to all the citizens to the greater
enrichment of all.  Interesting, too, that this is the root purpose of the
NEA, NEH, IMLS, NSF, etc. and why their funding was proposed in a
bipartisan Congress a generation ago.  Ya know, bureauacracy isn't
beautiful but the combination of government and private funding has been
what has made possible our e-mail debate, our education in colleges and
universities, our livihoods, and the realization (however short of utter
perfection) of our mutual goal of uniting people and knowledge, art,
history, and each other.