May have to double up on the beta blocker today after reading that one.......

Questions abound,

Why was a foreign "artist" being given money by the Canadian taxpayers to protest the leader of a third country?

Atlantic Jim - heh, don't you know the answer? The Canada Council and Quebec Arts Council funders are all leftists and would be anti-American and anti-Bush. That's all that was needed to get the grant.

Art? Another joke; all the applicant needs to do is self-define himself as 'an artist' and fill his application with a lot of verbosity about 'perception' and blather..and there you are.

Accountability? Again, all that is needed is a self-report on 'the research' that is 'ongoing' and more blather.

Define "artist".

Well we know what kind of artist this guy was now.
A con artist.

By the way, 300 meters is nearly a third of a kilometer long.
Did those grant people really think Caesar Saëz would really build such a thing?

Yeah ET it was kind of a rhetorical post.

Except the bit about doubling the beta blockers..

:)

A perfect place to start cutting and a textbook example of a government out of control. Makes me glad I don't pay taxes.

Goin' Gault.

My philistine instincts kick in here. Has anything 300 metres long ever been airborne in the history of mankind? For that matter has bamboo ever been used to construct something 300 metres long?

And how exactly would it shame Bush?

"Oh look dear, there's a 300 metre long banana in the sky."

"Yes I know, and I feel ashamed."

It's kind of an odd bit that the leftist artist types always refer to their work as something they alone "create" yet band against creation at every other opportunity.
AtlanticJim, I imagine it's too early for my red wine.. off to work I go to pay taxes for more of this...

Feeling ashamed that I never caught that one Matt.

300m is roughly the length of a Nimitz class aircraft carrier. To get a kite THAT large off the ground it would need to be launched in Ottawa or Washington to find enough hot air to give it lift.

Bamboo though? That is a kick butt building material. Look how long Gilligan and Mary Ann lasted!

I wonder if his research included - what to do when F15's try to attack my flying banana which is approaching a presidents home? Maybe some of the money was for stealth technology for a 300 metre banana? Is bamboo visible on radar? Would a half trained pilot miss a 300 metre banana even if only able to use visual aiming? That's a lot of research, maybe the money was needed.

I worked with a guy from Argentina for a few years. Exagerating about the length of their bananas is a cultural imperative for Argentinian males. It was probably only 300 cm.

"Argentinian artist name Caesar Saëz who lived in Quebec"

Ah yes,yet another fine example of one of those hard working immigrants doing a job Canadians just don't want to do.
In this case stealing tax payers money.

The difficult thing for me as a classical musician is that in the public mind people lump this con-artist bullshit in with legitimate artists.

When you call for the wholesale cut of arts support then you can also count on classical music disappearing from the public scene. Is that what we really want?

Do you want your children to grow up never knowing who Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, and Mendelssohn were? You do realize that in the gap left by these composers, there will be Gansta' Rap and Brittany Spears?

Aside from this point, I agree. this turd, this con-artist, he is the one that should be strung up and hang over Texas. This kind of thing is not art but political activism and childish to boot.

The Hindenburg was roughly 250 meters in length, so a 300m banana is not completely unfeasible if built from the same materials.

I have my doubts as to whether bamboo and paper contraption would survive a flight.

"He said that since the artist never promised to create the banana, its existence was never verified. However, the artist fulfilled all the governmental criteria."

I say full points to the (con) artist here. To get money for something without even promising to build said something, is pure genius. To have it fill all the "criteria" says a lot about those with the purse strings, handing out taxpayer dollars.

I believe the phrase is "FIRE THEM ALL".

No Doug, nobody is lumping together con artists and classically trained musicians.

It's like saying Al Gore and Albert Einstein are both scientists.

It would have led to tears when he tried to put the Chiquita label on without being sued.

Greg

Bananas share a similar stealthy shape to that of a submarine. No right angles!

BTW, "Bananas ain't got no bones"

"He said that since the artist never promised to create the banana, its existence was never verified. However, the artist fulfilled all the governmental criteria."

I say full points to the (con) artist here. To get money for something without even promising to build said something, is pure genius. To have it fill all the "criteria" says a lot about those with the purse strings, handing out taxpayer dollars.

I believe the phrase is "FIRE THEM ALL".

Art is in the eye of the beholder....

Remember the faux outrage in Quebec which popped up last election in Quebec?

If this matter was publicized by the MSM properly, Harper could drop the writ within hours.

That and the GONG (government financed "NGO") giving money to HAMAS.....by it's managers not it's board.

When the west separates I'll make the border 1/2 east of Woodstock...to keep Joe.

I wonder if I could get a grant from the Alberta provincial gov't for my planned artwork. It's an oil rig in the shape of a man, pissing on the form of P.E.T. made out of bull feces.

Miss-Mat Wrote "Has anything 300 metres long ever been airborne in the history of mankind?"

Yes, Obama's EGO

Do you want your children to grow up never knowing who Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, and Mendelssohn were?
~Doug

I need to tell you about these things called records, CDs, and DVDs...

Art is culture.
Culture comes from the people, not from government.
Government has no more business supporting culture than it does supporting religion.

Acquiring an arts grant is my project for the summer. I'll keep-ya posted.

Doug I agree wholeheartedly.

There are indeed such a things as good art and bad art, worthwhile art and worthless art.

The more radical elements of the art crowd like to argue that such distinctions cannot made, which they then use as a basis to justify funding any stupid project.

Art in the end is really no different than any other form of human intellectual expression.

While we prepare to open a vein for the CRA in the annual blood-letting known as 'tax time', let's take solace in knowing that the money we would squander foolishly on beer and popcorn is used so wisely and carefully - for the betterment of all! - by our betters.

tj

"Good" art and "Bad" art are easily definable. "Good" art has tangible value and "Bad" has none.

I believe the phrase is "FIRE THEM ALL".

"MASSIVE TAX CUTS NOW" works as well.

Do you want your children to grow up never knowing who Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, and Mendelssohn were?
~Doug

I do feel your pain, but this is like the usual weaselly government trick of: "The peasants have denied our tax increase that was going to fund our stupidly generous pensions and such. Fine! No more garbage collection and fire houses for them!"

In this case government subsidies for things that I like get cut for punishing me for voting against the things I thought ludicrous & stupid.

The only solution is NO FUNDING at all from government and leave me the money to buy CD's and Concert tickets privately. I subsidize privately what *I* want to see.

I suspect that "ART" in general would vastly improve when bureaucrats were not involved. If for no other reason that the poor artists would actually have to make art that *someone* liked and the rest of us could laugh at Patrons of the Arts we thought dumb because, after all, it was their own money.

admit it . all of Quebec is an arts project. something that cant be easily defined as useful but seems to require constant infux of money. and no one but the pure laine squawk so constantly.

Fred2, if we cut funding to Women's Studies in all universities in Canada, that alone would probably be enough to fund an orchestra or two, which would make Doug happy.

Seems to me like a win win.

I have no issue with funding the Classics but Modern Art is a hoax and we should not be funding modern art it's a scam and a make work project for lazy lefties.

Caesar didn't deliver the big banana but he did show us Canada can grow it's own..

BDS: Banana Decampment Swindle

These disbursements were obviously approved by someone and that "someone" could be very easily identified with a minimum of investigation. The next logical step would be to immediately terminate the employment of those responsible. No severance package. Oh. And by the way .... the $150 thousand will be deducted from your pensions. Now get out.

Very simple and completely justified solution to the problem. The only thing missing is the will to do it by those in charge.

I will venture that the cash outlay for this scam was a small fraction of the total transaction cost when factoring-in all the levels of bureaucracy. Arts funding by government is a Pandora's box. Once you open it it goes out of control.

Although I sympathize with Doug (I play in a city concert band and a swing band that both survive without government support), taxing Joe sixpack who might just prefer Country music, or God forbid, Rap, to subsidize the owners of tuxedos who regularly attend concerts of philharmonic orchestras, just seems perverse to me.

Like the vast majority of activities done by the state these days, funding the arts is not the proper role of government.

I wrote to Sheila Copps when the then government funded the twelve dead rabbits hanging in a tree thing. Her response was'throughout history rulers have funded the arts'!!!

O'bananas today. Found in O's ear? ear?
...-

"Obama has a banana in his ear"

"These words remind me of that old "Sesame Street" skit -- the one where Ernie has a banana in his ear. He tells Bert that it's there to keep alligators away. "Ernie!" replies the ever-annoyed Bert. "There are no alligators on Sesame Street!" "Right," Ernie says. "Works pretty good, doesn't it, Bert?""

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/news-forum/index

God loves rap!

"Saëz left the country. And no one knows of the whereabouts of this work of art.

Suckers!"

Oh,you cynics! He obviously left the Country to do research on his project!

Once he reports back, I see NO reason the Canada Arts Council shouldn't give him a few hundred thousand more to further his project.

It's only TAXPAYER'S money after all.

where is the outrage from CBCpravda , not over the money ,but the lost opportunity to bash Bush.

I have had to give serious thought to this issue.

I'm afraid my conclusion will be startling.

I think I would like to look up and see a giant banana from Canada floating overhead, and moreover I believe George Bush would enjoy it as well.

If you know anything about Bush, you will know that he would see this as an opportunity for his neighbors to enjoy a frozen banana daquiri party. (Naturally, he would not drink, himself.)

And, of course, one cannot ignore the peerless opportunity for cultural exchange between Canada and Texas.

After all, now that Ichabod is president I suppose we should all get behind a bunch of fruits flying across our skies.

I wonder if the Quebec Arts Council would have been so generous with their funding had there been no Equalization payments.

Greg in Dallas:

Ichabod: ouch!!

If I remember correctly, it means something like "The Glory has departed".

he will reapear when in trouble in another country, In other words A Canadian Citizen of Conveinience.
Most likley he will also sue the govt for not coming to his rescue too.

Atlanticjim.....maybe we could get a few teabags(T-33's) to tow that banana behind them so that you hairybags could shoot them down(with arming of the Bofurs from Texas Canuck).Damn.We could probably get a grant for that!
Sad thing is,if it wasn't my money(taxes) the SOB stole,I would think this was funny.We are truly becoming one screwed up country.The question is,who's going to win the race to the bottom,us or the US?Someimes I think Manifest Destiny would have been good for us.
And Doug....you actually produce something that the ordinary Joe/Jane Sixpack would be willing to shell out a few bucks to see.IMHO...Mozart sucks,but Beethoven is awesome.A deaf man producing such great work...without gubbermint funding.It's getting to the point here in Canuckistan,you can't even take a potty break without some sort of "funds".

if jennifer lynch can spend thousands - and I do mean THOUSANDS - of dollars of taxpayer money on jaunts all over the world defending human rights commissions that trample on free speech and destroy the lives of ordinary canadians, then I guess we can all indulge this guy as he absconds with 130 grand.

Sorry, I was just kidding: he's a scam artist and the bureaucrats who let this happen are as truly stupid and inept as we have all long thought.

Anyone that believes classical music was ever created without subsidy is plain ignorant. I'm not going to begin to explain this one, go look it up for yourself. And this is yet another reason it and other cultural legacies must be preserved, we are becoming more and more ignorant of history and the treasures of our own culture.

Anyone that believes classical music was ever created without subsidy is plain ignorant. I'm not going to begin to explain this one, go look it up for yourself. And this is yet another reason it and other cultural legacies must be preserved, we are becoming more and more ignorant of history and the treasures of our own culture.

I want to build a 300m empty suit made entirely of straw, gift wrap and cotton candy and fly it over Illinois.

How do I get my 150K ?

Syncro

if this incident is so profoundly offensive, and it is, the REAL question is, why aren't the harper hitmen doing something about it? isn't the conservative mantra all about reducing taxes?

oh, I remember, steve-o and his lieberal cohorts want to ham-string the overseers in the auditor general's office.

"they ALL do it."

Doug, do I need to explain to you the difference between private Patronage during the Classical Era and modern taxation in a Liberal Democracy?

Update;

the interview has been translated.

and if you understand French it is worth it to listen to the interview just to hear how all this sounds normal to both bureaucrats from the federal and quebec arts council.

To them this is perfectly normal, they say the guy met all criterias and does not even have to live in Canada to receive an arts grant!?

It is beyond shocking how aloof those two guys are, words escape me.

but then again it is not their money ...

Oz - you said it first.
But bureaucratic absurdities happen everywhere, not only in Canada. For example - because of France' request UE bureaucrats classified snail as a land-fish and carrots (because of Portugal's request) is classified as a fruit. ;-)

This is the best laugh I’ve had in a while. It would be impossible to make this stuf up.

Mocking the president with a giant banana is racist!
Oh wait... never mind.

reminds me of the Mexican who gratified himself manually into 7 vials and called it art (not Art)and got $2400.oo to do so

yup, cut off ALL arts funding, including classical music

there was once and act at the Beacon Hotel in Calgary. sure people remember the pingpong balls. but the real class of it , the real art of it was playing the little French ditty 'Frere Jacques" on a slide flute.

She got shut down , right in the middle of one of the great pushes for bilingualism by Mr. PET himself , it was a shame.
however, our Mitzy Dupree was later immortalized by none other than .Deep Purple.

mitzy dupree , queen of the pingpong balls.

h/t to Cal.

Actually, it is appalling that the Canada Arts Council could be so careless with its (and our)funding. The premise of this project is SOO off base to start with. I am sickened that this project ever went forward. Fire them all -- indeed! At the very least, I think heads should roll.

Then they have the nerve to complain when someone calls a halt to the abuse of funding at Rights and Democracy (also KARIOS). (Maybe not the same group, but same left-leaning elites).

Justhinkin, I don't know if we could get the fire control radars to lock it up. 300m long targets are probably not in the software..........

It's good we can find the humour in this, otherwise we would all go stark raving mad and become as incoherent as new.

About 2 years ago there was a Winnipeg based photographer who got a $25K Canada Arts Council grant to do a photo essay of a family on a vacation at a warm vacation resort.
Yes, he got $25K for a paid vacation!!!

And does anyone know if we taxpayers are still subsidizing the Juste Pour Rire/Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal, through the Arts Council? And since the CBC buys broadcasting rights to the festival, that would be another form of taxpayer subsidy.

The Conservatives lost a majority because of these leeches?

Doug,

I would like our kids to grow up aware of so-called "classical" music - but not on my dime.

Don't forget the other Winterpeg "photographer", and I use that term loosely, by the name of Thornycroft who hung up road kill in trees and photographed them rotting. Her CV mentions 26 Grants, most if not all, tied to taxpayer's money. A true "professional government teat sucker" to be sure.

Or remember the flank steak suit exhibit in Ottawa. I often think that there are some people out there who think of the most outlandish things and then try on the off chance that they will get free money. I'd probably have a better chance now that my address isn't in Alberta.

"When you call for the wholesale cut of arts support then you can also count on classical music disappearing from the public scene. Is that what we really want?"

Doug, I don't think that would happen. We may be a minority in this age of cultural philistinism, but those of us who love classical music would not let it die, even if the gobmint grants dried up. Although classical music organizations like the big city symphony orchestras do accept government funding, a substantial part of their revenue comes from subscriptions and private donations.

I just wrote Cesar at info@geostationarybananaovertexas.com - you can too!