The Art Machine

This is politics. But I would ask folks on my f-list whose political views tend not to synch with mine to read this and contemplate how you might like such an initiative if, say, it were employed in support of repealing Rove v. Wade, or protecting the Defense of Marriage Act, or any of the other things you (quite rightly) loathe about the unhinged right. Or even if it were employed in support of deregulating one or more of our industries.

Because if the Obama administration creates this, and if the Obama administration is voted out, a really dangerous precedent has been set:

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/08/25/the-national-endowment-for-the-art-of-persuasion-patrick-courrielche/#more-209182

Edit: another take from The Volokh Conspiracy:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_08_23-2009_08_29.shtml#1251360555

So maybe you *need* to be depressed...

The most hopeful thing I've read about depression in years:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=depressions-evolutionary