The Other McCain

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Naked Protesters: Unattractive People Demand Action to Protect Boondoggle

Posted on | November 28, 2012 | 18 Comments

In terms of newsworthiness, it might be a clever idea to have, say, Brad Pitt and Anne Hathaway stage a naked protest in Harry Reid’s office, demanding action to reduce out-of-control federal spending. On the other hand, it’s hard to see the logic of sending out a bunch of ugly freaks to harass John Boehner about their pet boondoggle:

Seven naked protesters swarmed the office of Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Tuesday for some 20 minutes of loud chanting against cuts to AIDS funding.
Among their chants: “Boehner, Boehner, don’t be a dick, budget cuts will make us sick.” And: “Fight AIDS. Act up. Fight back.” And: “End AIDS with the Robin Hood tax, no more budget cuts on our back.” And: “Budget cuts are really rude, that’s why we have to be so lewd.”

The ugly freaks got a blip of publicity that didn’t do much to explain what they were actually protesting about. However, one photo showed a protester with the phrase “Fund HOPWA” painted on his torso, and a bit of Googling identifies the acronym: Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS, a 20-year-old program under the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with a budget of more than $300 million a year.

Exactly why the federal government has a program to provide housing for AIDS sufferers but not, say, people with herpes or chlyamida, can only be explained in terms of identity politics. Over the past 30 years, clever organizers have succeeded in making AIDS a propaganda sledgehammer with which to bludgeon politicians. “AIDS funding” includes a vast category of government spending, of which HOPWA is a classic example, that is considered sacrosanct because anyone who doesn’t support it will be slammed as a heartless homophobe.  In September, the White House released a report from the Office of Management and Budget describing plans for budget sequestration:

According to page 98 of the very official and incredibly dense report, HOPWA is slated to lose 8.2% of its funding, or $27 million should the sequestration take place. In very real terms, since HUD calculated that for every $1 million of funding, 192 households are served, the sequester would mean the loss of housing assistance to 5,184 households. In addition, outside of HOPWA reductions, according to calculations from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, “More than 185,000 households would lose their tenant-based rental assistance vouchers, 92,400 households would lose their project-based rental assistance housing, and 145,900 people would be remain homeless, instead of being housed under the Homeless Assistance Grant program. In addition, more than 140,000 currently housed households that include an elderly person or a person with a disability would receive reduced unit maintenance and lower levels of supportive services in units funded by Section 202 Housing for the Elderly or Section 811 Housing for People with Disabilities.”

In other words, it’s about money — tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded grants — and the people who get that money are insisting that they won’t give up one red cent of it, despite the fact that the federal government is headed toward bankruptcy.  As far as I’m concerned, HOPWA belongs in the same “Stuff We Can’t Afford Anymore” category as Big Bird and the National Endowment for the Arts.

BTW, apologies to anyone mystified by my 24-hour absence from the Internet. Don’t believe those crazy rumors that I was arrested for staging a naked protest against federal funding for Auburn University.

 


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Category: Budget

Comments

  • SDN

    Where else would you stage a naked protest to get one of these started…. they even have a vet school so the new “sex workers” can get health care.

  • http://theothermccain.com smitty

    Great to see you, Stacy, and thank you to whoever made sure you weren’t in the picture!

  • Pablo

    AIDS cuts kill? No, actually, it’s the buttseks.

  • http://twitter.com/wjjhoge WJJ Hoge

    This is one of those stories that I’m glad you covered so that I didn’t have to.

    OTOH, it’s a change to see something in DC where the cover up is in the public interest.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ginny-Saul/748811208 Ginny Saul

    LMAO VERY true- love it

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ginny-Saul/748811208 Ginny Saul

    Great Story about a BAD subject- glad you are ok, but man, what won’t these morons do for attention?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003232872834 Becca Lower

    He could have covered the private bits with his hat. Oh, never mind…

  • jwallin

    My first question is how the F’ did they get inside? Who decided it was ok to let these people into the building?

    I smell a Democrap operative and a willing pressitute.

    How convenient that there was someone to take photos?

    They should be charged with trespass and fined.

  • Richard. McEnroe

    She’s probably a lovely person, but Hathaway is only hot to people who think Audrey Hepburn coulda stood to lose a few pounds.

  • M. Thompson

    “We want more, and everyone else to pay for it!” is their battle cry.

    And I’m not sympathetic.

  • http://www.leftbankofthecharles.com/ Charles

    Hathaway is more cool than hot. It’s that “poor girl needs a sandwich” sex appeal.

    But if you’re going to invite Brad Pitt to the naked protest without also inviting Angelina Jolie, well you just haven’t got your priorities straight.

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  • http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ Evi L. Bloggerlady

    It should be a BSC post!

  • http://twitter.com/richard_mcenroe richard mcenroe

    Considering Pitt’s fairly notorious personal hygiene issues, it’s probably a bad idea either way.

  • Quartermaster

    Alas, it wasn’t covered enough.

  • http://twitter.com/richard_mcenroe richard mcenroe

    BTW, that Bleacher Report recommendation at the bottom of the comments just tried to dump multiple viruses on my laptop.

  • http://boogieforward.us/ K-Bob

    Overheard in the choom-room:

    Gay Leftist: Hey, I know what, let’s get together and expose our dicks, so we can encourage a bunch of assholes to come up with some shit that lets us keep on doing stupid stuff with our dicks!

    Straight Leftist:Sounds good to me! Can I show my tits?

    Gay Leftist:I guess, just don’t wag ‘em in my face. I want to make sure I show up on camera.

    Straight Leftist:Don’t you mean ‘bounce’?

    Gay Leftist:Wag, bounce, what’s the difference?

    Straight Leftist:Probably about four inches.

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