and the work that was under attack, from serrano to marlon riggs to my work and lots of other people, is provocative work. it is--it's intentionally designed to raise questions, and, a lot of times, it was questions about sexuality and sexual identity. maybe it was about the american flag. maybe it was about use of christian symbols. and the left didn't make a good case for why work that raises uncomfortable questions should be funded. it's not a sound bite argument you can make. and, actually, i think a lot of people on the left were uncomfortable. i mean, some of the people would say stuff like, "well, there's been a few mistakes." and you're sitting there, and they would name you! and you're just like, "oh, no." with friends like this... but, really, most of the money goes for blonde children in iowa doing finger painting and ancestor worship at major cultural institutions, and we don't have a lot of these, you know, homos running around. finger painting can be provocative in its own right, i think. it can be. is there art that so deeply offends you that you would cut it off? how d