Was the White House trying to turn the NEA into its own Department of Propaganda?

"Godwin's Law" was originally stated as thus: "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." "Godwin's Law" was quickly adopted as a rule of internet etiquette or social construction that the guy who fell back on a Hitler analogy had lost the argument.I know that I'm at risk in violating "Godwin's" law with this post, but I hope I'll be excused because (1) I won't do so with words, and (2) I can't help myself.

The images to the right were pulled off the Obama/Biden campaign website by Jay Cost at RealClearPolitics.com.

On August 10 the White House hosted a now-infamous conference call with a number of artists, the transcript of which was posted on BigGovernment.com.

As Fox News reported:

Several officials on the call -- including then-NEA Director of Communications Yosi Sergant, Buffy Wicks, deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Michael Skolnik, political director for hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons -- sought focused efforts by the artists in health care, energy and environment, education and community renewal.

"We're going to need your help, and we're going to come at you with some specific 'asks' here," said Buffy Wicks, deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. "But we know that you guys are ready for it and eager to participate, so one we want to thank you, and two, I hope you guys are ready."

Sergant, who has since been reassigned by the NEA, said on the call that the effort was the first of a "brand new conversation."He told the artists, "Pick -- I would encourage you to pick something, whether it's health care, education, the environment, you know, there's four key areas that the corporation has identified as the areas of service. My task would be to apply artistic, you know, your artistic creative communities' utilities and bring them to the table."

Patrick Courrieleche, one of the artists on the call, first wrote about the experience on the blog Big Hollywood. Courrieleche, 39, of Los Angeles, said the ubiquitous Obama "Hope" poster by artist Shepard Fairey and musician will.i.am's "Yes We Can" song and music video were offered as examples of the artist group's clear impact on Obama's landslide election.

"What I heard was a well thought-out pitch to encourage artists to create art on these issues," he told FOXNews.com in August. "We were told were consulted for a reason, and they specifically stated those issues we should focus on, to plant the seed. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what they're attempting to do."According to a transcript of the call, Skolnik told Courrielche and the other artists that he had "been asked by folks in the White House and folks in the NEA" to participate about a month prior to the call.

"You are the thought leaders," Skolnik told the artists. "You are the ones that, if you create a piece of art or promote a piece of art or create a campaign for a company, and tell our country and our young people sort of what to do and what to be in to; and what's cool and what's not cool. And so I'm hoping that through this group and the goal of all this and the goal of this phone call, is through this group that we can create a stronger community amongst ourselves to get involved in things that we're passionate about as we did during the campaign but continue to get involved in those things, to support some of the president's initiatives, but also to do things that we are passionate about and to push the president and push his administration."

But this was just insult to injury. Earlier, on May 12, the White House and the NEA met with some 60 artists to promote the Administration's agenda. As BigHollywood.com reported, they even proposed creating a "Department of Alternative Thinking." There isn't even a hint of irony here. Orwell couldn't have done a better job with a more believable name for such an aptly named department of Big Brother's government if he tried.

The images from the Obama/Biden website seemed to me to be eerily familiar. That's as far as I'll go. You can look at the images below and draw your own conclusions.