The conversation is heating up in the new culture war, with some commentators accusing President Obama of breaking the law. In the conservative political blog Town Hall, columnist Ben Shapiro today (9/30/09) attacks the May 12, 2009, White House briefing for 60 artists and community organizers on "Art, Community, Social Justice, National Recovery." Shapiro, referring to reports from Arlene Goldbard, the Pratt Center for Community Development, State Voices and the Nathan Cummings Foundation, says government agents were there, including Mario Garcia Durham, NEA director of presenting, along with donors to the Obama presidential campaign. Dunham allegedly told the group that "government and its policies should be shaped by participants' voices in connection with the NEA." Shapiro says that's illegal under the Anti-Lobbying Act and the Hatch Act. "This is about an administration that sees no problem with using its resources to entrench an extra-governmental mass movement it can mobilize at a moment's notice," says Shapiro. [LINK]