Not quite as ridiculous as public funding for "emerging talent" in the rock/pop business, but still it's nice to see that elected representatives in the town I grew up in are debating whether it's right to use public money for tsunami relief. All those "government is everything" types will just see this as stinginess, but I think these sorts of expenditures should be debated.
I just cannot imagine such a debate in Ireland, where spending public money in such a cause is not even a matter for debate. Only the amount is debated.
