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Authorities removed a statue of Barack Obama from a park in the Indonesian capital due to a public backlash and moved it Monday to a nearby elementary school that the U.S. president attended as a child. The bronze statue, inspired by a childhood photograph of a 10-year-old Obama in shorts with a butterfly perched on an outstretched thumb, had been targeted by critics since it was erected in the Jakarta park last December. Detractors argued that an Indonesian hero should have been honored instead, noting that Obama still could pursue policies that hurt Indonesia's interests. Obama, whose American mother married...

The two-metre bronze was removed from Menteng Park and taken to nearby Menteng One primary school, which Obama attended in the late 1960s, vice-principal Akhmad Solikhin told AFP. “Workers hired by the school, local government and alumni spent an hour removing the statue with electric equipment,” he added. “We’ll need another two to three days to place the statue at the compound near the school gate so the public can see it when they pass by,” Solikhin added. The decision to move the statue comes after more than 57,000 people joined a page on social networking website Facebook calling for...

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) - Patriot’s Point Development Authority heard a presentation that included the suggestion of erecting a male counterpart of the Statue of Liberty in the Charleston Harbor. At Tuesday’s monthly board meeting, Rodney Cook, of the National Monument Foundation suggested that a male version of Lady Liberty could house a museum about South Carolina’s role in the Civil War. The statue would be the same size as the one in New York City, and cost about $150 million. Most of that money would come from the private sector. Nick Tompkins, the spokesperson for Patriot’s Point wrote in an...

BEREA, Ky., - A Kentucky KFC is offing free chicken for the return of a $1,200 bronze bust of KFC founder Colonel Sanders stolen from in front of the fast-food eatery. Rhonda Hall, manager of the KFC in Berea, said authorities told them four young men were spotted fleeing the scene in a silver passenger car, WLKY-TV, Louisville, Ky., reported Monday. "It's like, this big, his whole head. It's really detailed, all the features and everything. Some employees were in the dining room when four young guys came in," Hall said. "When she came back to the dining area, it...

I came across a box of WWII Letters and such. I thought this was nice. It was a Christmas Card (Sorry I used the "C" word) and I know that it is well past Christmas. The sentiment written by the sender was very nice, and it still applies today: He wrote:"To some future time that will be more like the Christmas we all once knew, to all who will will make that dream come true, someday by virtues of their sacrifices.Signed by : Philip John Taylor.

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A recently-erected statue of President Obama as a 10-year-old boy will be removed from a public park here, city officials said Friday, bowing to vociferous criticism on Facebook just a month before Mr. Obama is scheduled to visit Indonesia. The statue will be relocated as soon as possible to an elementary school that Mr. Obama attended during the four years he spent as a child here, the governor of Jakarta, Fauzi Bowo, told reporters. In December, the city unveiled the 43-inch tall bronze statue in a park in Menteng, the neighborhood where Mr. Obama lived with his...

A statue of US President Barack Obama as a boy will be removed from a park in the Indonesian capital due to public opposition, officials said Friday, just weeks before Obama visits his old hometown. The Jakarta governor's office confirmed that the two-metre (six-foot) bronze would be removed from Menteng Park and placed at the nearby Menteng One primary school where Obama spent part of his childhood in the late 1960s. The decision comes after 56,500 people joined a page on social networking website Facebook calling for the statue to be removed and replaced by a memorial to an...

First we had the story of Indonesia considering tearing down the Obama statue. This was back on Jan 25. Then, today, news is out Obama is planning a family trip to Indonesia. Check it out here: RescueMission

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A city in Russia's south is selling its bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, as it can no longer afford the cost of repairs, Russian media reported Wednesday. The 14-tonne, balding figure has stood upright with one arm outstretched -- one of several typical Lenin poses -- in the main square of Voronezh, some 500 km (311 miles) southwest of Moscow, for 60 years, state-run Vesti-24 television showed. But the city-owned company responsible for his upkeep has gone bankrupt and is looking for a new owner who can afford present repairs costing...

The statue of Obama as a 10-year-old was installed in Menteng park in central Jakarta in December 2009 to mark the four years he attended a local primary school there while living in Jakarta. A month later, a campaign to pull down the statue has gathered momentum in the world's most populous Muslim nation which not so long ago embraced Obama almost as a native son. By Wednesday, a Facebook group called Take Down the Barack Obama Statue in Menteng Park had attracted over 55,500 members and local newspaper the Jakarta Post this week reported the group had filed a...

A small ditty from the folks at Take Down the Barack Obama Statue in Taman Menteng Park.

JAKARTA — Indonesian authorities said Monday they are considering a petition to tear down a statue of US President Barack Obama as a boy, only a month after the bronze was unveiled in Jakarta. The statue of "Little Barry" -- as Obama was known when he lived in the capital in the late 1960s -- stands in central Jakarta's Menteng Park, a short walk from the US president's former elementary school. Critics say the site should have been used to honour an Indonesian and 55,000 people have joined a page on social networking website Facebook calling for the statue to...

It seems that some people in Indonesia aren't so happy about the new statue depicting Barack Obamain their country. Are they disgusted with the false idolatry of a man who's done pretty much nothing? Or are they just mad because they haven't gotten a stimulus check yet?

A priceless ancient Roman statue has been discovered being used to decorate a flower bed in a housing estate. The headless sculpture of an emperor is believed to have been stolen some time in the 1930s and then used during the construction of a posh private square in Naples, Italy. It is thought to date back to the 2nd century BC and may once have stood in the grand gardens of a local palace. Police have now restored the statue to the city's archaeological museum after a race against time to beat the Mafia to the treasure. "We knew...

Archaeologists have discovered a monumental statue of an ancient black Egyptian pharaoh of the Nubian 25th Dynasty in Dangeil, Sudan, about 350 kilometres northeast of the capital, Khartoum. The granite statue of the warrior pharaoh Taharqa weighs one ton, according to its discoverer, Dr Caroline Rocheleau of the North Carolina Museum of Art... The statues of two other Nubian pharaohs were also discovered... Taharqa was ruler of both Egypt and Nubia (Kush) during the 25th Dynasty, which was based in Nubia, which had a long history of pyramid building, apparently independent of Egypt. His reign is dated from 690 BC...

A public art installation depicting Russian Communist leader Vladimir Lenin and a feminized Chairman Mao Zedong in the heart of Richmond's business district has the whole town talking. “When I went to the gym at 5:30 this morning it’s all people were talking about,” said Richmond city Coun. Derek Dang, who saw the piece for the first time Wednesday. “People just can’t believe it.” The large stainless steel sculpture is part of the Vancouver Biennale, a city-wide celebration of public art. The piece — Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head — was created by...

Statue Honoring Sen. Ben Nelson Still a Go in HometownMcCook, Nebraska Posted: 8:53 PM Dec 23, 2009 Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson's hometown is going ahead with plans to erect a statue in his honor despite vocal opposition to the Democrat's support of health care reform.

Non-governemnt organization called Friends of Obama initiated the statue of young Barack Obama in Obama’s former neighborhood in Indonesia, Jakarta.

Non-governemnt organization called Friends of Obama initiated the statue of young Barack Obama in Obama’s former neighborhood in Indonesia, Jakarta.

BEIJING (AP) - The Chinese have learned English from his speeches and celebrated the way he rolls up his sleeves. Now President Barack Obama is finally coming, and he's being greeted with "Oba Mao" T-shirts and a statue of him that bursts into flames. Sunday's arrival of a U.S. president admired for his charisma is already a source of profit and brief fame for some Chinese. Strangest is the burning Obama, tucked away in a Beijing warehouse. Artist Liu Bolin hopes Obama can take time from his visit to drop by. "He's so hot right now, so I wanted to...