Posted on 01/28/2002 6:14:04 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Fed up with having his picture taken during events in the Justice Department's Great Hall in front of semi-nude statues, Attorney General John Ashcroft has reportedly ordered massive draperies to conceal the offending figures -- which have been displayed since the 1930s!
The draperies were installed last week at a cost of just over $8,000, reports ABCNEWS.com's Beverley Lumpkin.
At the center of the controversy: two enormous and stylized but largely naked aluminum statues.
The female figure represents the Spirit of Justice; the male on the right is the Majesty of Justice. The male is clad in only a cloth draped over his essential parts; the female wears a sort of toga-style garment, but one breast is entirely exposed.
Last November, during a press conference announcing new challenges of fighting terrorism, Ashcroft was photographed with the naked breast right over his shoulder!
The snap ran in major papers.
Developing...
Well, two answers: 1) The statue is art. Don't be a prude-a&&. What, yer gonna put speedos on 'David'? and 2) I would have paid a little attention to my backdrop if I was a public figure. Ashcroft made himself look foolish with his lack of attention to detail, so now he's going to make the entire conservative movement look foolish too?
I hate to admit it, but Ashcroft is turning into an embarrassment for us. He did a little early pro-gun stuff but after that he's been burying Clinton shenanigans, implementing the closest thing to a Fascist state he can get away with, and here he comes on the attacks on art. Can the book burnings truly be far behind?
No, I'd prefer being photographed groping it while wearing a Bill Clinton mask.
It's not your call, Dane. It's the call of the people who installed it over 60 years ago. Who are you to decide what is and is not art? Will you be deciding who is a Jew and who is an Aryan next?
LOL!!
IMHO, that statue is not a work of art. It looks like the epitomie of kitsch.
You’re entitled to any opinion you like. But when some knucklehead spends $8,000 of the taxpayer’s money, I’m allowed to bitch about it.
Ashcroft should have moved his podium, himself, like a person in a non-government job would do.
Instead, he spent our money to make an ass of himself.
It COULD be that they think the human body is beautiful when in proportion,and that it will never go out of style or become "dated". Unlike clothing,which goes and comes into style depending on what is "trendy".
As for your concern about children seeing a breast goes,"Yes,you ARE a prude!". I have it on reliable authority that even infants have no trouble at all in zeroing in on one of those things. Some have even been known to suckle and get milk from them without any apparant harm to their character.
Then again,what the hell do I know? Mother's milk could be considered a "gateway drug",since every single drunk that nursed from his mother got his start drinking by drinking at her breast.
Would you like a picture of you as seen in reply #67 to be on every front page in America?
Anyway maybe they can't change where he holds press conferences, due to logistical reasons. That statue is another FDR legacy, I could do without.
ALLRIGHT! How about lead us all in a chorus of "If you're happy and you know it,clank your chains!"?
Accurate; therefore the correct response is nothing. Don't act on existing art pieces in Washington. Nothing is so offensive that he should feel he needs to!
I think NOT! Where the hell is Hay-Raldo when we need him to investigate stuff like this? Let's send him off to some caves right now!
Add this one onto defending the rights of rapists...
Wouldn't bother me a bit. I would concern myself with the message I had to deliver. If small minds watching were distracted by the statue I would feel sorry for them but recognize them for what they were.
Ashcroft should have moved his podium, himself, like a person in a non-government job would do.
Instead, he spent our money to make an ass of himself.
Well if you are going to bitch don't forget FDR. That statue probably cost more than $8,000 in today's dollars.
Btw, would you like to be in a picture Ashcroft is in on every front page in America?
And like I stated before maybe they can't move where the press conferences are at, due to logistical reasons. that is where the podium is and that is where all the electrical outlets used for media is. Would you rather have him spend $100,000 for a new podium and electrical system?
First off, children nurse from their own mother's breast, not a stranger's. Secondly, by the time a child is old enough to grasp the concept of modesty, they are usually no longer breast feeding.
O.K. If preferring statues wear some clothes makes me a prude, I guess I am guilty.
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