Associated Press Jan. 28th, 2002.
Justice Dept. Covers Nude Statues

WASHINGTON (AP) - It's a Washington cover-up of a different sort. The Justice Department spent $8,000 on blue drapes to hide two giant, partially nude statues in the Great Hall of the agency's headquarters, said spokesman Shane Hix. The Great Hall is an ornate, two-story room that the department
uses for ceremonies and special speeches. The drapes were occasionally hung in front of the aluminum Art Deco statues before formal events, "for aesthetics" Hix said. The department used to rent the drapes, but has now purchased them and left them hanging.

ABC News reported that Attorney General John Ashcroft, a religious and conservative man, ordered the statues covered because he didn't like being photographed in front of them. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Ashcroft has been photographed several times in front of the female statue
that represents the Spirit of Justice. The 10- to 12-foot statue has its arms raised and a toga draped over its body, but a single breast is completely exposed.

The other statue, of a man with a cloth covering his midsection, is called the Majesty of Law. Hix said the Justice Department bought the drapes to avoid having to rent them every time the agency had a formal event. He also
said Ashcroft was not involved in the decision. "The attorney general was not even aware of the situation," he said. "Obviously, he has more important things to do."

I remember a number of years ago Atty.Gen. Ed Meese's "unveiling" the final report of the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography in the Justice Dept. foyer, against the backdrop of the statue of justice with one breast bared. I thought the irony was perfect. Meese would be a raving liberal compared to the prudishness of his successor, John Ashcroft. Ashcroft, a preacher's son, is also a spiritual descendant from a branch of Christianity that is very suspicious of all things physical, let alone sexual. The statues represent classical depictions of justice, glorifying human life and the quest for fairness. It also depicts our physical body as part of the goodness of that life. That the Justice Dept. has the time and energy to waste on draping the two statues for "special" events shows the mindset of officials who are in deep denial about their own humanity, let alone their bodies. The next thing on their agenda will be the appointing of a commission to assess whether the Statue of Liberty's breasts may be too large for public decency!

I hope the cloth remains intact, otherwise John Ashcroft might rape the Spirit of Justice and then claim that she was 'asking for it'.

These guys are proof positive there is a Taliban in America!