And Statues are free to be naked once again

[Spiffor]

TLC, they're Americans

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
I can sort of understand the unease with an exposed breast, but drapping up a bare-chested male statute? What kind of medieval troglodytes are you across the pond?

I don't understand the unease about uncovered breasts. I also happen to support the right of women to breastfeed in public.

I suppose some religious types simply aren't happy unless they're busily banning, forbidding or denying things, especially to the general public.

Even the Ummayyads had paintings of naked women... poor, frigid Ashcroft.


There is also usually a double standard in Western culture prevalent since the end of the Classical era- female nakedness is acceptable, but show an adult penis ?

Then let the fire fall...

[DRoseDARs]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
I can sort of understand the unease with an exposed breast, but drapping up a bare-chested male statute? What kind of medieval troglodytes are you across the pond?

ASScroft was trying to diminish the absurdity of his draping the female statue by doing the same thing to the male one.



Obviously, that just made the whole affair that much more absurd.

[Whoha]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
I can sort of understand the unease with an exposed breast, but drapping up a bare-chested male statute? What kind of medieval troglodytes are you across the pond?

probably didn't want to have some kind of statue discrimination lawsuit on his hands for only covering up one.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Re: And Statues are free to be naked once again

Originally posted by The Emperor Fabulous I think we should charge Ashcroft $8,000 for his pointless display of puritanism.

Stupid twit. Keeping them REUALARLY robed during senior officail appearances began in the Clinton adminnistration, under Janet Reno, with rented drapes (from a connected contrator) at a cost of about $5000 per event, What Ashcroft change was to save tens of thousand of taxpayer dollars by buying the drapes, instead of renting them. Buying them was to cut off a boondoggle to a Clinton crony.

The impetus to thus robbed them came from some the behavior of some ******* photogs (statered When Meese was AG, but the First few occasion with drapes was when Thornburg was AG). The stature are so high, that to even get them and the speaker in the picture, they had to dive out of their seat and lie on the floor in front of the podium. It was to stop this disruptive behavior that the practice began, rather than excessive modesty by the various AGs in differnet admins. I think it would have been better simply to ban any press member who pulled the stupid stunt (and one that makes the security personel a bit nervous), but I guess they the AGs did not want to open that can of worms and take the heat for that.


And yes all htis info was readily available in stories from major news services, even as the Urban Legend of Ashcroft and the drapes was evolving.

[Spiffor]

Re: Re: And Statues are free to be naked once again

Originally posted by Lefty Scaevola
rented drapes (from a connected onctrator) at a cost of about $5000 per event

How come some drapes can be so fricking expansive?!

[Theben]

U.S. govt. We had those $8000 toilet seats back in the 80's, remember?

[Lefty Scaevola]

Never done high end party/reception/ball etc rentals have you? It was high but not as high as you might think, and include the service cost of traspoting them, putting them up, and taking them down for each occasion. I have spent a few thousands on larger scale but lower end party rentals on a few ocassions.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Lefty Scaevola
Never done high end party/reception/ball etc rentals have you? It was high but not as high as you might think, and include the service cost of traspoting them, putting them up, and taking them down for each occasion. I have spent a few thousands on larger scale but lower end party rentals on a few ocassions.

How many statues should be covered, and how big they are?

Unless the workers get paid in the hundreds/thousands for doing the job (which I doubt), the money goes mostly to the drape itself and to the administrative stuff for that kind of crap. What kind of drape can cost so many thousands?

[alva]

There's a British museum (forgot which one), that has hundreds of chopped off penises lying in drawers from statues from the Victotian days.

[Spiffor]

[Lefty Scaevola]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Unless the workers get paid in the hundreds/thousands for doing the job (which I doubt), the money goes mostly to the drape itself and to the administrative stuff for that kind of crap. What kind of drape can cost so many thousands?

For low end party rentals (not spetecalar chairs, tables, table cloths, decorations) it is mostly service charge, the cost of buying the equivilent all the stuff (remember it is typically well used and depreciated) would typically on a SMALL mulitple (maybe 2 to 4 times) of the rental. The ratio would be diffent for high end stuff like you would have at a fancy ball or recpetion.
As for top quality drapes they are pricey, particularly in unusual sizes. Good standard size window drapes for a small house can runs to several thousands. I have seen over $1000 for just one room.
Top quality material and workmnaship for windows drapes is one of those status things (I get along fine with mini-blinds, myself)

[The Emperor Fabulous]

Lefty: Thanks for the insult. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find anything on that, apart from some conservative rantings on blogs and message boards. Doesn't even seem like you guys can get the numbers straight, as I've seen $2,000, $3,000, $5,000, and $8,000 being thrown around.

A qualified source would be nice.

Some things that followed Ashcroft:

POLICE IN TEXAS TOWN FORCE GALLERY TO COVER BREASTS OF CLASSIC NUDE


PILOT POINT, TEXAS

Wes Miller, who owns the gallery containing a mural of a nude woman, was told by police officers that unless the nude's breasts were covered he would be in violation of Texas Penal Code 43.24 which bans the sale, distribution and display of material "harmful to minors."

The artist, who painted the nude, draped a bright yellow strip of canvas with the words "crime scene" across Eve's bare breasts. Next to the mock crime scene was a black banner stating: "Temporarily censored." The police are satisfied that the strip of canvas across the bare breasts complies with the law.

The Texas office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) have come to the gallery's and artist's defense.

The mural is reminiscent of Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" fresco in the Sistine Chapel. It depicts a large hand pointing to an apple and a classical female nude on the other side contemplating the same apple.

TENNESSEE ARTS COMMISSION ESTABLISHES 'NO NUDES' POLICY AT ITS GALLERY

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

The Tennessee Arts Commission and its gallery, which are funded by the state of Tennessee and the National Endowment for the Arts, established a "no nudes" policy recently

The gallery had accepted an exhibition proposal from artist Ernie Sandidge in November 2001. After he submitted his work, he was told via a telephone call about the policy. However, after numerous requests, neither the gallery nor the arts commission would produce the policy in writing.

Svetlana Mintcheva, Arts Advocacy Coordinator for the National Coalition Against Censorship said the arts commission's "alleged policy is ridiculously short-sighted and does a great disservice to not only artists but also the many art lovers in Tennessee."

[Dr. Nick]

And we thought Cromwell was a puritan...

[Lefty Scaevola]

Originally posted by The Emperor Fabulous
Lefty: Thanks for the insult. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find anything on that, apart from some conservative rantings on blogs and message boards. Doesn't even seem like you guys can get the numbers straight, as I've seen $2,000, $3,000, $5,000, and $8,000 being thrown around.

I see a lot of variance on the rent costs as well, from 2000 to 5000, (and 7900 to 8650 on the purchase) with the best figure seeming to bee about 2100. could have been different amounts at different times over the 7 and a fraction years Reno was there, with perhaps an extra cost on some sort of rush job or mulitple invoices for different parts of the cost on each rental (maybe separte of for just the rent part and for the delivery, install, uninstall, and take home).
The major news sites do not seem to keep older news, but it was regular news sites I saw the story back then (and before, since I can recall the first or the Meese + *** pictures from the Reagan admin).