Re: calico cats

[Erwin Morton <e.morton@MINDSPRING.COM>]

Yes, it's on line:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/30/opinion/30DOWD.html

January 30, 2002

              A Blue Burka for Justice

              By MAUREEN DOWD

                had to call Attorney General John
                Ashcroft recently to ask if he had
              instructed his advance team to remove
              naked lady statues and calico cats from his
              vicinity because they were wicked.

              I know it sounds loopy. But with these guys,
              you never know.

              Andrew Tobias, the financial writer and Democratic Party
treasurer, had
              written in his Web column in November that an Ashcroft advance
team "had
              shown up at the American Embassy in The Hague to check out the
digs, saw
              cats in residence, and got nervous. They were worried there
might be a
              calico cat. No, they were told, no calicos. Visible relief.
Their boss, they
              explained, believes calico cats are signs of the devil. (The
advance team also
              spotted a naked woman in the courtyard and discussed its being
covered for
              the visit, though that request was not ultimately made.)"

              Mindy Tucker, then Mr. Ashcroft's press secretary, told me he
had laughed
              and said it was silly.

              I laughed it off, too. Everybody knows that black cats, not
calico, are the
              sign of the devil.

              But then a few days later, a friend who had worked with Bobby
Kennedy at
              Justice and had attended the ceremony naming the building for
R.F.K., told
              me that the Art Deco statue of Justice, 12 feet high, buxom and
partly nude
              under a toga, which had been in the Great Hall since the
department was
              built as a W.P.A. project, had been hidden behind a "blue-nosed
blue
              curtain."

              Again I called Ms. Tucker. She said the curtains concealing the
aluminum
              Spirit of Justice and her male counterpart, the Majesty of Law,
were just up
              for that one event.

              Now it turns out the prudish curtains are a permanent fixture of
the Ashcroft
              era _ at $8,650, $1,375 more than the two statues cost.

              On ABC.com, Beverley Lumpkin, ABC's Justice Department reporter,

              revealed that Mr. Ashcroft had decided to throw the equivalent
of a blue
              burka over the exultant "Minnie Lou," as the statue is fondly
nicknamed, after
              seeing pictures of her breast hovering over his head as he
announced plans to
              fight terrorism. His new spokeswoman, Barbara Comstock, said the
drapes,
              a shade she calls "TV blue," are more photogenic than the
statues and the
              "yellow marbly color of the background." She said Lani Miller,
an advance
              woman, had decided to expurgate art for aesthetic reasons, and
that Mr.
              Ashcroft was not involved.

              "He doesn't look at his press coverage a lot, himself," Ms.
Comstock said.
              "He spends his time dealing with threat assessments and more
important
              business."

              But if he pays no mind to his press, why would he hide historic
art behind
              "TV blue" curtains? Couldn't he just move his podium over a
little?

              Everyone here knows that cover-ups are what get you in trouble,
but they
              just keep doing it.

              Dick Cheney has pulled a TV blue curtain over Enron and the rest
of the
              energy industry's blueprint for fashioning America's energy
policy.

              His highfalutin rationale is that the White House must "preserve
the principle"
              of getting "unvarnished advice from any source." Translated,
"unvarnished
              advice" means a corporate wish list and "any source" is the
wealthy white
              guys who gave us big campaign contributions.

              Who'd have guessed privacy would be the watchword of this
administration?
              Justice Louis Brandeis, in a dissenting opinion for a 1928
wiretapping
              decision, defined privacy as "the right to be left alone," to be
secure in your
              private life. Bush judges don't believe in that.

              Mr. Cheney loftily argues that "privacy" means you can do things
while hiding
              behind the cloak of anonymity. But no one has ever said there
was a right to
              remain private in the course of trying to influence federal
policy. That's one
              reason lobbyists have to register and why there are strict ex
parte rules
              requiring disclosure of contacts with lobbyists at many federal
agencies.

              The vice president and president are really concerned about the
privacy of
              power. They want to do what they want to do, and be accountable
to no
              one. The stonewalling on the energy task force and the
unilateralism on
              Camp X-ray are two sides of the same coin.

              The theme of Bush I is now the theme of Bush II: Trust us, even
if we won't
              let you verify. We know we're right. We answer to no one.

              I, for one, want some answers. Let's start with those calico
cats and Enron
              rats.

Carol Holst wrote:

> gerald bracey wrote:
> >
> > non-testing irresistable note of the day:
> >
> > In the NYT, Maureen Dowd writes, apparently in all seriousness, that
> > John Ashworth thinks calico cats are signs of the devil.
>
> Well, since it came from you I'll venture to ask for the link to this.
> Is it online? Thanks, twisted humor is a good thing....
>
> --
> See you at The Soapbox!
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from the ARN-L list, send command SIGNOFF ARN-L
> to LISTSERV@LISTS.CUA.EDU.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the ARN-L list, send command SIGNOFF ARN-L
to LISTSERV@LISTS.CUA.EDU.