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ICONOGRAPHY
I've been frantically busy lately so I haven't had a chance to comment on the picture of Jesus (hereinafter POJ) at the Slidell Courthouse controversy. The ACLU has filed suit to get the POJ removed. Initially, the folks in Slidell seemed ready to take it down to avoid litigation but some bible thumper legal defense group got involved so off to court they go.
The most interesting thing to me is that the POJ is actually a copy of a 16th Century Russian Orthodox icon. Slidell Mayor Ben Morris, who is as subtle as a kick to the Gentilly area (Dangerblond talk for genitals,) told the press yesterday that the POJ is part of "heritage of Slidell." Say what? Slidell ( a friend of mine who used to live there calls it Slyhell) is a hotbed of Russian Orthodoxy? I did not know that.
Morris has also compared the ACLU to the Taliban and book burning Nazis. The Mayor seems to be channeling Sheriff Harry Lee who specialized in outlandish analogies and overheated rhetoric. Yo, Benjy take a chill pill. Of course, the ACLU respects your right to spout off like an idiot...
My esteemed bi-valvular colleague, Oyster, has an excellent post about the POJ controversy. It includes a picture of the rootin' tootin' Russian President Putin whose name rhymes with Rasputin but has considerably less hair. It would be interesting to see Vlad the neo-impaler with one of those crazy matted beards ala Rasputin. Not bloody likely: KGB men are always "clean cut" and beardless...
Happy 4th!
I'm no constitutional scholar, but the ACLU is right as rain this time and
the Russian Orthodox icon must go. Heritage or not, litigants and
defendants should not be forced to "obey my law" in order to receive
justice in a Slyhell court. If this were an image of Muhammed, Slyhellians
would be marching in the streets to have it removed.
Back in the days of the football game prayer controversy, one of the
Supreme Court Justices said that no one religious group should be allowed
to hijack the government and subject everyone else to their views.