[at-l] What is "TV Aesthetics" anyway?

[dfaddleton@mindspring.com (dfaddleton@mindspring.com)]

To actually see what the attorney general wants covered, go to:

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/01/28/life.statues.reut/index.html
Why do I think the 8K for curtains could better be spent on the AT?
(That equals four thru-hikes!!)
Why do I think Americans generally qualify as prudes? 
What is "TV Aesthetics" anyway?



January 28, 2002 Posted: 9:54 PM EST (0254 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A cover-up at the U.S. Justice Department? 
A Justice Department spokeswoman said Monday about $8,000 has been spent for curtains to conceal two Art Deco aluminum statues of semi-nude figures in the building's Great Hall. 
At one end of the stage is a 1930s era female statue representing the "Spirit of Justice." Though she wears a toga-style garment, one breast is exposed. At the other end of the stage, a male statue represents the "Majesty of Justice," and has a cloth draped by his waist. 
Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock said the decision to install the curtains was made by Attorney General John Ashcroft's aide who handles advance work. "It was done for TV aesthetics," she said. 
When Ashcroft November 8 announced plans to restructure the Justice Department to focus on terrorism after the September 11 hijacked plane attacks, photographers took pictures showing him with the towering female statue in the background. 
"He did not know this was being done," Comstock said. "The attorney general has more important things to do than worry about what appears in pictures." 
The statues were hidden by curtains on November 20, when President Bush came to the Justice Department to name the building after the assassinated former attorney general, Robert Kennedy. 
Those curtains were rented. Comstock said the decision then was made to buy dark-blue curtains and install them because it would be more "cost efficient." 
Monday, a day with no public events in the Great Hall, the curtains, with the Justice Department emblem in the center, were placed across the stage, concealing the statues. 
A former Justice Department official e-mailed a copy of an article about the statues to colleagues, adding the caption, "homeland security?" 
The most famous picture of the female statue came in the 1980s, when Attorney General Edwin Meese released the final report of his commission on pornography. 
Copyright 2002 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.