Sunday, December 19, 2004
The Holiday (*) Capitol
by Tom Bozzo
The attraction for John was the train circling the base of the tree. Our splendid Capitol? Eh. The reflective strips on his coat wrought havoc with the flash.
Julia says, maybe next year.
Where is that train?
Author, son, and a bit of tree, as the shutter just beats the squirming toddler headed for the floor.
I have to take issue with one thing at Althouse. She claims biblical imagery in the "Legislation" mosaic near the base of the dome (photo chez Althouse -- I didn't get a clear shot). (**) Now, I'm not a professional iconographer, but while the figure of Legislation may indeed have a long white beard, I'm not accustomed to seeing a bare-chested Moses composing the Ten Commandments himself. (And check out the figure holding up Legislation's bench. What would John Ashcroft say? What does John Gard do?!) Context matters a lot in these. Here is the accompanying mosaic of "Government." Biblical or classical? Hmmm...
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(*) I leave wrangling over the Establishment Clause to others.
(**) Either that, or she's making a little joke that a certain segment of her readership might not find very funny if they got it.
For our Sunday morning outing, we bundled the kids up against the seven-degree chill and took them to the Square to see the holiday tree at the Capitol. For a bigger-picture view with relatively clear pictures of the displays, see this post at Althouse. Here, we have babies.
The attraction for John was the train circling the base of the tree. Our splendid Capitol? Eh. The reflective strips on his coat wrought havoc with the flash.
Julia says, maybe next year.
Where is that train?
Author, son, and a bit of tree, as the shutter just beats the squirming toddler headed for the floor.
I have to take issue with one thing at Althouse. She claims biblical imagery in the "Legislation" mosaic near the base of the dome (photo chez Althouse -- I didn't get a clear shot). (**) Now, I'm not a professional iconographer, but while the figure of Legislation may indeed have a long white beard, I'm not accustomed to seeing a bare-chested Moses composing the Ten Commandments himself. (And check out the figure holding up Legislation's bench. What would John Ashcroft say? What does John Gard do?!) Context matters a lot in these. Here is the accompanying mosaic of "Government." Biblical or classical? Hmmm...
---------
(*) I leave wrangling over the Establishment Clause to others.
(**) Either that, or she's making a little joke that a certain segment of her readership might not find very funny if they got it.
