Big Lie

Isn't there some commandment about graven images, and not having any? (Isaiah : 44) or
Ten Commandments

How is a freakin' salt stain worthy of the protection of the police? Criminal damage to state supported property? Puh-lease. Give the guy a medal for clearing up the traffic jam instead.

Man charged with defacing Virgin Mary image :

After a man defaced a salt stain that had drawn pilgrims to the Fullerton underpass on the Kennedy Expressway, authorities painted over the image, which many Catholic residents said resembled a popular representation of the Virgin Mary.
Authorities charged Victor Gonzalez, 37, of Chicago Friday with criminal damage to state supported property, a misdemeanor, for allegedly writing with black shoe polish the words “Big Lie” over the image, police spokesman David Banks said. A public telephone listing for Gonzalez could not be found Friday.
Banks said witnesses told police they saw a man on a bicycle writing on the image around 11:35 p.m. Thursday.
Police then directed the Illinois Department of Transportation to paint over the image because of security concerns, IDOT spokesman Matt Vanover said.

{Humor, or lack of, Chicago}

update 5-7-05: some local car wash employees took it upon themselves to scrub the paint off.

But around midday, the suggestion of a veil covering the head of a woman--an image that officials have characterized as a salt stain on the concrete--was visible through the paint. And then two employees of a nearby carwash used their lunch break to scrub away the paint and shoe polish, revealing the unmarred image once again.

“They used the degreaser we use on engines,” said Stan Novotny, a manager at Express Car Wash. “They got most of it off.”
...
About 11:30 p.m., Victor Gonzalez, 37, allegedly rode up to the spot on his bicycle, pulled out a container of black shoe polish and scrawled the words `Big Lie' across the image, police said.

Mandy Gonzalez, 17, who identified herself as his niece, said he believed people visiting the stain were violating the 2nd Commandment (“You shall not make for yourself a graven image...”).

“He said [the image] was a lie,” said his niece. “He said it's not even real, just water and residue from the thing. He said it was a waste of time, that people were wasting their time and money putting candles around it.”

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