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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial><A
title=http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/smithsonian-removes-video-ant-covered-ch
href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/smithsonian-removes-video-ant-covered-ch"><STRONG><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Smithsonian Pulls Video of Ant-Covered Jesus But Leaves
Other 'Homoerotic' Images on Display</FONT></STRONG></A><BR><FONT
color=#000000><FONT face="Times New Roman"><STRONG>(CNSNews.com)</STRONG> -
The federally funded National Portrait Gallery, part of the Smithsonian
Institution, announced Tuesday that it will remove from one of its exhibitions a
video that includes images of ants swarming over Jesus Christ on a crucifix, but
it will keep in place images of naked brothers kissing, men in chains, Ellen
DeGeneres grabbing her breasts, a "homoerotic" painting of a male nude, and a
painting made with nail polish and the cremated ashes of a man with AIDS who
committed suicide. “It was not the museum’s intention to offend," Martin
Sullivan, the director of the National Portrait Gallery,
said.</FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial><FONT color=#000000><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><A
href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/smithsonian-removes-video-ant-covered-ch">http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/smithsonian-removes-video-ant-covered-ch</A></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV><FONT
color=#0000ff face=Arial><FONT color=#000000><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
color=#0000ff face=Arial></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial></FONT>
<DIV><BR><BR></FONT></FONT><B><A
title=http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/boehner-and-cantor-smithsonian-pull-exhi
href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/boehner-and-cantor-smithsonian-pull-exhi"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Boehner and Cantor to Smithsonian: Pull Exhibit Featuring
Ant-Covered Jesus or Else</FONT></A><FONT color=#000000
face="Times New Roman"> <BR>(CNSNews.com)</FONT></B><FONT color=#000000
face="Times New Roman"> - House Speaker-to-be John Boehner (R-Ohio) is
telling the Smithsonian Institution to pull an exhibit that features images of
an ant-covered Jesus or else face tough scrutiny when the new Republican
majority takes control of the House in January. House Majority Leader-to-be Eric
Cantor (R.-Va.), meanwhile, is calling on the Smithsonian to pull the exhibit
and warning the federally funded institution that it will face serious questions
when Congress considers the next budget.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 face="Times New Roman"><A
href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/boehner-and-cantor-smithsonian-pull-exhi">http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/boehner-and-cantor-smithsonian-pull-exhi</A></FONT></DIV><FONT
color=#000000 face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial></FONT>
<DIV><BR><BR></FONT><B><A
title=http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/american-muslim-group-calls-common-decen
href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/american-muslim-group-calls-common-decen"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">American Muslim Group Calls for ‘Common Decency’ and
‘Mutual Respect’ -- But Not Removal of Exhibition Depicting Ant-Covered
Jesus </FONT></A><BR><FONT color=#000000
face="Times New Roman">(CNSNews.com) </FONT></B><FONT color=#000000
face="Times New Roman">– The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it
supports “common decency” and “mutual respect,” but CAIR spokesman Ibrahim
Hooper stopped short of calling for the removal of an exhibit that features
images of an ant-covered Jesus and “homoerotic” art currently on display at the
Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. “We don’t want to be in a
position of banning art or censoring art,” Hooper told CNSNews.com on
Tuesday.</FONT><BR><FONT color=#000000 face="Times New Roman"><A
href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/american-muslim-group-calls-common-decen">http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/american-muslim-group-calls-common-decen</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=932133020-01122010><EM><STRONG><FONT
size=4>Art</FONT></STRONG></EM></SPAN></DIV></FONT>
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