It’s called “My Sweet Lord” and it’s a sculpture six feet tall of the crucified Christ, completely naked. A press release advertising the sculpture displayed at the Lab Gallery in the Roger Smith Hotel in New York City describes it as “Jesus, the 485,460 calorie Messiah.”

As if its display during Holy Week weren’t enough, viewers are invited to lick and bite off pieces of the sculpture before it is taken down on Easter Sunday.

The coverage I saw of the outrage included mostly non-Christians on the street who were sympathetic to the many who have voiced outrage so far. (Artist’s Chocolate Jesus Statue in New York Sparks Anger, by Larry McShane on www.myfoxny.com)

This Washington Post blog was pointed out as an instance of media bias by Newsbusters:WashPost: Republican Spoke ‘In Anger,’ Democrat Had ‘Fervor of a Preacher’.

They give this as an example of the implicit bias:

The comments infuriated many Democrats, who rose to speak for the bill. The most eloquent was Del. Melvin L. Stukes (D-Baltimore), who spoke with the fervor of a preacher. He compared opposition to undocumented students with the 1700s view of slaves as less than human.

"Do I need anyone to remind me of the mind-set that existed then and still exists today, that some people were considered three-fifths of a human being?" Stukes asked, his voice rising. "Are we still saying that some people are less than whole? I don’t think so."[House Heats Up Over Bill to Give Illegal Immigrants In-State Tuition]

The three-fifths thing has always annoyed me. It was the slaveowners who wanted slaves counted, for purposes of electoral apportionment, as equal to free men. It was the free states that objected. Slaves would have been better off being counted as zero for electoral purposes, since it was their owners who had the vote, and who would benefit by having extra pro-slavery congressmen.

But as of 2007, an illegal alien is not counted as three-fifths of citizen, for purposes of electoral apportionment. Nor as zero, which is what you might expect the Census to do. For purposes of electoral apportionment, he’s counted exactly the same as if he were a citizen. See the first thing I ever wrote for VDARE.com, more than six years ago:Immigration’s Rotten Borough dynamic…

Shortly before the Illinois House recently voted to approve driving privileges for illegal aliens, Rep. Edward Acevedo (D-Chicago) urged his colleagues in Spanish, “Never forget.”

“I ask you today, don’t forget where you come from. It’s from the families of immigrants,” Acevedo said. “This country was built on the blood, sweat and tears of immigrants who came to this country looking for opportunity.”

Like all those who aid and abet illegals Acevedo, who introduced this legislation, was attempting to blur the distinction between legal immigrants and those who openly show their contempt for our laws and sovereignty, [Immigrant driver bill approved by House, by Monique Garcia, Chicago Tribune, March 29, 2007]

Yes, Illinoisans must never forget that they have been sold out by their “law makers” in Springfield [PDF]and the various law enforcement agencies sworn to uphold the law, including the gutless Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.

Should the Illinois Senate also approve this bill, there is no doubt that the state’s leading defender of illegal aliens, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, will sign it because he thinks Illinoisans are stupid enough to believe their roads will be “safer” even though he and Mr. Acevedo don’t believe it themselves. This vote was not about making illegals good drivers by requiring them to receive the necessary drivers education and to purchase the required auto insurance, and both pandering politicians know it. Their agenda is quite different from that of the ordinary taxpayer whose hard-earned money is used to provide services to Illinois’ estimated 500,000 illegal aliens.

What Illinoisans also must not forget is that their state, already a major magnet for illegals because of jobs, instate tuition and acceptance of Mexico’s matricula consular ID card, will become even more so if illegals are given driving privileges.

Perhaps it is time for Secretary of State Jesse White (call him, toll free), who has chosen to remain “neutral” on this issue, to consider removing “Land of Lincoln” from the state’s license plates and replacing it with “Illegal alien-friendly.”

On Tuesday night, the evening news of France’s major TV networks all opened with dramatic reports of ongoing rioting at the Gare du Nord, one of Paris’ main rail and metro junctions. Up till now, debate in the run-up to French presidential voting has gingerly stepped around the issue of the 2005 banlieu riots. Suddenly, and as if on cue, the rioters have once again burst upon the political scene, this time in the heart of Paris.

From a purely literary point of view, their timing couldn’t have been better. In an electoral context increasingly defined around questions of national identity, it’s as if the rioters wished to illustrate the perils of mass immigration.

Tuesday’s rioting began as a protest against the rough arrest of a 32-year old Congolese man who jumped a metro stile and then assaulted police officers. But it soon spiraled out of control, as hundreds of young people, alerted by friends, rushed to the station to confront police and loot local businesses. Like the man whose arrest set off the riots – an illegal alien with a long criminal record and an outstanding deportation order — most of the rioters were of black African origin.

Yesterday’s violence recalls earlier episodes. In March 2005, hundreds of young black and Arab men turned out to rob and beat students protesting a recently passed education reform bill. In November of the same year, similar groups set fire to suburban communities across the country in what has since become known as “les émeutes”, three weeks of violence from which France has yet to recover. A year later, rioters commemorated the events of November 2005 by, among other things, nearly burning to death a young woman on a bus in Marseilles.

Despite a request on the part of France’s newly appointed Interior Minister François Baroin to refrain from “surfing” on Tuesday’s events, the Gare du Nord riots were immediately politicized, with all major candidates advancing their preferred interpretation. In an increasingly insecure and resentful France, however, the images on the television screen spoke for themselves. More than ever, the first round of voting is up in the air.

At 77 years old, this is Jean-Marie Le Pen’s last election. It may also prove to be his vindication. All the worse for France.