WHEN IN ROME, DO AS THE IRANIANS DO?

Related: James Lileks adds:

If there’s anything that feels like a cold thumb pressed on the heart, it’s stories like this: Italy covers up nude statues for Iranian president visit. (I was disappointed that no one responded to tweets about the story with ancient swipes about John Ashcroft. C’mon, guys, this moral relativism isn’t going to relavatize itself.) Here you have a government whose leaders exhibit antipathy to every achievement of the West from the least to the greatest, and Italy — seat of it all, in so many ways — cringes and whimpers. At least France canceled a dinner over the issue of wine, and while you could say “that’s all they care about,” I doubt the French would cover up the odd unholstered bosom, particularly if the artist was French.

Especially if the artist was French.

Heh, indeed.™