Posted 12/07/2009 06:16:00 PM by Douglas

I'll admit, I really don't want to see Santa nekkid, either, but something about this story reminds me of a Simpson's episode. But what doesn't?

A Texas homeowner who adorned his front lawn with Michelangelo's "David" as a scantily clad Santa got more than just jolly laughs from his neighbors. Barry McBee said he was aiming to make people chuckle by adding a Santa hat and white beard to the 5-foot-tall replica of the Renaissance statue with six-pack abs — an image at odds with usual depictions of a fat, jolly St. Nick.

Then, parents started calling Big Spring city officials saying their children were asking why Santa was naked.

As Marge so effectively pointed out, this statue is a great barometer of how crazy people are over their puritanical indecency laws. When the crazies tried to get David banned from Springfield, she was upset that the kids would miss out on probably the most famous statue in the world, to which Homer replies, "the school is making them go see it!!" But I digress. What's going on in West Texas?

The sculpture on the corner lot along a main road into McBee's subdivision did not violate any town ordinances, and the copy of one of the world's most well-known statues did not involve any obscenity issues, said Linda Sjogren, city attorney in Big Spring, about 290 miles west of Dallas.

Sjogren left McBee a voice mail last week, requesting that he put more clothes on David.

I would have liked to have heard how that conversation went down. "Hey, you're not doing anything wrong, but could you cover up your replica of one of the greatest masterpieces created by mankind so it doesn't offend anyone here that's never taken a look at their crotch with their pants off? Thanks a bunch."