"And what . . . of Monica?"

You may remember this photo, or many like it:

When the statue of the Spirit of Justice in the lobby of the DoJ Justice banished behind a blue drape (left) to prevent exposing her womanly attributes behind Attorney General Ashcroft during his press conferences, most of us were content to write this off on the prudish Ashcroft exercising the censorious side of his nature.

Some also speculated that no Bush appointee could look upon the figure of Justice without his head bursting into flames.

Turns out there was more to the story--specifically, there was a woman-behind-the-man-behind-the-draped-woman angle. From the National Journal, passed along by TPMMuckraker:

Sources tell us that none other than Monica Goodling, former aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, was responsible for draping over the ample bosoms of the Art Deco statues in the Justice Department's Great Hall during the reign of the prim John Ashcroft.

Wait, wait--I'm pretty sure I've seen this one: The Monica and the anti-Monica. One flashed her thong at a president; one prevented an attorney general from being photographed in the same room with the sculpture of a bare-breasted woman. While you decide which represents a greater threat to the republic in her own right, consider this:

If the two ever collided in the real world, both their universes would be obliterated!

(Photos via BBC.com and Startrek.com.)