Etc.

I'm sorry. We'll put it back.

The roof and walls of the stable appear to be made of bubble wrap. Above it glows a stylized star of Bethlehem constructed from five overlapping McDonald's golden arches and attached at the top of what looks like an old chrome umbrella shaft. Mary and Joseph (also made of recycled materials) stand beside a tiny crib that rests on what may be three blocks of clear lucite that have been glued together. And now, because he asked janitors at City Hall in Linz, Austria, to toss it all into the trash, Franz Dobusch may be the most unpopular man in town. Who is Franz Dobusch? Well, he is the mayor, and when word of what he'd done got out, it angered fans of the artist who came up with the design. Hannelore Rauter, a fellow Austrian whose work with ceramics has won her international acclaim, departed from her usual medium to craft the "green" nativity scene in the hope that it would inspire viewers to "step back and become more reflective" about the overcommercialization of Christmas. Clearly, Dobusch, who mistook the display for junk, didn't get the point – at least, not until the complaints began arriving on his desk. Groused one protester: "People had come from miles away to see this ... but were turned away disappointed." Oh, all right, His Honor finally said (although not in so many words), ordering that the eco-creche be retrieved from the trash and returned to his outer office, where it now is the only decoration for the holidays.