Comments or suggestions: Gerard Van der Leun
The Weaponization of Children

THE NEW BATTLE FLAG now being waved high over the armies of Allah mustering across the world is not the banner of Muhammad, but a flag almost as ancient as the prophet, the Bloody Shirt. Among the weak in arms and courage and righteousness, the Bloody Shirt is their weapon of mass distraction; their attempt to storm the moral high ground and hold it as they wait for their reinforcements of love, peace, compassion and truce to flow in from the far corners of the world screaming "Stop this barbaric war that slaughters, for God's sake, innocent women and children!"

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Jul 31, 2006 10:09 AM | Comments (23)  | QuickLink: Permalink
War at Some Remove

I SIT BEHIND a shaded window in a small bungalow on top of Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. It's a smooth summer day. It began chill but warmed. In front of my porch, the lawn sprinkler makes slow sweeps. Across the street, the school playground plays host to a pick-up game of half-court basketball and a passel of kids on bikes and skateboards, all protected by the helmets and pads modern American parents feel compelled to encumber their children with; that no fall should result in a bruise or a scrape or a moment's discomfort to otherwise mar their standard "perfect" childhood in our standard broken home. It is as if we knew that, not being able to protect our children from our own selfish self-absorption, we have compensated by protecting them from falls.

Pulling back closer to the room in which I work long days, my porch has three large hanging ferns framing a flag and a porch swing....

That was as far as I got in writing about how strange it is to be Editor-in-Chief working with my colleagues to cover the MidEast War for Pajamas Media at this distant idyllic remove when this came through:

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Jul 28, 2006 6:22 PM | QuickLink: Permalink
The Mainstreaming of Flag Burning

There's been plenty of chit and more than a lot of chat in the last week over Congress and the Burning of the American Flag.

What strikes me about the whole debate that swirls about this issue is not whether it should be legal or illegal, but the over-riding tone of, 'One way or another, who really cares?'

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Jul 1, 2006 6:56 AM | Comments (10)  | QuickLink: Permalink
G2E Media GmbH

MONTHLY ARCHIVES


SIDELINES

FIND


BACKMATTER

RECENT ITEMS