[bluejay]

I am actually not very surprised by the display of Nazi flag et.al. In a way, it was inevitable. Three things play into this:

1. American schools do not teach history. I would assume that a typical product of a public school system would have only a vague notion about WW2 and Nazi Germany.

2. There is a continual vilification of George Bush. Media constantly equates him, and other Republicans, to Nazis. Academia publishes research stating that there is really not too much difference between Adolph Hitler and Ronald Reagan.

3. A concept of moral equivalence permeates our society.

Given this, I would not be surprised that a typical high-school bandleader would assume that Hitler was just another conservative politician. And of course, just because we fought a war against Germany, does not mean we were in the right - we just won. So, what's wrong with displaying the flags of all participants equally?

[Windcatcher]

Over lunch today we were talking about the California recall race. Arnold's stance came up, and someone said he had heard that Arnold was *really* right-wing, "like a Nazi". I couldn't believe my ears. Somehow the Democratic defamation machine is getting through.