On Monday hundreds of children and their parents will gather on the south lawn of the White House to participate in the annual Easter Egg Roll. My own children participated during the administration of President George H.W. Bush and we still have the souvenir wooden egg to prove it. It’s just a great way to celebrate the Easter season and not meant for any political gain.
Across from the White House at Lafayette Park however a coalition of left-wing groups led by the Vineeta Foundation is hosting the “White House Cluster Bomb Hunt” where children will search for brightly colored balls and other objects that represent cluster bombs. Adults will look for weapons of mass destruction, and an Osama bin Laden hunt will turn up pictures of Saddam Hussein.
Vineeta Foundation Brian Hennessey told the Washington Post that the event is supposed to be funny and that they aren’t trying to be confrontational. I always get a good laugh when I read about children hunting for bombs. That’s a real gut-buster.
The foundation and the other left-wing groups that are participating claim that they want to teach the children about the dangers of cluster bombs, yet at a “teach-in” where children were painting balloons, tennis balls and brightly colored clay organizers told the children that they could write their names on the “bombs” and take them home after the event was over. Take a “bomb” home, that sends a great message to the children.
This really isn’t about teaching the children about the danger of bombs, it’s just another way of using them to trigger emotions and gain support for the anti-war rhetoric of the sponsoring groups. And there is nothing funny about that.
Don Irvine is the chairman of Accuracy in Media.
