"Here come the planes...."

In a much shorter vein, Holden at First Draft notifies me that Dr. Dobson is now concerned about the impact of Spongebob Squarepants on our nation's youth.

Now, Dobson said, SpongeBob's creators had enlisted him in a "pro-homosexual video," in which he appeared alongside other children's television characters such as Barney and Jimmy Neutron, among many others. The video's makers, he said, planned to mail it to thousands of elementary schools this spring to promote a "tolerance pledge" that includes tolerance for differences of "sexual identity." He urged his allies to stand against it as part of a "spiritual battle" for the country.

It isn't true, of course. The video is meant to teach the virtues of multiculuralism. But Focus on the Family stands by its assertions that this is another attempt to pollute our bodily fluids...oh, sorry, to corrupt American Youth:

Yesterday however, Paul Batura, assistant to Dobson, said Focus on the Family stood by its assertions. "We see the video as an insidious means by which the organization is manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids," he said.

A "spiritual battle" for the country? Manipulating and brainwashing kids? This is a powerful appeal to the issue of identity. If somebody "out there" is not just like me, does that mean I might be like them? And if that's true, then who am I?

And when justice and force are gone, there's always Mom....or, in this case, Dr. Dobson.