Crocodile tears on a cash register patriotism

One-shot magazines, full of color pictures, began coming off rotary presses within hours after the towers collapsed. Books about the tragedy are being rushed to press; almost any book that has even the remotest tie-in is being hawked.

Fueled by internet rumor that 16th century French physician-clairvoyant Nostradamus predicted such a tragedy, thousands of Americans have flocked to bookstores and on-line companies to buy copies of his books, edited by others. One book, with a Sept. 27 publication date, is well within the top 100 titles on Amazon.com.

On thousands of fiberglass and plastic highway signs, words of hope trumpet words of advertising. Below "God Bless America," we see "Chili Fries, $1.49." Below "United We Stand," we're told "special prices on carpets."

During the 1960s, war protestors who wore clothes with the American flag design were beaten by "patriots"; now the fabric of America is patriots wearing just-manufactured high-priced T-shirts, pants, and bandannas, all with images of American flags and slogans.

A flyer I received at home combined the flag, a patriotic call, a message of sympathy-and my inviolate right to buy sofas on sale. General Motors, trying to sell cars, declared "in this time of terrible adversity, let's stand together. And let's keep America rolling."

A laser eye surgical conglomerate tried to convince us getting clearer vision was somehow patriotic. Its newspaper images were of an exhausted firefighter, and of someone it claimed to be an FBI agent who praised the company's health plan for federal employees.

A Cleveland mayoral candidate ran TV ads, declaring "If tragedy strikes, who could lead?" On the screen were still photos of the towers and a woman holding a flag.

Perhaps these patriotic businesses all mean well. Perhaps they are saddened by the tragedy, and want to let us know they care about the victims and our country. Perhaps, we can hope they have been tortured by the magnitude of evil and the shards of the American fragment that will haunt us for a generation that they will realize the best way to celebrate the American spirit is to treat their own workers better, and to absorb a smaller profit this year rather than to lay off workers.

But as long as businesses try to mix sentiment and hard sell, there's no question our traditional red-and-green Christmas season will be lathered in a red-white-and-blue jingoism of fourth quarter crocodile tears pouring over a cash register patriotism.