What's Next, Drive By Shoeings?

In what might be an ominous sign of a growing movement, a protester in Cambridge, England threw an athletic shoe at Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. This brazen attack followed a similar incident seven weeks ago when President Bush dodged shoes thrown at him by an Iraqi journalist.

Obviously, I'm glad that Wen and Bush were dodging thrown shoes as opposed to bullets fired from a concealed handgun, but I wonder if this "throw footwear at a world leader you dislike" trend is going to apiral out of control. What's next? Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper ducking away from a leather sandal on a visit to Québec City? South Korean President Lee Myung-bak dodging a fake Prada shoe made in a local factory in Pusan? If French President Nicolas Sarkozy gets a wooden clog hurled at him in a visit to Amsterdam, is the offense upgraded to attempted murder because of the hardness of the shoe?

Stop the madness. Think of the children.