Shoe flies

I was hoping this shoe-throwing thing wouldn't catch on.

The latest comes from Turkey, where a student at Bilgi University threw his Nike Trainer at International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

This had better not get to the point where we have to check our shoes at the door. Maybe they could start with reporters: like Bush nemesis Muntadar al-Zeidi, Selcuk Ozbek is a journalist, in his case an editor at the left-wing daily Birgun.

I was about to move on when I noticed the irony here: a plug for Nike while shouting anti-globalism slogans. The Turkish company that claims it made Al-Zeidi's shoe is supposed to have reported increased sales.

Now fully committed to total time-wasting I found the Wall Street Journal reporting that Turkey was negotiating another loan from the IMF. "To get an IMF loan, Turkey would have to reduce its deficit by cutting government spending or boosting taxes more than the government wants," they note. More irony: I wonder what the United States would think of conditions like that.

Search for "shoe throwing" (Google will helpfully ask if you want email alerts) and you'll see it's been picked up, even in countries that don't have a cultural foot fetish. My worry exactly. Clever once, even if you disagree with the guy, it's pretty boorish behavior after that.

It's also dangerous. An Iraqi in Falujah threw a shoe at U.S. Soldiers last month. They saw an incoming object, thought it was a grenade, and shot him.

You Tube was next. I was killing time and wanted to see the clip since Turkish TV was supposedly playing it to death. Really, minor league as protests go, and he hit the poor guy who was asking Strauss-Kahn a question.

Time for bed. I can take my shoes off... and relax.