Philocrites

Easter bullets.

by Philocrites

For once, a widely circulated e-mail message with all the marks of an urban legend turns out to be true. Kmart, Wal-Mart, and other stores really are selling "pre-assembled Easter baskets...with military and police themes, complete with toy assault vehicles and semiautomatic pistols," according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Two theme baskets purchased Monday at a metro-area Kmart store each contained seven small bags of candy and toys of a military and police nature. The "Military Force" basket has four miniature assault rifles and a handful of other toy weapons, including hand grenades, knives and assault rifles. The "Soldier Force" basket includes a "Peacekeeper Force" action figure and a kid-sized hand grenade and stun gun...

"To connect the Prince of Peace with these kind of toys for war seems to be on the edge of obscene to me," said the Rev. Craig Johnson, bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)...

Leticia Marquez, assistant to Megatoys CEO Charlie Woo, said the company [that makes the baskets] has not received any consumer complaints, although she talked about calls from the media and clergy:

"One of the comments that they made was that it had nothing to do with the resurrection. I said, 'Well, neither does a bunny.' "

More on the story from the Detroit News ... San Diego Union-Tribune ... Newsweek ... Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Copyright © 2003 by Philocrites | Posted 24 March 2003 at 11:26 AM

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