Bizarre day of finding myself in the face of the empire

In the morning was an episode of learning that the Montessori preschool where I may send my toddler has a morning 'pledge of allegiance' ritual even for the 18 months to 3 years old crowd (complete with small flags for every child to hold while it is recited). I thought it was worth a thread on GD:
http://www.democraticunderground.org/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=658909

In the afternoon, I had a scheduled meeting with a government man, and expected to discuss accounting and basic business practices. Instead, I find myself face-to-face with a 'defense analyst' who wants to discuss tanks, fighter planes and bombers; he actually used the phrase 'Since the fall of the Evil Empire...' at the beginning of the meeting. (His coworker actually laughed a bit when he said it. I certainly wanted to.) Is this really happening, I pondered? Hmmm..there's a reason I never went to work for Northrup.

The surreal moments when the Empire (not the one he was referring to) hits you smack in the face when you are least expecting it...

Paying your income tax is another.

gavalt(sp?-going phonetically here. heard that alot from my old relatives. THE F@#$%^ PLEDGE? for toddlers?
welcome to the USsr.