Last week, in suburban Richmond, someone tore down a yard sign advocating the election of Barack Obama, and put in its place a Confederate battle flag. Even the very conservative Richmond Times-Dispatch editorialized against that. I have come to realize that, to many African-Americans, the Confederate battle flag evokes the same fears as the Nazi swastika for Jews. In both cases, they symbolize barbarism and murder. What was done in that suburban Richmond front yard is beyond the pale.

However, that pales in comparison with a display that Reuters reports today:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – An effigy of U.S. Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin hanging by a noose as part of a Halloween display drew complaints on Monday, but local officials said the homeowner was covered by free speech rights.

A mannequin dressed to resemble the Alaska governor, with her trademark beehive hairdo and glasses, was hung by the neck from the eaves of the home in famously liberal West Hollywood.

On the roof, a mannequin of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, protruded from the chimney surrounded in flames, holding his head as he was apparently burned alive.

"We have been getting some phone calls this morning complaining about it but if (the homeowner) isn't in violation of municipal code we have no reason to cite them," West Hollywood spokeswoman Helen Goss said.

"People have First Amendment rights (to free speech)," Goss said. "I would speculate that if it's part of a Halloween display then its political satire."

Homeowner Chad Michael Morisette told local KCAL-TV the display should be considered Halloween "art" and said his neighbors would probably be more offended by a similar scene invoking Democrat Barack Obama.

"I know if we had done Barack Obama, people would have probably thrown things through our windows," Morisette said. "The image of a hanged black man is a lot more intense than the image of a hanged white woman for our country, the history of our country."

Earlier a cardboard likeness of Obama was strung up from a tree at an Oregon university and an Ohio man who told local media he didn't want to see an African-American running the country hung a ghostly figure bearing an Obama sign from a tree in his yard.

Does all of this scare you as much as it does me? Meanwhile, Reuters also reports today:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two white supremacist skinheads were arrested in Tennessee over plans to go on a killing spree and eventually shoot Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, court documents showed on Monday. The rest of the article is at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081027/pl_nm/us_usa_politics_plot_6

That, of course, is chilling.

And all of this violates the the Fifth Commandment, as Luther interprets it in the Small Catechism. Indeed, according to Jesus' radical interpretation of the Commandments in the Sermon on the Mount, each step along the continuum -- from words to symbols to "artistic" displays to planning to committing an actual act -- is equally violent.