Patriot Flair. Anybody who has seen "Office Space" is familiar with the concept of "flair." It's the crap that servers at Outback Steakhouse have to wear on their uniforms--buttons, pins, whirligigs. During my stint at the Ground Round, I was spared from suffering this indignity. Our flair was our delicious food.

Patriot flair is then all of the adornments that you see on cars reflecting the sense of rabid nationalism that has swept that nation over the last three years. It is also the American flag pin that every politicican and their cousin wear on their lapel or other clothing. I imagine that Shrub would berate members of his administration for showing up to work without the required amount of flair much akin to the restaurant manager in "Office Space."

One of the more popular pieces of patriot flair these days is the magnetic ribbon placed on the rear of cars. This typically comes in either the yellow "Support Our Troops" variety, or in the red, white, and blue "God Bless America." Any time that I'm in a store and I see patriot flair for sale, I like to check and see where the product was made. And it's almost a guarantee that whatever the item, it is made elsewhere, whether that be the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, or my favorite, the $1 plastic American flag made in China.

As for the magnetic ribbons I saw on sale at the checkout in the grocery store yesterday, those are made in Taiwan.