Did you catch this from the Providence Journal (thanks to Justin Katz and Antiprotester for the alert):

Jeffrey Eden devised his award-winning project less than 30 minutes after his high-school art teacher asked him to express a thought or two in a three-dimensional way.So, in the wake of last year’s polarizing election and the war in Iraq, the 17-year-old built an abstract scene comparing President Bush’s war policies with Adolf Hitler’s pillage of Europe.The student’s diorama-like assemblage juxtaposes Hitler quotes with Bush statements, Nazi swastikas with American flags, desert-colored toy soldiers with olive plastic figures. And so on. Eden said he’s trying to point out certain similarities between the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the German blitzkrieg – without actually equating Hitler to Bush.

“Without actually equating Hitler to Bush?” Uh-huh. The title of Eden’s “art” is “Bush/Hitler and How History Repeats Itself.” The kid’s been channeling Martin O’Malley!

Eden’s admittedly brainless Bush-bashing art earned him a “silver key” at the Rhode Island Scholastic Art Awards and an “A” from his teacher. Looks like his future is all set as a liberal campaign activist, tenured professor, or perhaps a major international news network exec.

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Justin Katz notes the cowardice of the kids’ art judges, who refuse to comment on their decision and get a free pass from the Providence Journal. Meanwhile, Katz points out, the Journal hits one of the parents who stepped forward to protest the award, Paul Lewis, as “an angry Republican.”

Kellipundit fumes: “The point is not whether or not this kid has a right to free expression, but that a panel of judges (15 people) thought that this type of crap is award winning art.”

Antiprotester posts an excellent response and wonders: “If Jeffrey had compared Saddam Hussein to Adolf Hitler, a valid comparison indeed, would he have won an award or have gotten an ‘A?’”