I suppose I was so offended by what I saw because of where and how I grew up. I originally come from an area of New Jersey that had, at the time, the highest concentration of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel in the world.

A good many of my friends' parents had tattoos on their arms - very unlike anything I had ever seen - and they spoke with funny accents. As the world and I grew older, some of these survivors started to open up, and we learned what really happened in Europe in the middle of the 20th century.

So last Saturday, as I drove by the usual gaggle of war protesters in front of the courthouse and spotted the sign with Bush's name spelled using the SS runes worn by so many of those who murdered so many millions, I rolled down my window to let a distinguished-looking gentleman know how offensive I thought his use of that symbol was.

In a matter of seconds, he was at my car window. This "man of peace" was literally ready to get in a physical fight because I had the temerity to state my objection to his artwork. I suggested he take a high school history class, which only inflamed the situation further. Needless to say, we did not part on friendly terms.

I have no objection to anyone's problem with any war, or to their expressing their concerns. I may be missing something here, but I am not aware of any Einsatzgruppen roaming the countryside killing thousands of people each and every day.

I have yet to stumble across any death factory concentration camps in my 61 years in this country. From what I saw, the vociferousness of this man's response was much more reminiscent of Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Herr Docktor Goebbels' approach to dissent than anything I have ever witnessed from any president, living or dead.

I think you should be able demonstrate all you want, almost any time and place you wish. But the use of any Nazi symbol in conjunction with any protest against our government and its administrators is naïve at best and blatantly dishonest at worst. It trivializes the millions upon millions of people who were murdered at the behest of the monsters who wore those insignia.

If you're unsure about how different we are from Nazi Germany (as well as Stalin's Russia and Mao's China), the history of the 20th Century is well documented and readily accessible to those with even a passing interest. We are not Nazi Germany and George Bush is not Hitler. Not by a long shot.

Chris Giunta is a Corvallis resident.