Throwing shoes at politicians in protest is all the rage thanks to the now-infamous footwear missiles launched at President Bush while he was in Iraq last week.

The incident prompted a spate of online games that invite people to throw shoes at Bush. And days after the shoe-throwing attack on Bush, a man tried a similar stunt in protest of actions by New York’s transportation authority.

The latest target, albeit a figurative one, is corrupt Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. A Chicago television station invited people to throw shoes at a cardboard cutout of “Blago” to raise money for needy children.

It sounds like a perfectly redneck kind of thing to do. But it’s not very enlightened.

Bush handled the attack on him well by laughing it off, but shoe-throwing protests could be dangerous. They certainly shouldn’t be encouraged by adults, even in jest.

On the other hand, Amtrak overreacted by sending New York shoe-thrower Stephen Millies home from work after his public outburst. He hurt no one, and the First Amendment protects the rights of people who exercise free speech in childish ways, too.