Afterwards, I thought about the story and realized it also could be seen as a commentary on various social issues and governmental practices. Again, I don't want to give it away. Go read the story. Go read it! It's apparently Mr. Gilbow's *first* published story. Astounding. I look forward to many more.
A couple other stories in the Feb 2007 F&SF were fun and well-executed: "Fool" by John Morissey, and the first half of a new Guth Bandar story "The Helper and His Hero" by Matthew Hughes (which are always entertaining). But "Red Card" was a stand-out story for me, and is already on my personal Hugo Ballot nomination list.