[Happy Thanksgiving, all!]
Just some amusing miscellany. I got rid of my horridly unreliable Ford Focus station wagon last month. Sorry, Ford — really, I've been a loyal customer up until this point, as I had my Mercury Tracer hatchback for 13 years without any troubles whatsoever. This car, only 5 years old, seemed destined for lemondom. I unloaded it while I could get a decent trade out of it.
I waffled over getting a Subaru Outback station wagon (how lezbo!) or a Toyota Prius, given the rising gas prices. I test drove both and liked both, but there was no haggling with the Prius since they are flying off the lots — the dealership was quite smug about it. The Subaru dealer, however, made an offer I couldn't refuse — nearly $5K less than the Toyota.
One of the casualties of dumping the Focus was I lost my stickers and badges, so I went over to Evolvefish and bought some new ones:
And I added this one; it's a magnet, not a sticker —
Kate and I are thinking of starting a pool to see how long this stays on the car before some wingnut around here removes it. Any guesses?
It's unlikely to disappear from where I park at work in downtown Durham (wingnut factor low), but I'm sure if I travel to Cary or Raleigh and park, the likelihood of it being removed goes up substantially.
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It’s unlikely to disappear from where I park at work in downtown Durham (wingnut factor low), but I’m sure if I travel to Cary or Raleigh and park, the likelihood of it being removed goes up substantially.
I give it a week.
Private property is only sacrosanct if you don’t use it to piss off wingnuts.
Just try going to Wilmington. I got my Kerry/Edwards sticker ripped off there in 2004.
The only real bumper sticker issue I had when I was a desk clerk at the Days Inn. Some “guests” ripped off my “Against Abortion? Don’t Have One” bumper sticker.
Well, there were also being flipped off a lot over my “He’s Not My President” bumper sticker (added 2 days before 9/11).
I no longer have a car. My last one died a month before my most back to Boston about 5 years ago. I just decided to forego the costs associated with an auto (gas, repairs, etc–and insane MA insurance rates) and just rely on mass transit and walking.
The thing about that, though, is that it’s a luxury not available to everyone. I love living carless. I’ve let my license expire (which is a bit of a problem when I visit my parents), but otherwise I don’t really miss it. I do a lot of walking (I’ve recently been, barring rainy weather, walking to work from home, which ends up being about a 7-8 mile walk a day.
Depending on mass transit isn’t as convenient as having a car; and in many areas an auto is almost a necessity. I just wish that more places that could really use a good transit system (I’m looking at you Minneapolis-St. Paul) would work harder to develop and promote them.
Being carless has also made me slow down a bit. I’ve got to wait for trains, wait to get where i’m going, etc. Walking takes a lot longer than driving. I’ve got to always give myself extra time.
I could do without the “Bush is a dipshit” bumperstickers I see: the public debate is debased enough with obscenities written unavoidably on the vehicle in front of you.
Make that “withOUT obscenities…”
I had an incident with the same bumper sticker as MAJeff. Long, long time ago. I was visiting my parents in St. Louis and went to the grocery store for mom. When I came back out of the store, someone had taken a razor blade to the bumper sticker and left a Chick tract under my windshield wiper.
and, Pam, your magnet may not be safe in Durham if one of the Duke College Republicans stumbles across it!
And will you be posting an update if it vanishes?
Oh how I miss seeing the reactions of people in my rearview mirror as they slowly got my “I screw robots” sticker from Diesel Sweeties. Luckily I still have the tshirt. I am also without my own vehicle since last Xmas, when the cam belt went bang. I’m tempted to cover my bike with bumper stickers, but I also like the pristine virgin-ness of the original paint job (and the female symbol the factory put on it). It sounds like you may be lucky if you make it to the next major holiday with that magnet - please let us know!
I have had this bumper sticker scraped more times than I can remember.
hanna jörgel:
Chick tract?
And what did the bumpersticker say?
(Cool! 666 in my spambox test!)
Petey: That innocuous bumper sticker? Proof positive of one of three things:
1- As religious devotion quotient goes up, IQ and sense of humour go down.
or
2 - There are some hardcore Lucas haters out there.
or
3 - This whole rejection of anything less than a completely waxed body is really, really getting out of hand.
Never had a bumper-sticker stolen, but I live in the SF Bay Area where it’s vanishingly unlikely that an anti-W sticker would get scraped off; in fact, the reverse.
I have an evolvefish magnet that says “Cat” inside the fish.
BTW, I had no idea that the Subaru Outback was a “lesbian” car. I thought it was the go-to car for those who want/need lots of room but don’t want an SUV. But again, “SF Bay Area,” so there.
We had Kerry stickers taken off our car twice! Once in N Florida and once in NW Ohio (I know, I know). I just couldn’t get over how emboldened these people are to take a razor blade to someone else’s property. It stuns me to this day.
If anyone steals your “W is a Tremendous Fellow” magnet, it’s only because they want it!
I could do without the “Bush is a dipshit” bumperstickers I see: the public debate is debased enough with obscenities written unavoidably on the vehicle in front of you.
Considering how the right mostly communicates in empty slogans (the entire argument against Al Gore is that he’s a nerd and against Hillary Clinton is that she’s a scary female and against Bill Clinton is that he’s getting laid more than you, etc.), maybe it’s time to aim your criticisms against the more deserving instead of whining here.
And will you be posting an update if it vanishes?
Will definitely post an update on the lifespan of the magnet.
I got my Gefilte fish plaque (though it’s the old-style one, with the dead X-eye instead of the Mogen David) from Ring of Fire. I’ve never had anyone try to remove or otherwise vandalize it. Maybe they just don’t get it…
damn, Pam, you are the other lesbian that drove a Ford Focus wagon? I knew there had to be one more out there?
I fear I’m reaching the end of my relationship with mine too- the classic example of something starting to fall apart the minute after it was paid off. I’m currently driving about with the Check Engine light perpetually on.
most of my stickers are vintage anti bush- I still have my favorite classic: LIAR.
Oh, and not that I’ve spent much time in N.C., but I wouldn’t have thought Cary would be a place where wingnuts would pick at your bumper stickers, given the town’s name stands for “Containment Area for Relocated Yankees.”
Pam, what if you were to spot glue the magnet? I imagine that the glue they use to affix rear view mirrors would be tough enough and could be found at any auto supply place… Boy, would THAT piss off anyone trying to take it off!
Of our vehicles, only 1 has bumper stickers- my 1991 big ugly Ford F-150 King cab with old cap. The tailgate, which was originally on my 1988 F-150, was taken off and put on this truck when my first truck died. Never drive more than 25 miles from the house; it’s used primarily for big runs to the local dump or getting big items here.
But it’s definitely my “billboard”- must have 40 or 50 stickers on it! I think it’s got so many on it that it scares off anyone who WOULD scrape one off- the thinking being that only a raging lunatic would have so many stickers.
wouldn’t have thought Cary would be a place where wingnuts would pick at your bumper stickers
Sadly, Cary votes Red. My wife Kate works in Cary and she still sees an incredible number of Jesus fish daily (”schools” of them portraying a family of fish), W stickers and my favorite — “W-the President” stickers driving around there and on I-40 during drive time.
I’m currently driving about with the Check Engine light perpetually on.
Oh yes, that problem. That came on suddenly about 4 months ago. Had to drop another $400 to fix that f8cker. Then the turn signal broke, then the rear window power mechanism froze and ground itself up — that was the last straw. Each day, if I hit a bump, I had to push the window closed when I parked and it would begin sliding down again when I got back in and drove.
Don’t even bother with Ford or GM Big Shitbox. If you have to go American get a Chrysler. If flag-waving commercials and economic nationalism don’t appeal to you, then go Japanese or European.
I have always wanted a sticker holder that clips to the bottom of the bumper, catches the wind, and swings down at speed. Then it would flip up an become invisible when the car is stopped. If they don’t yet exist, someone should invent one.
Mostly, though, if I had one I would apply it to other vehicles. Then the fellow in the jacked up, tricked out, 4-wheeler pickup truck would wonder why people where laughing at him. He wouldn’t notice the sticker that says “I need a muscle truck because my dick is so small”.
I will only buy Japanese cars. “Rose Red,” my faithful steed, is a ‘91 Nissan who is still going strong (as well as being easy to maneuver and park, and gets great mileage - take that, gas guzzlers!). I also will only buy RED cars, as I want something that’s easy to find in crowded parking lots. My mom is the same way - it has to be Japanese, small, and red.
My Republicans for Voldemort sticker survived intact during my time in NC. But it’s a good confusion making sticker–I honestly think some folks just didn’t know who Voldemort was, but according to the sticker, he was Republican, and that was good enough for them.
But if you’re okay with reading Harry Potter, than you probaly have a sense of humour that lets you survive anti-Republican stickers, if you just so happen to be Republican. (Which describes my sibs–they were raised Republican, which is kind of the default in Utah where we grew up, but they both think my Republicans for Voldemort sticker is funnier than hell.)
re: Cary — the thing I remember the most about Cary was the preponderance of HOAs with stupid rules about not painting your house anything other than one of six approved shades, no Buddha statues in your front lawn, and oh, yeah, those Hispanics shouldn’t be allowed to rent there. (No, seriously, that was the gist of one story I saw in the local news. The HOA was trying to get a Hispanic family evicted from their home because they would…omg…work on their cars in the driveway on Saturdays. It’s not like they were leaving them up on blocks in the lawn, but merely working on the cars, instead of spending cash to have somebody else fix it somewhere not in the neighbourhood. When one of the HOA guys was asked by the friendly local reporter if he had talked to the family in question, he said, “Well, I didn’t know if they even spoke English.” Hey, asshole, it’s not like you bothered to find out. Anyway, after reading that, my ex and I picked a nice house in Durham that we could paint indigo if’n we really wanted.)
Good luck Pam I hope your badges and stickers last.
I got my “Darwin” fish smashed in car accident and the replacement stolen outside a bar in good old liberal suburbaia NY. Wingnut Assholes are everywhere. I replaced it with one of those “My Karma ran over my Dogma” bumper stickers. It always seems less clever every time I read it. Still get a lot of people commenting on it. All positive. I have had my Honda for almost 12 years and 227,000 miles later still going strong, ninja are not the only enduring things from Japan.
I love the bumper sticker I have on my car, “LIBERALS ARE DESTROYING AMERICA” I haven’t had anyone remove it. Wonder Why?
Must be something about the Focus wagon. Everyone I know who owns a Focus, especially after its initial year, loves it. Particularly the ZX-3 (two-door hatchback) and the ZX-5(four-door hatchback). One of my friends was impressed with the hardiness of the Focus sedan he rented when he got lost on the back roads of Death Valley.
PixelFish,
That’s typical. Reminds me of the HOA at the far-flung subdivision where my friend and his wife live, which pesters them about their landscaping and leaving a couple of tools on their front porch while ignoring the idiots drag racing down the street, the redneck neighbor who urinates outside on his tool shed and the folks who can’t be bothered to keep their dogs on a leash.
I love the bumper sticker I have on my car, “LIBERALS ARE DESTROYING AMERICA” I haven’t had anyone remove it. Wonder Why?
Because anyone dumb enough to put that on their car has enough problems.
I don’t mind one or two bumper stickers on someones car, but when I see a car completely plastered over with bumper stickers I find it extremely obnoxious and distracting, no matter if the bumper stickers say WORK HARDER! LIBERAL WELFARE CHEATS DEPEND ON YOU! or AMERIKKKA IS TEH REAL TERRORIST!
“Considering how the right mostly communicates in empty slogans (the entire argument against Al Gore is that he’s a nerd and against Hillary Clinton is that she’s a scary female and against Bill Clinton is that he’s getting laid more than you, etc.), maybe it’s time to aim your criticisms against the more deserving instead of whining here.”
So the choices are vacuous right wing statements or insulting lefty statements? It’s nice to have choices. You’re pretty much saying you’ll act like an asshat because others do. That means they win. Don’t you understand that? You win with reasonned argumenets and by jetisonning attack language. It seems so easy to triumph over the largely hated right wing base right now. Unless you start acting like them.
Each day, if I hit a bump, I had to push the window closed when I parked and it would begin sliding down again when I got back in and drove.
I believe, per Ford, that’s a feature not a bug
Linnaeus, I got mine because my ex’s sister sold Fords and we were able to get a sizable discount. I’m sure she screwed us just like we weren’t family, but it didn’t feel so bad at the time. And it is a good car for someone with multiple dogs. It’s just nickle and diming me to death now that’s it’s past its prime.
I got my BEST WAR EVER bumpersticker ripped off, I presume by the same person that anointed my hood with applesauce. I dont know if the applesauce has some obscure significance.
http://tshirtinsurgency.com/node/22
Dr T: If you think that Republicans being _rude_ is the important reason to oppose them, you’re missing the point. Hell, if they just stuck to defacing cars I’d declare a win.
Hi,
I have an eight year young Honda Civic manufactured in Canada and it runs quite well. In fact, it feels like a new car until I remember the age of this machine. I tried to purchase an ‘Merican brand but the cars were either overpriced or had horrendous reliability records. Why should my money be a golden parachute for an exec that shipped all the jobs to another country? And, given the wage differential, should the car be correspondingly cheaper? Edmunds and Consumer Reports articles have high correlation to real world results. Good luck in your search for the next best thing.
virgotex, just to make clear, I’m not denying that you and Pam are having your share of problems with your Focus wagons. I was just speculating if perhaps the problems were concentrated into one particular model. It’s happened before.
Defacing bumper stickers is pretty much the absolute lamest thing ever. It changes nobody’s mind, communicates nothing except that an asshole was near the sticker, and is basically intended to piss off a complete stranger. There may be a certain satisfaction in the kind of chickenhawkery involved, but it’s the same sort of satisfaction that comes from watching gun camera video on CNN while chest thumping and bellowing “America! Fuck Yeah!”
The only positive thing about vandalizing bumper stickers is that there’s a nonzero chance of the vandal getting busted. Every so often some dumbass does it in a parking lot with security cameras and the owner of the sticker follows up with the cops.
Kerlyssa - Huh? My point is that insulting people right out of the gate turns off not only the insulted but anyone listening to your ideas. Right wing ideas are legitimately being questionned by moderates who have swung their way for the past 8 years. Now is the time to represent alternative approaches with civility and reason rather than insulting people with cars magnets and bumper stickers. No-one likes a shrew - even if the shrew is right. Forfeiting an opportunity like the one currently at hand because people can’t keep an adult tone to discourse is irresposible. I am the poster child for a moderate voter. I haven’t voted for a presidential candidate in 8 years because they were all bums, and I voted for Clinton. Sell people like me ideas not attacks on your opponenets and treat those you disagree with civility and you’ll win at this time inj history. Act just like the chuckleheads in power now - dismissively and like you’re smarter and more enlightened than they are by avoiding idea exchanges and resorting to name calling - and you’ll lose - again.
Do you have a cami-corder? Maybe you can lurk one day, and see if you can catch any youtube material.
“I love the bumper sticker I have on my car, “LIBERALS ARE DESTROYING AMERICA” I haven’t had anyone remove it. Wonder Why?”
Well cookie, you’ve managed to do one good thing in your miserable life. You’ve followed Bill Engvall’s advice and labeled yourself for our protection. Nobody wants to remove it because it’s performing a public service.
Thanks for helping everyone out, we appreciate it…
The commies in my part of the US used to have defacement problems with their posters, so they used some compound we always called ‘Commie glue’ which was way stronger than your usual flyering shit.
They also lined the edge of their flyers with staples, to give anyone who tried peeling them off with their fingernails a nasty ol’ surprise.
Just sayin’…
Right, cause that worked so well for Kerry in ‘04.
Please stop trying to tell people how to get a message across, as if there’s only one good way to do it. We have enough evidence from the fallout of elections past to show your suggested tactic fails. Often.
Shorter Dr T: “If you libruls just continue to happily bend-over and let the Rethuglicans shove it up your ass with no lube, they’re bound to start behaving well one of these days. In fact, if you act a little nicer and accept/promote most of their ideas, we might even start treating you like you were almost real humans. (But never as human as a fetus…)”
Thanks for that really deep analysis, T. You’re one hell of a
koolaid-drinking assholeguy…ive lived in detroit all my life,& even now, i only buy honda.
what we need is a wagon train of people willing to stake out one car full of leftist bumpersickers & to tape the jack asses who rip them off or key the cars (you know they do!). put it up on youtube (& get the licenses of the offenders & press charges).
Id get a good book & sit out there–who’s in!?
Come to think of it, I’ve gone through three or four Jesus Fish and a handful of Darwin Fish. The FSM…thingy…is still on there last I checked.
I assumed they were just falling off, but I think a more rational explanation is that there are assholes everywhere who think that removing someone else’s slogan-thing is a really devastating form of political warfare.
I was going to say: war and poverty are obscenities, “dipshit” is just impolite.
The only vehicle stickerage we’ve ever had was this one because we were sure not to lose it. Unfortunately, every time we’ve placed any personalization on our transportation we’ve had to trade the vehicle in question with someone. I think we’ve had about a half dozen car titles pass through our hands in the last five years as various family members’ disabilities demanded different heights and transmissions. We’ve stopped trying to make a car ours.
Someone did try to rip off the AAA membership sticker we’d had on one of them, though I’m not sure what that would have accomplished. Maybe they really hate roadside assistance.
My mom always gets positive comments for her bumper sticker- “Well Behaved women seldom make history” , but we live in a fairly liberal area of Canada.
Now there’s a good bumper sticker.
Godless Heathen, two things:
First, yes, Rome became an empire by killing people who opposed them, and other people who didn’t who just had what the Romans coveted. The Romans were very open-minded that way. (”Nice gold mine, Gauls….) They so no reason to be so bigoted as to demand that their targets hated or opposed them.
Second, the Auto Association must get this sort of pinhead theft all the time. One of the first things they emphasized to me when I joined many moons ago was that “the membership covers you, not the car!”
We have a Question War magnet on our car, which we immediately moved from one minivan and placed on the new one.
It has been moved around - like, picked up and inspected, but mostly left alone. Others in the group that bought ten of them have had the same experience.
I suspect people think it is a yellow ribbon if they are the non-thinking conclusion jumping type. The only hassle I had was an older guy who wanted to know what the ^#*% that meant. I explained that war was costly and we had to think about it before starting or getting into them. He then broke out the “what about WWII” strawman, to which I answered “when you question war, it doesn’t always answer no!” That seemed to either satisfy or confuse him, I’m not sure which.
Which is exactly what I like about the magnet!
I love the bumper sticker I have on my car, “LIBERALS ARE DESTROYING AMERICA” I haven’t had anyone remove it. Wonder Why?
Possibly because liberals value (supposdly0 American values like free speech and respect for other people’s property more than they value some god named America that demands constant worship.
But atleast the Konstant Konservative Krusaders are only going after bumper stickers. So far.
Too bad you didn’t buy the Prius. The Outback got bumped up to SUV category to help Subaru sell more SUVs without failing CAFE (thanks to the SUV loopholes; moving up a low-mileage station wagon to SUV status by raising it off the ground helped both their separate averages - the only thing hurt was the environment).
My favorite bumper sticker is:
“Visualize Whirled Peas”
Shorter Dr T: Suck up to me and I’ll vote for you. Really. Getting Bush out of office doesn’t motivate me, but if you stop using derty werds I’ll vote this time.
I hope you and your Subaru will be happy for many years to come. I (heart) my Subaru Impreza wagon.
I have no bumper stickers because I think they sort of make you a target. Plus, like a tattoo, I figure as soon as I get one, I’ll get tired of it. And I park on the street, which means bad parallel parkers are constantly scraping my back bumper anyway.
I have a “magnetic decal” of an angry stingray. I got it because I think the body shape of the car actually looks like a ray of some kind. It was from Decalifornia.com:
http://www.decalifornia.com/mantaray.html
It attaches on the inside of the glass so it’s removable. Costs an extra dollar, I think, but worth it.
The only one I’d put on the actual bumper is the state-sponsored “look out for motorcyclists” one that I can never seem to find. I don’t ride but I have many friends who do, and motorcycles are apparently invisible to a lot of motorists.
When the Bucs were on their way to the Superbowl a few years back, the team magnets were an in-demand item…the one on my car was stolen, and replaced, and stolen, at least 3 times. I finally gave up due to every store in the area being sold out of the magnets. I was not at all amused…they weren’t real expensive, but not very cheap either.
BTW, here are items from www.northernsun.com that solve the problem of permanently placing stickers on your car:
BUMPER STICKER HOLDER
The Clear Bumper Sticker Holder is a clear plastic holder with suction cups that lets you display your favorite bumper stickers on the inside of the window.
MAGNETIC BUMPER STICKER HOLDER
Attach a favorite bumper sticker to this Magnet Bumper Sticker Holder and put it on your car or any magnetic surface. You could have a different message every week. There is a magnetic side and a non-magnetic side. Be sure to put the sticker on the non-magnetic side.
Shortest Dr T - I and my ilk vote for adults. 8 year olds call eachother names. And your defenses of your actions continue to be ‘But they do it too!’. Deep thinking folks. Deeeep thinking here.
“Shortest Dr T - I and my ilk vote for adults.”
Dr T, if the definition of “adult” used by you and your ilk includes one George W. Bush…well, I think Inigo Montoya put it best: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means…”
And if supporting the band of soulless authoritarians who currently identify themselves as “republicans” is an example of your “deep thinking”, I’ll take “8-year old” Pandagonians any day of the week…
(BTW, if you’re going try and pull out some bullshit about being a “libertarian” and not a “republican” - don’t bother. Most of us here know that 98% of current “libertarians” happily called themselves “republicans” until the current “administration” stunk up the place too badly to ignore…)
We get dirty looks occasionally for the “keep vermont civil” bumper sticker, but no damage. Of course now it’s retrogressive, so we should probably swap it out, unless the car dies first.
Another reason I have bumper stickers is to help me find my car. Yes, that’s also why I have a red car. For some reason, I’m prone to losing my car in crowded parking lots - and since my chemo the dread “chemobrain” has made it worse. It’s “Are you my mommy?” replaced by “Are you my car?”
So, I drive a screamingly bright tomato-red Nissan with the aforementioned cat-fish decal, the cat is smarter sticker, and another one that says, “Don’t make me release the flying monkeys!” because I love the Oz books. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, “I am one.” One what? That’s up to the imagination, I presume - and that is why I want one, so that people can see it and scratch their heads as they try to figure it out.
I have never experienced the red car + bumper stickers as making me a “target” but then again, a) I live in a liberal area and b ) being a fortysomething white woman of fairly respectable appearance insulates one from a lot of hassle while driving. I can see someone who is more easily “profiled” wanting to be as inconspicuous as possible.
I love car magnets. I especially love the “I love my schauser” ribbons. I love that we moved so quickly from a functionally satirical (easy-on, easy-off magnets) pro-war message to, I love my dog ribbons. If that isn’t America I don’t know what is.
I mean seriously, how much of an insensitive, souless, brain dead moron do you have to be to buy one of these magnet stickers and actually put it on your car? Are people that fucking stupid? Please explain why a “Go Broncos” magnet ribbon is defensible? I don’t understand.
Yellow ribbons, fine. Good for you. I respect your effort. But the simple fact of buying a *magnetic* sticker…. because if won’t fuck up your paint job… how is that anything but a self effacing act? Do people just not get it? You are the butt of your own joke.
Kate and I are thinking of starting a pool to see how long this stays on the car before some wingnut around here removes it.
That must be what happened to my magnetic soccer ball on the back of my car. I had no idea only “wingnuts” are thieves.
Cripes DT, if the hijinx of Bush’s first term couldnt convince you to get off your ass and vote him out, what good are you? Were you waiting for the cattle cars to show up before you did something? Nobody you knew personally was tortured? Only one war of personal revenge, that’s not so bad? Not as bad as uncivil discourse?
Speaking as one of the disenfranchised-by-illegal-dirty-tricks Ohio voters, I’d like to extend a hearty ’screw you’ to you and everyone like you who won’t soil themselves with politics, while people who cannot vote are killed in the hundreds of thousands as a result. Please, accept this gift of a “Part of the Problem, not Part of the Solution” bumper sticker. Love, 8-year-old who knows that this ain’t a game for most of us.
Well, Petruchio did. He thought Kate was Teh Hawt.
I’ve known some very attractive “shrews” in my time, and lived with one for nearly 15 years, until she died.
You know how Kate Blanchet portrayed Galdriel in the LOTR movies? Natasha Littletree looked and felt a lot like that. You know the bit where she demonstrates what she’d be like if she took the Ring? That was Natasha in a bad mood. I saw it quite often, not always directed at me.
Not only did I still love her, I don’t think I would have without that tough dimension of her.
So, Mustella, everyone who doesn’t vote for your party endorses cattle cars and gas chambers. Wow. Hows it feel to be the lefty version of a freeper? Comfy?
On witty bumper stickers (but for Pete’s sake, Dr T, how much reasoned argument do you expect anyone to compress into 3-4 words and some iconic images?)
My wingnut Dad thinks “Who Would Jesus Bomb?” is very funny.
I’m not giving up on my parents.
Banisteriopsis, do you live someplace that throws excessive salt on the roads and makes cars rust?
I do. That’s why I put the magnet and not the sticker on the car. I can pull it off if I want a car wash and clean underneath it.
In the Peoples Republic of Cambridge, just to the south, many a vehicle is rusting under it’s stickers.
“So, Mustella, everyone who doesn’t vote for your party endorses cattle cars and gas chambers. Wow. Hows it feel to be the lefty version of a freeper? Comfy?”
Fruitbat, why do I get the strong feeling that if you were living in Germany circa 1935 or so, you would have said exactly the same thing?
Wake up and smell the fascism…
Fruitbat, why do I get the strong feeling that if you were living in Germany circa 1935 or so, you would have said exactly the same thing?
Ah, just like the Freepers like to say we live in Russia circa 1928. Give me a break. George W. Bush is not a life-long dictator with totalitarian powers, and he never will be. Karl Rove is not scheming in the basement of the White House with Dick Cheney on how to conduct a military coup.
Have their been violations of civil liberties in this country since 9/11 that are very worrysome? Yes, and I’ll be the first to say it. But we’ve seen worse in other crises–the Alien and Sedition Acts in the 1790s, the Espionage Act in World War I, the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II, and McCarthysim in the 1950s. But when we got our senses back, all of those policies were reversed. We didn’t fall into some kind of fascist dictatorship, and I have little reason to see why we will do so now.
BTW, I’d like to add that I was just as worried about civil liberties violations under Clinton, while most likely you would have defended them and called me a right-wing nutcase for being worried about Janet Reno.
“But we’ve seen worse in other crises–the Alien and Sedition Acts in the 1790s, the Espionage Act in World War I, the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II, and McCarthysim in the 1950s.”
Nice to know you only think the Cheney/Bush regime’s attacks on freedom in this country are only the 5th worst in our history.
I don’t know about you, but that helps me sleep a lot better at night…
“But when we got our senses back, all of those policies were reversed.”
And it’s “getting our senses back” that we’re arguing for. As long as Americans keep acting like sheep, watching as the wolves pick off a few from the perimeters, doing nothing to upset the wolves in the vain hope they will be allowed to live a little longer, the predation will continue…
“BTW, I’d like to add that I was just as worried about civil liberties violations under Clinton, while most likely you would have defended them and called me a right-wing nutcase for being worried about Janet Reno.”
I love your sense of proportion.
The Justice department bungles a hostage situation in Waco - OMFG! We’re all next!
Under the Cheney/Bush “Just Us” Department, American citizens are arrested, held without charges, tortured with impunity, denied a proper trial, etc. (accompanied by 1000’s of “terrists” who never actually seem to have done anything, and who are quietly released years after their arrests with no fanfare) - in other words SOP for the Bushites - not a word.
Ruby Ridge? - BAADDD!!!
Arrest/torture Jose Padilla? - GOOD!
Clinton might use FISA courts? - BAADDD!!!
Cheney/Bush completely circumvent FISA? - GOOD!
Two consenting adults have (a form of) sex in the Whitehouse? - BAADDD!!!
Waterboarding, which Americans have prosecuted people from other countries for doing? - GOOD!
***
Remind me: Why was Clinton so very, unconscionably, unprecedentedly bad?
And why was the appointment of Bush by SCOTUS in 2000 so unbelievably fortunate?…
Me and the wife play a game on the road called “Fishing game”. First one to see a fish emblem has to call it out and they get a point. Christian fish are worth one, but Darwin’s are worth 5. Any other fish are worth 10, because they amuse us. We also include those magnetic ribbons IF they’re on their sides, like a Jesus fish.
Thought I’d share.
Ruby Ridge? - BAADDD!!!
Arrest/torture Jose Padilla? - GOOD!
Clinton might use FISA courts? - BAADDD!!!
Cheney/Bush completely circumvent FISA? - GOOD!
Two consenting adults have (a form of) sex in the Whitehouse? - BAADDD!!!
Waterboarding, which Americans have prosecuted people from other countries for doing? - GOOD!
Every last one of those things is “baad!”
When Hillary Clinton is water boarding people and abusing executive power, I bet you’ll be going right along with it though. I can’t wait to see the mental gymnastics liberal democrats do when HRC is doing the waterboarding and executive power grabs.
And why was the appointment of Bush by SCOTUS in 2000 so unbelievably fortunate?…
You think corrupt bargains in close elections are anything new? Why, hello there election of 1824 and election of 1876. Oh yeah, theres some debate as to whether Kennedy/Johnson stuffed a few ballot boxes in 1960 as well. The country didn’t collapse into a dictatorship then, I don’t think it will now.
Pop Quiz Pandagonians, which President said the following:
The dark possibilities of our age are visible now in the smoke, the horror and the heartbreak….My fellow Americans, we must respond to this threat in ways that preserve both our security and our freedoms. Appeasement of organized evil is not an option for the next century anymore than it was in this century.
That is why I have insisted that Congress pass strong anti-terrorism legislation immediately. . . . We can do this without undermining our constitutional rights. In fact, the failure to act will undermine those rights, for no one is free in America where parents have to worry when they drop off their children for day care, or when you are the target of assassination simply because you work for our Government. . . .
It is with this in mind that I would like to say something to groups and to others who believe the greatest threat to America comes not from terrorists from within our country or beyond our borders, but from our own Government. . . .
. How dare you suggest that we in the freest nation on earth live in tyranny? How dare you call yourselves patriots and heroes?
This was all said by Bill Clinton, but it could fit perfectly in a Bush/Cheney speech, no?
“When Hillary Clinton is water boarding people and abusing executive power, I bet you’ll be going right along with it though. I can’t wait to see the mental gymnastics liberal democrats do when HRC is doing the waterboarding and executive power grabs.”
That’s it, isn’t it. It’s finally dawning (on some) that other “less worthy” presidents might employ same unconstitutional expansions of presidential power - and they might be from the “wrong” party! OMG!
I’m sure there will be (some) people on the Left (which is really more like the center these days) who will attempt to justify abuses of power by Democrats, if/when they regain power in the US.
I can assure you it won’t be me. I assume most regulars here wouldn’t celebrate such abuses either. When something is wrong, it’s wrong. Political motivations for bad behavior cannot justify them, they can only make the offense worse.
Recently a name has been applied to the kind of person who justifies the use of any means - legal or not, moral or not, inhumane or not - to achieve the end they seek (an end which is always claimed to be honorable but usually doesn’t turn out to be so):
“republican”…
That’s it, isn’t it. It’s finally dawning (on some) that other “less worthy” presidents might employ same unconstitutional expansions of presidential power - and they might be from the “wrong” party! OMG!
I’ve understood from the beginning* that the Democratic President–which is very likely HRC–will use the same unconstitutional, abusive tools Bush and Cheney have. I can’t wait to see the response from partisan Republicans and Neocons, either.
I can assure you it won’t be me. I assume most regulars here wouldn’t celebrate such abuses either. When something is wrong, it’s wrong. Political motivations for bad behavior cannot justify them, they can only make the offense worse
Good, lets hope not. Lets also hope if such tools are used against domestic “militia” groups instead of foreigners you will be equally in opposition.
*I’m an independent, not a Republican. I voted (reluctantly) for Kerry in 2004 and for Webb in 2006 (who in that race really was the better man, not the lesser of two evils).
Hey Pam, thanks so much for casting aspersions on Raleigh on your nationally-read blog. Yes, yes, I know, Durham is so progressive, yadda yadda. By the way, Raleigh is about to swear in a 7-1 majority Democratic City Council, with a four term Democratic mayor.
I drive around with an Edwards 08 sticker. Nobody has ever touched it. My wife has “Had enough? Vote Democratic” on her bumper. No problem.
I have the WTF sticker pinned to my bookcase at work. never had anything but positive comments.
Please stop making the rest of the word feel like North Carolina outside of Durham might as well be Mississippi. It’s not.
Cary also just elected a slow-growth Democrastic city council and has been represented in the State House for years by Jennifer Weiss, a very progressive Democrat.
We have a 1993 Honda Accord with 238,000 miles and a Darwin Fish on it. The 2003 Civic Hybrid is as yet stickerless. I’m trying to convert my hubby to FSM so we can put a noodly appendage on it.
You won’t be sorry. My 1997 Subaru Impresa Outback (short hatchback) has run well from day 1. Although it hasn’t had anything but political “bumperstickers” - actually, taped to glass inside car.
A friend’s Focus ZX3 of the same year is giving up the ghost slowly, but she has ~200K as opposed to my ~70K miles on it.