I have a new bumper sticker on my car here in Houston. It reads “God Bless All Nations.” Below the words are some religious symbols. Maybe 20 of them. I don’t know what all the symbols represent and I don’t care.
I already have a sticker on my car that says “Texas Democrat.” This sticker led to an exchange in a supermarket parking lot. A man thanked me for surrendering the country to the Muslims. I told him he was welcome. Though instead of saying “you’re welcome” I really said something very much different.
( If the Muslims can deliver universal health care I am willing to discuss terms with them for control of the nation.)
A previous bumper sticker I had read, ‘Hail To The Thief—George W. Bush 2000.” People kept taking it off my car while I was parked. Three times I found it crumpled up next to the car.
That was okay though because I had bought four of them for just such an eventuality. I finally pulled it off for good when I had some car troubles in rural Wharton County, Texas.
I love the people of Wharton County. But as I was waiting for AAA, I did not want some sheriff or local to come and arrest and/or shoot me. The Anti-Bush sticker I pulled off in Wharton County was the last one I had.
We’ll see what trouble my new bumper sticker brings
Guess I better not drive through Texas with my personalized Mississippi tag then?
IMPEACH
http://thetimtimes.com/?p=63
Enjoy.
Hey, did you not know? Freedom of expression is a big thing in texas, as long as you express their views.simple
Mike’s Blog Round Up…
PSoTD listens to Lugar and says Grow up, America.
Steve Soto is hopeful that the dam has broken with […]…
If somebody tried to thank me for “surrendering the country to the Muslims” I think I would say “that is an interesting conclusion. Can you explain how you arrived at it?”. That should provide you with a fron-row view of somebody actually trying to assemble an argument instead of repeating a talking point.
The only viable long-term approach to current issues with American policy is to force people to actually think and reason, instead of parrotting. Tempting though it is to invite people who parrot talking points to “be fruitful and multiply” (but not quite in those words), that sort of response merely entrenches people in their current mind-set, when they need to be jogged out of it.
I do the same thing if I am accused of being a liberal (which seems to be used as a swear word in many parts of America at present). My answer varies according to context. One possible answer is to respond that I am a Libertarian, and if they think I am a liberal, that may reflect the fact that they are authoritarian and cannot tell the difference. The other possible answer is “Yes, I am, and your point is …?”. The latter answer has it’s own built-in amusement value, as you get the front-row seat…repeat spectator role as person tries to assemble an argument…
Graham
“Everybody is entitled to their own set of opinions, but not to their own set of facts”
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Two cool bumper stickers I spotted in Houston.
‘Jesus was a Bleeding Heart Liberal’
‘What Would Ozzy Do ?’
Interesting. I’ve had a “Impeach Bush and Cheney” bumper sticker on my car for 2 years now, and no one’s ever bothered it. (I live in SE TX, and go to Houston a lot.)
I would have just kicked him in the nuts and stole his groceries.
Ok, I live in College Station, Tx, arguably the most conservative city outside of Tehran, and I am a Texas Liberal too. I must say that attempting to engage these people in rational, civilized dicussion is uaually futile. Great people here, and they are truely generous and loving, but good grief, critical thinking and open minded attitudes are as common as Texas stomstorms.
“I fear for the furure of our nation, for God is just.” – Thomas Jefferson
I live in Ireland and I find this hard to understand. That is to say I cant imagine anyone here making remarks to another like that. The idea that anyone would either care enough about someone else’ politics or bumper sticker to pass remarks at you in person.
The person thinking that democrats are surrendering to the muslims indicates an awful lot of how the media in the USA is letting its citizens down. Too insular and patriotic. My “2 cents” anyway! ;o)
It still amazes me how xenophobic, racist, and unwilling for change people still are in this ‘civilized’ world.
In Austin, we pull off the pro-Bush stickers…
Thanks for all the comments on this post. Please read Where’s The Outrage? as often as possible and also please check out my blog—Texas Liberal. Neil Aquino, Houston, Texas.
http://texasliberal.wordpress.com/
If you want to engage in political speech these days, you better be prepared to press charges or pistol-whip someone into submission if it comes down to it. Touch my bumper-stickers, vandalize my car when I’m around and see what happens to you. The right plays for keeps, the left is still trying to play nice. It’s a losing proposition, you can’t play nice when fighting a cornered, desperate animal – you will lose every time. Think Michael Savage listeners will listen to reason, or rational debate? Think again – 9.5 times out of 10 it will get you nowhere fast. Those aren’t effective tactics in a situation like that. What works is an aluminum baseball bat. Or a loaded gun, something all too few liberals understand the value of having. Of course, you could always call the cops, but that might only make it worse since there’s no guarantee that the cops will not take the side of the other guy and haul you off to jail on bogus charges. Sad but true. “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Words to live by.
I had three stickers on my car here in Ft Worth, and only the ‘BUCK FUSH’ one got pulled off. At least they were considerate, (and probally a professional) and pulled it off clean without scratching the paint.
My original plan was to buy anti-Bush stickers and cover up all the W04 stickers I still see, but I thought that might be crossing the line. Well, someone else crossed it for me, so it’s back on the table. May the gods of stealth be with me.
For anyone that’s interested, here’s how you can make your own bumper stickers with a computer and a laser printer and say just exactly what you want
http://www.sdean.net/pol/MakeYerOwnBumpStk.html
I’d set it up so that, when they peeled away the bumper sticker, there was a second, easy-to-read sticker underneath that says “GET YOUR F*CKING HANDS OFF MY BUMPER, ASSH*LE!” or “PEOPLE WHO TOUCH MY CAR GET THEIR ASSES KICKED!” or “I KILL PEOPLE WHO TOUCH MY RIDE!”
Maybe I’d set up a hidden camera, too, to get people’s reactions to it.
Then again, if I were going to do that, I might as well just set up a trigger system whereby anybody who peels the bumper sticker off my car gets sprayed in the face with mace and/or purple dye. Mission accomplished!
My bumper sticker says “War is Not Pro-Life” for all my pro-birth only neighbors. I live in one of the redest counties in Kansas. I have actually had people shake their heads when they read my sticker. Fortunately, no one has tried to peel it off!
Mick:
American political behavior is a bit like that in troubles-era Northern Ireland except with a lower level of violence. Divisions are also along urban-rural and geographic lines. Rural, southern (Confederate states), and interior (non-coastal states) are overwhelmingly Republican territory. Being caught Democrat in a Republican area is akin to being caught Protestant in a Catholic area. The locals from the police to the politicians and hicks will make it manifestly clear that ‘your kind aren’t welcome here.’
Unlike Northern Ireland, politically-motivated violence is a one-way street. Republicans who enter Democratic areas will not be subject to attack while, in most of the US, it is manifestly unsafe (and potentially life threatening) to express Democratic views in public.
Back in the ’80s, my mom had a bumper sticker on her station wagon saying “the moral majority is neither”. During the three years it was on the car, no one peeled it off (this was in western Maryland, which was seriously bible-belt). They did, however, slash our tires on seven occasions. The deputy county sheriff’s reaction? He told mom “If you remove the bumper sticker, it won’t happen.” Mom asked about freedom of expression, and he said “Freedom of expression is fine as long as you agree with the right-thinkin’ people.”
I no longer live in Maryland. Neither do my parents.
Texas is one of 4 U.S. states where whites have now become a minority. Maybe you can get another bumper sticker that says “THANK BUSH FOR KEEPING OUR BORDERS WIDE OPEN”.
I wonder if the Texas Bushbots would like THAT one better.
My folks live in Dallas and whenever we’ve attempted the trek all the way down from DC we’ve been a bit scared about driving through those Southern states with our stickers (“Yee Haw! Is Not A Foreign Policy” and a custom “Greed Bigotry & Deceit Are Not Family Values” for a start.
But we’ve never had anything happen to us. On one trip in Dallas we actually got stopped in a parking lot by a woman parked beside us. She was from New York and visiting her family in Texas for the holidays too. She said our stickers helped her feel less alone.
I was born and raised in Texas and just hate going back. It saddens me to no end what’s become of my home state. Still have a lot of love for the place but the state of Texas has just gone down in so many ways.
Sad sad sad.
Dan, who still knows all the words to the Texas State Anthem from his junior high school Texas history class.
I’ve had “Somewhere in Texas…A village is missing its Idiot” on my car for at least three years here behind the Orange Curtain in SoCal and I’ve had nothing but smiles and good things said to me. I’ve gotta admit, I’m sorta surprised. I even wore my t-shirt version in Costco and got complimented.
Some great bumper stickers. Teresa’s – War is not Pro-life and Jesus was a bleeding heart liberal are my favorite.
Thanks for the GREAT comments.
I used to live in San Marcos, Texas, at a clinic. I had an “Impeach Bush” bumper sticker on my car and oneday had a very unpleasant exchange with a female nurse who threatened me vaguely over my “unamerican” bumper stickers. I rolled me eyes and ignored it, but ;ater that day a police officer pulled me over, had me out on my hood in cuffs and said I should watch who I cross in a small town like San Marcos… So, yeah, small town cops do indeed harass people who dare to speak out against Bush, but their days are numbered.
Best bumper sticker ever (I saw this one in Austin, naturally):
“Someone give Bush a blowjob so we can impeach him already”
I damn near ran off the road laughing.
By the way, to be fair… Austin is an oasis of sanity is a vast ocean of redneck.
Some stores that makes magnetic signs will sell you a sheet of magnetic material that is big enough for about a dozen bumper stickers for about $10. I put the stickers that I’m afraid might get my windows smashed on magnets, and throw them in the car while I’m parked in places I’m not sure about. It could be considered a slighly cowardly solution, but you’ll lose fewer stickers. Side benefit are that you can throw it on your friends convertible when your out for a cruise, and it doesn’t leave a permanent sticky mess on the car.
I had an unpopular bumper sticker, a long time ago (I’m kinda old). A week, or two, after finding it scraped off my bumper, I got pulled over by the constabulary. It seems the sticker scraper wasn’t satisfied by just removing the sticker. They’d also scraped off my registration tag. Just a “heads up” for ya. 🙂
JR –
Austin is like Boulder or Asheville or Santa Fe. There are a few great cities out there. I live in Asheville. It is great here.
Thanks for your comments.
I personally wonder why the White House and Congress are not surrounded by vast seas of people carrying pitchforks and torches. My Favorite sticker seen already 2 years ago.
W, pull out of Iraq like your father should have
I put my “George Walker Bush is a Fucking Idiot” sticker smack in between my NRA-Lifetime Member, and my United States Marine Corps Stickers. They look similar, are both round, and bracket my points nicely, or not so nicely to anyone who might be thinking about messing with my car. I’m thinking of adding a new one, “Don’t Trust Oilslick Dick, & The Smirking Chimp” with a photoshopped pic of Darth Cheney with a monkey on his back.
Why don't you move you fucking idiots