Writing about bumper stickers for progressives
Mac Herrling of Orland, Maine sent this letter to the Bangor Daily News: Our governor continues to amaze us with the vastness of his incompetence as chief executive. He crudely undercut his marine resources commissioner by going behind his back to make deals with the fishing industry and punish perceived enemies in Portland. His handpicked [...]
In the wake of her June 2011 debate performance promising to outlaw abortion even if the life of the mother is at stake, conservative America is falling over itself in praise of Michele Bachmann. Never mind that she supports the Patriot Act without reservation or reform. Never mind that Michele Bachmann has called the scientific [...]
I am so confused. I’m trying so hard to be a good Republican and support the establishment standard bearer, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts (or is that Michigan? or is that Utah?). But I can’t decide what it is that I’m supposed to be supporting. Am I supposed to be supporting the liberal Republican who championed [...]
Where did all those bumper stickers come from, anyway? To find an answer, turn to Whitney Baker, a conservator at the University of Kansas Library: While Baker works painstakingly to preserve chemically volatile vinyl stickers in separated layers of plastic and archival silicone-release or alkaline papers, she also has traced the history of bumper stickers [...]
Have you noticed that the Republicans in Washington, DC have one answer to just about any question? The answer is “no.” Education? No! Health care? No! Peace? No! Science? No! Social Security? No! But they never suggest anything in place of No. The Republicans are the party of No because the Republicans are the party [...]
Every day it seems Carl Paladino comes out with another threat, another smear, another word belittling this person or that group or some other kind of New Yorker he just can’t stand. A couple of weeks ago, Paladino threatened to kill a reporter. Last week, they were screaming for a violent purge when Paladino told [...]
Every September 30th is International Blasphemy Rights Day. To have an International Blasphemy Day would seem oxymoronic, since blaspheming is an act of individual rebellion against a religious system that insists there can be no violation of its self-interested thought barriers. Blasphemy shouldn’t be an organized activity — it should be without limits, not restricted [...]
What’s the opposite of coexistence? Domination. Suppression. Elimination. Extermination. Are these American values? Do we want them represented in Congress? Allen West, the Republican Party nominee for Congress in Florida’s 22nd District, has made a speech publicly railing against the idea of coexistence: As I was driving up here today, I saw that bumper sticker [...]
Have you heard that Paul LePage wants to bring offshore oil drilling to the waters of Maine? It’s true, and the Republican candidate for Governor made it unavoidably plain. When he was asked “Would you support offshore drilling in the waters off the Maine Coast?” in a televised gubernatorial debate in May of this year, [...]
Nine members of the Hutaree sect of Christian fundamentalists are up on federal charges of plotting to kill police officers for Christ. It almost sounds funny, doesn’t it? I mean, come on, the group names itself Hutaree, and is led by people named “Captain Hutaree” and “Guhighllo?” What a laugh, huh? And then we remember [...]
Irregular Bumper Stickers