The new anti-Obama bumperstickers

Don Surber, a blogger whose typing I usually love, has posted some of the new anti-Obama bumperstickers. 
Some of them are funny, some are kinda harsh even by my jaded standards, and a few of them raise more questions than they answer. 
Mr. Surber blogs from a more or less Republican point of view.  Just for the sake of argument, let's assume that these bumperstickers will be found on Republican bumpers. 
Here's the first one.  Let's call it "ObamaZombies". 

The idea behind this one is that Obama's remaining supporters are an unthinking, brain-dead group.  Fair enough.  Unless you're a defense contractor, a federal employee, or a gay soldier (not that there's anything wrong with that), things are probably worse for you than they were two years ago. 

But wait a second....You can go here and learn that a Tea Party spokesperson is claiming that the Tea Party will support any Republican nominee against Barack Obama.  Any Republican?  Seriously?  Donald Trump or Sarah Palin or Mike Huckabee?  Rick Freakin' Santorum?  Who are the brain-dead zombies here? 

Let's look at some of the other bumperstickers: 

1.  If this one is a reference to the birth certificate controversy, it is lame.  The man has produced a legit birth certificate  End of story. 
If this is a reference to Obama's asking "What would Belgium do?" when confronted with economic problems, the Republicans should examine the mote in their own collective eye.  They've voted for almost as many subsidies, price supports and corporate welfare schemes as the evil scheming socialists on the other side of the aisle. 

2. I totally agree. Nobody owes you crap. Let's end ethanol supports today. How about it, Senator Grassley (R-Iowa)?

3.   100% ANTI-OBAMA?  Well, it's good to have you in the Libertarian Party !!!!   Obama supports the War On Drugs and the Libertarians don't.  Obama is opposed to Gay and Lesbian marriage, and the Libertarians aren't. 

4.   If you look at the spending sprees of Bush Major, Bush Minor, and Ronald Reagan, this one will make you downright giggly.  Our current debt was caused by both factions of our government reaching across the aisle in a spirit of bi-partisan cooperation to work together and get things done, i.e. - screw you over.  Yes we can ! 

5.   Yes, we've all had enough.  We've had enough expensive wars, to use just one obvious example.  We don't want new wars, though.  We want the good ol' kind, like the ones against Iraq and Afghanistan, led by Republicans who will always wear a flag lapel pin.  No more new ones, though.  We've had enough. 

6.   This all depends on the next president, doesn't it?  The Republicans really might nominate a Global Warmist like Mitt Romney, who will probably continue the green giveaways.  Or a theocrat like Mike Huckabee or Michelle Bachmann.  How much longer are we going to support nominees because of their Republican or Democrat label?  Which party struck the match that Obama used as justification for burning down the house?   

7.   This one is kind of funny.  Mr. Hope'n'Change Nobel-winner has found new wars, bombed new countries, kept up the illegal wiretaps, carried on the rendition policies, and Gitmo is still open for business.  If we put in a Republican on January 20th, I'm going to buy one of these.  The corporate giveaways will continue, the military-industrial complex will continue to grow, and the debt ceiling will get raised a few more times.  Hide and watch for even more of the same. 

8.  Jimmy Carter was a deficit hawk compared to Reagan, Bush, and Bush.   Lordy, I'm tired of pointing this out. 

9.   This is another funny one.  I kinda like it.  Obama plays a lot of golf and he takes a lot of vacations.  What the hell do you want him to do?  Create more stimulus packages, bank bailouts, wars, and economic recovery plans?  If someone else could put The Aggie through college, I'd volunteer to caddy for Obama all day every day, if that's what it takes to keep Obama (or the next Republican nominee) from going to work on any more of the nation's problems. 
Please, please, please just leave us alone.  Stay out of the economy.  Stop trying to create jobs.  Please. 

10.   Or how about "Honk If I'm Paying For Your Tractor"?  "Honk If I'm Paying For Your Combine".  "Honk If I'm Paying For Your Bombs".  "Honk If I'm Paying For Your Child's Jail Cell".  "Honk If I'm Paying For Your Husband's Substance Abuse Counselor".  "Honk If I'm Paying For Your Tank".  "Honk If I'm Paying For Your Drug War". 
All of these are worthy bumperstickers.  May they spread throughout the nation.  How about it, Republicans?

11.   Of course it's all hype.  The next president will be elected because of hype.  In the libertarian view of things, electing a president shouldn't involve much hype.  If an election requires hype, then the government has grown too large. 

12.   This one is greatness.  It's perfect.  So as an alternative to ObamaCare, please give me a choice of who I can go to for medical care, drugs, or anything else that doesn't harm someone else.  If I want to go to a low-cost doctor or nurse, in the form of someone who didn't complete med school, is it anyone's business but mine?  Are the Republicans going to allow me to go to Ray Lewis to get stitches and a tetanus shot?  (He runs our wood shop, and is a former Marine medic.) 
It currently costs around a billion dollars to lawyer-proof a new medication.  Let me sign something stating that I want sue the supplier, and then allow me to try any new medication that I choose. 
I don't think this will ever happen.  It would piss off the trial lawyers too much.  And the Republicrats and Demoblicans are owned by the trial lawyers. 

13.   For those of us with low expectations, and who are aware that presidents are just like the rest of us (sometimes lazy, sinful, lying, grasping, Weiner-texting, and fallible) human beings, we're never disappointed or bummed out by presidential behavior. 
Our next president will not meet expectations.  That's why he should have very little power.  We shouldn't trust him, or Congress, any further than we can throw them. 

14.   See commentary on #13. 

15.   And voting for someone just because he's a Republican is just as dumb as voting for someone just because he's a Democrat.  You don't get a prize for guessing the winner, people. 

16.   This one is too big for a bumpersticker.  I don't know why Surber included it.  For those reading this in Europe and Asia, we have a series of commercials in the U.S. featuring a guy who dresses in a suit covered with dollar signs.  He sells a book about how to get money from government.  I don't know if it includes a section on selling them border fences, bombs, ethanol, soybeans, helicopters, and machine guns.  I don't know if the book has any info on boondoggles like George Bush's TARP program. 

17.   I can't argue with this one.  But doesn't it make you consider the need for another party to be represented on this scoreboard? 

18.   Yep.  He blows.  So did Nixon, Carter and Bush Jr.  So did LBJ.  Ford didn't have enough sense to stop inflation (all you have to do is quit printing money).  One could argue that the majority of Democrat and Republican presidents have sucked. 
Let's consider some other alternatives, alternatives that aren't so entangled with lobbyists, giveaways, and the status quo.  The Libertarian Party awaits. 

19.   Oh for the love of God, what do we have here?  The only thing missing is Pro-Marriage and Pro-Flag.  Is there anyone out there who believes that, say, Newt Gingrich spends a lot of time with God? 

20.   This one, considering the failure of Obama's "Shovel-Ready" projects, is just downright funny. 

21.   I don't like this one, even as someone who dishes out more than his fair share of snarkiness.  We don't have stupid voters; the current governing factions allow nothing but stupid choices and we've grown accustomed to it. 

22.   I don't like this one either.  The black slang seems kind of racist.  Plus, the Republican party serves up "small government" Kool-Aid in massive vats and buckets and pipelines and supertankers while doing nothing, absolutely nothing, to shrink the size of government. 

23.   Nah.  That would be Richard M. Nixon or FDR.  Nixon implemented wage and price controls that were outrageous enough to cause my political forefathers to form the Libertarian Party.  Then he started the National Endowment For The Arts. 
FDR planted the seeds that of most of the programs that got us 14 trillion in debt.  He outlawed private gold holdings.  He locked Japanese citizens into internment camps. 

24.  Well, yeah. 

25.   I'm not going to comment on this one.  I'm just going to follow it with a chart showing increases in the national debt by president. 

Now THAT is your brain on drugs. 

If you really want a smaller government, less debt, and more personal freedom, please consider the Libertarian Party in the 2012 elections. 

How about this for a bumpersticker? 

Michael Moore T-shirt

Go here to get one for yourself. Or for me. I'm back down to "large" instead of "Extra-large", just in case you're wondering.

Bail Out Studebaker ! Bail Out T. Boone Pickens !

I saw this bumpersticker in Fort Worth today, and started thinking....

....would bailing out Studebaker be any sillier than bailing out Chrysler?  What could be sillier than the current rounds of bailout mania? 

Well, I found out when I went to Bally's fitness to put in some mandatory treadmill time. 

The Bally's TV's were tuned to CNN, which featured Larry King interviewing T. Boone Pickens, mostly about the BP oil spill, but partly about AMERICA'S DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL and the Pickens plan to replace oil with gentle gusts of wind from unseen fairy flatulence which would be enough to power Pickens Inc. windmills paid for by your taxes. 

T. Boone Pickens wants your money, just like Chrysler wants your money.  They both go through government to force the wealth transfer.  In the case of T. Boone, he just wants his bailout up front.  Just like Chrysler, he can't make it without you.  Nobody in his right mind would voluntarily a dime of their own funds for the windmill scheme unless he knew up front that Boone was going to get some pork.     

One thing about AMERICA'S DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL....think of an individual that you do business with, preferably a little guy.  Think of somebody with an oil change franchise, or a seamstress, or a Mom'n'Pop restaurant.  Do you depend on them, or do they depend on you? 

It's mutual, isn't it?  You're trading stuff with each other.  If you didn't buy the oil changes, the clothing, or the meals from them, they would have to find someone else to sell the stuff to.  Finding new customers is a hassle. 

Political hacks like to talk about AMERICA'S DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.  Well, that street runs both ways, but you never hear them talk about FOREIGN OIL'S DEPENDENCE ON AMERICAN DOLLARS.  If the dreaded foreigners couldn't sell their oil to us, they would have to sell it to someone else.  Their overhead is high, just like ours is.  They have to keep the money rolling in.. If they want to cut us off, they still have to sell it to somebody who is not yet purchasing very much oil.  Somebody like....well, I can't think of anybody else.  But whoever bought it would wind up selling most of it to us. 

Frederic Bastiat figured it out 150 years ago.  He wrote:

The sort of dependence that results from exchange, i.e., from commercial transactions, is a reciprocal dependence. We cannot be dependent upon a foreigner without his being dependent on us. Now, this is what constitutes the very essence of society. To sever natural interrelations is not to make oneself independent, but to isolate oneself completely.

Giving T. Boone Pickens his bailout money ahead of time would be like reviving Studebaker to end our dependence on Toyotas. 

Pray For Obama

Idea shamelessly stolen from a friend of Denny.

Here's a link to Psalm 109:8 if you can't Google it.

I don't want to associate myself with any of the verses that follow #8, BTW.

Worst place for a jingoistic bumpersticker

Lost Your Job Yet? Keep Buying Foreign !

Whether you agree with the sentiment or not, there are better places to make this statement than on a car from Huggins Honda. I'm just sayin'....

Like so many other good things in life, this was at Home Depot.

And By Their Bumperstickers, Ye Shall Know Them, Part 2

I'm working the Tarrant County Libertarian Party's booth at the Fort Worth Gun Show.

My friend William and I are gathering signatures on petitions to eliminate the threat of a mandatory 3-day waiting period for gun show purchases (HR 2324 and S 843).

We've got a wide variety of Libertarian propaganda that we're handing out - pamphlets, CD's, DVD's, etc. William is a connoisseur of bumperstickers, and a few minutes ago, he handed me a series based on quotes from the Founding Fathers.

Almost all of these are available at LibertyStickers.com, a site run by a former Vice Chairman of the Travis County Libertarian party.

Here are a few of the stickers. See if you can spot the trend in these Founding Fathers' quotes.

"That we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public" - Theodore Roosevelt

"We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence by the Military Industrial Complex." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

"The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress." - George Washington

"If there is a sin superior to any other, it is that of willful and offensive war" - Thomas Paine

"The executive has NO right, in any case to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war." - James Madison

"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home." - James Madison

"It is our true policty to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world" - George Washington

"No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare" - James Madison

"Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none." - Thomas Jefferson

"The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force." - Thomas Paine

"Preventive war was an invention of Hitler" - Dwight D. Eisenhower

"America goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy" - John Quincy Adams

"I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind" - Thomas Jefferson

"Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war" - John Adams

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism" - George Washington

"America is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own" - John Quincy Adams

My time at the Fort Worth gun show was well spent. Learned a lot.

This Is A Test.....This Is Only A Test.....

Ok, now that the election is over, I swear I'm seeing more Obama bumperstickers than I saw before election day.

Am I alone in noticing this?

Anyway, everyone that I know went to the polls and voted.
The question is, did you have any business voting? William in the Tarrant County Libertarian Meetup sent out a link to a Basic Civics Test to the TCLM members, and everyone who did well is spamming the hell out of everyone else's inbox with their high test scores.


Full Disclosure: I made an 84. I should have made an 89. I know the answer to question number two better than I know my child's birthday. I could correctly answer question number two during the biggest drop on The Texas Giant rollercoaster at 6 Flags. I could give you the correct answer to question number two during childbirth, as long as it was a woman birthing the child and not me. And I missed question #2. I just wasn't thinking.


I agree with my friend and former co-worker Tim Lebsack that there's some Big Government bias on question 30. (And who really gives a crap about Sputnik? We don't need no stinkin' Commie Sputnik ! Neil Armstrong was the one who brought dirt back.)


Take the test by hitting the link above, and get back to me.


According to the people who administer the test, the average college freshman scores a 52. After four years of college, the average senior scores a 54.


71 percent of Americans fail the test, with an overall average score of 49%.
Liberals score 49%;
Conservatives score 48%.
Republicans score 52%
Democrats score 45%.
(So far, the average Tarrant County Libertarian score is an 89%, but I'm only hearing from those who are proud of their achievement.)

Fewer than half of all Americans can name all three branches of government, a minimal requirement for understanding America’s constitutional system.

Only 24% of college graduates know the First Amendment prohibits establishing an official religion for the United States.

Government officeholders typically have less civic knowledge than the general public. On average, they score 44% - that's five percentage points lower than non-officeholders.


Lord have mercy.


At the risk of sounding like an interventionist.... if you scored below 70%, may I suggest a remedy?



"Parliament Of Whores", by P.J. O'Rourke. O'Rourke worked his way through the ranks at Rolling Stone, Car & Driver, American Spectator, and several other periodicals. This book is his attempt to explain how the government works. And it's hilarious. I can't recommend it highly enough.
And I'm still waiting on someone with the Tarrant County Libertarians to admit that he/she made less than a 70.