Saw that on a bumper sticker today, the first day I’ve been able to drive my car since the shenanigans began. A nice reminder of a good plan.

Of course, the person’s other sticker said “chor is enough,” so …

Seen on a bumper sticker.

Pro whose lives? Pro the lives of tyrants who rape, murder, and imprison at will? No, it is not. Pro the lives of those who serve such tyrants? No, it is not.

Pro the lives of those living under the tyrant’s boot-heel? Yes, it is. Pro the lives of those killed in gas chambers? Yes, it is. Pro the lives of those, including housewives, being trained to kill “even one American” as Japan prepared to accept invsasion rather than surrender? Yes, it is. Pro the lives of soldiers proud to give their lives, if need be, in support of other lives? Yes, it is. Pro lives lived in freedom, pro lives lived without fear, pro lives lived with a voice in how they’re governed? Yes, it is.

To the person driving in Beaverton yesterday with the bumper sticker that said, “It has become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity”–Do you drive that obviously aged Subaru because you believe that? Or do you believe that because you drive an obviously aged Subaru?

I’m not great with the Days of Sentiment and Memory posts–Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and like that. I don’t like to get too mushy on the blog, lest the lawyers start realizing I’m actually a girl. Guess the picture’s pretty much let that cat out of the bag, but I still am not great with the sentimental posts.

Veterans Day is important to me, but not spent in solemn observance. And Oregon has rather imperceptibly reduced my standards. I was happy enough when at my very PC and peace-oriented Oregon church, the only mention of Veterans Day was when our pastor said he was thankful for veterans’ service and sad that it was necessary–but that it was necessary. I frankly didn’t expect even that much.

My grandfather, now passed away, did a tour in France. My father spent all of my childhood and more flying tankers for the U.S. Air Force and teaching others to do the same. A cousin flew Tomcats for the navy and another cousin is now stationed in Afghanistan, crew chief for the (alas, grounded) F-15s whose absence is being supplemented by … the French. And if you want to talk wayback history, my great-great-grandfather (I think that’s the appropriate number of “greats”) was one of four brothers who joined the Union army–and the only one who returned. I honor their service and am grateful for their safety.

Now go read this at Sippican Cottage. His father was a ball gunner on a B-24 in the Pacific during WWII, that fact alone enough to make me shudder a little. Forty missions in a ball turret! Those were tough guys, and we all owe them a debt of gratitude no less today than sixty years ago–more, because we have a shorter time to show it.

I saw a bumper sticker today (yes, here in Oregon) that said Support Our Troops–Support Victory. Never saw it before. I’m glad I saw it today.

Q: Is there any man more whipped than the one I saw driving a vehicle with a Code Pink bumper sticker on it?

Bumper sticker seen this morning: that quote of Gandhi’s that says (unsourced at the Wiki), “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Bumper sticker seen about two minutes afterward: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

Guess who said it?

But Gandhi wasn’t the first to repudiate “an eye for an eye.” Wait, if I think hard, I might get it.

Right, okay, Gandhi already stipulated that he admired Christ; it was his followers he had trouble with. Well, tell me something: Why is it that the people in our country today most strident against any form of religion even in public view, much less in the government, are some of the very people most strident in their demands for our government to act as Jesus said it would be best for individuals to act in their daily lives? You cannot remain an effective government if you allow individuals to tyrannize over other individuals, nor other governments to tyrannize over your own. Or, in select cases, over still other governments. It is simply not a feasible plan for the ordering of the globe.

Why are the biggest anti-religionists also frequently the biggest fans of complete nonviolence, no matter the harm it causes to people in either their own country or others?

Update: More tales of taking Jesus out of context:

Q: Is it morally meaningful for people who have no guilt to apologize to people who are not victims?”

A: No.

Funny:

Not funny, far too “on the nose,” alienates Tolkien fans with the bald statement of “Frodo failed,” completely lacking cleverness: Bumper sticker that reads “Frodo failed. Bush has the Ring.”

Subtlety sells, people. Don’t rip off a picture worth a thousand well-chosen words into a hack set of six that doesn’t get the job done.

To the Portland woman who drives around with an “Abortion Is Mean” bumper sticker:

Go you! With one fell phrase, you have, however weakly, absolved yourself of any supposed partiality towards abortion and completely trivialized the scope of an unnatural act of cruelty. You pair that up with that other sticker that says “Mean People Suck,” and you’ve got yourself a statement.

I have a category for bumper stickers here because I like to read them and probably spend a few too many brain cells over-analyzing them. I don’t have any on my car because a) I wouldn’t do that to my car and b) why let everybody going down the road in my blue-city, slightly-less-blue state know my sensibilities? Far more fun to fume about their sensibilities in the privacy of my car.

Anyway, on to tonight’s example:

Protect the Environment: Plant a Bush Back in Texas!

(Scroll down to see the sticker in question.)

It’s better than “Somewhere in Texas … a village is missing its idiot” in that it has a direct expression of the particular area of policy disgruntlement rather than just indulging in namecalling, along with a somewhat witty suggestion for eliminating the bad policy. But the longer I stared at it, the more I found myself wondering about the nature of their directive to “plant” Bush … just makes you wonder exactly how deep they have in mind. If it had just said “Plant a Bush in Texas!” it wouldn’t have carried the rather sinister suggestion and would have been funnier.

I know. Focusing on minutiae. Hey, at least I’m in good company.

I have to confess to a little admiration for that bumper sticker that says “Coexist” made up of various symbols. I see it and think, “Duh. We would if they would.”

This isn’t really as significant as the title makes it sound. Just weird. A bumper sticker I saw today that blared “Impeach Bush,” which at least is clear, emphatic, and non-dissembling, was in a passenger window rather than on the bumper or back area of the car, was wedged in rather than stuck on, and was … upside-down. I wondered if that was some kind of code to others with BDS, or … what?