What's on your bumper?
While Californians are known for their vanity plates, it seems that Portlanders love bumper stickers. Especially the political and ideological sort.
Portlanders tend to display standard blue state sentiments on their vehicles: “Impeach Bush.” “Attack Iraq? No!” “I never thought I would miss Nixon.” And that old favorite, a weathered “Kerry-Edwards ’04.”Others present their ideals wrapped in puns, with such lines as “The road to health is paved with good intestines,” “I’m for the separation of church and hate,” “My karma ran over your dogma.”
Others make direct statements of identity, such as “Tree hugging dirt worshipper.” There are modern maxims: “Well-behaved women rarely make history” (a version of a quote from Harvard historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich). And there are philosophical challenges: “What if the Hokey Pokey is what’s it’s all about?” (from a Jimmy Buffett song).
So, what's on your bumper?
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Aug. 17, 2006
Posted in in the news 2006. |
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connect with blueoregon
Aug 17, '06
"I miss Bill"
Aug 17, '06
"Keep Portland Weird"
Aug 17, '06
What's on my bumper?
1.20.09 BUSH'S LAST DAY
Aug 17, '06
I use FlexCar, so no bumper of my own to put a sticker on.
But on my messenger bag (bright orange with a KEXP logo on it), I've got a "I'm on the bus" button amongst all my Macintosh-related and Harvey Danger buttons...
Aug 17, '06
No car here but if I had one I would have "define Defense!" on my bumper
Aug 17, '06
Well, not all on my bumper. But I have a few:
"Powered By Biodiesel: This truck is a Vegetarian" "Powered by Biodiesel: Clean, Renewable, Domestic" "Biodiesel: NO WAR REQUIRED" "Support our troops: Bring them Home!"
and of course
"Keep Portland Weird"
Aug 17, '06
On my trusty '91 Honda Civic:
"Mission (xed out) Nothing Accomplished" next to "Quaqmire Accomplished" and "Regime Change Begins at Home" and "Brave Combo" and "Thank You Jerry."
None of them lie.
Aug 17, '06
Well, not all on my bumper. But I have a few:
"Powered By Biodiesel: This truck is a Vegetarian" "Powered by Biodiesel: Clean, Renewable, Domestic" "Biodiesel: NO WAR REQUIRED" "Support our troops: Bring them Home!"
and of course
"Keep Portland Weird"
Aug 17, '06
Don't pray in my schools and I won't think in your church.
Aug 17, '06
My boyfriend and I have a car, but don't drive much since we have annual Trimet passes. Still I have the available bandwidth of my bumper when the car is parked at the curb, so I've pasted on a long rainbow strip to tell my neighbors that we're a queer household. One of the two older women who live across the street, but whom I'd never spoken to, came over to tell me that they like the sticker. Cool!
Aug 17, '06
"Bush is an Idiot and You Know It"
Aug 17, '06
on my car: "Commit Planned Acts of Organizing and Premeditated Solidarity."
but one that just makes me happy whenever I see it on cars around Portland: "Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup." I like having life put into perspective like that.
Aug 17, '06
My bumper quotes Edward Abbey: A patriot must be ready to defend his country against his government.
And 'Phish.'
10:23 a.m.
Aug 17, '06
Don't have the car anymore, but back in 1998, I got some notoriety for creating this one...
Bill Sizemore Owes Me Money Too
Still see 'em around town now and then.
Aug 17, '06
"Embrace Morality - Hug A Republican?" Lest someone get the wrong idea, in close proximity is: " CAUTION I Brake for Liberals"
Aug 17, '06
I thought of getting one that said:
"A patriot must be ready to always attack his country on behalf of its enemies."
Or maybe:
"Commit Planned Acts of Organizing and Pretentious Solidarity"
Or maybe:
"My country, wrong or wrong"
Or maybe:
"Support Our Troops: Don't let them actually be troops!"
Or perhaps:
"Sanctimonious Liberal on Board--But I repeat myself."
Aug 17, '06
"Focus on your own damn family."
Aug 17, '06
"Focus on your own damn family."
Aug 17, '06
Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers
and
Religion--Stops a Thinking Mind
Aug 17, '06
"I Voted No on 36"
Aug 17, '06
Showing my age, my only bumper sticker>
BETTER RED THAN DEAD BUT . . . BETTER DEAD THAN REPUBLICAN
2:21 p.m.
Aug 17, '06
Not on my car right now, but here are some all time favorites:
"Wild Salmon Forever."
"Support Organic Farmers."
"I'll hug your elephant if you kiss my ass."
"Visualize whirrled peas."
"Subvert the Dominant Paradigm."
and of course,
"How's my driving? Call 1-800-Eat-Shit"
Aug 17, '06
Free Tibet Foxfire Teas I Share the Road Co-Housing, building community
3:21 p.m.
Aug 17, '06
God Bless All Nations
3:54 p.m.
Aug 17, '06
Veteran for Kerry
Aug 17, '06
Bring Major League Basketball to Portland
Aug 17, '06
I love VISUALIZE WHIRLED PEAS.
I once had a flagger in a residential neighborhood (where they were fixing a road) tap on my window. When I rolled down the window, the flagger thanked me for a bumper sticker which I had on my car VISUALIZE USING YOUR TURN SIGNAL.
Aug 17, '06
Back Off--I Might Kick (with a kicking horse)
American Quarter Horse Association Member
Plus an Oregon Zoo sticker. I figure all those on a Subaru helps keep folks confused....
Aug 17, '06
"Declare Your Independence -- BenForGovernor.com"
... and it's staying there. ('Course, I'm likely voting for Ted now, but a guy can dream, can't he?)
Aug 17, '06
Support the Troops: Frag Rumsfeld
Aug 17, '06
Thanks to global warming, I won't have to move to Arizona.
I am part of the team, I just spend most of my time in Left field.
But my favorite is not mine, "If you think sex is a pain in the ass, then you are doing it the wrong way."
Aug 17, '06
"End Trimet's Monopoly" How's that for a progressive statement? %%
Aug 17, '06
Vegetarians taste better.
8:05 p.m.
Aug 17, '06
"Die Trying"
Aug 17, '06
Stickers (all pretty small) on the back of my canopy:
Timbers Army '107' in Roman numbers (CVII) with chainsaws
County Kerry Gaelic Athletic Association shield
'OR' Euro car thing with small Oregon and US flags on it
UN flag
Salmon Nation
Bumper sticker:
Jobs with Justice
Aug 17, '06
No one died when Clinton lied
No, you can't have my civil rights, I'm not finished using them
Straight but not narrow
9:46 p.m.
Aug 17, '06
I don't have any bumper stickers since we just bought a new car and my husband and I agreed not to put any stickers on it for a while. It's just so new and shiny... and the first "new" car we've bought together (it's a 2004, but was practically new-- almost no miles and still has the new car smell).
I will be putting our zoo membership decal in the window, though. We just cleaned everything out of the Honda so we can donate it to charity, so now I just have to put the decal in the window.
I did have a good number of stickers on my old cars, though. My Vote F*cker sticker kept getting ripped off, as did my HRC equal sign sticker. Guess some people around here don't like voting or equal rights. Probably the same person who shot the windshield on my Ford (it had about 20 anti-Bush stickers).
Aug 17, '06
May all the fetuses you save be gay I am not afraid of gay marriage, I am afraid of no health care Peace is patriotic How do you say Vietnam in Arabic?
Aug 18, '06
Not particularly political but rear window of '62 Chevy II
NHRA
2002 & 2003 Pepsi Nightfire Participant
and on flatbed trailer
We interrupt this marriage for racing season
Winner - NHRA Legal Street Drags
so, yes kids, I do encourage high-powered high-performance automobiles and playing with that power on a race track.
Gads, I'm soooo politically correct...
Aug 18, '06
'Quagmire'and 'You can't kill for peace'
Aug 18, '06
"Get on the political Bus - exact change"
Aug 18, '06
Against abortion? Have a vasectomy!
12:53 p.m.
Aug 18, '06
Currently on Truck:
realistic "bullet hole" decals across both doors.
American flag--rear window driver's side
"Democrat"--left rear bumper of course
"Legalize Freedom"--right rear bumper
"Vote VanOrman"--tailgate
After November 7th:
"The only thing I feel when I fire my weapon is---recoil."
pirate fish
and maybe a pastafarian rainbow version of the Flying Spaghetti Monster may you be touched by His Noodly Appendages.
Aug 18, '06
Several Kerry stickers (don't want anyone thinking I would actually vote for the village idiot), Be The Change, and a Fire the Liar sticker which I tape on when the mood hits, but take off when I park in the school parking lot. I tell my students not to call each other names, so I don't want them seeing that one. I'd never hear the end of it.
Aug 18, '06
I have a homemade one - "Vote NO on everything"
Aug 18, '06
no one died when clinton died
My spouse hates it, says it trivializes the harm that clinton did to his family in his dalliance with monica.
10:18 p.m.
Aug 18, '06
I like that sticker.
To me, it trivializes the deaths of our soldiers, workers for companies, journalists covering the area, innocent Iraquis, etc. to say that Clinton having an affair is a worse offense than lying to get us into a war.
We didn't just go in to participate in a war already happening. We instigated the war, and we did so based on lies. And to this day the administration tries to keep those lies going, trying to keep people believing there really are/were WMDs in Iraq, that Iraq had a part in 9/11, etc.
Clinton's offense was against his family. True, that is bad and I would be extremely angry at my husband or father if he did something like that. However, it was personal, and did not deserve an impeachment.
Bush's offense was not only against the people of the United States, but against the world. His was not personal-- it was done in his position as president, and it definitely deserves an impeachment as well as removal from office.
Aug 18, '06
it was done in his position as president, and it definitely deserves an impeachment as well as removal from office.
Jenni, I would suggest you read one of the excellent Watergate books like Jimmy Breslin's HOW THE GOOD GUYS FINALLY WON to discover how complex a well done impeachment is. When this November rolls around, it will be about a year before the 2008 presidential campaign begins in earnest--not enough time to do a proper impeachment inquiry of the sort done with Nixon.
It would be better for all concerned if Democrats win majority (and thus subpoena power) in one or both chambers of Congress and then do the sort of serious oversight hearings that Truman did with the Truman Commission looking into war profiteering in WWII. That would prove Democrats are serious about value for the dollar, and also that they can hold high quality hearings and not descend into the partisanship of the Republicans in the late 1990s. Don't forget--Clinton's impeachment didn't help the Republicans in the long run, and some actively involved lost their seats over it.
Aug 19, '06
As an organizers my bumper sticker says - "Actions speak louder than bumperstickers"
2:41 a.m.
Aug 20, '06
LT--
I never said it was something we should concentrate on. I just said he deserves it.
I definitely think job one is winning races all over the country-- from city council to Congress, followed up by the White House.
I worked for a member of Congress during Clinton's impeachment, so I know a lot about what it took for that one to go through. It was hell, and it wasn't something I recommend lightly.
Aug 20, '06
Defend New Oreleans
Aug 20, '06
Defend New Orleans
Aug 23, '06
Sportsmen for Ted
in Eastern Oregon the 'Sportsmen for ...' seem to have been co-opted by R's, not anymore!
Aug 23, '06
Condi in 2008
Aug 25, '06
If you are not outraged, you have not been paying attention. W with a slash thru it.... And My newest Would someone please blow Bush so we can impeach him
Aug 25, '06
Proud Union Member.
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything!
Sep 13, '06
http://mopchaep.xoompages.com/