Patterico's Pontifications

3/29/2015

Bumper Sticker As Harbinger

Filed under: General — JVW @ 11:26 am



[guest post by JVW]

While taking a beach constitutional earlier on this glorious Southern California morning (just a little dig at you guys who are still dealing with snow), I came upon this car parked on the street and couldn’t help but notice the bumper sticker:

Hillary!

So, so many messages conveyed in this one image. Hillary! Version 2016 hasn’t even officially launched, but already this bumper sticker is ragged, worn, and about to fall off. Here are a few questions to ponder:

Is the bumper sticker in such sad shape because it has been subject to unreasonable abuse or was it simply of grossly defective quality to begin with?
Has the vehicle’s owner had a change of heart and is in the process of abandoning the bumper sticker?
Has it proven to be extremely difficult to get rid of the bumper sticker, which somehow is managing to tenaciously hold on, even though it looks pathetic?
Can the bumper sticker really manage to hold out for another nineteen months?
Can a better quality bumper sticker be substituted, or is it just a losing cause all around?

And naturally you are welcome to substitute the word “campaign” for the term “bumper sticker” in the above questions.

– JVW

79 Responses to “Bumper Sticker As Harbinger”

  1. 2010???

    seeRpea (c1462d)

  2. Her political expiration date is past.

    elissa (4fe992)

  3. 2010???

    That’s what initially drew me to the sticker too, seeRpea. Actually when you take a closer look it does read 2016, it’s just in such bad shape that it looks like it is showing 2010.

    JVW (a1146f)

  4. Is there a union label on that puppy?

    elissa (4fe992)

  5. That sticker has to have been affixed to that bumper rather recently, so the year is garbled but obviously must say “2016.” The car’s owner makes me think of the phrase “you can’t fix stupid.”

    BTW, JVW, I’m not at all happy about the weather in the LA area or throughout California when this is what we’re facing:

    myfoxtwincities.com, March 29:

    Why Minnesotans should care about the California drought in 2 startling infographics

    When you hear about the California drought, your eyes probably glaze over, you immediately think that this doesn’t pertain to me and you turn to other “more important” local topics. But what you may not realize is that the worst drought in California history is affecting us all, but it has been a little hazy trying to show you just how…until now.

    A website called Mother Jones did some digging, and with the help of the California Department of Food & Agriculture along with the Water Resources Department and a host of other agencies, they were able to put the drought into perspective for all Americans who think this won’t affect them.

    Did you know that much of the fresh produce and nuts you find in your local supermarket come from California? In fact, more than half of all U.S. fresh produce comes from the state. Obviously other states have the monopoly on some fresh items like citrus in Florida, peaches in Georgia and Colorado, and potatoes in Idaho. But fresh produce is as key of a player in California as hockey is in Minnesota.

    You get the picture?

    So, when you see those supermarket prices skyrocket over the summer…you can blame the lack of water in California.

    Planet Earth (or Mother Nature), you piece of #!^%*@#. You’re as rotten as Obama and his minions!

    Mark (c160ec)

  6. typical that it would be pasted on a car that shows no pride of ownership…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  7. Any Hillary stickers are bad enough. The “I Love Living In A Blue State!!!” ones drive me to distraction. But then again, Illinois and Chicago can’t default fast enough for me.

    Ipso Fatso (10964d)

  8. Hillary Clinton
    she’s been wiping the slate clean
    for Twenty Sixteen!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  9. teh Clintonistas
    livin’ LARGE outside teh Law
    meh Because Womyn!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  10. Ilary 2010. I’m down with that.

    AZ Bob (f9b7ed)

  11. Of course the bumper sticker is appropriate – old, worn and ragged, because after all, that is Hillary and her old-car smell.

    (Don’t you love weather now, JVW? Gorgeous Pacific, cutoffs, tanktops, flip-flops – this is why Southern California!)

    Dana (86e864)

  12. The sticker is in the same shape as the candidate: old, ugly and worn out.

    The sexist pig Dana (1b79fa)

  13. CA weather: it is already too late for summer prices not to go up quite a bit.
    Whatever happened to the plan to centralize irrigation of the fields? did the high speed train take away that project?

    seeRpea (c1462d)

  14. Whatever happened to the plan to centralize irrigation of the fields?

    Well, good news seeRpea: the legislature passed a bill that creates a whole slew of new bureaucratic programs but does almost nothing to address the issue of irrigating the Central Valley.

    JVW (a1146f)

  15. pretty sure that’s grandma lurch bush’s car

    she been pickin at the sticker when she goes outside to smoke

    happyfeet (831175)

  16. (Don’t you love weather now, JVW? Gorgeous Pacific, cutoffs, tanktops, flip-flops – this is why Southern California!)

    I’ve sometimes mulled over the way that climate influences the choices that people make in what places they’ll either move to or avoid, and based on California’s demographic changes over the past 30 years, it appears that mainly folks from Mexico (who have not been exactly largely comprised of the educated, wealthy elite of that nation), etc, gravitate towards sunshine and warm temperatures—which, after all, is the main feature of the weather in much of central America.

    Mark (c160ec)

  17. re #14: well eventually Nature will take back it’s desert.
    iirc, the central irrigation plan was going to close “private” farm wells and allocate water from a central well. lower water level, higher prices. and it was to be a co-op type of centralization not pure gov’t.

    (“private” in quotes because there are different type of private wells that draw water from different sources.)

    seeRpea (c1462d)

  18. Why Minnesotans should care about the California drought in 2 startling infographics

    Do not be alarmed. The Democrats are on the case and just passed a $660 million flood control bill.

    Some non-Californians may not understand but it is all very clear.

    But most—$660 million in general-obligations bonds—is for flood control. According to Mr. Brown, climate change makes “extreme weather events” more likely. “All of a sudden, when you’re all focused on drought, you can get massive storms that flood through these channels and overflow and cause havoc,” he explained last week to dunderheads in the press too thick to understand this connection.

    The real reason for the spending is that the bonds that voters approved in 2006 for flood protection expire next year. Now that the legislature has appropriated the money, the state has until 2020 to choose how to spend it. Maybe the Governor plans to build a giant ark to save wildlife when rising sea levels inundate the state.

    Mike K (90dfdc)

  19. Hillary Clinton has many impressive credentials on her resume, but she hasn’t been successful in the sense that she’s accomplished or achieved something important to anyone other than her and her family. I grew up in a time when successful people were known for what they invented, discovered, or did for others or for their country. Now people don’t care about success, they just want to be famous. The murderous germanwings’ pilot is a perfect example of this. Hopefully events like that will help us focus on values over celebrity.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  20. I was pondering part of the same points on the last thread, as my friend,

    http://narcisoscorner.blogspot.com/?view=sidebar

    narciso (ee1f88)

  21. Governor Grandpa Jerry Simpson… shows how the Dems solve problems by ignoring them. Instead of planning for de-salinization plants, he’ll employ some rain dancers. Maroon.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  22. It’s not garbled, it’s folded, so it looks more like a 0 than a 6.

    It comes from readyforhillary.com and perhaps was intentionally made not to last too long.

    Sammy Finkelman (033fec)

  23. I have found WD-40 to be an excellent way to remove recalcitrant bumper stickers.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  24. Colonel,

    I wonder if an initiative for nuclear-powered desalinization plants would work in CA. If timed right, it could come up just as the state is outlawing lawns.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  25. yep, Kevin and who says Californians have a right to water at .5 cents a gallon? Make it a little more dear and they may try to conserve better than they are.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  26. If anyone ever asks you, “what would Jesus do?”, remind them that flipping over tables and chasing people with a whip were some of his options…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  27. I have found WD-40 to be an excellent way to remove recalcitrant bumper stickers.

    Oh my God, doesn’t that come in an aerosol can? You might as well go strangle some dolphins while you are at it.

    JVW (a1146f)

  28. What would the Hispanic vote do with a Rubio-Cruz ticket?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  29. What would the Hispanic vote do with a Rubio-Cruz ticket?

    Hope that Hillary won’t hold that against all Hispanics when she’s President.

    nk (dbc370)

  30. Billary Clintoon for Mata Hari

    mojo (a3d457)

  31. Make it a little more dear and they may try to conserve better than they are.

    I pay enough, thank you. Let the delta smelt die.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  32. It’s 46 degrees at 8:20 in the evening in Chicago. I’m going outside for a cigarette. Smoking sometimes dries my mouth. I’ll leave the kitchen tap running so I can have a nice, cold drink of water immediately after I come back inside. Should I want one. I don’t always.

    nk (dbc370)

  33. I think that car is actually trying to shed the bumper sticker on it’s own. You can substitute Democrat Party for car and campaign for bumper sticker.

    Richbert (a5d991)

  34. I don’t know how to upload my photos and can’t pixelate a license plate, but I have a picture on my phone of a CA issued PP (Press Pass) plate and the truck is plastered with political statement stickers. But I’m sure he puts on his “i’m neutral here” hat and thinks he’s fair when he is reporting

    steveg (794291)

  35. People waste so much water, Kevin. A half a cent per gallon is too cheap

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  36. What would the Hispanic vote do with a Rubio-Cruz ticket?

    DRJ (e80d46) — 3/29/2015 @ 5:03 pm

    Put in a hydraulic suspension, lower it, paint it candy-Apple red, put 20 ” spinners on all the way around and cruise, baby, cruise…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  37. Colonel–

    I don’t know where you get that number. It is more than double that in Los Angeles if you count the rebound sewer charge, based on winter month’s water usage.

    Tier 1: $0.0066/gallon
    Tier 2: $0.0078/gallon

    Sewer charge: $0.0053/gallon

    Now, the sewer charge is set annually by the lowest month of water use (not so low in a drought), but still the total number is about 1 cent a gallon. I think there’s a Tier 3, too.

    But from what you’re saying, we ought to double it in NoCal and use the money to send some more water south. Or restore Hetch Hetchy or something.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  38. my front yard is all native plants, and only gets watered when it rains.

    my back yard is not quite that native, but what little is lawn is a native grass that never needs to be mowed. in fact, i gave away my (push) lawnmower, as there is nothing left to cut.

    the mature trees live off the water coming down the hill from my idiot neighbors who water grass, etc, and the vines survive on either the neighbor’s watering on the other side of the wall or from the misters in the heat of summer

    the pool has a cover, so it needs topping off only a few times all summer, but only if it’s hot. last year, it got water once.

    tell me again about how i need to concerve more.

    redc1c4 (589173)

  39. Here’s another aerosol product that always cracks me up. I believe Kevin M, JVW and the Colonel will get a kick out of it.
    http://www.nulon.com.au/products/Aerosols/Start_Ya_Bastard_Instant_Engine_Starter/#.VRi5C47kCAg

    Gazzer (0f428c)

  40. OT: how is Indiana’s Religious Freedom Act different from the Feds? and didn’t the SC rule that a Religious Freedom Act was fine at the federal level but each State would have to pass their own if they wanted? Is Indiana the 1st state to do so since the Clinton era?

    seeRpea (c1462d)

  41. “California has plenty of water…just not enough to satisfy every possible use of water that people can imagine when the price is close to zero. As David Zetland points out in an excellent interview with Russ Roberts, people in San Diego county use around 150 gallons of water a day. Meanwhile in Sydney Australia, with a roughly comparable climate and standard of living, people use about half that amount. Trust me, no one in Sydney is going thirsty.
    So how much are people in San Diego paying for their daily use of 150 gallons of water? About 78 cents…
    …Water is such a small share of most people’s budgets that it could double in price and the effect on income would still be low. Moreover, we don’t even have to increase the price of water for residential or industrial uses. As The Economist points out:
    Agriculture accounts for 80% of water consumption in California, for example, but only 2% of economic activity.
    What that means is that if agriculture used 12.5% less water we could increase the amount available for every residential and industrial use by 50%–grow those lawns, fill those swimming pools, manufacture those chips!–and the cost would be minimal even if we simply shut down 12.5% of all farms.”

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  42. much the same way as SB 1070, Arizona’s immigration law, mirrored federal law, but ‘narrative’
    must win out,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  43. That’s funny stuff, Gazzer! I have an aerosol can of “Dr. Putznik’s Bullsh*t Repellant” in my office, another great product.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  44. I knew you’d like it as a car guy, Colonel.

    Gazzer (0f428c)

  45. re #44: so Indiana *is* the first state to follow the SC option in 15+ years?
    iirc, the federal Religious Freedom Act was passed by Congress and singed by Clinton in response to an SC directive. Then the SC ruled , ‘not so fast, can not have one RFA for whole country’.
    Which makes me think that the SC will strike down the Indiana law after they issue a stay on its implementation.

    seeRpea (c1462d)

  46. seeRpea, here is a writeup on why this RFRA is different from all other RFRAs
    https://inadvancesheet.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/the-indiana-religious-freedom-restoration-act-an-analysis-of-its-controversy/

    kishnevi (91d5c6)

  47. Gazzer (0f428c) — 3/29/2015 @ 7:47 pm (Edit)

    Wow. If that stuff had been around when I was a teenager my buddies and I would have blown up the entire neighborhood.

    JVW (a1146f)

  48. seeRpea-A bunch of states do have laws addressing aspects of this issue. Maybe as many as 25-30 states do. I don’t have time to read Indiana’s new law, nor have I read all the others in other states (and I don’t intend to either) so I cannot say where they are the same or different. Illinois has a Religious Freedom Restoration law 775 ILCS 35. It also has the Illinois Human Rights Act that specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity–which tends to cover what the squawkers are mainly squawking about with Indiana. I have read that Indiana has no such law.

    I see that Kishnevi has just linked an article that may add light to the subject and I’ll try to read it in the morning.

    elissa (f46ae6)

  49. That Nulon stuff was for real. You wanted to take out the air filter though; you were guaranteed a backfire and that would set the filter on fire.

    nk (dbc370)

  50. What the Supreme Court said in the federal RFRA case was that 1) it, SCOTUS, was the judge, not Congress, on the extent of the First Amendment as applied to the states through the Fourteenth when it 2) came to limiting states’ powers. It said nothing about the states giving rights to their citizens greater than those granted by the U.S. Constitution. Case in point, Oregon immediately passed its own RFRA in response to that SCOTUS decision and, like elissa said, so did about 30 other states. The “theater people” are complaining about this because they’re less likely to be able to bully people into violating their religious principles with the threat of lawsuits.

    nk (dbc370)

  51. thanks kishnevi (and others).
    reading the post, i can understand why this Indiana RFRA could be seen as problematic. some of the language is a bit more than the usual “huh? what does that mean? and did they really think this out?”

    I was unaware that Indiana had tried to avoid homosexual marriages, which i’m sure is having a huge influence on the complaints. that said, it really looks like the American society has gone into the downward spiral and is doomed. and by self-infliction.

    seeRpea (c1462d)

  52. How this gay-marriage/discrimination stuff plays out will really depend on who fills the next 3 seats of the US Supreme Court. Oh, hell, who am I kidding, the survival of out remaining liberties will depend on that.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  53. Here is a better bumper sticker: Every month 100,000 minority kid turn 18(voting age) and almost every one of them loving hillary and hating republicans! Alternitive: A poor person who votes republican is like chicken voting for cornel sanders!

    truther (4ce8a2)

  54. chickens can’t even vote cause of they’re too short

    happyfeet (831175)

  55. Young Mexicans have more sense than white millenials and they’re not going to pay to support old putos. Get ready for the panel de la muerte, Perry.

    nk (dbc370)

  56. Who in the world is Cornel Sanders?

    Chuck Bartowski (11fb31)

  57. I think he’s Kaptain Crunch’s roommate.

    Russ from Winterset (30a992)

  58. (9/11?) truther wrote:

    Here is a better bumper sticker: Every month 100,000 minority kid turn 18(voting age) and almost every one of them loving hillary and hating republicans! Alternitive: A poor person who votes republican is like chicken voting for cornel sanders!

    Yeah, which is why white working class Americans are deserting the Democrats in droves. Maybe, just maybe, the actual interests of working class Americans are not what the left think they are.

    Of course, the left just plain know what’s better for working class Americans than the working class do themselves.

    The Dana remains unimpressed by his betters (f6a568)

  59. I knew Colonel Sanders. Colonel Sanders was a friend of mine. And believe me, truther is no Colonel Sanders!

    The Dana from Kentucky (f6a568)

  60. Chuck… he’s the face of the KFC product over in Japan… little know fact.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  61. Hey, Haiku, what do Japanese men do when they have erections?

    nk (dbc370)

  62. Vote?

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  63. There’s a line from an old rock and roll song: “She’s come undone.” Hope that is true of Hillary.

    Comanche Voter (3f753e)

  64. Leviticus, 😉

    nk (dbc370)

  65. nk and Leviticus, you are both raaaaacists, and I denounce you!

    The highly indignant Dana (f6a568)

  66. Comanche Voter wrote:

    There’s a line from an old rock and roll song: “She’s come undone.” Hope that is true of Hillary.

    Why do you want to see Mrs Clinton naked? That’s sexist, and you are just so denounced!

    The very highly indignant Dana (f6a568)

  67. Old, wrinkled and unattractive! Oh, and the bumper sticker’s in bad shape, too!

    Proof (88372b)

  68. #56: Just like a leftist: a 5 line bumper sticker. Don’t even have to read it to know it’s stupid.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  69. Mark-
    untrue

    you find Mexicans close to the border because ummmmm its close.
    The coyote leaves you in Santa Ana and now it is up to you.

    Beyond that you’ll find Mexicans everywhere there are jobs.
    Slaughterhouses in Iowa and Nebraska, Ski Resorts as far as Sun Valley doing clean up, food service, snow removal. Chicago doing anything and everything. Utah doing mining, Wyoming Colorado and Montana herding sheep, cattle and training horses.

    Mexicans are relentless networkers for relatives, and often have a family skill that young americans don’t want to use. Like sheepherding. Mexican kid has been doing it – alone- since 7 years old. Or slaughtering. Why slaughter in Mexico for $1.50HR when you can get $15 here.
    No skills needed at the ski resorts except hard work and job attendance. Kids there to ski and work miss powder days. The Mexicans do not miss days. They show up in patent leathers shoes, thin socks, cotton jeans no gloves and a thin jacket… now they head off to the second hand store and often get outfitted for free and they are up on a roof shoveling the next day. There is a little Mexican barrio in Mammoth Lakes CA tucked in by Sierra Park Rd that grows every year there is snow. They do construction in the summer and often work in restaurants at night. Because the pay needs to be saved for tough times like now.

    steveg (794291)

  70. Bumper sticker:

    “Don’t you think she looks tired?”

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  71. Can I go into a halal shop that caters muslim events and insist they serve pork at my gay wedding or face anti discrimination charges? And I’d like an ice sculpture of the prophet too

    steveg (794291)

  72. steveg–

    Mexicans work. If one were to choose a group of people to bring into the country to fund Social Security for Gen X while not changing the culture too much, it would be the Mexicans. Not a lot of entitlement there. Europe tried this with Arabs, but it didn’t work because they didn’t.

    My problem with illegal immigration from Mexico is that it is illegal, and there needs to be a serious, off-putting, cost for those that entered that way. But never do I think that they make bad additions. Once the border is under control, I would allow half our immigration to come from there.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  73. And I’d like an ice sculpture of the prophet too

    Two prophets on top of the cake.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  74. It’s been months and months since i’ve seen a Wellstone! sticker.

    DNF (8028c5)

  75. 73. Deceased.

    DNF (8028c5)


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