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This is not a day for supporters of John McCain or Barack Obama to be proud.

As Jim reported late last night, memos signed by George W. Bush that explicitly order waterboarding torture have been discovered.

The current Attorney General of the United States, Michael Mukasey, refused to answer questions during his confirmation hearings about whether he considered waterboarding to be torture - although it’s clear by U.S. law that waterboarding is torture, and illegal. Once he became Attorney General, Mukasey said he would not prosecute anyone who had been involved in a conspiracy to commit waterboarding torture. Now we know why - Bush, having ordered waterboarding torture himself, was not about to allow any Attorney General to start a prosecution of the Bush White House’s criminal behaviors. In other words, George W. Bush would not allow the Attorney General of the United States to enforce the law - as his job required.

Oh, but that’s in the past, isn’t it? Let’s consider, then, how America goes forward into the future. Three of the four big-party White House candidates were members of the United States Senate at the time of the confirmation of Michael Mukasey. John McCain, Joseph Biden and Barack Obama had the opportunity to demand that Mukasey commit to enforcing American laws against torture - including waterboarding. So, which of them did so? Which of them stood up against torture, and voted against Michael Mukasey?

None of them did. McCain, Obama and Biden didn’t even show up to work in the Senate that day. They didn’t bother to cast a vote on the confirmation. They were absent when it came time to take a stand against torture.

Given this bipartisan neglect, how can these new revelations of torture ordered personally by George W. Bush be a relevant campaign issue? They can be - if we consider more than just the person of the next President, and consider the institution of the Presidency and the many people who will constitute that institution.

I am not a Democrat, and I am not a fan of the Democratic Party. Over the last eight years - no, the last sixteen years - no, since I can remember, the Democratic Party has failed over and over to support the progressive policies that its base voters support. They’ve consistently caved in to right wing ideology and pandered to extremism, operating as a center-right party.

However, the Democratic Party is not as far to the right as the Republican Party. The Democratic Party has supported torture less than the Republican Party has. I would like to state that the Democratic Party has consistently stood against George W. Bush’s torture policies, but that’s not true. Many Democrats in the U.S. Congress voted for the pro-torture Military Commissions Act, and the Democratic Congress has failed to repeal the terrible law.

However, there is a difference between the Republicans and the Democrats in their degree of support for torture. Many Democratic politicians, have acquiesced to torture. However, few Democratic politicians have been so enthusiastic in their support for torture as Republican politicians have.

Consider the slogan that appeared on the official web site of the Sacramento Republican Party: “Waterboard Barack Obama”.

That wasn’t an isolated statement. Consider the bumper sticker being sold by a web site called Americans Against Obama. It has the same slogan - “Waterboard Barack Obama”. Republicans are buying that bumper sticker.

Democrats have been gutless cowards refusing to stand against torture, but Republicans have been the cheerleaders of torture. That’s not the difference I would like to see, but it is a difference, and it’s enough of a distinction that I can’t ignore it.

Practically, what this means is that I think I’ll need to vote for the Obama-Biden ticket, and then, after Obama and Biden get elected, do everything in my power to push them to uphold the Constitution as they have been too timid to do in the Senate. I won’t be an Obama-Biden cheerleader, but I will also not be a McCain-Palin enabler.

For the apparently considerable number of you who are upset with John McCain’s reference to Barack Obama as “That One” in last night’s debate:

Click on any image to nab one for yourself.

I have to say that personally, I don’t understand why people are seizing on John McCain referring to Barack Obama as “that one” as some huge thing. “One” is a bit passive, but as a word often refers to people, as in “One does not eat Shrimp Florentine with one’s salad fork.” “That” is simply a specifier, useful in comparison.

Can someone explain to me what the big fuss is?

My cell phone camera doesn’t have much of a focus, so you’ll have to take my word for it that the four bumper stickers on the back of this pickup truck read:

Welcome to America, Now Speak English
Caution: Driver Just Doesn’t Give a Shit
Stand Up For America! Be An American!!
Barack Obama 2008

And here I was thinking of being a Lithuanian….

It was once said that we are multitudes, but the owner of this truck is multitudier. This has got to be the most interesting combination of bumper stickers I’ve seen on one vehicle in a long time, rivaled only by the pair I saw in Tucson back in the 1990s:

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
Make Like Vomit And Get Out of My Face

Sarah Palin says that she has special foreign policy expertise because she lives in Alaska, which is next to Russia, except for all that water between the two countries, what with that maritime thing and all.

Other people say that Sarah Palin isn’t ready to become President in the likely eventuality that John McCain dies in the next four years.

Help build common ground with this campaign tshirt, which suggests that Sarah Palin go back to doing what she does best - standing in Alaska, watching the skies just in case Putin rears his head into our airspace.

Help Sarah Palin see Russia again. Send her back to Alaska, where she can conduct her foreign policy studies without bothering the rest of us.

Also available as a bumper sticker and a political button.

You can’t really see the detail in this photo I snapped from the passenger’s side of my vehicle traveling down Interstate 71 in Ohio, so you’ll have to trust me when I tell you that on the lower left hand side, the van’s owner placed an Obama 08 bumper sticker over a Hillary Clinton 2008 bumper sticker.

I have yet to see a single example on the roads of a pro-McCain bumper sticker placed over a pro-Clinton bumper sticker.

Sarah Palin slammed community organizers as a way to get to Barack Obama this week, saying, “I guess a small town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities!”

Har, har, chortle chortle. That’s funny, until you realize what a mess Sarah Palin made out of her responsibilities as mayor. When she became mayor, Wasilla had a balanced budget. When Palin left the position of mayor, Wasilla was in deficit spending, and tens of millions of dollars in debt. This debt came in spite of the fact that Sarah Palin fired people and cut important municipal services left and right. Sarah Palin didn’t live up to her mayoral responsibilities.

As community organizer, Barack Obama had a lot of responsibilities, including the burden of being responsible for helping people find work and get back on their feet again in the face of abandonment by corrupt business interests. Barack Obama left his community better than he found it. Sarah Palin did not.

Oh, but all of this is just so much babble to right wing Sarah Palin supporters. They’re deaf to reason and blind to facts. They’re looking for some entertainment, and some zippy one-liners to help them decide who to vote for.

So, let’s give them a zippy one-liner. Jesus was a community organizer, and Pontius Pilate was a governor.

I guess that shows them!

Well, I know it’s not a logical argument. Unfortunately, right wing evangelicals don’t have much respect for logical arguments. They like quoting scripture - so, okay, let’s give ‘em scripture.

It dazzles them. It hypnotizes them. Say “Jesus” in combination with a political argument, and an evangelical Sarah Palin supporter is defenseless. You know it’s true, so use this Achilles heel to advantage, with the bumper sticker and t-shirt you see here.

Seriously, let’s have a little compassion for poor old Sarah Palin. She was just reading from a script. It’s not as if she thought up that insult to community organizers herself.

What’s most salient in the liberal zeitgeist? To get an idea, take a look at these, our top five selling bumper stickers from September 1 to September 5, 2008:

#1: Librarians Against Palin bumper sticker
#2: People With One House Against McCain bumper sticker
#3: Republicans for Barack Obama bumper sticker
#4: I Like Obama, But is America Ready for a President with Brains? bumper sticker
#5: Hope, Not Fear: Obama 2008 bumper sticker

This week, opposition to Sarah Palin and John McCain tops support for Barack Obama. And some Alaskan governor-type politicians apparently still need to learn their lesson: never mess with a librarian.

This morning someone asked me to design a “Country First, Family Second” bumper sticker about Sarah Palin. I declined; the phrase made me queasy. Part of my queasiness was in reprinting the “Country First” slogan that Rowan notes is tied to totalitarianism. But mainly I have a problem with the premise of the sticker that because Sarah Palin is putting “Family Second” she is unfit to be Vice President. The idea is that Sarah Palin should put “Family First.”

Pardon me, but by running for the White House John McCain is putting family second too, and so is Joseph Biden, and so is Barack Obama. Barack Obama, like Sarah Palin, has young kids who need him as a father. Barack Obama is clearly putting “Family Second,” but I don’t hear anyone out there saying that because he has young kids he needs to relinquish his run for President and tend to his family. Why not? Is it because he is a man? Is the demand upon Sarah Palin to put “Family First” due to her status as a woman? Or is it a partisan thing: that we would first decide we don’t like Sarah Palin because she’s on the wrong team, and then look for things we could criticize, settling on her young kids and deciding it’s a problem because we think it would be a tactically useful thing to bring up?

Count me out. Sarah Palin is unfit for the presidency (tick tock, John McCain) for reasons having nothing to do with her family. There’s no reason for me to delve into partisanship or sexism in order to conclude so. All I have to do is look at her anti-liberty policies, her use of political office for revenge and her tendency to apply messianic prophesy to governing. That’s enough for me, thank you very much.

“What is it Exactly That the VP Does Everyday?” — Sarah Palin, August 1 2008

Let’s get the question out there. Maybe somebody knows the answer!

Will Sarah Palin be the Vice Presidential candidate that just keeps giving? Somebody should ask her to spell the word “potato” just to be sure:

[Thanks to Evil Poet for pointing me to the interview with that gem in it.]

McCain More of the Same Banner	McCain More of the Same 2.25" Button	McCain More of the Same Magnet
McCain More of the Same 3.5" Button	McCain More of the Same Sticker (3×5)	McCain More of the Same Yard Sign

Well, he is, you know.

For years now, sales have been strong for a bumper sticker that reads simply: Bush Lied. People Died.

You all know what it means. It refers to George W. Bush’s lies, claiming to have certain intelligence that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had so many weapons of mass destruction that Iraq threatened the entire world.

The truth is, though, that George W. Bush wasn’t alone in his lie. Many in Congress were complicit. They voted to support George W. Bush’s lie, and worked hard to make sure that Bush’s lie led us into war.

Among those was Senator Evan Bayh. Yes, I’m talking about the same Evan Bayh who is now supposed to be one of Barack Obama’s top three picks for the spot of vice presidential running mate.

Evan Bayh didn’t just go along with the rush to war in Iraq. Bayh worked hand in hand with George W. Bush, Joseph Lieberman and John McCain to organize the passage of a resolution allowing Bush to invade Iraq.

The transcript of Evan Bayh’s speech on the Senate floor shows how eager Bayh was to rush American soldiers into Iraq, and how thoroughly he was to repeat the lies of George W. Bush. Here are just a few selections of the kind of things that Bayh said that day:

“To those who say regime change is not an appropriate reason for acting, I say weapons of mass destruction and the regime of Saddam Hussein are one and indivisible. To remove weapons of mass destruction, we must remove that regime. To think anything else is to delude ourselves.”

“To those who say, what is the rush? why can’t we wait? I respond by asking the question: How long must we wait? Until the missiles have been launched? Until smallpox, anthrax, or VX nerve agent has found its way into our country? Is that how long we should wait?”

“We conducted a simulated exercise of a smallpox attack - I believe it was called Dark Winter - simulating a smallpox outbreak put into a ventilation system in a mall in Oklahoma City. The consequences were catastrophic: Tens of thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of illnesses; civil law broke down. These are the kinds of consequences that would be all too real were we to stay our hand.”

Evan Bayh lied. People died.

Evan Bayh claimed that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had enough weapons of mass destruction to kill tens of thousands of people right here in the United States. The truth is that Senator Bayh had seen no evidence to back up that claim.

Evan Bayh didn’t just argue for a war in Iraq. Bayh argued in favor of a hurried up, rushed invasion - precisely the mistake that led the USA to become bogged down in an Iraq quagmire.

If Barack Obama chooses Evan Bayh as his running mate, Obama will be endorsing the historic mistake made by Bush and Bayh. Obama will be endorsing John McCain’s support for invading Iraq those six long years ago. Obama will be tossing away his initial opposition to the Iraq War, and saying, “Never mind.”

That, Mr. Obama, is a recipe for losing the election.

Read the full text of Evan Bayh’s speech on October 8, 2002.

These are our top ten election 2008 themed bumper sticker, button and lawn sign sellers for the month of August 2008 so far, with #1 ranked highest to cut right through the suspense:

1. I like Obama, but is America ready for a President with brains? (bumper sticker)
http://cafepress.com/irregulargoods.213538634

2. Barack Obama 2008 button with two American flags (button)
http://cafepress.com/runningmates.83679955

3. Doctors for Barack Obama 2008 (button)
http://cafepress.com/irregulargoods.219232280

4. Hope not Fear: Barack Obama 2008 (bumper sticker)
http://cafepress.com/irregulargoods.216702051

5. It’s Time for Change: Barack Obama 2008 (bumper sticker)
http://cafepress.com/votedem2008.266068070

6. Voldemort Votes Republican (bumper sticker)
http://cafepress.com/irregulargoods.10363554

7. 1-20-09 Inauguration Day design (bumper sticker)
http://cafepress.com/irregulargoods.76336569

8. Are You Better Off? Obama ‘08 (bumper sticker)
http://cafepress.com/irregulargoods.217285636

9. Birders for Obama (bumper sticker)
http://cafepress.com/newwhitehouse.216340593

10. Obama: Change We Can Believe In (banner)
http://cafepress.com/politicalbanner.263164494

I was just looking at a collection of favorite bumper stickers I had put together back in 2004. Most of the bumper stickers were focused on opposition to George W. Bush. The anti-Bush bug had occupied most of my mind.

The days of anti-Bush activism are numbered, and I find that my mind is more issue-focused than personality-focused. I don’t buy the idea that any one person is to blame for the mess America is in - after all, most America has continued to follow George W. Bush’s ideology, even when George W. Bush has become personally unpopular.

Take war, for example. Anti-war sentiment had a few months of consideration, but it’s since been dropped. The Democrats in Congress aren’t really anti-war, after all, and so most citizens have followed their lead and put their anti-war activism in the closet.

It’s become particularly popular to ape Barack Obama and proclaim non-pacifism: I’m not against all wars - just the dumb ones.

Well, let me step off the bandwagon and ask the question: What war is not dumb? When is it really intelligent to send off huge numbers of people off to kill and destroy the homes of huge numbers of other people?

Every now and then, in rare circumstances, it’s necessary to commit violent acts of self-defense. That doesn’t make the violence something honorable or otherwise praiseworthy. It just makes it a terrible thing that sometime has to be done. But when does that violence have to be committed? Almost never.

Yes, I’m a pacifist. That doesn’t mean that if flesh-eating Martians invade the Earth and try to eat my children, I won’t defend them. It means that even as I defend my kids from the flesh-eating Martians, I won’t love the violence, and I won’t celebrate it, and I won’t continue it the violence after it’s necessary.

Besides, the flesh-eating Martians are just theoretical. They don’t really exist.

A pacifist is someone with the kooky idea that hurting and killing people is a bad thing. With that idea, one of the bumper stickers I’ve added to my updated 2008 collection of favorite bumper stickers is the one you see below: An
oval bumper sticker declaring oneself to be a pacifist - simply but colorfully. Pacifism is not a popular idea these days, but popularity has been a poor indicator of what makes an idea worth considering.

Pacifist oval sticker

If you’ve been thinking about getting into the business of selling progressive political merchandise like bumper stickers, buttons, or tshirts online, I have some advice for you. Stick with CafePress or Skreened. Don’t bother with Zazzle.

This month, the Republican National Committee has threatened shopkeepers with frivolous lawsuits, trying to shut down shops that criticize the Republican Party. The RNC claimed that no one besides them has the right to mention the GOP, or the Grand Old Party, or the Republican National Committee, or the RNC, or to show an elephant representing the Republican Party. They claimed that to do so would be an infringement of their trademark rights.

That’s ridiculous, of course. People have the right to criticize a company or organization, using that company’s trademarked names or logos. That’s because trademarks are intended to keep commercial competition fair and honest, not to prevent criticism or satire. So, when the movie WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price was released, Wal-Mart couldn’t have sued over the use of the trademarked name Wal-Mart in the title, or the filming of the store logo. When there’s criticism involved, even when the thing discussed includes a trademark, trademark law can’t be used to force censorship…

…at least not in a court of law. Lawyers from powerful groups like the Republican National Committee can send out threatening cease-and-desist letters to try to intimidate people from engaging in free speech, though.

When the RNC threatened CafePress, CafePress called the Republicans’ bluff. They said that they’d take the matter to court, if necessary, because they weren’t about to let their shopkeepers get pushed around by bullies who didn’t respect free speech. The Republican National Committee had to back down, because the law was not on their side. The RNC was forced to drop its legal claims.

Skreened, which helps us sell anti-Republican t-shirts manufactured in the USA by American Apparel, made its position on matters like these clear from the start. Skreened will not be intimidated into silence, by jihadists upset over cartoons of Mohammed or by Republican lawyers threatening frivolous lawsuits.

Zazzle, on the other hand, was not so brave. Instead of standing up for the rights of their shopkeepers, the people at Zazzle headquarters surrendered to fear. They agreed to the demands of the Republican National Committee without a fight, and sent out emails to shopkeepers announcing that their anti-Republican stickers, t-shirts and buttons would be censored.

When push comes to shove, Zazzle will sell out its shopkeepers. Skreened and CafePress won’t. That’s why, though I’ll continue to work on marketing progressive campaign gear on Skreened and CafePress, I can’t for the life of me understand why I should bother contributing my designs to Zazzle. All it takes is some high-paid Republican lawyer to come along and make a threat, and my work there will be destroyed, regardless of my legal rights.