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Because schadenfreude is so much fun.

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.

Republicans are all agog over Sarah Palin. They’re practically drooling. It isn’t for the policies of Palin, though, or the substance of Sarah, so much a it is for her image. It’s Republican identity politics at its worst. They say that Sarah Palin is the hottest VP from the coolest state. Really. That’s what the GOP is putting on buttons.

As for myself, I have a bit of trouble finding a woman who is as mentally unhinged as Sarah Palin is, to be hot. When you’re always wondering if a woman is going to stab you in the back, or put a rabbit in the crock pot, or leave a moose head in your bed, or try to take you to her weird Wasilla church of prophecy, it’s kind of hard for a man to feel any kind of real attraction.

That’s why I responded to the Republican political button with a design of my own: Sarah Palin, the craziest VP from the coolest state - she’s come undone. It’s on a shirt too… and another Sarah Palin video podcast.

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.

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

Remember back in 2001, when people everywhere were singing God Bless America, and putting United We Stand bumper stickers on their cars?

What did it get us? Did America get blessed? Did America truly unite?

In the guise of unity, what we got was blind faith in George W. Bush. It’s clear to most Americans now that faith in Bush was not well placed. However, the larger lesson that remains unlearned for most Americans is that blind faith in any President, or any other leader, is inherently unwise. Whether it’s George W. Bush or Barack Obama who asks for unity, we need to regard all leaders with suspicion.

It’s for that reason that we’ve created the button you see here in this video podcast: Blind faith is not patriotic.

They’ll keep coming at us with United We Stand and Yes We Can, but the true patriots will be off standing by themselves, offering support when it is merited, and pulling back when trust is broken.

CafePress is in the midst of a series of price changes for its political paraphernalia, and as they cascade through the system you should be able to see their striking effect.

Take for instance, this Veterans for Obama button.

Veterans for Obama Button — $3.95 (not including shipping and handling), CafePress production

A couple of months ago, you could have bought this button or another like it on CafePress for $2.50, plus shipping and handling. Now it’s selling for $3.95 a button, and that’s not even the full price. CafePress charges $1.00 shipping and handling for you to get a button sent to you in 7-9 business days (that’s 9-11 actual days), which is the timeline for parcel post. If you want the button sent to you in 4-6 business days, which is the speed of first class mail, it’ll cost you an additional $7.00. That’s right: CafePress will charge you $10.95 to receive a button at the speed of first class mail.

For longer than we’ve been selling buttons through CafePress, we’ve been making and shipping our own. They are of the same size (2.25 inches) and have the same manufacture (sturdy metal pinback buttons created in heavy-duty press machines) as CafePress buttons. We churn them out in our attics and basements when the writing day is done. Here’s the same Veterans Against Bush button for sale in our own Election 2008 button shop:

Veterans for Obama Button — $2.75 (including shipping and handling), Irregular Times production

It’s a different thumbnail graphic, but it results in the same button, And yes, that’s $2.75 including shipping and handling. We ship first class. Don’t worry, we make a little bit of money off of the venture through our own shop, but apparently a bit of profit is not enough for CafePress. CafePress is a huge operation with all sorts of economies of scale. It’s surely more efficient in its button production and shipping than we are. So if we can make a little bit of money off of a $2.75 button that we make and send ourselves, can you figure out how much money CafePress makes off of a $10.75 button?

It’s exorbitant and it’s gouging and there’s no excuse for it on CafePress’ part, other than the fact that they think they can get away with it.

We have no intention of following suit at our own button shop. We not only plan on keeping our prices low, but also plan to add more designs to the hundreds already available at our shop. If you take a gander at our button shop and don’t find the sort of button you’re looking for, send us an e-mail or leave a comment here with your request. If we like your idea, we’d be happy to oblige by promptly adding a new design for you.

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.

Blue states, red states are theoretical. I want to know where the politically active people are - the people who care enough to stick their necks out and make a little public statement every now and then.

I’m experimenting with Google Maps to try to understand how American looks from an activist perspective. One of my experiments is the map you see below, though which I’m beginning to track the cities and states (street addresses remain private) where we are sending the buttons we sell on Irregular Times and ship directly.

These are just the places we’ve mailed buttons to in the last week or so. You’ll be seeing more points soon. Get a button, and you’ll put your town on the map.

View Larger Map

Now that it’s pretty clear that Barack Obama will be the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in 2008, talk is running rampant in the circles of the punditry about who will be the vice presidential nominee. But in stark contrast to months past, when the question of running mates was hot (at least reflected in the sale of our Running Mates 2008 bumper stickers and buttons), this month the topic is decidedly not hot. In the entire month of July so far, we’ve sold 12 Obama-Clinton bumper stickers and buttons, and 12 Obama-Napolitano buttons and stickers. Those are the only pairings for which we’ve sold more than ten items, all month. The other possible combinations, like Obama-Webb and Obama-Sebelius, have come in mere smatterings and handfuls. Taken all together, running mate bumper stickers and buttons account for a mere 0.2% of our sales this month. To put that in perspective, more people are buying the one single bumper sticker of ours that looks backwards and sneers, “You voted for Bush? How embarrassing for you,” than are buying any bumper stickers or buttons endorsing a particular ticket. People, or more accurately at least our consumers, don’t appear to give a shit.

To tell you the truth, I don’t much give a shit at this point either.

For many years now, as part of our work to resist the right wing politics of the Republican Party, we have sold bumper stickers, buttons, t-shirts and other stuff through which people can express their opposition to the Republican agenda. We sell through several channels, including Zazzle and Skreened. For this year’s election, we have operated a shop at CafePress called No GOP 2008.

We knew that the Republican Party wouldn’t like what we had to say at No GOP 2008, but we never imagined they would sue. After all, the Republicans are the ones who complain about frivolous lawsuits all the time, right?

Well, we got it wrong - about the Republicans and frivolous lawsuits, that is. Word came to us through CafePress today that the Republican National Committee is threatening suit in order to shut down our shop and other shops like it.

It seems that the Republican Party thinks that it’s just plain wrong, wrong, wrong for anyone to criticize them using the terms that are popularly used to refer to the Republicans: GOP, Grand Old Party, and RNC. The Republican Party is even threatening to sue because people use elephants in their criticisms of the Republican Party.

What’s next? Will the Republican National Committee insist that no one use the word “Republican” without their permission? Are we supposed to go around talking about how we disagree with the Bepublicans, out of fear that we’ll be sued?

All this reminds me of how Lord Voldemort went on in the Harry Potter books, trying to intimidate people from using his name. It’s as if the Republicans want to be referred to only as the political party who must not be named.

CafePress is saying that it is in negotiations with the Republican Party to try to avert the threatened lawsuit. We can’t know what the outcome of the lawsuit will be, of course. Will we be censored? Will we be forced to shut down our shop criticizing the Republicans?

Just in case, we are preparing some alternative terminology that skirts the proposed prohibition on actually mentioning the Republican Party when criticizing the Republican Party.

Instead of referring to the GOP, we’ll use these other nicknames:

TOP - for Totalitarian Old Party
BOP - for Banned Old Party
COP - for Censoring Old Party

Or, maybe we could call the Republican Party the FLOP - for Frivolous Lawsuits Old Party.

We’ve made the following public service announcement as a warning - watch out for those angry elephants!

It was change we could believe in. Barack Obama promised that he would filibuster any legislation that attempted to give retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies. Those companies broke the law by helping George W. Bush create a secret program to spy on the personal communications of millions of Americans, without the legally required approval of the courts.

Barack Obama was lying to us.

Today, Barack Obama voted against the attempt to filibuster of the FISA Amendments Act, a law that grants retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies that helped Bush spy. See it for yourself. It’s in the Library of Congress, roll call vote number 167. Obama voted against 26 Democrats, including Russ Feingold, Patrick Leahy and former presidential candidate Chris Dodd, to close debate on the FISA Amendments Act.

By the way, Hillary Clinton voted in favor of keeping the filibuster going. Barack Obama voted against her too.

Now that ex post facto laws are all the rage in Congress, can we pass a law that retroactively makes Hillary Clinton the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party instead of Obama?

For years, we’ve been selling political buttons promoting Barack Obama for President. Now, we’re adding this button to the mix: Obama lied. Bush spied.

For some time now we’ve been selling buttons, bumper stickers and t-shirts that pair various combinations of candidates as president and vice president into Democratic tickets for the White House in 2008. Now that Barack Obama is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and is in the process of deciding who his running mate will be, I thought I’d share the distribution of our sales. Here’s the share of sales of stickers, buttons and shirts with various running mate combinations for the month so far, June 1-28, 2008:

Obama-Olbermann: 46.5%
Obama-Clinton: 26.5%
Obama-Edwards: 10.7%
Obama-Richardson: 8.3%
Obama-Gore: 1.2%
Obama-Moyers: 1.1%

Less than 1% share each:
Obama-Bayh
Obama-Feingold
Obama-Napolitano
Obama-Sebelius
Obama-Winfrey

No sales whatsoever:
Obama-Boxer
Obama-Clark
Obama-Dodd
Obama-Granholm
Obama-Kucinich
Obama-Pelosi
Obama-Rendell
Obama-Strickland
Obama-Webb

To put these numbers in perspective, all the running-mate related sales we had put together made up just 1.8% of our total sales altogether. People seem much more interested in general support of Barack Obama, general opposition to John McCain, and lingering disdain for George W. Bush than in supporting any particular vice presidential candidate.

We’ve been selling progressive bumper stickers, buttons, and such for some time now — well through the last presidential election cycle. As a lark, I decided to take a look at sales statistics reaching back to the 2004 presidential election, then compare them to stats from our sales regarding the 2008 presidential race.

Four years ago last week, May 25-31 2004, here’s how many anti-Bush and pro-Kerry bumper stickers, buttons and such we sold:

For the same period this year, May 25-31 2008, here’s how many anti-McCain and pro-Obama bumper stickers, buttons and such we sold:

The difference is striking. In the last week of May 2004, people appear to have been overwhelmingly motivated by their opposition to the presidency of George W. Bush, and only tepidly motivated by their support of John Kerry. This was true even though John Kerry had been the clear Democratic presidential nominee for months. In the last week of May 2008, people appear to have been overwhelmingly motivated by their support for the candidacy of Barack Obama, and much less strongly by their opposition to John McCain. This was true even though Barack Obama had not yet secured the presidential nomination.

The election of 2004 was about a dangerous man we needed to stop. The election of 2008 is about a more positive future within our grasp.