Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that he’s confident that a provision supporting same-sex marriage will be added to the Democratic Party platform. Of course, he doesn’t get to make that decision on his own. Democratic Party delegates have to introduce and approve such an addition to the platform.

11 state Democratic chairs have called for the addition of marriage equality to their party’s platform. 22 Democratic U.S. senators have done the same. Of course, these numbers constitute only a minority of Democratic politicians in their respective spheres.

It’s a nice thing that some prominent individual Democrats are now indicating some openness to marriage equality. Such expressions aren’t what matter in the end, however. What we need is national law, or judicial recognition of laws that already exist, that guarantee equal legal status for heterosexual and homosexual marriages.

Add this issue to the list of policy matters to watch during the Democratic National Convention.

It’s been generations since wolves were hunted into near extinction in the United States. Yet, after all this time, people still haven’t come to grips with the idea of the wolf as a ravening, terrifying predator. The wolf still stands as an evil character in our imaginations, even though far more violence is inflicted upon human beings and livestock from domesticated dogs. Wolves, being wild, mostly steer clear of human territory.

This week, the state of Wyoming announced that it’s going to join the growing list of states that encourages the hunting of wolves. In some areas of the state of Wyoming, there won’t be any limit at all to the number of wolves that can be killed.

As hatred of wolves is growing, level headed Americans have a responsibility to encourage a more balanced view. We don’t need to deny that wolves kill and eat other animals to survive, but neither do we need to deny our own similar nature. Wolves may seem frightening, but if we can come to peace with that fear, we can become better masters of our own minds.

It’s with this idea in mind that I created this peace wolf tshirt design: A collection of wolves, captured in silhouette, gathered into the shape of a peace symbol. Rather than attempting to control every aspect of the natural world that disturbs our civilized sensibilities, we can allow some space for another kind of intelligence to roam free.

PUBLIC REPUTATION

You acknowledge and agree that you will not use any product ordered from the Site in a way that would be damaging to Skreened’s public reputation or that of its employees, board members, shareholders, licensors, or solution partners. Additionally, you acknowledge that if you choose to display any product ordered from Skreened, in a public setting, including on the Internet, in a way which disparages Skreened, Skreened’s board members, employees, shareholders or partners, Skreened reserves the right to demand immediate return of the product, to furthermore pursue all recourses and remedies available under the law.

This means that if you get a defective shirt from Skreened, you can’t show the botched print online. It means that you can’t do anything ironic regarding the shirt that someone might take the wrong way. It means you can’t make fun of the Skreened company — or its “employees, board members, shareholders, licensors, or solution partners” while wearing one of their shirts. It means you can’t make a public fool of yourself or be offensive while wearing a Skreened shirt, because it might hurt Skreened’s reputation. This has got to be one of the lamest Terms of Service I’ve read in quite some time.

Don’t like the user agreement? Didn’t even read it before you got your shirt? Well, Skreened would like to let you know you can sit and spin, because “your use of this site shall be deemed to be your agreement to abide by each of the terms set forth below.”

Oh, dear. Did talking about this idiotic, dehumanizing, utterly corporate, completely not-of-the-street at all User Agreement just harm’s Skreened’s public reputation? Well, tough cookies, Skreened, ’cause right now I’m not wearing one of your shirts.

Update, 8:45… oh lookie. Zazzle, another shirt producer that isn’t quite as ethical as Skreened in choosing its shirt sources, has almost exactly the same idiotic disparagement clause in its User Agreement:

Public Reputation

You acknowledge and agree that you will not use any Product ordered from the Site in a way that would be damaging to Zazzle’s public reputation or that of its employees, board members, shareholders, licensors, or solution partners. Additionally, you acknowledge that if you choose to display any product including custom postage ordered from Zazzle, in a public setting, including on the Internet, in a way which disparages Zazzle, Zazzle’s board members, employees, shareholders or partners, or the United States Postal Service, Zazzle reserves the right to demand immediate return of the product, to furthermore pursue all recourses and remedies available under the law, and, in the case of Zazzle Custom Stamps, to invalidate your Zazzle Custom Stamps via cancellation of the bar code.

Also check out the two companies’ Intellectual Property clauses:

Hilarious. Somewhere, the original author is crying for lack of full citation. Oh, sob. Oh, weep.

I know there are bigger problems in the world, but sometimes it’s the tiny loads of bullcrap that push me over the edge. Oh, sob. Oh, weep.

Update Numero Dos, 9:00 AM: T-shirt vendor Thompson Punke (lift that pinky when you mousse your mohawk, it ends with an e) has a similar disparagement policy

You acknowledge and agree that you will not use any product ordered from the Site in a way that would be damaging to Thompson Punke’s public reputation or that of its employees, board members, shareholders, licensors, or solution partners. Additionally, you acknowledge that if you choose to display any product from Thompson Punke, in a public setting, including on the Internet, in a way which disparages Thompson Punke, Thompson Punke’s board members, employees or shareholders or partners, Thompson Punke reserves the right to demand immediate return of the product, to furthermore pursue all recourses and remedies available under the law.

This coming from a company that sells a shirt with a massive extended middle finger on the front of it.

How edgy, hip and … wait, no, how completely corporate, uptight and utterly bland of you, Thompson Punke with an e. These uptight legalesers say they’re “badass players” building a brand that’s a “little bit rude and a little bit crude.” But don’t make their shirts look bad or they’ll make you return the product — in a badass way, I’m sure. Shizzle and all that. With an e.

This week, the most talked about presidential candidate isn’t even a presidential candidate… at least not in 2012. She may be in 2016.

The meme of Hillary Clinton for President in 2016 has surged online. Over at our Presidential campaign t-shirt shop, Hillary Clinton for President tshirts have by far outsold Barack Obama shirts this week. The most popular proclaims, I supported Hillary Clinton before it was cool to support Hillary Clinton.

What’s going on with this idea? Where did it come from?

Is the growing popularity of Hillary 2016 due to a quality that Clinton has herself, or is it due more to fatigue with the Obama vs. Romney contest we’re currently supposed to be focused on?

Would you support Hillary Clinton for President in 2016? Why or why not?

The Kiva organization has been defensive about its situation. It’s saying that the microfinance industry has no choice but to charge more than 50% in annual interest and fees to poor people in poor countries, and on occasion to harass its borrowers to collect repayments — sparking “No Pago” riots among the desperately poor. Kiva says that logistics and remoteness raise the cost levels so high that Kiva and its partners and its partners’ partners just can’t operate a microloan enterprise without these huge interest-and-fee packages.

It may or may not be true that usury and stalking borrowers is necessary for the microfinance industry to survive. But our goal in giving at Irregular Times is not to sustain the microfinance industry. Our goal is to help people, and there are ways to help people — like micro-grants without any interest or fees — that don’t involve usurious loans. We won’t get money back from from micro-grant institutions, but that’s alright with us. In fact, it’s preferable — and so we’ve shifted our international giving to other less ethically-conflicted institutions like Village Enterprise.

The thing is, we still had some of that original money invested in Kiva microloans, and as we were paid back we ended up with some funds to reinvest. As a way of handling this system, we sent those funds back to new borrowers through Kiva’s only zero-interest, no fee lender, the Nicaraguan institution ADEPHCA. ADEPHCA invests in poor and remote Creole communities along Nicaragua’s coast and has consistently refused to convert itself into a repo agency when its borrowers couldn’t pay back their loans. When hard times came to the Nicaraguan coast and push came to shove, ADEPHCA collected back just $984 in repayments out of its last round of $27,056 in loans. Some funds from Irregular Times were included in this latter amount.

Kiva, aggrieved that ADEPHCA hasn’t collected monies from its poor clients, has refused to work with ADEPHCA any more, declaring that “Kiva’s partnership with ADEPHCA is now closed” and sending Irregular Times an e-mail message apologizing for ADEPHCA’s compassion and imploring us to give Kiva another chance: “We hope that you realize that this default is a true exception to the norm and that you will give lending to the working poor another chance on our site.”

I wish the default weren’t an exception to the norm at Kiva, which is why with the default of these last microloans and our Kiva balance down $0, our relationship with Kiva is finally at an end.

We’ll continue to devote money from our shirt sales to helping poor people overseas, working through gifts and grants rather than loans. If you know of a non-profit doing good work to develop poor people’s economic independence without dragging them into debt, please leave a comment here with a link to that organization. We’ll take a look — and we’ll keep letting you know where our money goes in our donations thread.

1. To pay for the hosting and logistical costs associated with keeping Irregular Times up and running.
2. To help spread messages that we believe in.
3. To help change the world just a little bit.

#3 may seem odd to you; how does selling a shirt change the world, even just a little bit? Beyond the messages we place on the shirts themselves, we’re trying to help in a couple of ways. We’re trying to support an alternative to third-world sweatshop-based shirt production. How do you think those t-shirts made in Cambodia and sent all the way across the Pacific Ocean to your mall can be sold for just $12.99, when comparable shirts made in the United States cost $18.99? The answer is that the shirt producers in Cambodia are dancing to the tune set by their unethical American investors, paying workers meager wages in unsafe factories that are environmentally unregulated. Apparel production in the United States is regulated, audited, pays better wages and treats its workers better.

In the midst of the suffering, pollution and debt slavery that sweatshop production engenders, it accomplishes one thing: diverting money to impoverished nations. Of course, most of that money goes to enrich corrupt factory owners, but that’s better than nothing, right? What a weak argument that is. There must be a way to reward more humane apparel production while supporting third world development. Irregular Times’ approach to this is to continue to working with sweat-free American producers but to take a dollar out of the profits of every shirt we sell and send it to an overseas development charity that benefits the poor and downtrodden, not exploitative cronies.

As we continue to sell liberal t-shirts, the time’s come around again to make that donation for overseas development. We’re avoiding Kiva, which charges usurious rates in ultimately destructive microloans. Instead, we’ve sent a donation to Village Enterprise, a non-profit organization working in East Africa. Village Enterprise finds people who are severely impoverished, who are struggling to feed themselves and their children, and gives them money outright — not willy-nilly, but to get them on their feet and start a sustainable local business. Along with the grant comes the training needed to run a business well and manage money. Thanks to Village Enterprise’s approach, 75% of the startup businesses are still in operation after 4 years and 93% of those businesses actually have accumulated savings. More importantly, 90% of the new business owners have been able to send their children to school, and 75% of their families have increased food security.

Just as we write to spread political information and ideas, we want the money we bring in from selling t-shirts to make a difference politically — so we have committed to donating another for every shirt we sell to an American political group doing work that we believe in. This past month, when Rush Limbaugh calls a woman a “slut” and a “prostitute” for testifying on Capitol Hill regarding contraceptive health care policy, we wanted to do more that offer this set of Sluts Vote t-shirts as a counterpoint. This month’s donation goes to Planned Parenthood, an organization that not only provides low-cost access to contraception, S.T.D. treatment and abortions for women, but also advocates for a vision of America in which it’s not a crime to exercise these options.

There’s a big business scramble to claim the body of social media these days. Corporate social media specialists are acting like competing morticians, or like the recently deceased themselves, looking for some social media brains to make sense of it all. They’re dazed, incoherent, wondering what it’s all about, confused by new timelines and arrangements that nobody really “likes”.

Lost in all the rush to claim social media territory, there’s a question that’s not been adequately explored: Is social media dead… or is it changing its users into the living dead?

Have we “liked” social media to death?

Beware the wrath of the evil broccoli!

Dr. Ian Walker warns us that that Broccoli is “the greenest of the Evil Vegetables”, explaining that “Broccoli adopts this colour scheme as a form of camoflage, hoping that it will pass unnoticed amongst the friendly lettuces until – too late! – we’ve eaten it and it has ensnared us in its evil clutches.”

Don’t ask me why. It’s early Friday morning.

Seriously, the message on our newest tshirt shouldn’t be necessary. In a nation that came into existence and developed to full power under the initiation and spread of voting rights, it ought to be easy to get citizens to turn out and vote. The reality is that few Americans bother with voting.

The most common justification for not voting is a simple shrug. The second most common justification is to say that the candidates aren’t worth voting for.

Often, in many places, it is true that there is no reasonable choice among the candidates for a particular political office. However, it’s rare that just one political office is on the ballot. In a leap year like this one, Election Day in November will bring almost everyone a great list of candidates at the city level, county level, state level and national level.

Surely, some candidate in one of these elections will be worthy of your vote.

When you don’t vote, all you’re doing is giving the people who do vote more power. So, if you don’t agree with the way that most people are voting, not voting isn’t an effective protest.

The truth is that I know of at least one good presidential candidate who’s likely to be on the ballot in all 50 states this November. Her name is Dr. Jill Stein. Check her out – a vote for Stein will not be a vote wasted on more of the same.

We’ve created this t-shirt because, although there are serious problems with the American political system, we still believe in the democratic values that are at the core of the American identity. The real American dream isn’t to get rich. The American dream is to vote, and have it make a difference. For that to happen, the first thing you’ve got to do is show up.

If you find that there really is absolutely nothing worth voting for on the ballot, then don’t give any candidate or ballot initiative your support. But, show up to do that. Enter the voting booth and write in a candidate, or simply cast an empty ballot, if you must.

Remember, if you don’t vote, you let democracy die. Corporations and special interests won’t be to blame. You will.

Voting is the quintessential American ritual. So, we thought it was especially important that this tshirt is made in the USA. It’s sold through RedBubble, where every single shirt that’s sold is made by American Apparel, which has factories right here in the United States, providing jobs to Americans, and avoiding the nasty sweatshop abuses that are all too common in overseas outsourced garment factories.

The skull is not to represent the workers who made the shirt. It’s to represent what will happen to democracy if you don’t vote this year.

Cut, cut, cut!

Then, Newt Gingrich discovered that the voters of Florida wanted some pork barrel spending on big NASA projects. Gingrich wanted the votes of people in Florida, so that he could defeat Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential primary to be held there next Tuesday.

So, Newt Gingrich came up with a new promise: Gingrich promised that, if he is elected President, he will have the federal government build a huge permanent colony on the Moon, a base for a new human community that would… collect Moon dust. What’s more, this Moon base would be built in less than eight year.

One thing Gingrich hasn’t been able to explain is how, with the space shuttles out of commission, with the Department of Education destroyed, and with spending on science slashed to a fraction of its previous levels, the federal government could possibly get a permanent human colony on the moon in just eight years. Gingrich hasn’t shared the math that explains how this big government project of his can take place while Gingrich reduces taxes and cuts the size of the budget deficit.

Remember when your mother warned you against trusting people who promise you the Moon? I hope the people of Florida remember that advice, because that’s exactly the maneuver that Newt Gingrich is trying to pull.

So, Newt Gingrich wants to be President so that he can build home for himself on the Moon? Fine. Let’s give it to him. Only, let’s not make him President of the United States of America. Let’s make Newt Gingrich President of the Moon, and then have the Russians ship him off on a Soyuz rocket to serve out his term there, in a capsule on the side of the crater, the ruler of all he can see.

Newt Gingrich for President of the Moon… also available as a tshirt, not made on the Moon, but by American Apparel, right here in the USA.