I love this state. I really do. Even if it does tend toward republican and we begat Jerry Falwell and Patty Robertson. We have some great stuff here. We have Monticello and Mount Vernon. We birthed a whole passel of presidents, and some good ones, too – think Washington and Jefferson. We’ve got mountains, beaches, and rolling pastures in between. If you’ve never seen the farms in Orange County, you should – they are truly beautiful landscapes of peace, cows and green green grass.
And sometimes, we’ve got more than our fair share of stupid. We tend to be a tit-for-tat kind of place. When a statue of Abraham Lincoln was placed at the old Tredegar Iron Works (which was the Confederacy’s ammo factory until the Union army blew it into the rivah), the bigots responded by offering to erect, for free, mind you, a statue of Jefferson Davis. They wanted to put it right next to Lincoln. The irony obviously escaped them. Well, the statue was rejected by the city, and they should not have been very surprised. Our City Council is majority African-American, and they take a dim view of Jefferson Davis, for obvious reasons. The last I heard, ol’ Jeff Davis is still sitting in storage, awaiting his “ratful” place at Tredegar.
Now, the tit-for-tat is over license plates. Virginia allowed anti-choice license plates to be issued. So, of course, the pro-choice activists have to have a rebuttal. I completely agree that a rebuttal is necessary. What I don’t agree with is stylized license plates. Period.
I hate the things. We have everything from birds to fetuses, now, and it’s gotten…well, it’s just damned annoying. You see, I don’t believe in putting a darwin fish on my car, even though a lot of christians around here wear their beliefs on their bumper. I put my darwin fish where it belongs – on the fridge, right over the chinese takeout menu. You see, if someone is in my house, they have been invited. If they take offense, they don’t have to come back. When you’re stuck in traffic at 7:30 in the morning behind a yahoo with an anti-choice license plate and a “W” sticker still in the back window, it’s enough to make a Bee want to swarm.
The anti-choicers got their license plate. Great. Goody for you, like the rest of us driving behind you care. I don’t care that you “heart jesus”, either, and I couldn’t care less if you love your Yorkie, either. Not to mention, it riles the pro-choice contingency, who feel they have to compensate. And maybe they do, but it still chaps my behind. I am pro-choice, but I don’t feel the need to put it on the back bumper. Call me a curmudgeon, but I miss the good old days, when a license plate had the number, the State name, and nothing else. Nothing fancy, nothing trumped up, and nothing that is just plain TMI.
Sometimes it’s as if the entire country has become a bad parody of a Monty Python movie.
Stan: It’s every man’s right to have babies if he wants them.
Reg: But you can’t have babies.
Stan: Don’t you oppress me.
Reg: Where’s the fetus going to gestate? You going to keep it in a box?
Don’t even get me started on license plates that say “diva.”
Tags: anti-choice, Jefferson Davis, license plates, Lincoln, Monticello, Monty Python, Pat Robertson, pro-choice, Tredegar, Virginia
TN has the right to life tags but not the other. I have to confess I have a bumper sticker. It says “Obama.”
Just don’t bump into any of those folks in front of you. They might think you don’t like them.
Leslie: never! I try to piss them off hoping they’ll hit me. I really need a new car
I got a bumper sticker on my VW that says “Terrorist-what the big army calls the little army” which I got in Berkeley and The Vigil loves to quote it. You’d probably like Berkeley Bee, lots of great places to eat and interesting people to trip on while you eat your falafel or fish tacos or Fat Slice pizza. Counter culture places abound, my big girl gets her tattoos here.
I never wanted her to get tatoos,it wasn’t a value judgment thing. I didn’t want her mother piercing her ears when she was a baby either. I just didn’t want anything poking or hurting my little girl.
Glad you’re at Mikes,glad your site is cool too. I know you’re proud!
My Honda has all my DFH bumper stickers. My other car is bumper sticker neutral as is hubby’s. We have the vanity plates here too Bee. I did have one for a second, a whale, but then just went with the regular old white with California in cursive and the numbers. Mine didn’t say diva, when I had it though
, Jus Jess.
Wonderful post Bee.
I don’t do bumper stickers or vanity plates, and rarely take note of other people’s. I don’t think any state’s license plate should be used to advance a political cause or public policy, period.
I will admit to getting a big laugh on a bad day out of one bumper sticker seen a couple of years ago. It was on a neat, late-model car driven by a guy who looked to be a fairly well off 50-something. I don’t remember the exact message, but this is close:
George W. Bush gets four more years in Washington, and some village in Texas is making do without its idiot.
I had one bumper sticker.
“Cheney/Satan ‘08″
Now about those Darwin fish…
LOL!
And nothing annoys me more than the yellow ribbons. Gah
Despite the license plate fiasco there, Bee, I’d still love to visit your state someday.
First of all… love your new “look”.
Agree about the license plates and all the religious garbage people try to shove in your face. They do it everywhere, and now of course, it’s on Facebook. Excuse my little rant, but I screamed on my FB wall Super Bowl Sunday after that f-in’ Timmy commercial. I said: “WORSE SUPER BOWL AD EVER… SHAME ON CBS!!” And, that was putting it mildly for me!
One of my rethug friends than put this post up: “What it all boils down to is God and family…….nothing else matters
”
That was in reply to mine, I’m sure! So, there you go, I don’t know why in flyin’ fucks hell, the rethugs think they’re better than thou!
btw, I didn’t put that smiley face there, my rethug friend did!!
Virginia really does have some beautiful countryside, especially the Blue Ridge Mountains near the Tennessee border.
I’m not into the whole bumpersticker personalized license plates thing; mostly because I don’t want my car to get vandalized by some redneck who sees a bumpersticker he doesn’t like.
But there should definitely be a pro-choice license plate along with the fetus-worshiping license plate.
Oso: You’re right, Berkley sounds right up my alley! And I’ve never had a fish taco. Soon’s I win that lottery, and buy myself a winnebago, we’re comin’ out to visit!
Jess: Good thing it didn’t say Diva, I’d have to disown you…
Ty Tee
SW: That was a bumpersticker worth having, lol. I have it on a fridge magnet.
Hill: VA really does have some beauty in it, and it’s definitely worth a visit. We have so much to see…
And I need that darwin-dino for my fridge!
Karen: That’s exactly why I make it a point to never, ever do 2 things: 1. watch the superbowl (thank dog Mr. Bee doesn’t like football, hehe) and 2. have rethug friends. You just end up…irritated all to hell!
Tom: Yep, if they have to have it at all (and I’d just as soon they didn’t), then it has to be both.
It is the land of my birth, but I know that I shall dwell there nevermore. Especially after Dixie reforms itself as the Holy Republic of Jesusistan.
I’m too much the northerner in thought and in practice, now.
Jolly I completely understand. Believe me. Might have some more Ol’ Virginny shenanigans in the potluck come Sunday.
May I make a suggestion for your license plate? A picture of GW with the caption Devolution!
Oh…MY… GOD!!!! I’m soooo glad I came over here to see who the hell was adding my name to their blog list! Jeez, you have a disciple!
I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy…
Funniest shit I’ve read in a year! PLEASE TELL ME YOU DON’T JUST DROP THESE EVERY SIX MONTHS? This was posted in January? Nothing to rant about since? Christ, I can get in a lather daily!!!
Please, Please, Please, scribble on religion… this is like fresh air in a coal mine full of canary crap.
squatlo-rant.blogspot.com (hate to litter your site with that address, but I’m a newbie and don’t know how this shit works)
Bob: LOL! Glad you liked it
Most of my posts here end up under the “politics” tab at the top of the page, or under the “Sunday Potluck”. I’ve posted quite a bit since January
I love a reaction like that…makes me feel good – it really does. You really brightened my day