Tales of the Freewayblogger: October 2008

Dissent is Patriotic

The Tribunes of the People

(from our mailbox:)

The Tribunes of the People are a small group of middle-aged malcontents operating near Hollywood, California. Disillusioned and embittered by the unwillingness of the Hollywood studios to film their screenplay "Zorro and Hamlet Meet Godzilla," they've re-dedicated their lives to telling political rather than artistic truths to the masses through the medium of freeway blogging.

They have worked primarily on foam core sheets obtainable at art supply stores with duct-tape lettering, but as the Freeway Blogger has pointed out, this can be a pricey business, so they intend to switch to the classic method of projecting from transparencies onto painted cardboard.

While hoping fervently that the advent of the Obama administration will lessen the need for their activism, they are not sanguine, keeping their powder dry and their signs at the ready.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Rockin' the Free World in San Diego

greetings scarlet ~ grabbed my camera and did some blogging around san diego this morning for a couple of hours. Ive been hanging signs here and there from time to time but don't always get a chance to photograph them. I've included a few quotes below - pick and choose as you see fit - and add some of your own if you are so inclined. hope all is well with you. the 4th can't come soon enough....landslidelandslidelandslide. yours, kate
ps. neil young is coming to town wednesday night: can't wait... I have some great signs ready.

"If the world is a dangerous place to live, it is not because of the people who are evil, but because of the good people who don't do anything about it." -Albert Einstein

"We Americans have no commission from God to police the world." -Benjamin Harrison, address to Congress, 1888

"If BS were currency, Sarah Palin could bail out Wall Street herself." - Conservative Columnist Kathleen Parker, National Review

"If love and peace prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be ours forever." - President Jimmy Carter

"The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard." - Gaylord Nelson

"Keep on rockin' in the Free World." -Neil Young

NY, NJ, AZ, CA

Freewayblogging in New Jersey (1 min. video)

Irvine California: American Panopticon

Meandering through the streets of lower Irvine I decided to take the 5 north up to Tustin. There was a small gap next to the southbound lanes that I’d always wanted to hit: a tiny little oasis of fencing in the middle of miles and miles of sound walls between Santa Ana and the 405 merge.

Turning around in Tustin, I head back south and see the fencing, just underneath a rampless overcrossing. I quickly scan the base of the support columns for stenciling, finding it on the far left: “Yale Av. Ovrhd”. Yale Avenue is now my destination. The next exit is Irvine Ranch Road, two and a half miles away. This distance, of course, only adds to the beauty of the spot. If the way back to Yale Avenue was in any way convoluted, my sign could stay up for a long, long time.

I get off at Irvine Ranch Rd. and quickly find myself lost in the dark heart of Irvine California. Composed entirely of planned developments, Irvine is a bit like Stepford on a budget: nothing but townhomes, apartment complexes and strip malls with names like Deer Creek and Heritage Meadows. Everything is clean, homogenous and orderly, though notably lacking in deer, creeks, meadows and heritage.

I suppose if I were truly living up to my potential I’d have a navigational system, or street maps of all these places, but I actually enjoy the process of dead reckoning. Seeing a spot and finding your way back to it - using tell-tales like powerlines and terrain, or simple guesswork - is part of the fun… part of the game.

My sense was that I’d been veering west from the freeway, so I made a right and went east for a couple of blocks and then north where I finally reach my holy grail: Yale Avenue. After a few exploratory forays down side streets I’m there: a shrub and bramble covered embankment that led to the fencing next to the Interstate. Immediately in front of the embankment however was a sign that read "This Area Is Being Monitored For Illegal Activity.”

I looked around for cameras but didn’t see any. Not that it mattered much – the sign said “Illegal Activities”, not the patriotic posting of free political speech. I pulled a “The War is a Lie.” sign out of my truck, folded it over and headed up the embankment, wondering what it was that made these bushes so special. Were they a teenage hangout? Gay trysting spot? Homeless encampment? What seedy subversive activities took place within these bushes to warrant such surveillance? I figured it was probably meant primarily for the homeless, but in a way for all the other things too. Every other part of the surrounding area was spoken for: whether it was a sidewalk, street, store, walkway, school, park or bike path: practically every square inch of Irvine California was being utilized for something… Except these bushes. If you were looking for a place to sleep, screw, or just smoke a joint, as far as Irvine was concerned, these bushes were pretty much it: the only place that remained off the grid, the last little bit of wilderness left. As the final holdout from the municipal panopticon, maybe it was possible the bushes actually were being monitored. “Come and get me then…” I thought to myself as I bungeed up the sign. “The day this becomes illegal is the day America dies.”

The sign stayed up next to I-5 for about three weeks.

Spellchecking the Right

Please people, this is just sloppy.

And here... I mean really... I understand y'all are in a hurry, vandalizing cars and such, but when the guy's name's only got five letters...

Ooh, so close! It's "minister". Better luck next time.

It's spelled "mama" actually. That's one most of us tend to learn fairly early on.

"Humm"? Are you kidding? "Humm?" It's spelled "Hmm". No wonder they made you take it down. This is what happens when you only read one book.

Oh for Christ's Sake! Can't you people even get a swastika right?

Whether he's an ironic postmodern metatextual genius or just an idiot, this guy will probably go down as one of the iconic images of America in the 21st century. At least he got the "Go USA" part right.

Okay, granted: this sign, put up next to a highway in the Ozarks is racist, insulting and weird, but at least the person who painted it took the time and effort to make it look decent. Not only does this sign contain no spelling or grammatical errors, but it also conveys a lot of information with a minimum amount of verbage and even utilizes a bit of graphic artistry. If you're embarrassed to live in a country where a sign like this could go up, don't be: Be glad that you live in a country where people can speak so freely. Be embarrassed that you haven't been doing it more effectively yourself.

Cardboard, paint, and an overhead projector... That, and a little bit of faith in the first amendment are all it takes.

Sarah Palin Jokes

Why did John McCain pick Sarah Palin for Vice President?

Because the kid with the banjo from Deliverance wasn’t available.

What did Sarah Palin say was the most exciting part of running for Vice-President? Getting to ride on elevators.

(All signs made with cardboard, paint and lettered with an overhead projector. All are safely and lawfully placed on public property in accordance with the first amendment right to free political speech.)

What’s the difference between Sarah Palin and the Taliban?

Lipstick. (h/t to Americablog)

Who met with Mohammed Atta in Prague, tried to obtain yellowcake uranium from Niger and was ultimately responsible for the attacks on September 11th if Sarah Palin becomes president? Trooper Wooten.

What did Jesus say to St. Peter from the Cross?

“Hey, I can see Sarah Palin’s house from here!"

Wag the Plumber

If "Joe the Plumber" seems familiar it's because you saw him being created here.

It's so spot on Barry Levinson should be collecting royalties.

"Joe the Plumber has now had more press conferences than Sarah Palin. " -Andrew Sullivan

Arsenal of Democracy: The Backs of Signs

"As I went walkin',
I saw a sign there...
and the sign said,
'No Trespassin''.
But on the other side, it didn't say nothin'.
That side was made for you and me..."
-Woody Guthrie, This Land is Your Land

Using the backs of freeway signs is particularly effective on divided highways where exits are few and far between. Binder clips (above and below) are generally the quickest way to go, but you can also use hammer and nails or duct tape. Posting rarely takes longer than fifteen or twenty seconds and is hidden, at least from those who could get to you, by the sign itself. Working at night brings your chances of getting caught to practically nil.

On overpasses I like to use the space behind signs as well. It's cleaner, more discreet and seen only by the people who are meant to see it.

YTD - 739

Beltway Blogger Strikes Again!

Signs appeared yesterday around the Beltway in Springfield, Annandale, Arlington, Falls Church and Vienna, Virginia. They are posted safely (on the inside of the fencing,) by a private citizen in full accordance with the first amendment right to free speech.

I made the McCain stencil using a small overhead ("art") projector, and a printout from Google images. I projected the image onto the back of a campaign sign, traced it and then cut it out with a boxcutter.

For those of you who think that putting on a bumper sticker, wearing a T-shirt, or planting a campaign sign in your yard is going to make any difference, then I've got news for you: it's only there to make you feel good. If you drive all day, maybe a hundred people will read your bumper sticker. If you put up a campaign sign, it will blend in with all the other ones. But if you paint your own message and put it up within view of the highway, up to a hundred thousand people a day will read it. Put up a few around your city and you will have beaten your local newspaper in readership. -Beltway Blogger

Special thanks to the other freewaybloggers who sent me some suggestions for good, short anti-McCain slogans that can be read from inside a speeding SUV.

http://freewayblogger.com

Peace Tour Continued

“When everybody in America knows the name of the Secretary of the Treasury, that’s not good.” –Will Durst

(Signs made with cardboard, paint and lettered with an overhead projector. All are safely and lawfully placed on public property in accordance with the first amendment right to free political speech.)

"Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.” ~ Dorothy Thompson

“Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich.“ - Peter Ustinov

"Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests. ... Kill the sons of bitches." –G. Gordon Liddy (Terrorist, Felon, Friend of John McCain)

"When the pupil is ready to learn, a teacher will appear." – Zen Proverb

“I do what I like.” – Errol Flynn

YTD - 732

Phoenix/Tempe

Signs made with cardboard, paint and an overhead projector. They were lawfully placed on public property in accordance with the first amendment right to free political speech.

Number of times the word "also" was used during the vice-presidential debate:
By moderator Gwen Ifill: 2
By Joe Biden: 3
By Sarah Palin: 47

Endless War Ribbon

Operation Peace on Earth.

Telegraph Hill Blogging

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you have any doubt that Barack Obama shares your sense of patriotism?

SENATOR MCCAIN: I'm sure he's very patriotic, but his relationship with Mr. Ayers is open to question...how can you countenance someone who was engaged in bombings which could have or did kill innocent people?

-Interview with ABC News, April 2008

It's Fleet Week in San Francisco, and the Blue Angels are in town. Otherwise perfect afternoons have been punctuated by the heart-rending shriek of F/A-18 Hornets flying fast and low over the City, making Baghdad-by-the-Bay seem more like Baghdad.

Putting up messages for jet pilots is a lot like freewayblogging only you've got to make the signs bigger and put them higher up. Given that your target audience is moving at hundreds of miles per hour, it's best to keep it short.

Although plenty of attention's been paid to John McCain's years as a POW and its effect on his psyche, I'm more concerned with the possible damage done during the minutes he spent over Hanoi than the years he spent inside it. Obviously this is guesswork, but I think I'd rather live through torture than the knowledge I'd killed a bunch of innocent people. I know for a fact which I'd rather look back on.

A friend of mine flew A-10 Warthogs for the Air National Guard in the first Gulf War. This is how he described the last three days of battle: "We'd load up with everything we had, fly for about twelve minutes and then just unload it on them. Everything. Then we'd fly back, load up and do it again. Over and over. Those poor fucks didn't stand a chance."

When I asked him how many people he thinks he killed he said "Hundreds." And he said it in a way that didn't mean two or three hundred, but some number in the unthinkable beyond.

My friend is, and always was a good guy. He joined with the Air National Guard because he wanted to fly. He knew that it might require him to kill, but he had no idea he'd end up killing so many. The result, as he put it, was "I'll never be happy again. Not like you, or other people... not like I used to be. I'll have good days, better days, good things can happen. But happiness... no. That's never really gonna happen again."

Although they were in retreat, at least the people killed by my friend were men: soldiers in uniform. He doesn't have to live knowing he'd killed a bunch of women and children too, at least as far as I know. I wonder how John McCain feels about it - those few minutes over Hanoi - and what it feels like to push a button knowing it's probably going to blow a whole bunch of people to pieces. Defenseless people: men, women and children. After all, the people who determine what is and isn't a legitimate military target aren't the ones who have to push the buttons.

I think it's a fair question, and its honest answer would tell us a lot about John McCain as a President and Commander-in-Chief. Trust me though, it'll be a cold day in hell before anyone in the media ever asks it.

(Signs placed in San Francisco Thursday and Friday.)

New York, Rhode Island, Canada

ABC Party (Anyone But Conservative)

East Bay/SF

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive." ~ Thomas Jefferson

Signs placed today in Berkeley, Richmond, El Cerrito and San Francisco.
Quotes from here.

"Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead." ~ Scottish proverb

"Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority." ~ Thomas Huxley

"The ink of the scholar is holier than the blood of the martyr." ~ Prophet Muhammad

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich." ~ Napoleon

"You exist only in what you do." ~ Federico Fellini

"We've got to pause and ask ourselves, how much clean air do we need?" ~ Lee Iacocca

Protesting Blackwater

"There is no place in the American force structure, or in American culture for mercenaries, they are guns for hire; No more, no less."
-Marshall Adame, former State Dept official in Iraq

"Blackwater appears to have fostered a culture of shoot first and sometimes kill, and then ask the questions." -Rep. Elijah Cummings

Section 4 - COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY ORDER NUMBER 17 (REVISED)

3) Contractors shall be immune from Iraqi legal process with respect to acts performed by them…

"I saw them shoot people, I saw them crash into cars while I was their passenger. There was absolutely no reason, no provocation whatsoever." -Marshall Adame, former State Dept. official in Iraq

"I think that what needs to happen is that Erik Prince needs to become a more frequent visitor to Capitol Hill than his industry lobbyists have been over the past several years, and his visits should always begin with his right hand raised and cameras in front of him." -Jeremy Scahill

"I think this election really sends a strong message," Lutz said. "This is the first time the public has been able to stand up and say no to this group (Blackwater)."
-Raymond Lutz

"When used with cardboard and paint, an overhead projector is like having a printing press for billboards." -Scarlet P.

Pretty Pictures From San Diego

I finished up the Peace Tour in San Diego on Monday, a beautiful day for driving around and taking photos. After a little less than a month and 2700 miles of driving I’ve put up 171 peace signs between San Diego and Seattle and back. I don’t know what, if any effect this might have on people, but I’d like to think it helps calm them down a bit.

Mostly what I’m trying to do with these signs is let people know that, just like the flags that went up after September 11th, it’s not just our right to put signs up, it's our patriotic duty. If it’s not our right explicitly, then it's our job to test the system and make it our right, and the easiest way to do that is to just do it.

So far this year I’ve put up 711 signs, making for a grand total of 4,607 since this blog began in November of 2005. In this time I’ve been stopped by cops seven times with little or no consequence other than to take down the sign. The other 4,600 signs went off pretty much without a hitch.

My Modus Operandi is to travel with a lot of signs of various shapes and sizes, and post them along the freeways as I see fit. The best spots are those that can be easily seen from traffic but not so easily reached. I also try to minimize the time and effort it takes for me to reach the posting spots personally: few of these required more than a fifty foot walk from my truck, or more than ten seconds to post.

I was taught that when it comes to political expression my rights as a citizen are practically limitless Not just in the content of the speech, but the range of it as well. If I'm allowed to hang up one sign, I'm allowed to hang up a thousand of them.

Being able to use public property for the posting of political speech isn’t just our right, but one of those rights that's supposed to make this such a great country... one of those things we're supposedly so proud of. But how often do we ever actually use it? And how many people see us when we do?

Apart from the 171 I put up, the only handmade political signs I saw between San Diego and Seattle were two in Oregon that said "Nobama." God Bless whoever put them there.

How To Make A Large Sign In Five Minutes

Handy Posting Tips

Peace Tour California

"I really do inhabit a system in which words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government, where words can prove mightier than ten military divisions. " -Vaclav Havel