Blood For Stupidity (Almost)

My dad—who also voted for President Bush in both elections--urged me not to put my Bush-Cheney ‘04 sticker on my car. Though I really wanted to do it just to start something, cooler parental heads prevailed, however. Good thing, too.

This week… a Tampa woman learned that simple Bush-Cheney bumper sticker can bring trouble, if not danger, from a total stranger.

Police say Michelle Fernandez, 35, was chased for miles Tuesday by an irate 31-year-old Tampa man who cursed at her as he held up an anti-Bush sign and tried to run her off the road.
His sign, about the size of a business letter, read:

Never Forget Bush's Illegal Oil War Murdered Thousands in Iraq.[SNIP]

Police arrested Nathan Alan Winkler at his home on N Cleveland Street near Hyde Park within an hour of the incident.

After finding the antiwar sign in his car, they booked him into the county jail on one count of aggravated stalking, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, Durkin said.

He posted his $2,000 bond and was released early Wednesday, jail records show. This was Winkler's first arrest in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Winkler, listed in jail records as a contractor, could not be reached Wednesday. Durkin said Winkler told police officers he got upset with Fernandez because she "gave him the finger."

Fernandez told the Times Wednesday that "whatever gestures I made, I made them because I was trying to figure out why he was honking at me and pointing to his sign."

"At first I didn't know why he was screaming at me," she said. "Then it clicked."[SNIP]

"I was just almost run off the road by a man," she told the dispatcher at 5:14 p.m. She was taking her son, 10, and daughter, 3, to a ballfield.

The very flower of leftist “manhood” tries to drive a woman and her children off the road. How peaceful!

Here’s a helpful hint for Ms. Fernandez: put an NRA sticker right under your Bush-Cheney sticker. Not one of those little ones similar to the US Marine logo, but one of those big college-type tickers. Idiots may still mouth stuff at you, but if they can read, they’ll think twice about running you off the road.

(Thanks to Michelle Malkin)

UPDATE: Video.

Comments

[Steve]

Take a tip from mother goose and use an hard bound NIV bible and an umbrella.

[baldilocks]

LOL! That works too.

[Ben]

http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=25735

yup. nothing stupider than people so unwilling to discuss their beliefs that they resort to violence to shut up opposing voices.

[Old Patriot]

I want a bumper sticker that says MEWBNCH
(Mean, Evil, Wicked, Bad, Nasty, Cruel and Heartless)
That's better than the one that reads "Keep honking, I'm reloading". Then there's the one that says, There's an unmedicated psychopath driving this vehicle".

[Synova]

I have a constitutional right not to discuss my beliefs, Ben.

[Wendi]

I wonder if I put a Bush/Cheney sticker on my car...Next to my ONCE a MARINE, ALWAYS a MARINE sticker...Would I have the same trouble?

I mean we all know how "crazy" those Ex-Marines are! LOL! (ask me I've been married to one for 16 yrs.)

[baldilocks]

Synova: Looks like you missed the point. Ben's not saying that one *has* to discuss one's beliefs. He's saying that you shouldn't *replace* stalking/road rage for discussion.

Right, Ben?

And, yes, that woman in the photo in the link which you provided deserves jail, not to mention getting her butt kicked for putting her stank hands on someone without permission.

Happy now?

[Synova]

Is that what Ben was saying? It was so hard to tell. Even after I read the article (and looked at the picture) I didn't see the connection to a car chase except, perhaps, that the chasee had some obligation to listen to or debate the chaser. *shrug*

As for the picture... absolutely no context is given. I'm inclined to agree that it's beyond rude to put your hand on someone's mouth but then I hold my arm out and figure out just how far inside my personal space the "protestor" had to have been and I start to have second thoughts about what could conceivably be adequate provocation.

[Steve H.]

Harassing Florida Cubans on the road is a really, really bad idea. Supposedly, forty percent of Florida drivers pack heat, and you better believe that figure is higher for Cubans.

Every time I give someone the finger down here, I wonder if I'm going to live until the next intersection.

[J. Peden]

I think Fernandez managed to "create" a terrorist.

[Scooter]

He is the official liberal moonbat (redundant?) of the month.

[JohnM]

Ah the classic, "Hey here is a nutbar liberal, so ALL liberals must be nutbars post" The real answer here is duh Road Rage is bad. I doubt any political party or ideology holds the patent on crazy nutbars. I always wondered why my car got keyed right after I put my Kerry sticker on it. But when it happened my first thought was "What a jerk" and not "What a conservative jerk"

Be passionate people, but play nice :)

JohnM

[SteveoBrien]

1. bumper stickers are sometimes damned hard to get off cars (one nice thing about the magnetic "support our troops" signs

2. NRA bumper stickers and decals invite more car breakins by thieves who think a firearm may be present.

#2 is no joke. I''ve known many NRA members who don't put the membership stickers (or a bumper sticker) on their vehicle for this very reason. Good idea in some situations (this one) but bad in others. You can't win. ;)

[Mr. Lion]

Funny, I flip off liberals with Kerry stickers on their cars all the time when they express their distain for my camo "Support Our Troops" sticker. Haven't had one go nuts on me yet, though, alas.

But I've got at least four years to bide my time.

[pst314]

"bumper stickers are sometimes damned hard to get off cars"

You could attach it to your window with a sheet of static cling plastic. It's mostly sold in smaller sizes for people who need to attach a parking sticker but don't want to mess up the window, but you can get larger sizes.

[skinner]

I live in central or we dont vote like the ultra liberals in Portland but are usually outnumbered here this is a rarming ranching logging community soon turning into a rich liberal retiree golfcourse community with all the inherant damages an age of sanity replaced by rich liberals turning farm land into condos this farm land is here because of the hardwork and dynamite it took to create a canal system off the Deschutes river to turn the desert into fertile farmland and pastureland for dairys when I drive to town I see one dairy left where there were 8 what replased them ugly tract homes hooked up to city water {Redmond OR] and paying fees to hook up to theyre sewer system instead of a septic tank drainfeild all the irrigation rights which were originally tied to the land are sold to yuppie corps,. to build more golf courses I d loov to be a goose so I could shit on all the BMWS and Mercedes parked at the clubhouses I may do it anyways at night it could happen big goose disguise our worlds going to shit and the stupid thing is I went way out there when I was just gonna talk about how I restrained myself when I parked next to a car with a sticker saying george bush lied and thousands died this car had california plates and was parked at Haystack res. where I was fishing with my brother we entertained slashing the tires etc but my brothers 11 year old son was there not a good example when the owners showed back they were two faggy looking college boys with cut little scarfs on we all stared at them and then cracked up we scowled at them if you will and they left hurriedly in a little huffy fit yes I would have rather beaten the shit out of them but sometimes in a civilised society you cant do what needs doing especially with witnesses

[skinner]

I live in central or we dont vote like the ultra liberals in Portland but are usually outnumbered here this is a rarming ranching logging community soon turning into a rich liberal retiree golfcourse community with all the inherant damages an age of sanity replaced by rich liberals turning farm land into condos this farm land is here because of the hardwork and dynamite it took to create a canal system off the Deschutes river to turn the desert into fertile farmland and pastureland for dairys when I drive to town I see one dairy left where there were 8 what replased them ugly tract homes hooked up to city water {Redmond OR] and paying fees to hook up to theyre sewer system instead of a septic tank drainfeild all the irrigation rights which were originally tied to the land are sold to yuppie corps,. to build more golf courses I d loov to be a goose so I could shit on all the BMWS and Mercedes parked at the clubhouses I may do it anyways at night it could happen big goose disguise our worlds going to shit and the stupid thing is I went way out there when I was just gonna talk about how I restrained myself when I parked next to a car with a sticker saying george bush lied and thousands died this car had california plates and was parked at Haystack res. where I was fishing with my brother we entertained slashing the tires etc but my brothers 11 year old son was there not a good example when the owners showed back they were two faggy looking college boys with cut little scarfs on we all stared at them and then cracked up we scowled at them if you will and they left hurriedly in a little huffy fit yes I would have rather beaten the shit out of them but sometimes in a civilised society you cant do what needs doing especially with witnesses

[pst314]

"bumper stickers are sometimes damned hard to get off cars"

You can buy static cling plastic sheets here:

https://ssl.dwebsite.com/stickershield/home.html

The sheets are reusable.

I use them to put bumper stickers in the rear window.

[Ben]

It turns out that Fox got the story wrong. Again. Check out these videos.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200503160002

The woman claiming her pro-Bush bumper sticker provoked a road rage attack -- now says "it's possible" she "gave him the finger". So many possibilities on Fox News!

[ric]

JohnM,
Please explain how a moraly superior liberal was able to vote for an admitted war criminal like Kerry. Would you have voted for Wm. Calley if he declared himself pro-abortion?

[baldilocks]

Hey Ben,

Why are you telling me? The link I provided isn't to FoxNews. And if you had bothered to read the excerpts I posted, you would see that Fernandez doesn't deny giving Winkler the finger *after* he starts harassing her.

If you're trying to get visitors to your site via this blog, you're going to have to do better. Surely Big Daddy gives you enough spending money that you don't need to siphon from my audience.