Star Trib Does Danny

The Star Tribune recently did a write-up on me. 

A little surprised to see the huge "GodKing" t-shirt image flooding the whole page.   Nobody is going to miss it I guess.

I have to admit, I was wondering if I'd get hammered a bit because I push the envelope pretty hard with my satire, but overall it was not a bad little story.  Bob von Sternberg interviewed me, and he was fun to talk with.  Nice guy.

Oh yeah, I just wanted to add for the record that as much as it sounds nice, I don't sit in my living room and work. My young boys see to that.  They do enough damage visiting my office.  No offense boys.

ObaMao T-shirt Crackdown in China

When we got word that shopkeepers in Beijing were being censored for carrying ObaMao merchandise, with cheesy imagery of Obama's face superimposed on Chairman Mao's body, we were fairly interested.

Of course, the shops were doing it to capitalize on Chairman Obama's visit to China this week, and it's doubtful they were selling the stuff as much to satirize anyone.  But cosmic coincidence being what it is, the Obama administration has been under quite a bit of fire since in June White House Communications Director Anita Dunn announced on camera that Chairman Mao was one of her favorite "political philosophers."

Well, considering LibertyManiacs.com has been banned in China for a while, we figured why not supply the masses with there very own Chairman ObaMao t-shirts!

Of course, we didn't exactly elect to make them cute, cuddly, adoring images.  We went with the harsh, austere recreations of the woodblock propaganda of the cultural revolution. More fitting, no?

20% OFF Liberty Maniacs on CafePress!

We're happy to announce 20% off almost everything at Liberty Maniacs at CafePress.com!* No minimum purchases, no hassles.  Hurry up and grab some early holiday gifts, because the offer doesn't last long.

When you're done shopping here, just go to the checkout and enter the promotional code: liberty20

This code only works on purchases from within our Cafepress shop.  So if you try to use it while checking out from Amazon, the Cafepress Marketplace, or any other venue where are products are sold it just won't work.

This promo only last until Midnight (PST), Friday November 6th, so act fast!  We're not sure when we'll have an offer this good again!

* Save 20% off your purchase from the libertymaniacs shop (CafePress.com/libertymaniacs), excluding shipping charges and applicable sales tax.  Coupon code must be entered at check out.  Promotion starts on November 3, 2009, at 12:00 a.m. (PST) and ends on November 6, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. (PST).  All orders must be from CafePress.com/libertymaniacs  (i.e., all products available from the following URL www.cafepress.com/libertymaniacs). Excludes other CafePress shop or marketplace purchases, Gift Certificates, Flip Minos, SIGG bottles, CafePress Groups purchases and bulk orders. Offer cannot be combined with any other coupons or promotions and may change, be modified or cancelled at anytime without notice.

 

Independently Minded

If we had a nickle every time we had a customer tell us they were not a Democrat, Republican, or large-L Libertarian, we could almost retire--if we believed in retirement.

So we get it.  Say no more. You're angry, independent, and want some smart, opinionated, and funny gear to make your point. 

Wait no more.  Check out the "Independently Minded" section in the shop!

There will be new stuff posted in the section from here on in specifically geared toward the anti-partisan individual. 

Of course, being the accommodating folks we are, we always love your comments, requests, and ideas.  Email us with them!

Summer Shirts Rolling Out!

Up here in the Soviet Republic of Minnesota, summer has been less than aggressive warming the hardened, unforgiving tundra. Just last week there were frost advisories.

But now its in the 80s and officially t-shirt season! Here are a few new selections just launched in the past week or so.

From the great satirist Ambrose Bierce to historical American Revolution battle flag-inspired designs, we're trying to create some liberty-loving apparel that's never been seen before.

Cash for Clunkers? More Changism Gone Crazy

The House Obamunists have passed the "Cash for Clunkers" bill. The states that consumers would be paid up to $4,500 in vouchers for trading in their current vehicles for more fuel-efficient models. It now moves to the Senate.

Congress must be trying to see how much taxpayer money it can dump into an industry in one calendar year.

So let's get this straight. People with clunkers that don't have money for new, fuel efficient cars will be given $4,500 for the down payment on a new car they can't afford and will go into debt for in the midst of the most crushing recession in generations.

That sounds like something Congress would do.

Right Wing Extremists: Saving America Since 1776

With the 233rd Independence Day celebration on it's way in America, we thought it would be a good idea to honor the radical extremists that founded this country.  

Now, it might be true that calling Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin "right wing" is a bit historically questionable within the original context of the old Left-Right paradigm laid out in the French Assembly in the late 18th Century. We understand that technically the founders had more in common with what would historically be deemed the "left" than anything.  As Dean Russell wrote last month: 

The first leftist would not be popular in America today. That is true because the original leftists wanted to abolish government controls over industry, trade, and the professions. They wanted wages, prices, and profits to be determined by competition in a free market, and not by government decree. They were pledged to free their economy from government planning, and to remove the government-guaranteed special privileges of guilds, unions, and associations whose members were banded together to use the law to set the price of their labor or capital or product above what it would be in a free market.

 So way back Liberty Maniacs would be about as left-leaning as they come.  Indeed, as many of you know, the left side of the National Constituent Assembly at the beginning of the French Revolution iRight Wing Extremists: Saving America Since 1776n 1789 was comprised of elected representatives that wanted to abolish the established, privileged, preferential treatment of the royal coterie industries and replace the system with markets and freedom.  The right was comprised of reactionary hangers-on, that were resistant to liberty--or at least the rapid changes represented by those on the left.

Of course, political terminology changes like the weather.  The definition of terms in practical politics certainly hold no scientific, immutable hold on the people that use them.  Along the way--in America at least--the left mutated more into statism as the progressive movement took hold while the right became a more comparatively vocal critic of government aggrandizement. 

Not that a false dichotomy of left-right could ever be tidy.  I recall Murray Rothbard's article "Confessions of A Right-Wing Liberal" in David Horowitz's New Left periodical Ramparts in 1968 that explaned the rather odd journey of Rothbard from hardline right-wing Taft Republican to left-wing, war-protesting, black-power-supporting radical within a decade--all without changing his political views one iota. (The former New Left radical Horowitz, now neoconservative author and owner of the site frontpage.com is as great an example as the libertarian Rothbard of how the left-right dichotomy lends itself to confusion more than anything.)

So yeah, "Right Wing Extremist" might not be as historically accurate as we like for this design, but nothing pithy ever is.

Posters & Prints for Rebels

A few new posters are out, so I thought I'd highlight them.
The 1st is a retro remake of an old WWII propaganda poster that I redrew and repurposed. The idea came up after I was talking with a close friend about the acceleration of the Obama Administration's retrenchment on all promises antiwar.

This isn't a surprise at all seeing as the liberal Obama seems bent on showing hawkish bona fides early on. What is a bit chilling is how often you hear about how WWII was the event that ended the Great Depression, which, when trumpeted by the opinion makers in Washington seems to read like an ellipsis considering the current malaise.

Considering the insane things the government is doing right now to juice the economy, is it really that bizarre to think that the government would stoke massive war for stimulative effect? It's clear the power brokers have no concept of capital formation or monetary restraint, let alone an underlying respect for the Broken Window Fallacy. Our draft days might now be done folks.

The second poster is the next in the "Trust Government" Line, featuring Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce.

I did a few treatments with the illustration, and more products will actually be coming out. Right now we have shirts, posters, a skateboard, and a few different other products in our CafePress store.

We've been pretty busy making posters this last month. There are actually more than I'll comment on right now. It's probably best just to let the work speak for itself.

Don't Tax Me Bro!

Tons of new designs were posted this week. The above is one of the many. As you know Tax Day approaches, so we thought a little anti-tax humor was appropos.

President Obama has been on a spending rampage since he took office while effectively nationalizing industries like banking and autos.

There already isn't a tax base in the World that could ever support the amount of spending Obama has initiated, but don't worry, He'll try.

Inflation alone--another hidden tax on American families--will decimate the economy.

Just as "Don't Tase Me Bro!" has become a rallying cry against the political police state, "Don't Tax Me Bro!" is the cry for the people to keep the government's boot off our neck.

Our Friend Steve Beirfeldt Harrassed By TSA: Must Watch!

Check out our friend from the Campaign for Liberty being forcibly detained by TSA thugs.

You did a wonderful job in the face of open tyranny Steve!