God Bless America License Plates!?

[Ultimate Atheist]

Back in the 90s things seemed to be going so well. People were moving away from silly superstitious beliefs. Sept 11th helped out fundy politicians push the country back into the dark ages.

Today a bill was passed to put the phrase "God Bless America" on Alabama license plates. They couldn't have the 10 commandments at the courthouse so they'll just put their religious crap on cars all over the state, as if there weren't enough jesus fish and other religious crap on cars already.

Why can't the government officials keep their religious beliefs to themselves? If I tried to get "There is no God" on an official state plate I would probably tried for treason.

Here's a link if anyone is interested. http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060217/tag.shtml

[post tenebras lux]

If you find that you're being forced to place one on your car - please be sure to scratch out, or paint over, the 'B'. ;)

[flintknapper]

There was a Supreme Court case maybe 20 years ago about a family in New Hampshire, I believe. (Vermont?) They covered with tape the line on their license plates that said "Live Free or Die", and were arrested and fined. They went to court and appealed it all the way to SCOTUS, IIRC. They were Quakers or some such and they won the case. They said the state can't make you display something you don't philosophically believe in on your plates.

Perhaps some member that is in the know about legal and Supreme Court matters can track it down for you.

[Philosoft]

Courts have historically allowed ideologically partisan and/or moralistic slogans (Florida's "Choose Life" being an obvious example) on license plates as long as it is offered as an alternative.

[Magnus Armstrong]

Which looks like the case here.

Tho we really need "Godless America" as an official alternative.

[von_rick]

I have never understood the idea of having some dumbfuck slogan or phrase on your license plate anyway. Why not just have the state name and tag number. How about getting rid of all these phrases and making the letters on the plate a little bigger?

I think that's how it is in most countries.

Here are the standard number plates for Germany (http://www.olavsplates.com/germany9.html), Italy (http://www.olavsplates.com/italy.html), UK (http://www.olavsplates.com/great_britain.html), or Japan (http://www.olavsplates.com/japan.html)

You can check it out for all the countries by clicking on each country in this index (http://www.olavsplates.com/country_index.html)

[Nice Squirrel]

I so hate the 10,000 lakes I am forced to display.

Thousands of skwerls drown every year and the state is slilent.

[Philosoft]

I have never understood the idea of having some dumbfuck slogan or phrase on your license plate anyway. Why not just have the state name and tag number. How about getting rid of all these phrases and making the letters on the plate a little bigger?

Why do you hate America?

Now stop complaining, and stand up and say the Pledge of Allegiance!

[Jolly_Penguin]

We've got lil slogans on provincian license plates here in Canada too. My personal favourite is the Quebec one which reads "Je me Souviens" (I remember). If you ask around amongst Quebecers less than 5% have any clue what they supposedly remember.

[PopeInTheWoods]

We've got lil slogans on provincian license plates here in Canada too. My personal favourite is the Quebec one which reads "Je me Souviens" (I remember). If you ask around amongst Quebecers less than 5% have any clue what they supposedly remember.

Well, don't leave us Yanks hanging, what are they supposed to remember? A time before the British whupped French derriere?

[Padre Bear]

Which looks like the case here.

Tho we really need "Godless America" as an official alternative.

I don't know about that. It could confuse people. They won't know if its an advertizing slogan for Ann Coulter or a Jihadist religious campaign.

[VelociChris]

There was a Supreme Court case maybe 20 years ago about a family in New Hampshire, I believe. (Vermont?) They covered with tape the line on their license plates that said "Live Free or Die", and were arrested and fined. They went to court and appealed it all the way to SCOTUS, IIRC. They were Quakers or some such and they won the case. They said the state can't make you display something you don't philosophically believe in on your plates.

Perhaps some member that is in the know about legal and Supreme Court matters can track it down for you.

Wooley v. Maynard (http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0430_0705_ZS.html)

[Jolly_Penguin]

Well, don't leave us Yanks hanging, what are they supposed to remember? A time before the British whupped French derriere?


Lol, the plains of abraham (and I don't even know anything about that battle). At least I think thats what it is. Its very hard to figure it out for sure, for even government sites rarely remember what they "remember".

[Peregrine]

Courts have historically allowed ideologically partisan and/or moralistic slogans (Florida's "Choose Life" being an obvious example) on license plates as long as it is offered as an alternative.

Florida's "Choose Life" plate withstood a challenge because the funds do not go tho a religious organization. Of course Choose Life, USA only distributes its money to religious groups who oppose abortion.

I have the "Imagine" Florida plate with the Yoko drawing of John Lennon on it.

[Giant Space Amoeba]

EDIT: nevermind!

[flintknapper]

Wooley v. Maynard (http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0430_0705_ZS.html)

Thank you, sir. At least I know my memory is still functioning, only *30yrs* have passed, not
20. Yikes! It seems with this Supreme Court ruling, and a little duct tape, one should be able to legally eliminate any state endorsed "hero worship" or one-liners for Jesus affixed to state issued license plates. (I have the butcher A.Lincoln on my Illinois plates, and he needs to go!)

I wonder if it's legal to just *change* what is on the plate, like scratching out the "B" in "God Bless America"? Or maybe in New Hampshire, "Live Free or Kill"?

[Lel]

Honestly, as long as there is a choice, I'm a bit more worried about the last paragraph in that article:

The House voted down an amendment by Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, to remove the phrase "Heart of Dixie" from car tags. Some blacks argue that the phrase is a reminder of the old South and is offensive to them.

Are these people not in their right minds or something? They leave a slogan with racist connotations on their cars even now?

Absurd...

[Malintent]

Or maybe in New Hampshire, "Live Free or Kill"?

That's "Live Free or Die!"

[Mathew Goldstein]

I wonder if it's legal to just *change* what is on the plate, like scratching out the "B" in "God Bless America"? Or maybe in New Hampshire, "Live Free or Kill"?

If it is legal to cover it up then it should be legal to partly cover it up and/or cover it up with some writing of your choice. After glancing at some of the reasoning behind that decision, it seems reasonable to me to interpret the decision that way.

I think most states promote alternative license plates with slogans to raise money. Some states allow small groups of people to purchase license plate text of their choice. That is the proper way to do this. There is no need for states to pre-specify any particular slogan on license plates nor to give some of the fees to particular non-profits.

[Izmir Stinger]

My tag is about to expire. I wonder if they are available yet. I want one! If I am not forced to put a declaration of religious faith on my private property then I won't have an opportunity to deface it in a hopefully eye-catching an provocative way.

I'm running a little war with (I think) parishioners of the nearby First Baptist Church. At first I just had a Darwin Fish. I got keyed. No way of knowing for sure if it was because of the fish or just a random act of vandalism, but it was done in a parking lot full of cars and none of the ones nearby were keyed. Pissed that I didn't have a car (or face) to retaliate against, I added a Flying Spaghetti Monster to the car and repaired the scratch. Two weeks later, new key marks. New sticker. New scratch. New sticker.

I've got the American Atheists logo, Secular Humanists logo, FSM and Darwin fish. After the next is IPU obviously, but where do I go from there? God Bless America would be great!

[Steve Schlicht]

We've had the "Dinner" fish on the family vehicle along with assorted Humanist and Naturalist related stickers since 1998 and haven't ever had a problem.

The only people who've ever made comment were the "we agree" folks.

http://www.evolvefish.com/fish/media/E-Dinner.gif

I don't think people in general liked to be mocked...for whatever reason.

As for the specialty tag issue, I recall that there must be something like 250 names interested in such a cause prior to the tag office offering one to a particular special interest.

Hence, the popular Nascar tags.

Maybe the American Atheists or the American Humanist Association can alert their membership and petition the respective states for a tag.

I'll look into that more.

Steve

[Mathew Goldstein]

As for the specialty tag issue, I recall that there must be something like 250 names interested in such a cause prior to the tag office offering one to a particular special interest.

Hence, the popular Nascar tags.

Maybe the American Atheists or the American Humanist Association can alert their membership and petition the respective states for a tag.

I'll look into that more.

Steve

That is ten times too many. 25 tags is sufficient to qualify in Maryland. There may be multiple minimum tags and extra fee combinations that are close to optimal for maximizing revenue. The optimal revenue combination that also results in the most different organizational plates is then arguably the best combination.

[Steve Schlicht]

Here is the article I was remembering from our state of Mississippi:

200 (http://orig.clarionledger.com/news/0304/28/m06.html)

I'll still look into getting one to raise causes for Humanists and atheists.

Never know until you try!

Has anyone tried for a pro-choice, atheist and/or Humanist tag in Maryland?

[lynx]

We've got lil slogans on provincian license plates here in Canada too. My personal favourite is the Quebec one which reads "Je me Souviens" (I remember). If you ask around amongst Quebecers less than 5% have any clue what they supposedly remember.

I remember when the plate said "La Belle Province". :)

[Mathew Goldstein]

Has anyone tried for a pro-choice, atheist and/or Humanist tag in Maryland?

The organizational Maryland tags can be viewed online:
http://mva.state.md.us/VehicleServ/SpecialtyPlates/OrgPlates_Entry1.asp