Being a big free speechification kind of guy, I love bumper stickers and their nouveau cousin the magnetic bumper ribbon. I think anyone should not only be free but encouraged to say whatever they want all over their car, their bodies, their front lawn. So enamoured indeed are we that, briefly, a plan was hatched to borrow all the magnetic thingies we could find and attach them to one prominent citizen's car as an act of artistic expression in support of supporting. Not wanting to be arrested on holiday, however, this plan was put aside for a visit to a snack shack.

The best of these ribbons and things advocate a cause which may not have yet been fully bought into by the observer but one which is plausible and attractive: supporting the troops, fighting cancers. But it must also promote a plan of action which can be understood. One has been recently observed which was a little too obvious yet somewhat obscure. "Fight Premature Birth" it cried. Who wouldn't and yet...how would one if one would? Was this a call aimed only at health professionals involved with birthing and, if it was, who is not pulling their weight on the premature birth thing? Clarity is the thing if you are to grab the two-fifths of a second I give you and your bumper.