eBay Bans "Osama bin Rodham"

Controversial t-shirt combines "two terrorists in one"

ST. LOUIS, MO -- Online auction giant eBay has banned a satiric conservative t-shirt from its website. The 100% cotton, preshrunk, fade-resistant "Osama bin Rodham" shirt combines the names and likenesses of New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. T-shirt creator F.R. Duplantier describes the composite image as "two terrorists in one."

"The item you have listed does not appear to be consistent with eBay guidelines," reads the July 14, 2003 email notice terminating the Osama bin Rodham t-shirt auction. "In accordance with our Offensive Items Policy," the notice continues, "eBay may . . . remove listings of items closely associated with individuals notorious for committing murderous acts. . . ."

Duplantier expresses mystification at the termination. He laments that eBay failed to indicate which of the two elements of the composite image it considered offensive -- Osama or Rodham -- but concedes that it might well have been both. Duplantier considers Senator Clinton's "paranoid ramblings" about a vast rightwing conspiracy "eerily reminiscent of Osama's anti-American ravings." He also contends that "her socialistic health-care reform plan, had it been enacted, would have caused more damage to the American economy than 9-11."

"Osama bin Rodham" t-shirts, mugs, and bumper stickers are the featured items in an array of manic conservative merchandise now available at the Politickles Shop (http://www.cafeshops.com/politickles), a new online emporium established by Duplantier, syndicated columnist and author of Politickles: Limericks Lampooning the Lunatic Left.

Visit the Politickles Shop online at http://www.cafeshops.com/politickles