Denialism

Double Plus Good: No George Bush Waste Station in SF

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by

Chris
in

A group in San Francisco managed to get a measure on the city ballot that would rename our Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant to the “George W. Bush Sewage Plant.”

I thought this a supremely bad idea. Such a move (like protesting the Marine Core in Berkeley) would invite a conservative reaction, possibly stripping the city of federal funds.

And as a local public utilities supervisor pointed out, our waste station is progressive, like much of the city: “The potential irony here is that this is a modern facility that protects the ocean and the environment every day,” [Tony] Winnicker said, “and I’m not sure that’s the right legacy for President Bush.”

Well, Measure R failed by 69-30 percent! There is some good sense in San Francisco, sometimes. We also rejected a measure that would have legalized prostitution. More on that later.

Comments

  1. Roger the Shrubber

    It would look like a worse idea if he gets prosecuted for his crimes.

    Reply
  2. Eric Lund

    What Roger said. There is a reason you should never, ever name a civic building after someone who is still alive.

    I expect the cities of Houston and Anchorage will regret naming their primary airports after George Bush and Ted Stevens, respectively. Granted that IAH is named after the father rather than the son, but the principle still applies.

    Reply
  3. synapse

    Not legalized- decriminalized. My understanding as a voter of the difference is that a legal business can be made to follow zoning rules, labor regulations, etc. while a decriminalized business can’t be regulated like a business, so the people involved can just do whatever they like as long as they don’t violate other laws. My understanding might well be completely off. In any case, I would have preferred legalization to decriminalization.

    Reply
  4. Codswallop

    It is unlikely the city would lose Federal funds over such an infantile move. But once you establish the precedent, you have to expect reciprocation. Does anyone really want that?

    Reply
  5. Michael Paul Goldenberg

    I don’t think the idea of trying to spite GWB or any other political figure with that sort of childishness is wise, given that politics follows cycles and the radical right is not exactly restrained when it comes to spite and bile. Perhaps we would see a William Jefferson Clinton House of Hookers (combining two of these issues into one). If you check some of the hate being spewed on right wing blogs (start with Michelle Malkin’s, if you can stomach it), they’re already: a) happy to be done with John McCain, who was never exactly their cup of tea, no matter how he may have pandered to them the last five months or so; b) continuing with the apotheosis of Sarah Palin, whom they appear to adore in a manner that defies my understanding (not that I don’t get her political appeal, but she IS an abjectly ignorant fool); and c) ripping Barack Obama in so many horridly ugly ways that the mind and heart truly reels.

    I have thus far restrained myself from throwing this landslide in the face of the really nasty right wingers I argue with regularly in my field (mathematics/mathematics education), though it will be tough to continue to be so noble once they resume their attacks on Obama and every idea or policy to the left of Attila the Hun. I think the GWB Memorial Sewage Plant is just wrong, any way you look at it. But finding him his own prison cell, now that would be another thing entirely.

    Reply
  6. Blake Stacey

    Perhaps we would see a William Jefferson Clinton House of Hookers

    WANT.

    Just on general principles.

    Reply
  7. Mike

    Nice reference to 1984.

    Reply
  8. The Chemist

    Marine Core

    Weren’t they protested by Code Penk?

    [/smartass]

    Reply
  9. Suricou Raven

    I really dont care either way aboud prostitution… But I do care that almost all of the opposition to it is on the wrong grounds. It’s not coming from a careful evaluation of the societal effects, or analysis of the impact on women, or on public health, or on related crimes. No, it comes from the simple ‘Unmarried sex is immoral’ reflex that still drives much of public policy.

    Reply
  10. Rob Knop

    The City of Berkeley, many years ago, *did* outlaw the vast majority of the mass of an atom.

    As far as I can tell, despite signs posted at the borders, they haven’t really enforced the “Electrons Only” (aka “Nuclear Free Zone”) law.

    Reply

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