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COLUMNISTS
TODAY'S STORIES
24.06.2008
Why Direct Democracy Is Awesome

Maybe it's petty of me, but I think I'd vote for this:

From the Department of Damned-With-Faint-Praise, a group going by the regal-sounding name of the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is planning to ask voters here to change the name of a prize-winning water treatment plant on the shoreline to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.  ...

“Most politicians tend to be narcissistic and egomaniacs,” said Brian McConnell, an organizer who regularly suits up as Uncle Sam to solicit signatures. “So it is important for satirists to help define their history rather than letting them define their own history.”

Not surprisingly, those Republicans in a city that voted 83 percent Democratic in 2004 are not thrilled with the idea. Howard Epstein, chairman of the ever-outnumbered San Francisco Republican Party, called the initiative “an abuse of process.”

“You got a bunch of guys drunk who came up with an idea,” Mr. Epstein said, “and want to put on the ballot as a big joke without regard to the city’s governance or cost.”

Republicans in other areas could then respond with the "Jimmy Carter Municipal Waste Dump," Democrats could retaliate with the "Richard Nixon Memorial Vehicle Impound Lot," and on back through American history until every bad president since John Tyler gets honored appropriately.

--Josh Patashnik 

Posted: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 11:01 PM with 4 comment(s)

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adaglas said:

I could see the "Andrew Johnson Unreconstructed Abandoned Warehouse" or the "James Buchanan Vacant Lot That Nobody Knows Exists."

But why a prize-winning treatment plant?  That would suggest a facility that's contributing something beneficial to society, removing a blight rather than bestowing one.  Hardly sounds like the Dubya we know.  Don't they have a chronically malfunctioning and over-budget sewage plant instead?  One constantly spewing its putrescence hither and yon, causing everyone in its wake to avert their gazes in shame and wondering what in God's name the cursed bastards responsible for it were thinking?

June 25, 2008 12:30 AM

fwslusser said:

Would Chester Arthur be on the list?

June 25, 2008 2:05 AM

jerkaboy said:

Why direct democracy sucks, you mean? Let us hope power remains in the hands of the intelligent and responsible men.

June 25, 2008 6:30 AM

The Plank said:

Walking past the AFL-CIO building on the way to work yesterday, I couldn't help but notice a gaggle

June 25, 2008 12:29 PM