while most of california’s political scene was centered around prop 8 and gay marriage, there was this other ballot initiative in san francisco….this sewage treatment plant in sf was proposed to be renamed to this:

from the sfist:

Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco Formed to Honor George W. Bush

Looking to honor the forty-third President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the recently formed Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is looking to change the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility. It seems the group would like to rename the SF Zoo adjacent facility to the “George W Bush Sewage Plant.”

The local grassroots movement, helmed by “Wayne Pickering,” is proposing an ordinance initiative for the November 2008 San Francisco ballot in order to get the poop/pee/vomit plant’s title changed. Why? To honor our current leader of the free world with an “appropriate and enduring legacy, for no other president in modern American history has accomplished so much in such a short time.

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from the nytimes:

An Honor That Bush Is Unlikely to Embrace

SAN FRANCISCO — Reagan has his highways. Lincoln has his memorial. Washington has the capital (and a state, too). But President Bush may soon be the sole president to have a memorial named after him that you can contribute to from the bathroom.

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.

The plan, naturally hatched in a bar, would place a vote on the November ballot to provide “an appropriate honor for a truly unique president.”

Supporters say that they have plenty of signatures to qualify the initiative and that the renaming would fit in a long and proud American tradition of poking political figures in the eye.

“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.”

The renaming would take effect on Jan. 20, when the new president is sworn in. And regardless of the measure’s outcome, supporters plan to commemorate the inaugural with a synchronized flush of hundreds of thousands of San Francisco toilets, an action that would send a flood of water toward the plant, now called the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant.

“It’s a way of doing something physical that’s mentally freeing,” said Stacey Reineccius, 45, a software consultant and entrepreneur who supports the plan. “It’s a weird thing, but it’s true.”

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how would you have voted?…..only in america can you sully the sitting president’s name like this and not be disposed of……..well, this is how the city of san franscisco voted….

from the chicago tribune:

Bush Sewage Plant plan flushed

Posted under politics

in college, my groomsman william and i dreamed up a character called third world country guy and we said if third world country guy came to visit us in the states and saw the way we lived….while they ate rocks and bugs….he* would kick our @$$. price club would be an example. owning animals as pets instead of as potential food source is another. here is another:

no doubt that sarah palin is a doll…..literally. actually multiple dolls of sarah palin were available this election season: one g-rated and one g-string rated. read on….from the atlanta journal-constitution:

Cabbage Patch Palin doll gets the biggest bid

By Richard L. Eldredge

duh!journal scours the earth for dumb behavior….some low brow…some high minded…all duh!

here’s a story with all kinds of dumb and snickering galore!

first the article and then my comments at the bottom..this is from my boy, norman and the bbcnews:

A US judge has thrown out a case against God, ruling that because the defendant has no address, legal papers cannot be served.

The suit was launched by Nebraska state senator Ernie Chambers, who said he might appeal against the ruling.

He sought a permanent injunction to prevent the “death, destruction and terrorisation” caused by God.

Judge Marlon Polk said in his ruling that a plaintiff must have access to the defendant for a case to proceed.

“Given that this court finds that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant this action will be dismissed with prejudice,” Judge Polk wrote in his ruling.

Mr Chambers cannot refile the suit but may appeal.

‘God knows everything’

Mr Chambers sued God last year. He said God had threatened him and the people of Nebraska and had inflicted “widespread death, destruction and terrorisation of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants”.

He said he would carefully consider Judge Polk’s ruling before deciding whether to appeal.

The court, Mr Chambers said, had acknowledged the existence of God and “a consequence of that acknowledgement is a recognition of God’s omniscience”.

“Since God knows everything,” he reasoned, “God has notice of this lawsuit.”

Mr Chambers, a state senator for 38 years, said he filed the suit to make the point that “anyone can sue anyone else, even God”.

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this seems like an obvious waste of time.

why would you sue god unless you thought he was real? and if he were real, why would you sue him? it reminds me of the passage in the new testament where the armies of the world gather to fight god. and god dispatches them with a flick.

the alternative is of course is that there is no god. and if there is no god, why are you suing him? if there is no god*, why waste your precious moments suing the boogeyman? go get fios installed and get your porn on just like the rest of america who have nothing better to do.**

this guy would have better luck suing sasquatch. and that’s called irony, kids.

*the writer of this entry is not endorsing atheism….just making a point with humor.

**the write of this entry is not endorsing porn….just making a point with humor. but he is endorsing fios.

looks like the party’s over! kid robot seems to be sold out of the simpsons blind box…

but on a tip from lisa(from last week’s post), i found a store that still sold them…and if you get a double or one you don’t want from them, you can trade it for ones on display.  when i got there, they only had 4 boxes left. i was only going to get three….one for me, one for theresa and one for my sister but i picked up the last one just because. my sister and mom were pretty enamored by the concept of blind box toys.

theresa got a really rare one……itchy…..only 1/48!

and we gave away another monkey! another rare one! ??/??…to my sister. she said we could have it but its ok….we play by the rules. maybe we’ll trade her for it if we wind up never getting it again. how often can you get a rare one? we’re looking for lightning in a bottle three times.

finally, we got barney and fat tony in the last two. yay! blind box this early is fun! everything is new!

i did find out from kid robot that they will get more stock next week….so check back next week in our collection chase.

in the book series, not so big house, the key to getting the most out of a small space are niches. even in big homes, what makes a home “homey” are the small little places that feel cozy and safe. where memories are made. so good architects, builders and home makers build little spots into a house or apt to make the space memorable and alive. i’ve been blessed to live in a few places with little nooks and spots that radiate with life.

we bought one of the not so big house books because we were moving from a 2400 sq/ft md house into a 1100 sq/ft nyc apartment. but it turns out the not so big homes in the not so big house books were not so not-so-big. they were huge places! we have different definitions of not so big house!

in these features, i’ll detail mundane little spots around our apartment…..the spots where we live…and life is made.

we have this awesome wall of windows on the north side of our apartment, decorated and insulated by our beloved honeycomb blinds. we had honeycomb blinds in maryland and wound up picking the same color…a greyish blue…but not on purpose. i guess we are consistent in what we like.

a wall or walls of window seems to be the new trend of architecture for new buildings. some buildings have windows wrapping around the whole apartment! window treatments must be astronomical in those homes!

behind our blinds and on the other side of the wall of windows is a cool extra that the architect of our place (and building mate) put in to create another little niche…and add character to our place. as you can see, the wall is not comprised just of windows but also includes double pane-d doors….

……that lead outside! obviously, we have the wrong kind of couch that blocks sightlines and pathway outside. but we love our leather sectional and brought it with us from maryland. the way its supposed to work is the double panes create the illusion that our space extends all the way across the street….and gives you the ability to leave the apartment…to pop out to get some fresh air….

….here: on our little juliet balcony…as in romeo and. its enough to take one, maybe one and half steps. no space for a chair or a grill…but its a nice perk to be able to come out and enjoy the wind, the weather…take in the sites of the street.

it is peaceful up here….the noise from the ground is muffled.. it feels almost like you’re in a different place…no longer near the apartment.

outdoor space is a premium in nyc…but many would question what you can do with such a tiny space? what’s the function of this niche? its a reflection point. to think, to take in, to breathe…….and i can see the park…yes, central park…from my little balcony if i turn to the right.

here are some shots from the outside of our little juliet…..

it’s a great little niche…and part of the magic of our home.

here are my favorite political videos from the past few days….funny for different reasons…..

and make sure to vote or you’ll end up like my sweet t! this video was sent to her in order to scare/remind her to vote.

when people come into the city, we are always surprised by where they want to visit or go eat. they are equally surprised that we do not frequent those places or want to go eat there. no. i do not want to eat at ruby tuesdays , bennigans or tgifridays in times square. then they ask where we go……so here are the places we like…not the best or the cheapest or whatever category….just where we go and go on a regular basis:

if there was only one chinese place to take my out of town friends, it would be here. primarily for the “soup dumplings” aka shiao lung baos. the wait can be long on weekends and prime dining hours. all this traffic outside the restaurant is for joe’s shanghai.

i hear the quality has gone down but i can’t tell the difference. delicious may not not be super delicious but its still….delicious. and there are different locations in the city. the best one i hear is in the flushing, queens chinatown. but that’s in another part of the country for us so we default to the one in manhattan chinatown.

there is a guide for those who have never had soup dumplings…..most assume that you eat it like a regular dumpling and they bite right into it causing the boiling hot soup juices to explode in the person’s mouth…as seen on the picture all the way on the left. you first start by gently placing the dumpling in a spoon….then taking a nibble to puncture the skin to let some of the soup out onto the spoon….then as the soup cools, you eat and drink the dumpling and the soup in the spoon.

there are variations but that’s the basics.

we normally order a round of noodles either with beef or pork. then we get a couple of racks of the soup dumpling to share….there are two kinds of the soup dumplings…one with crab and one without. i can’t really taste the difference so i always go with the regular(without crab)and save a few bucks.

eating the dumplings can be an art especially when the dumplings are plump and the spoons can’t contain the dumpling. at this point for me, its instinctual…..but if this is foreign territory for you, just look around and see how others are eating it.

its hearty and tummy delightling….just ask my dad plumping up on a fall evening on dumplings and noodles with fried pork chops.

one more thing….that person in the gray and pinstripes is unrelated to us….be prepared to sit with strangers at a big table, cafeteria style. just keep track of your food and you’ll be alright. its a cultural experience! fair exchange for real chinese food!

i was thinking that we need a mascot for duh!journal….or a funny pages section….or at least one regular comic strip. most newspapers and magazines have at least one of these. even the new york times….on sundays….in their magazine is a weekly strip. also, i wanted to commemorate the closing/passing of my favorite strip of all time, opus. today its retiring again for the last time after incarnations as bloom county, outland and for the past few years simply as opus. boo!!!(hoo)….i will be following the creator, berkeley breathed in his other art forms.

so i scoured the earth and am going to post the sasquatch ads from jack links beef jerky. sure you could look them up on google or youtube…..so what would be the point of watching them here?….but isn’t that the case with any video that’s posted? maybe you have found out about the videos here….will watch them elsewhere….and relive them here as i post them periodically.

so video one….the shaving cream prank…..

these videos communicate duh! because the humans in the videos mess with the monster known as sasquatch with disastrous results. you don’t mess around with monsters!! what makes it double duh! is that the dumb@$$e$ buy, consume and enjoy the product the commercials are selling giving the subtle subtext of dumb@$$e$ eat and like our beef jerky; we’re dummies! and you can be just like us! by eating our products!

i’ve read a few reviews that thought this was weird, convoluted, self indulgent or just stupid. i loved it! again….not a movie for everybody but that’s the kind of movie i like these days. if you liked other charlie kaufman stuff like adaptation, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, being john malkovich….than this is for you. if you look at those other movies with the reaction of weird, convoluted, self indulgent or just stupid, stay away.

the movie is wholly original….meaning there is nothing like it….but i know why people won’t like it: it tackles the issue no one likes visiting….how do we live in light of death? its a bummer topic. in addition, it has a weird timeline….we are never sure how much time has passed even as the characters age in front of our eyes. finally, it presents things in metaphors…..metaphors and real life exist on the same plane so there are many what the heck moments. to top it off, its got a title that most can’t pronounce.

but those are the things i love…..reality, the strangeness of time flowing and visual poetry….a different vision. charlie kaufman plants plot points and words and images that only make sense later on. there are more than a few “oh! that’s why that happened” or “oh! that’s what that meant”……it takes work to watch this film….so people won’t like that. but i need films like this. i need art.

the basic plot is a theatre director confronts the beginning of the end of his life with his marriage falling apart. when he receives a genius grant, he stages a massive play that takes the rest of his life….and the plot is about his life and life in general….so he watches his own life play out both in reality and on stage. it includes a life size set recreating new york city. it is insane! i love insanity! because life is insane.

biblically, this is a parable recreating the themes of ecclesiastes which i am preaching through at my church. it tackles the realities and absurdity of life with the same longings and questions.

i would watch this movie again…and i might in the theatre with theresa(i saw it without her on my day off)….the scenes of the recreated nyc are worth watching on the big screen….there are so many rich scenes and deep thoughts, musings and lines. i may even buy it to comb the landscape.

i thought of another reason why people may not like it……they deal with these issues already! and want escape….not more reality. but my hunger is for more reality.

if you liked this movie too, maybe we can be friends.

brian is a kid in our church who has always had a hulk vibe from his moppy haircut to intense violent energy. so we got him these hulk hands for halloween….last year. he was not interested. so we tried again this year…..we got him to put on the hands but not the purple pants.

i call him hulk and he calls me poopy. ironically, shortly after these pictures, he took a messy doody in his pants. another example of messing with a pastor coming to fruition.

his brother, ethan, makes a decent hulk too……..

but obviously he’s too friendly to be hulk!

happy halloween! ….and stay away from the dark side…always good advice.