George W. Bush Memorial Wastewater Treatment Facility

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the proposal to rename a wastewater treatment facility in San Francisco after former President George W. Bush. Participants express a range of opinions regarding the appropriateness and implications of such a memorial, touching on themes of political symbolism, public sentiment, and civic engagement.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants view the renaming as a fitting response to Bush's presidency, suggesting it reflects the damage they believe he caused.
  • Others find humor in the proposal, considering it a creative form of political commentary.
  • A participant questions the quality of the association between Bush's name and the purity of treated wastewater, suggesting a contradiction in honoring him in this manner.
  • Some express frustration with the focus on symbolic gestures rather than substantive political action, arguing that it detracts from addressing systemic issues.
  • There are concerns about the potential backlash from the utilities commission regarding the image associated with the facility's name.
  • Participants discuss the motivations and backgrounds of the organizers behind the initiative, with mixed feelings about their choice of focus for civic engagement.
  • Some express annoyance at the generalizations made about Americans' political attitudes and the perceived lack of justification for derogatory comments about Bush.
  • Others argue that there is substantial justification for criticism based on legal rulings against Bush's actions during his presidency.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus, with multiple competing views on the appropriateness and implications of the proposed renaming. The discussion remains unresolved, reflecting a range of sentiments about political symbolism and civic responsibility.

Contextual Notes

Participants express varying degrees of skepticism about the effectiveness of symbolic legislation and its impact on future political discourse. There is also a noted tension between personal opinions and broader societal attitudes toward political figures.

Ivan Seeking
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George W. Bush Memorial Wastewater Treatment Facility. Who needs a library for books? The Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco proposes to rename a sewage plant after President Bush as a monument to his work. See this brief interview on SFist or coverage in the SF Gate. The group is collecting signatures to put the initiative on the city ballot in November.
http://backspace.com/notes/links/2008/06/george-w-bush-memorial-wastewater-treatment.php
 
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After all the damage he has already done to the world, this really is the least we can do.

Hopefully this is only the first of a long trend!
 
… pure in heart and deed …

dunno what you do with waste water over there, but here in London the wastewater treatment plants purify the wastewater so well that it's sent back into the system, and used all over again.

It's reckoned that every glass of London water is drunk about 6 times! :smile:

So you want to honour George W by associating his name for ever with ultimate quality of purity?

Ooh … that's so touching! :cry:
 
We can dedicate the parking lot to them.
 
Note that the op is a bit out of date: This will be on the ballot.

If it were anywhere besides SF, I wouldn't expect it to pass, but SF is probably the most liberal city in the US.

tiny-tim said:
It's reckoned that every glass of London water is drunk about 6 times! :smile:

Of those, how many times is it treated? :-p

Never did trust that English ale.
 
This is an insult to turds everywhere.
 
The funniest part is that the utilities commission is somewhat upset about the image Bush's name will give such a fine city works facility.
 
  • #10
I wonder if the taxpayers think they are getting their moneys' worth out of their public servants?
 
  • #11
It's pretty clear how San Franciscans feel about one of them.
 
  • #12
My ex-girlfriend's buddy was one of the principal organizers behind this, a junior city planner for San Francisco that graduated fairly recently from UC Irvine. He and the organizers are mostly pretty young and bright people and I personally thought it was idiotic that this was what they decided to put their energy into, of all things. She got a kick out of it, but it seemed incredibly stupid to me. When you have the marketing and organizational ability to run the tight and successful campaign they ran, I think you owe it to yourself and to your city to get a better piece of legislation passed than this.
 
  • #13
loseyourname said:
My ex-girlfriend's buddy was one of the principal organizers behind this, a junior city planner for San Francisco that graduated fairly recently from UC Irvine. He and the organizers are mostly pretty young and bright people and I personally thought it was idiotic that this was what they decided to put their energy into, of all things. She got a kick out of it, but it seemed incredibly stupid to me. When you have the marketing and organizational ability to run the tight and successful campaign they ran, I think you owe it to yourself and to your city to get a better piece of legislation passed than this.

The importance is high. The symbolism will most certainly stick around for awhile, which raises the standard for future presidents.
 
  • #14
JasonRox said:
The importance is high. The symbolism will most certainly stick around for awhile, which raises the standard for future presidents.

Symbolic legislation is mostly a lame duck. Future generations will likely only laugh or roll their eyes. L.A. recently passed a symbolic ban on the use of the 'N word' even though the most prominent use is among those it is supposed to denigrate.
 
  • #15
I love how Americans spend more time insulting their President in a creative way, rather than trying to fix the problems within the system itself, that led to such a President.

Nothing like acting like a grade schooler about the whole thing, eh?
 
  • #16
kingdomof said:
I love how Americans spend more time insulting their President in a creative way, rather than trying to fix the problems within the system itself, that led to such a President.

Nothing like acting like a grade schooler about the whole thing, eh?

Way to make a sweeping generalization about Americans. :rolleyes: I presume your from Canada eh?
 
  • #17


tiny-tim said:
dunno what you do with waste water over there, but here in London the wastewater treatment plants purify the wastewater so well that it's sent back into the system, and used all over again.

It's reckoned that every glass of London water is drunk about 6 times! :smile:

So you want to honour George W by associating his name for ever with ultimate quality of purity?
Ooh … that's so touching! :cry:

hmmm---maybe they should name only the pipes after him...

'George W. Bush Memorial Sewer System'

motto: 'From beginning to end, it's all for sh*t'
 
  • #18
Saladsamurai said:
Way to make a sweeping generalization about Americans. :rolleyes: I presume your from Canada eh?

No, I am from America.

I'm sort of annoyed about the whole pseudo-politically active attitude going around. Whenever I mention Bush around someone, or in fact anything related to politics, I'm going to hear derogatory comments about Bush with little to no justification. However, how many of those people are actually going to vote? Probably a small number, if any at all. I'm rather apathetic to the whole thing, as my calling isn't being the next organizer of some political activity program, and at least I fit the bill, instead of being an ignorant activist for some TV and radio sponsored cause, who in actuality, doesn't care about anything but the media the said view was voiced through.

Honestly, I have no idea how my generalizations can elicit such rancor. I'd say that there is justification behind my statements, but then again, I'm not right, because I'm making a generalization that's poorly supported to begin with and I'm more less reflecting on what I believe is the mainstream attitude.

In short, please leave me alone; I'm extremely sorry for offending you with a single sentence over the net.
 
  • #19
kingdomof said:
No, I am from America.

I'm sort of annoyed about the whole pseudo-politically active attitude going around. Whenever I mention Bush around someone, or in fact anything related to politics, I'm going to hear derogatory comments about Bush with little to no justification.

Little to no justificiation? That is an absurd statement. How many times does the Supreme court have to rule against him before supporters start to take note?
 
  • #20
loseyourname said:
My ex-girlfriend's buddy was one of the principal organizers behind this, a junior city planner for San Francisco that graduated fairly recently from UC Irvine. He and the organizers are mostly pretty young and bright people and I personally thought it was idiotic that this was what they decided to put their energy into, of all things. She got a kick out of it, but it seemed incredibly stupid to me. When you have the marketing and organizational ability to run the tight and successful campaign they ran, I think you owe it to yourself and to your city to get a better piece of legislation passed than this.

Considering how many Americans feel betrayed and disenfranchised by his actions and those of his supporters, it seems the least that can be done. But I agree, putting him on trial for war crimes would be far more productive. The fact that he hasn't been impeached only speaks to the failure of the system generally.
 
  • #21
Ivan Seeking said:
Little to no justificiation? That is an absurd statement. How many times does the Supreme court have to rule against him before supporters start to take note?

My point here is that the people who don't support him mechanically bash him from grammatical errors in his speech. Rare are the occasions in which I have heard an intelligent anti-Bush statement.
 
  • #22
kingdomof said:
My point here is that the people who don't support him mechanically bash him from grammatical errors in his speech. Rare are the occasions in which I have heard an intelligent anti-Bush statement.

Before he leaves office, I'd like to hear Bush MAKE an intelligent statement (I'll take odds that he won't, though).
 
  • #23
kingdomof said:
My point here is that the people who don't support him mechanically bash him from grammatical errors in his speech. Rare are the occasions in which I have heard an intelligent anti-Bush statement.

Granted, when you despise someone as a traitor, a fool, and a clown, emotions can run high, and nit-picking is certain to follow. But Bush has earned the contemp of millions in this country, and likely billions, globally. He is certainly one of the most hated people that I have seen in my lifetime.
 
  • #24
Ivan Seeking said:
Granted, when you despise someone as a traitor, a fool, and a clown, emotions can run high, and nit-picking is certain to follow. But Bush has earned the contemp of millions in this country, and likely billions, globally. He is certainly one of the most hated people that I have seen in my lifetime.

Well, considering I'm not too big on political activity, as I'm a student and I have my time tied up in whatever duties which come with the territory, I'd like something a little more palatable for the mind than that to come to my own conclusion. When I have a conversation with someone, and they feel the need to assert a statement as fact without much evidence, I sort of get annoyed. He seems to be quite the contemptuous figure, however, I wish to see why. I feel its severely depriving to people to just proliferate a certain idea without providing a solid basis behind that idea, which is amongst a majority of people I speak to obviously deem unnecessary.

My personal opinions lie along the fact that he probably is not Presidential material, however, that's a conclusion I arrived at after hearing and seeing the large anti-Bush consensus.
 
  • #25
read some of the threads in the Politics & World Affairs forum about Bush. Most have links to other documented data, commentaries, and studies.
 
  • #26
I plan on voting "no". It is beyond juvenile. If, like myself, most San Franciscans do not believe that Bush has been a very good president, then we should refrain from naming things after him. There is a reason why there are a lot more buildings named after Kennedy than Nixon.
 
  • #27
kingdomof said:
No, I am from America.

I'm sort of annoyed about the whole pseudo-politically active attitude going around. Whenever I mention Bush around someone, or in fact anything related to politics, I'm going to hear derogatory comments about Bush with little to no justification. However, how many of those people are actually going to vote? Probably a small number, if any at all. I'm rather apathetic to the whole thing, as my calling isn't being the next organizer of some political activity program, and at least I fit the bill, instead of being an ignorant activist for some TV and radio sponsored cause, who in actuality, doesn't care about anything but the media the said view was voiced through.

Honestly, I have no idea how my generalizations can elicit such rancor. I'd say that there is justification behind my statements, but then again, I'm not right, because I'm making a generalization that's poorly supported to begin with and I'm more less reflecting on what I believe is the mainstream attitude.

In short, please leave me alone; I'm extremely sorry for offending you with a single sentence over the net.
I am in agreement with you, the Bush bashing has gotten really old. I apologize for how you were treated in this thread.

I agree with Lyn, what a waste of time for elected officials.

Since people can't be civil in this thread. Locked.
 
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