Observations, Opinions, Odds & Ends: The Bush Years
It's time to retire these items from the Bush years from the main "Opinions..." page to a separate one. They served their purpose, but can also be a reminder of how bad things were, useful for anyone with a typical attention span. With these events having taken place some years ago, it's likely that some number of links no longer work. I've made no attempt to check out or update all of them.
Note added 7/05/08: Honoring George W. Bush
To honor George W Bush for his eight years of honorable public service, the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is sponsoring a ballot initiative this November. It reads ...
"Should The City And County of San Francisco Rename The Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W Bush Sewage Plant?"
Comment added: What a fitting tribute to a president who has turned just about everything he touched to manure.
President Bush: The Second Four Years
Four More Years (Nov. 6, 2004)
The Coalition of the Departing (Nov. 6, 2004)
American Respect (Sept. 27, 2004)
Third Anniversary of "My Pet Goat" (Sept. 11, 2004)
"Mr. Bush and the Truth About Terror" (Sept. 2, 2004)
"... harm to our country and our people ..." (Aug. 6, 2004)
... "weapons of mass destruction-related program activities" ...
(Jan. 24, 2004)
Wolfowitz Rewards our Pals from Micronesia (Dec. 11, 2003)
Mission Accomplished? (Nov. 4, 2003)
White House Webmail: Message sent; irrelevant canned reply (Oct. 3, 2003)
Your Tax Dollars for Iraq, lining whose Pockets? (Sept. 30, 2003)
Bush wants $87 billion more for Iraq (9/11/03)
Our own little United Nations in Iraq (8/12/03)
PAM: Policy Analysis Market (8/1/03)
"Top Gun" says: "Bring 'em on" (7/21/03)
Senator Robert C. Byrd 2003 Speeches (7/19/03)
Rumsfeld Rumblings (4/14/03)
Mark Twain's "War Prayer" (4/9/03)
Peace March in Boston (4/3/03)
Peace, and the War on Iraq (3/19/03)
Hall of Shame, and Hall of Fame (3/21/03; updated 4/18/03)
The Bush Nation
Homeland Security - dimensionally challenged (updated Sept. 28, 2004)
"The Truth Is What We Say It Is" (started Sept. 15, 2004)
The new, improved, lemon-freshened White House Email (7/24/03)
"In Your Dreams" - A Bush Press Conference (updated March 19,2003)
President Bush: What's wrong with these pictures? (updated June 14, 2004)
(#) Click for historical reference on banner
Burma-Shave Roadsigns
Those of us of a certain age have fond memories of the Burma-Shave roadsigns, which began in 1925 and lasted until 1963. To my great surprise, Burma-Shave is still held as a registered trademark owned by the American Safety Razor Company, now known as Personna American Safety Razor Company. At present the Burma-Shave name lives on in a shaving brush - see the site http://www.personna.com/personna/blades/shaving/list/category/burma-shave/
Along the roadside there would a sequence of four to six equally spaced signs; each contained one short line in poem form. The content and distance to the next sign was such as to make you anticipate it. When the poem was done, there was a final sign that simply said "Burma-Shave", for the sponsor.
The signs had two general themes: selling the product with humor, and promoting road safety, so I thought it would be appropriate to apply a piece of older Americana like Burma-Shave to world safety, which is to say, against the present war in Iraq. Although the messages have nothing to do with the company or their products, and although the public recognition that has taken similar trademarks like Kleenex or Band-Aids into the public domain probably applies to this one as well, I thought it was safer not to use the trademark itself.
There are many websites bringing the magic of these historical signs to us, among them (not necessarily the best):
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/burma1.htm
http://www.seniors-site.com/funstuff/burma.html (but be tolerant of tons of spellos)
http://www.mc.cc.md.us/Departments/hpolscrv/mthomas.htm (includes history)
Updated 9/9/2010