I enjoy strange and unusual signs, and I try to photograph them if a camera is handy. Frankly, the signs in California are better photographic subjects than the ones on the East Coast, and I don't know why. I'd hate to say that California is a "more interesting" place, because that might insult East Coasters (who might see it as an accusation that the East is more boring), and some Californians might be touchy about being called "interesting."

So I don't know what I should say. Maybe I should try to let the signs speak for themselves. (That's what signs are for!)

The first one is about Bush.

Considering that it was on a telephone pole in LA, I think it's most likely critical of Bush. But then again, the way some young people think these days, it might be someone's way of saying that Bush is cool! In a Goth-ish sort of way. But let's suppose the sign is meant as an insult. Is it necessarily coming from the left? With the "666" business, can we be certain? Couldn't it be some sort of right-wing paranoid conspiracy message implying that Bush is connected to the Bilberberger/Trilateral Commission/New World Order, and is flooding the country with illegal aliens under direct orders from the heroin-dealers who run the Vatican? How are we to know for sure? Without seeing one on a car bumper, there's no owner to ask. I have friends who are both for and against Bush, and I don't think any of them would put the above on their cars.

Hmmm...

Come to think of it, maybe I do know someone who'd put it on his car bumper. It would go very well with the "Anarchists for Bush" bumpersticker so lovingly designed by Dennis.

So there! (Dennis, sorry I forgot to unpeel it for you.)

The next one shows that there's no keeping down the American entrepreneur spirit.

Nor is there any need to spell out everything in detail for the customers. The 99 cent pupusas are enough. And besides, who the hell would expect the vendor of 99 cent pupusas to have the money to replace missing letters? All the information you really have to have is right there. I'm not picky about these things, and I simply don't think it's fair to hold a restaura t to the same standards as a blog.

Which means that despite the mysterious way the sign hints at English, I'll also give the next shopowner a pass:

If you are unconfortable buying courtains there, you can go somewhere else.

The next sign warmed my heart, as I have always believed in ethical drug laws.

Seriously, would you trust anyone who sold unethical drugs?

Last but not least, a sign of what might be called "End Times." Some anonymous writer does not like the park benches they've installed at the Albany Waterfront park.

I don't know whether that's a philosophical reflection on the inevitable fate of young urban professionals (a fate we all share, of course), but I suspect it is more along the lines of a wish, if not a command. As such, it's probably what Dave Neiwert condemns as "eliminationist rhetoric."

I agree that wishing people dead just isn't nice.

Small confort that is.

Because sooner or later, it's courtains for all!