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Let do what the Japs are doing.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51P1XW20090226

"By Toshi Maeda

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Lost your job and looking for someone to punch up for causing the global financial crisis? A Japanese shrine offers down-on-their-luck visitors a chance to shake off the doldrums by hitting the "God of Poverty."

The Bimbo Gami shrine is home to a wooden statue believed to be the poverty deity, a thin and filthy man who brings misfortune and impoverishment to the house it haunts.

Visitors who travel to the shrine in mountains about four hour's drive from Tokyo can beat, kick and throw dried beans at the god to vent their anger.

"What you do here is hit it hard and defeat poverty in your heart, then stay positive by having a deep conviction that there will be good things," said 77-yer-old shrine master Tessen Sakura, a former banker who founded the shrine 11 years ago.

At most shrines, worshippers pay their respect to the god. But at Bimbo Gami, visitors must hit the statue three times with a bat, kick it another three times, and then throw beans at a target to drive away negative spirits and bad luck.

With Japan's economy in recession on the back of the global crisis, and many people finding themselves unemployed, thousands have visited the shrine in recent months.

Some days, as many as 500 people come to batter the god, with several visitors saying this has helped diminish their anger at the dire economic situation.

"I feel like I've been able to get rid of the rancor of the past 50, 60 years," said 77-year-old Toshitami Ota, who came from a neighboring province with a busload of visitors.

"Japan's overall economy is bad, but the stress you feel is a personal one. Of course, you think about the whole picture, but there are also a lot of things to worry about yourself," added Yoko Takeda, 52-year-old elderly care worker.

Although the shrine master and his wife Haruko, 68, had been involved in several failed several business projects before founding the shrine, the god of poverty seems to have proven lucky for the elderly couple.

They now live off a fairly stable income generated from selling good luck charms to visitors."

Hell I'd rather listen to the Dead Kennedeys than anything that comes outa that punk stupidvisor Chris Daly's mouth. At least Jello B didn't take himself so seriously.

I keep saying it. Give these guys their head for a year or so. They'll screw things up so bad, everyone but the fringe left will say "Buh-bye" by 2010.

No cars in Frisco? No problem. Let the city lose that much revenue. Tourists will stay away in droves. Business (already decimated by our new tax laws) will become extinct. With any luck, the "big one" will hit at the same time. Then maybe we can re-build San Fran to the once great city it was.

Chris daily a memeber of the SAN FRANFREAKSHOW BOARD OF STUPIDVISORS why don that jerk ride his stupid bicycle down a steep hillside witha brick wall and watch him crash into it and show what a brainless green jerk he is

It's time for some people to take a holiday in Cambodia.

What a great idea! Ban cars! They can ride around
on rainbows.

There's always room for Jello!

If it's good on a small scale then it must be really good on a big scale. Let's do this right, ban all cars in California.

Screw it, Kev...let's BAN ALL CARS (except for special people like Al Gore and movie stars). We'll all ride bikes (even in the rain). If you're old and can't ride a bike...well, you're not contributing anything to society anyhow, so Socialized Medicine will take care of you. Or should I say "take care" of you!

P.S. Is it really true that most men in San Francisco ride bikes with no saddle attached to the seat post? Now why would they do that?

Yeah now the clowns in City Hall are wearing the suits.

Faster for buses and safer for pedestrians? WTF?

The last time I walked in SF I almost got hit by
a MUNI bus that barreled through the intersection about 2 seconds _AFTER_ its light turned red. It was hauling ass.

The safest way to get around that city is in a car.

But you have to avoid the bums who stand around idly on the corner until you have the green light, then they wander out talking to themselves.

I hate spandex clad yuppies on bicycles.

Well done, Jello Biafra, you've helped destroy America; happy now?

A few years ago some stupidheaded stupidhead came up with the stupid notion that LOMBARD STREET should be closed to autos and it be made into a stupid bike path. Christ Daily realy needs to have a bicycle wrapped around his stupid neck

This seems to completely ignore the fact that urban regeneration projects in other cities (Boston, Phoenix) has shown that pedestrianization can be a boon to local business. It creates a more pleasant retail environment and drastically increases foot-traffic, benefiting sales. If you could actual look past your pathological obsession with the supposed conspiratorial liberal agenda, you might be able to see the business credentials of this plan.

During the horse and buggy days the pedestrian death rate was much higher then it is today in many of our major cities