Coming soon - Anheuser-Busch State Park?

Give Massachusetts legislators the prize for creative thinking. They've seen what's happened as corporate sponsors get their name on sports stadiums and other public facilities. So why not let Coke and Microsoft put their names on the state's parks and forests? You know, like the Verizon Pond, where Henry David Thoreau did his daydreaming?

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York is looking into raising money by selling naming rights for parks. In addition to the Chrysler building, New York also could have DaimlerChrysler Park, complete with sheep's meadow and zoo.

Don't scoff.

We've been doing it for years -- honoring big contributors to universities, for example by naming buildings after them. But now we're talking big bucks. Would General Motors be interested in having the longest river in North America named in its honor?