Happy Halloween!

The house is decorated, and the kids are excited. Here's the house during the day: Here it is at night: And no post would be complete without some anti-tax humor. So, here's my official, SCIT Jack-O-Lantern: And you'll definitely want to watch the brief video below for some Halloween silliness:

Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra Events This Weekend - Don't miss them!

The YSO has an event-filled weekend coming up. Elena Urioste, winner of the 2007 Sphinx Organization's Competition, will be soloing with the YSO at its season opener. The concert is at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, October 28, 2007 at Towsley Auditorium on the campus of WCC. Tickets are available at the door, or online at the YSO's website. The day before the concert, Saturday, October 27, 2007, at 1:00, the YSO will be having a "Meet the Conductor" event at Bombadill's Cafe on Michigan Avenue in downtown Ypsilanti. Music Director, Adam Riccinto, will be available to chat, as will Ms. Urioste. Bombadill's is located at 217 West Michigan Avenue. Please come join the YSO for it's season opener. It's sure to be a treat!

Ypsilanti Income Tax Haiku

It's Haiku time again! Regular readers might recall my prior Ypsilanti Haiku post back in 2006. Now, with the election for a city income tax nearing, I thought the time was right to solicit some more Haiku. I'll once again get it started by going first: More red signs than green With the vote getting nearer SCIT paints the town red Or how about this one: Proponents admit They despise an income tax Who wants to pay more? Please leave yours in the comments.

Painting the town RED . . .

SCIT has been out painting the town red. The image above is from a part of town in which I've never seen political signs. Might that be a sign of something? Closer to home, anti-tax signs currently line Forest Street on both sides of the road. Same with Oak Street and Maple Street. I've never seen so many signs in my neighborhood for anything. Looks like the East Side is overwhelmingly against a tax. Here's my house: And here's my neighbor, Pete Murdock, spokesperson for SCIT. Come November 6, 2007, please remember that signs don't vote, people do.

If I die before I wake . . .

I pray to God that my cold, dead, embalmed body is placed in a Star Trek, photon torpedo style casket. 'Cause that's not nerdy at all, right? For the dead guy who has everything. If you don't fancy a burial, then you can always opt for the 24th Century styled urn. That will really look fantastic on the mantle between the pewter sculpture of the Enterprise from the Franklin Mint and the Tri-Dimensional Chess Set. Plan ahead and order your Star Trek themed funeral products here. Be the first on your block to be buried in an authentic, licensed Star Trek casket. You haven't truly lived, or, um, died, until you've owned one of these.

Dems disappoint again, especially in Michigan

Obama, Edwards, Biden and Richardson have officially pulled out of the Michigan primary. Clinton has chosen to remain. This latest disappointing slap from our national Dems is yet another example of their chronic failure to lead. Here in Michigan, though Dems took over in the Michigan House, we've seen no progress at all on access to justice or the structural budget deficit. In fact, we as Michigan Dems have for years now been beating a steady path backwards due to the political ineptness of our party, standing by while affirmative action was nixed, permitting the codifying of bigotry against gays and lesbians in our constitution, and otherwise sitting idly while the clock has been turned back to its pre-60s vintage image of suburban, domestic bliss. All the while, taxes on the rich and businesses have fallen, while taxes on working men and women and their families have gone up. Every time a win seems within our grasp, we are outmaneuvered by Republican hacks. With the recent budget showdown that resulted in little more than a public relations disaster and what will no doubt be a high drama recall campaign, not to mention the utter lack of equitable school and city funding increases since Dems took the Michigan House, I'm finding it harder and harder to support the party I've been a member of since I turned 18. Not that there are alternatives, but I guess I can simply non-affiliate myself and call myself an "independent" from here on out like so many others have chosen to do. Even closer to home, our local Dems are even more disappointing, what with City Council's attempt to raise taxes in the face of the highest tax burden of any municipality in the entire county. I'm not even sure we can call our local councilpersons Democrats anymore (or the myriad "Democrats" who've endorsed the tax), now that four of them have openly supported a regressive tax increase that disproportionately affects poor people, renters, and workers who have no political representation. Last time I checked, those values were associated with the other party. Then there's the national Democratic party. Let's recap what the Dems have accomplished nationally since taking control of Congress a year ago. 1. Nothing on privacy and civil rights. 2. Nothing on health care. 3. Nothing on immigration reform. 4. Nothing on gay rights. 5. Nothing on affirmative action. 6. Nothing on appointments to our courts. 7. Nothing, nothing, NOTHING on the war in Iraq. Need I go on? With the candidate pullout--merely the latest insult to Michigan Democrats--I'm done donating. No doubt my money would be better spent on a Nintendo Wii, or perhaps a new distortion box (pictured right). Or, dare I say, to buy more beer.

A disaster is brewing

We have a serious crisis on our hands. Forget about government shutdowns. Forget about turmoil in our local school districts. Forget about lawsuits to Stop the City Income Tax. Forget about the Marion Jones doping scandal. Don't even think about Pakistan and Iran or those scandalous MoveOn.org people. A real disaster is brewing, much closer to home. What is the world coming to?

Next on the 'hit' parade: Mitt Romney . . . .

With George Bush, War Trumps Kids Every Time