But What About the Hookers???

This weekend, I was hanging out with my sister bitching about this whole shovel mess in Ypsilanti. My sister reminded me of a story that she feels captures the essence of Ypsilanti...

A while back, I went to a neighborhood association meeting where representatives from the Police Dept were available to listen to citizen's concerns. For TWO hours, it was nothing but bitching about barking dogs, uncut grass, and people speeding on Prospect. Finally, after everyone was finished with that, one man stood up and asked, "But what about the hookers? Is anyone going to do anything about the hookers"

That made me laugh for days. And it has helped me put this issue into perspective a little bit. I want a walkable city as much as the next person and obviously I think it is important that the city government be accountable to Ypsilanti citizens. But our city has problems that are way worse than snow on sidewalks. Just sayin.

Ypsilanti Shovelgate - The Saga Continues...

About a week ago, I received an invoice from the City of Ypsilanti for $103 for snow removal which they said occurred on 1/31. My initial reaction was to just pay the invoice because I couldnt remember if there was possibly any snow or ice on my walk that day. I was angry, though, because I was never issued a warning or notice of any kind. I also was angry because although I was being charged for snow removal, I never noticed that any work had been done. I was pretty angry, too, because this is not the first time I have had a bad experience with the city regarding ordinance enforcement (Click HERE to read about that experience)

Later, I came across Mark Maynard's post on the subject (which can be viewed HERE along with a subsequent post which can be viewed HERE). I came to learn that several other citizens received similar invoices and not a single one of them had received a notice or warning of any kind. Also, unlike me, many of them were certain that their walks were clear.

During the course of the discussion on that blog, there were a lot of people claiming that they received no notice. In fact, not a single person came forward and said that they had received a notice. Also, many people claimed that they had shoveled and as it happens, when they appealed, the city was unable to provide them with the photos the contractor is required to take of the walks needed shoveling. Also during that discussion, I was directed to a web site where I could see which properties received invoices. I was curious because the vacant property next to me has never had the snow shoveled even once this winter. They did not receive an invoice.

I decided to go to the City Council meeting tonight to voice my concerns. The first of which was that it appears that people were not given notices. The second of which was that there were consistent reports from many people that the work was not done. And the third issue was that the enforcement was selective such that the worst offenders, such as the vacant property next to me was not cleared or invoiced.

I was hoping that the city council would recognize that there was a problem here that was greater than just the people who have appealed this action or who have publicly complained. I suspect that if none of the loudest of city residents received a notice or warning, it is likely that many of the quieter residents did not either. I was hoping that the council would apologize to the residents of the city on behalf of the city employees who CLEARLY made a mistake here with the implementation of this ordinance. I was hoping to hear some plans about ensuring that ordinances are carried out properly.

I was disappointed. The attitude was basically, if you have a problem, appeal. And I heard that as far as notifications go, if a city employee says they left a notice, that is all the proof anyone needs. I also heard council members commend the staff on the job they did. Now, I wasnt expecting anyone to publicly censure a city employee for this but to *commend* them when there clearly is strong evidence that notices of abatement were not given is beyond the pale. At this point, I am just hoping that I misheard and they were being commended on taking the effort to enforce the ordinance in the first place (which they do deserve) rather than on the implementation which they do not. No one said anything about the selective enforcement even though I was not the only one to bring that up. Nor was there any discussion about how the city could make sure that the contractor did the job they were supposed to do. There was *some* discussion about improving the notification process and I appreciate that. But it isnt enough and it especially isnt enough in the absence of an apology or even much of an acknowledgment that the city was wrong


At any rate. I am going to appeal this. And then I will file it away with the other instances where I have been disappointed in how the city handles things. I can say this though. I am proud of all of my fellow citizens who came out to the meeting and spoke up, not just for themselves (as most of them have already had their invoices waived) but for everyone. One of the things this city still has in its favor is that folks in Ypsilanti are alright!

Inauguration Day 1/20/2009

This is my account of my own experience of Obama's Inauguration. I stayed at my brother and his wife's house in Vienna, VA. My young nephews generously shared a bedroom while I was there so I could have my own room. By complete coincidence some friends of mine from Seattle were staying in a hotel in Vienna, VA that was only 1/2 mile from my brother's house.

I met up with my friends Beth and Barry, Beth's mother, Gratia, and their daughter B. at the Vienna Metro station. Although we all left the house very early, we didnt get downtown until around 10:30am which was too late to get anywhere in front of the Washington Monument.



The trains were running slowly because someone was pushed or fell onto the metro tracks so they had to turn the trains around before that station. That person was not seriously injured because of the quick thinking of some guy on the platform who knew that there was a space under the platform. He pushed her into the space and the train missed her. I was relived when I heard that. Click here for the story.

My brother was a couple of trains ahead of me because I wanted to wait for Barry/Beth et al and I figured I would text him and then find him once we got down there. While on the train, someone else got a text that streets were closed near the mall so we decided to get off the Metro at Foggy Bottom. Once I got out of the station, I got the text from my brother to get off the train at Foggy Bottom and head towards the WWII memorial. That was just one of many lucky occurrences that surrounded this event. I mean, I missed my brother's text but did the right thing anyways.

Once we got there, there were already too many people for me to find my brother even though he texted me his exact location. I could see where he said he was but I couldnt get over there. So I found a spot near a tree and sat down for a while. I had a pretty good view of the jumbo-tron for most of the ceremony but eventually the space in front of me filled up so I had to stand to see. It got really crowded even way back where we were. I mean crowded like you could barely move crowded. It looked like there were crowds all the way back to the Lincoln Memorial!



During the swearing in people were *very* emotional. There was lots of crying and hugging strangers and cheering. It was awesome! When Aretha came on, I yelled out "Detroit Represent!" and lots of people near me cheered and said they were from Detroit too.



After the swearing in, some people started to leave so I sat down again and watched the rest of the program. I was really happy to have found such a comfortable spot. It was a little cold but not too bad. I was only cold because I had taken off my coat to sit on it. Once it was over, I put my coat back on and was fine.

When it was time to leave, there was discussion about heading towards one of the museums to warm up but it quickly became obvious that there was NO WAY we were going to make it to one of the museums. We stood in a huge crowd that was moving towards the streets. It was remarkable because there was no pushing and no shoving even though the crowd was so dense that everyone was pressed up against everyone else. I have never been around such a mellow nice crowd except for at some Dead shows but those people were high. These folks were just plain NICE although there was some cheering and out breaks of a certain Bananarama song when the helicopter that may have contained Bush flew overhead.



Eventually we made our way back to Foggy Bottom where we ended up in a big crowd waiting to get into the station. They were limiting how many people could enter the station at one time, possibly because of the earlier incident. After around 45 minutes in yet another incredibly nice and pleasant but very dense crowd, we got into the station. I was impressed with the transit workers who were in charge. They kept making everyone repeat "when the person in front of you goes, you go" and "when the person in front of you stops, you stop" and cracking jokes so again, there was no pushing or shoving and lots of laughter. I think they took a potentially dangerous situation and made it much safer so huge props go to the Metro staff.




Eventually we got in but everyone was tired so we got on a train going the wrong way because it had seats and we just rode to Maryland and then eventually got off and got on the train in the right direction. There is nothing like a little discomfort to make one appreciate things like a seat on a warm train. People were very nice on the train too. One guy even gave us a free bumpersticker



Eventually, we made it back to Vienna. We met up with my brother then and we all went out for a very nice dinner.

Schadenfreude, Football, and Elections.

We all have our dirty little secrets or what should be dirty little secrets but aren't because we write about them in our blogs. One of mine was how often I find myself rejoicing in the suffering of others. Not all the time of course as I am not without compassion. But man, sometimes when some boastful jerk gets taken down a peg, I swear I get giddy in my toes.

I first noticed this tendency a few years after I moved to Ann Arbor. You see, Ann Arbor is the home of the University of Michigan which has a football team...a good football team...a football team that wins most of the time. Winning football games is a big deal on Saturdays in the fall. It is what Ann Arbor does. In fact, if you arent especially into football, you hardly notice it except for the occasional bragging by people who seem to think that being a Wolverine fan makes them a better person (because they have the good judgment to be a fan of a winning team I guess) The team wins and everyone goes about their business as usual...UNTIL...

They lose. Then, the whining begins. And it is serious whining. It is whining mixed with anger and rage. And I love it. There is something about watching someone get enraged over a FOOTBALL GAME (ferchissakes) that fills my heart with joy. I hardly ever watch football but when I do, there is a part of me that always roots for the team playing Michigan only because I know that if that team beats Michigan, the fans will sulk and pout and rant and rage and so on.

It turns out that I get the same feeling after elections. Not towards everyone who voted for McCain. I actually like McCain and can totally understand why a reasonable person might vote for him. But there are people on the right who just were jerks in the weeks leading up to the election, who are now rivaling Wolverine fans in the sore loser department. And I love it.

I keep reading craigslist because they keep entering rants like this one. They are losing it and I LOVE IT!!! I keep hoping that someone will interview that mean lady in Grosse Pointe who wouldnt give candy on Halloween to Obama supporters or their children. How do you feel today lady? That's what I want to know.

So that is my secret. If you see me grinning and all giddy. That's why. These guys might rant for four whole years. Elections are way better than football as it turns out. boo yah!

Yay!!!!

Stop City Income Tax - Vote On Tuesday, November 6

The town I live in, Ypsilanti, has an income tax issue on the ballot this Tuesday. It is for a proposed temporary income tax of 1% for city residents and 0.5% for non-residents who work in the city. There is some property tax roll back in the scheme which gives a break to people like me who own property in the city.

Oddly, I find myself in opposition of this tax. Most people who know me know that is not the usual position I take on these sorts of issues. I usually am very much in favor of tax increases especially when I think that the tax money will be spend wisely. I know that the last time I can remember any kind of tax increase in Ypsilanti being voted on (the road one around six or seven years ago), I voted yes for it. I just cannot, in good conscience vote for this income tax.

Firstly, I dont like it because I think that with the property tax roll back, it places more burden on renters than on homeowners. Since renters tend to be poorer, it puts too much burden on hard working lower income people who are the very group of people I believe should have tax burden lifted from them.

This poorer group is also represented by people who work in our city. Yeah, ok, the people over at EMU probably have pretty decent jobs at decent pay (especially the professors), but over on my street there is a factory. A factory which, judging by the cars its workers drive and by how many dont seem to have cars at all, clearly is not paying too much. And there are lots of other low-wage jobs in this city and those people probably cant afford the tax either. I mean, even if their tax burden is only a hundred dollars a year, it is important to remember that for a poor family, a hundred dollars is a LOT of money. It is a utility bill. It is a winter coat. It is a whole wardrobe from Value World. A week's groceries. Whatever. I just know when I see the workers at that factory that they can ill afford such a tax.

Another reason I am against this tax is that I think the main reason the City of Ypsilanti needs this tax is because the tax structure in our state is broken. I believe that this tax will not fix that but instead may hide some of the symptoms of it which will mean that things are less likely to change. Maybe the state needs to see cities like Ypsilanti struggling? Something has to change though. It sucks that I have to pay so much more tax than my neighbors in Ypsilanti Township. It sucks that I have to pay so much more tax than my parents, who live in Green Oak Twp in a house easily worth four times as much as mine. I dont mean that I have a higher rate either, I mean that I pay more tax...more than a thousand dollars more!

This income tax is also something that is very visible and something that will have an effect on the housing market here and not a positive one. I know that reduced fire and police protection and all of the other cuts that will happen without the income tax will also have a negative effect on house and rental prices but I think that because an income tax is so in-your-face visible and reduced fire and police are not things that one notices every day, the tax will have the more negative effect.

So, please vote NO on the City Income Tax.

Car Thieves in Ypsilanti

Last night I had dinner with some neighbors and there was some talk about crime and safety in the neighborhood -- mostly in relation to reducing city services like the police force. As it happens, I am not against reducing some services but I am not so sure about reducing police and fire services.

And just in case I needed a reminder about why, the car I've borrowed from my Dad was broken into last night. At first I thought I had forgotten to lock it but the police officers who took the report pointed out where the thieves had forced open the drivers side door lock. They also pried apart the ignition which activated the anti-theft system so now, the car wont start. The cops said that they probably tried to steal it because it is a Chrysler and apparently Chryslers are easy cars to steal...usually. Not all of them have anti-theft systems I guess. The tow truck driver said the same thing.

Ok, the anti-theft system did what it was supposed to do and the car wasnt stolen. But I had to have it towed to the Chrysler dealership and I had to take today off of work (unpaid) which I can ill afford. Again, I guess I should be grateful that this happened today rather than next week when I'll be in my first week at my new job.

I have to admit though, that I am getting tired of this. I usually dont lock my car and it gets broken into on average about once a month. But no one has ever actually tried to steal my car before. They just take loose change and returnable bottles usually. This is a somewhat recent thing too. It was a few years after I first moved in here that my car was broken into. It bugs the crap out of me though. It bugs me that there are people in the world who have so little respect for the property of others. It bugs me that we have an economy were some people get desperate. This summer has been pretty bad for me crime wise too. I had my hand chair stolen from my porch, I had a guy sleeping on my lawn in his underpants and a sleeping bag stolen from my neighbor..and now this.

I cant help wondering if all of this petty theft has something to do with the whole situation at the jail. The jail is always full so often the police arrest people and then just let them go right away. The people who live far away from Ypsilanti generally are the ones who have voted not to spend money to expand the jail. Why should they? They dont have the same crime problems. They have been able to move away from such social issues.

Right now, I cant say that I totally blame them. Well, I blame them for not voting to expand the jail but I dont really blame them for choosing to remove themselves geographically from the crime that necessitates a jail and an expensive police force. If you live far from the poor people, you are much less likely to be a victim of a crime. So you can get away with less police and that saves you money on your taxes. It is normal and rational for a person to make such a decision.

As much as I complain about the tax rate in Ypsilanti, we dont pay the same taxes that people who live in the City of Detroit pay. They *really* pay through the nose tax wise and I dont mind mentioning that their city income tax combined with the highest property tax rate in the state combined with lousy services has not really encouraged people to move there. One has to wonder, is Ypsilanti headed in the same direction?

Our tax system is broken. Seriously. You see, when people are looking around for a place to live, they can choose a place like Ypsilanti or Detroit. But there is infrastructure in place in those places that has to be paid for. There are old employee pensions, roads, parks, etc. OR people can choose to live someplace close to the city where they can avoid paying for city services while still benefiting from proximity to the city. Then, as the people who can afford to move out, move out, they leave behind the people who really cant afford to leave. They leave behind the social problems and poverty that lead to higher crime levels which leaves fewer tax payers to pay for those things. That higher taxation further discourages the people who can best afford to pay for things from moving into cities. And so on... Combine all of that with other market forces and voila! You have SE Michigan and all of the sprawl that is so characteristic of this area.

So? What is to be done. I know some people take the view that the answer is to gentrify the area, to drive up rents and property values so much that the poor people are forced to move. I wonder how much of this type of thinking was behind the failed Water Street project? It certainly seems to be a technique that has worked for Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is much more high brow than it was when I first moved there 22 years ago. But, I think Water Street is a good example of how the gentrification approach is nearly impossible.

A better approach would be to fix the property tax structure so that tax payers in areas with a lot of social problems dont end up paying for *all* of those problems while people who live in places removed from them dont pay anything at all. Of course, that solution might be just as impossible at least judging from the jail situation. I still say that the Ypsilanti police should start releasing people who would have gone to the jail if there had been room in places like Saline or Milan or even Ypsilanti Twp. That might motivate those motherfuckers to vote for a bigger jail!

Power and Control: The Corporate World

I had a conversation with a co-worker today about a former supervisor of mine. More than any other supervisor, I really disliked working for this guy. One time I even got so upset with him that I stood up and walked out. I have never done that before or since but that day, my choice was to calmly say that I wasnt feeling well before walking out or to start screaming my head off. I guessed that the latter action would have been rather embarrassing for me.

Mostly what I didnt like about this guy was how controlling he was. He was constantly looking over everyone's shoulders to try to catch us surfing the web. He got himself on a committee to change the dress code to one that was more restrictive. He would just randomly tell people to do things and would get angry if anyone questioned him at ALL. The time I got upset with him, I was clocked out but sitting at my desk when he came and told me to move. I said that I was at lunch and he said that it didnt matter.

So I said that I would move right on over to the time clock to punch in and he forbade me to punch in so I told him that I was punching in and if he had a problem with it, he should discuss it with the HR department and then in my own special "fuck you" kind of way that I know others find annoying, I told him that when he talked to the HR department he might want to mention the FLSA and the Dept of Labor's views about firms having their employees work off the clock.

Basically, a little bit of labor law worked in my favor that day. He couldnt fire me because it would have been illegal (and an incident with another co-worker that happened a week later kind of led me to believe that he would have fired me if he could have). I was insubordinate but since he was telling me to do something illegal, I was protected.

The funny thing about this guy too was that he actually is a pretty nice guy in every other situation. He is not alone. So many people, when given any kind of power over anyone else, act as if someone had just given them a jackass pill! That is what happens when one guy gets to supervise 8 people. What happens to people who find themselves in charge of large corporations?

The other day I was watching a documentary about Ralph Nader. They mentioned that after _Unsafe at Any Speed_ was published, Nader thought he was being followed. Nader reported that strange women would come up to him in places like the grocery store and ask him out. My first thought was "man, that guy is paranoid" but then they started interviewing people who backed up his story. They interviewed people who had noticed he was being tailed. They interviewed people who had been getting strange phone calls asking them for information about Nader. Was he fucking anyone? Was he a pot smoker? etc.

It turned out that it was GM who was doing all of this in an effort to discredit the Nader. They even admitted that they sent the sexy women to try to seduce him so he could be found in a compromising position! Now that is a company with too much power, imho. It was too bad for them that Nader is such a nerd because they never were able to find any dirt on him. It pretty much took an act of congress to get GM to lay off!

It got me thinking about large corporations and the power they wield. I worry that our current SCOTUS is giving too much power to corporations by essentially making some of the labor laws and antitrust laws meaningless. I worry that a lot of people have an attitude that corporations should be allowed to amass huge amounts of power.

I am not really sure what I can do about it other than to talk about it and to remind people that who they vote for in the presidential election can really make a difference with this. The damage in this area done by the Bush administration and their appointees to the court might last for decades. Who knows how much more powerful large corporations might become in the mean time?

I also think that besides voting, it is very important to support consumer activists who work hard getting the word out about corporate misdoings. The corporations have a lot of power but they *need* the rest of us as labor, as consumers, and as stockholders.

So let's all just think about all of this a little bit. What kind of world do we want? One where we are powerless and subject to the whims of the CEO class or one where we have regulated capitalism designed to keep any one firm from growing too large?

Universal Health Care

There are many reasons why universal health care would be a good idea. I am going to talk about just one of them: The lack of universal health care gives too much power to large corporations when it comes to employee/employer relationships.

Under our current system, people can get health insurance or coverage only in certain ways. They can be a veteran which allows them to access the VA health care system. They can be old enough for medicare or poor enough for medicaid. Or, they can get their health insurance from their employer. Most people get their health insurance from their employer.

Because of the nature of insurance and spreading risk over groups, larger employers can provide better health care benefits than smaller employers who in turn can provide better benefits than what an individual could buy with the same amount of money. In other words, large corporations have a big edge over small businesses and the self employed.

The lack of universal health care can stifle entrepreneurship. People can find themselves chained to employment at Big Company or at the very least they are less likely to try to go it alone since even if they are successful enough at starting a business that they can eventually get some employees, they *still* cant provide health insurance at the same low cost that large employers do. In the labor market, workers look at total compensation packages. They add up wages +benefits and come up with some idea of the total compensation. They dont care that company A can provide health care at half the cost of small business B. So small businesses lose out and fewer people become self employed which over a long period of time can mean that larger segments of the work force end up working for large corporations.

Having an employer provide health care benefits also gives them an incentive to discriminate. A pure profit driven incentive too. Which means, that companies who discriminate and thus are able to lower the rates of illness in their group will be more successful than companies who dont. (And trust me, a result of at least one SCOTUS decision, large companies will probably be able to get away with discriminating even if there are laws prohibiting it). For example, companies might do what they can do in order to reduce the age of their workforce. They might decide not to hire fat people. They might decide not to hire people who smoke even if they dont smoke at work. They might decide that people of certain races are more risky health wise and they might avoid hiring them. They might be wary of hiring the disabled. And so on. I am sure there are many ways that employers can unfairly discriminate against groups of people with a goal of reducing health care costs.

Universal health care does two things that take power away from large corporations in the labor market.

#1 - universal health care is likely to result in an increase in the number of non-corporate jobs out there. It will increase the self employed which in turn is likely to increase small businesses. That would mean a smaller percentage of the jobs would be in large corporations. Would people still work for large corporations? You betcha! It just would mean more options available.

#2 - universal health care would reduce a very real economic incentive for employers to discriminate against groups of people in our society. It will also provide them one less excuse for prying into employee's personal lives.

Shooting Fish in a Barrel

Every so often I like to go to townhall *dot* com to laugh at certain conservative writers. They say the darnedest things! This article by John Hawkins was just too much to pass up:

Conservatives believe that judges should act like umpires instead of legislating from the bench. That means that judges should determine whether laws are permissible under the Constitution and settle debates about the meaning of laws, not impose their will based on their ideological leanings. Liberals view judges as a backdoor method of getting unpopular left-leaning legislation passed. They don't want umpires, they want political partisans in black robes who will side with them first and then come up with a rationale to explain it.

To be clear here. What John Hawkins means by "legislating from the bench" is any decision the Supreme Court makes with which he doesn't happen to agree. If the court happens to make a decision with which he does agree such as the recent decision to uphold a law banning a particular abortion procedure, that is settling a debate about the meaning of a law. Had it gone the other way, it would have been "legislating from the bench." Believe me, no one, not even the most pinko commie liberal, actually views the Supreme Court as a legislative body. They don't even expect the judges to strong arm congress into passing laws.

Conservatives believe that individual Americans have a right to defend themselves and their families with guns and that right cannot be taken away by any method short of a Constitutional Amendment, which conservatives would oppose. Liberals believe by taking arms away from law abiding citizens, they can prevent criminals, who aren't going to abide by gun control laws, from using guns in the commission of crimes.

I am sure that whenever the Supreme Court ever chooses to interpret the second amendment in any way that restricts or regulates arms, they will be "legislating from the bench." But seriously, what Mr Hawkins doesn't seem to understand is that when there is some form of gun control in place, it reduces the overall supply of guns in the community which in turn makes guns more expensive and more difficult to get. In other words, gun control limits the supply of guns on the black market which is generally where the criminals get them. What some liberals understand and what Mr Hawkins apparently doesn't understand is that if the supply of illegal guns is reduced, there were be fewer guns in the hands of criminals. If it actually will reduce the number of guns in the hands of criminals enough to justify the legislation is a matter of debate to be sure. But clearly, there are people who support gun control laws who have a better understanding of why those laws might work than Mr Hawkins does.

Conservatives believe that we should live in a color blind society where every individual is judged on the content of his character and the merits of his actions. On the other hand, liberals believe that it's ok to discriminate based on race as long as it primarily benefits minority groups.

Without getting into some of my own ambivalent feelings about affirmative action, I will just say that it is very easy to say that we should live in a color blind society when one is a member of the class of people who just happens to get the most privilege because of their race. While I don't know of John Hawkins's reactions to specific situations I cant say for sure, but again, it has been my experience that when certain white people ever find themselves in a situation where things actually are color blind and they are treated like everyone else, they don't generally like it. For instance, some of the people who are against affirmative action at the college level have no problems with programs that tend to benefit white people like legacy admissions or UofM's policy of giving preference to residents of the U.P. I suspect that if universities here in Michigan were to ever give geographical preference to students from predominately black communities, the same people who call for "color blind" policies will again complain that some other group other than them is getting preferential treatment.

Conservatives are capitalists and believe that entrepreneurs who amass great wealth through their own efforts are good for the country and shouldn't be punished for being successful. Liberals are socialists who view successful business owners as people who cheated the system somehow or got lucky. That's why they don't respect high achievers and see them as little more than piggy banks for their programs.

Ah yes…the old 'liberals hate rich people' argument. As it happens, a lot of entrepreneurs *did* get lucky in addition to working hard. Working hard alone does not necessarily lead to economic success in the USA. But that isn't why I think that we should have progressive taxation. Progressive taxation is, I assume, what Mr Hawkins is talking about when he says that liberals view rich folk as "piggy banks". You see, entrepreneurs benefit more from those liberal programs than everyone else so it only makes sense that they should pay more in taxes. For example, all that money we spend on defense benefits everyone but it really benefits the rich who get to have their businesses in a country that isn't being attacked on a regular basis. Education spending provides those entrepreneurs with a reasonably educated work force. Roads allow both workers and customers to get to the businesses these entrepreneurs are building as well as giving them something for their trucks to drive on assuming their businesses ever have to ship anything. The internet was originally a liberal government funded program which then spawned hundreds of dot com millionaires. So it isn't that liberals hate entrepreneurs. It is just that many liberals recognize that since they benefit the most from government programs, they should be the ones who pay the most for them. Oh and as it happens, a lot of those entrepreneurs who have amassed great wealth are liberals themselves. Somehow I doubt they are filled with the self loathing Mr Hawkins logic would have them feel.

Conservatives believe that abortion ends the life of an innocent child and since we believe that infanticide is wrong, we oppose abortion. Most liberals, despite what they'll tell you, believe that abortion ends the life of an innocent child, but they prefer killing the baby to inconveniencing the mother.

I am not going to get too deep into this one. I will just say that most liberals know the difference between a fetus and an infant. An abortion isn't infanticide and a fetus is not a baby. Even the IRS agrees. If you don't believe me, try to deduct a fetus on your next tax return.

Conservatives believe in confronting and defeating enemies of the United States before they can harm American citizens. Liberals believe in using law enforcement measures to deal with terrorism, which means that they feel we should allow terrorists to train, plan, and actually attempt to kill Americans before we try to arrest them -- as if you can just send the police around to pick up a terrorist mastermind hiding in Iran or the wilds of Pakistan.

I am not even sure what Hawkins is getting at here. My best guess is that he means that conservatives believe it is ok to invade countries at a huge cost to our own both financially and in human lives because people in those countries share a religion with some other people who committed a terrorist act which makes them our enemies. Well, I guess I cant argue with him. There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq because we confronted and defeated them before they had a chance to get them. Um. Yeah. Ok. It is just like Lisa Simpson's Tiger Repellant Rock!!!

Well, I'm half way through his article and I think I just need to give it a rest. It is too easy and probably isn't fair to pick on one of those conservatives who clearly isn't much of a thinker. And fwiw, I have come across conservatives who probably hold many of the same opinions as Hawkins but who tend to have more intelligent reasons why. And I probably should spend some time critiquing their writing but it isn't as easy and it isn't as fun so I probably wont.

Radical Michigan Blogging Carnival at brownfemipower

The Radical Michigan Blogging Carnival is up on brownfemipower DOT com.

I havent read them all yet but there are some good entries. Anyone interested in politics in Michigan should take a look.

Michigan's Dying Cities

Michigan’s Cities have been slowly dying for my entire life. As it happens, I was born in Michigan’s largest city in 1968 – just after the famous riots and right at the beginning of the “white flight” out of the city to the suburbs. The area is now one of the most segregated metropolitan areas in the country. The actual City of Detroit is half in ruins.

One thing I have noticed over the years though is how politics at the state level seem to have done everything possible to hurt established urban areas. Policy after policy passes, carried by the political weight of the very conservative part of the state. (Which for those of you not from Michigan is usually called “Every place other than South East Michigan”). Most of those policies seem to end up hurting the people who live in urban areas.

The most obvious way that state politics has hurt urban areas is the property tax structure. The City of Royal Oak has a very explanation of how that property tax structure hurts cities -- LINK. Cities struggle to provide services because city services have a serious impact on citizen’s quality of life. Just think about what life in a city might be like without someone collecting the garbage. Unfortunately the property tax structure will not allow the cities to raise taxes to provide essential services.

Here is what I know about it though. I know that areas where there is growth are sometimes able to dodge the effects of the property tax structure by building new taxable properties. People move out of established areas which can shrink the tax base even more. It doesn’t help that the people moving out of cities are the people who are most able to afford to move. People who are most able to pay taxes. Those people move out and away from as many social problems as they can.

And while those people are moving out, the State of Michigan pays for infrastructure that allows people to live outside of urban centers (e.g. roads, schools, etc) while at the same time reducing funding for social services that primarily benefit the poor people left in the cities. Projects like public transportation never have a chance here because such projects tend to benefit people in the cities. But every other social welfare program has been cut too.

This happens on a state level but it also happens on a county level. In my own county, funding for a new jail was voted down mostly by people who live out county and don’t have the same levels of crime found in the cities. Then, when the county started bussing inmates to other county jails, they worked to stop that too. The end result was that the jail filled up and when the police in my town would arrest people, they were forced to just let them go. Not surprisingly, crime rates went up. But since the crime rates went up in the City of Ypsilanti, the people who wouldnt pay for the jail didnt seem to mind too much. You see, those people have moved away from such social problems.

That leaves the people in the cities to pay the most taxes. The City of Detroit has one of the highest (if not THE highest) property tax rates in the state. The city where I live, Ypsilanti also has high property taxes. I pay more property taxes on my $100,000 house than people who live in houses that cost five times as much out in the country, especially if they have lived there for a long time. I pay more than double the property taxes than my parents who live in a spacious lake front property in S. Lyon (and yes, they are part of the problem but did stick it out in the City of Detroit for years longer than most people of their economic station).

Unfortunately, I don’t see an end in sight. I imagine that politics in the State of Michigan will still involve richer and mostly white people doing all they can to kick the poor, especially if they are poor people of color. And maybe such politics arent limited to Michigan. But that is where I live. And that is what I see.

Jennifer Granholm's BadAss Twin

I rented Stargate SG1 on DVD and watched a couple of episodes over the weekend. Truthfully, I dont think it is all that great of a show but it is kind of fun in an "A-Team" or "MacGyver" sort of way. But this show has one thing about it that I just LOVE: It stars a Jennifer Granholm look-a-like! No, REALLY! Check out the two photos below. One is Michigan's governor, Jennifer Granholm and the other is Amanda Tapping, the actress on SG1.





So far the very best part of the show has been imagining that it is Jennifer Granholm in all the action on the TV show and I confess to sitting in my living room yelling "Go Jenny G! Shoot the aliens! They're Republicans, I know it!" ;)

The Weather Outside is Frightful

It was ten degrees below zero this morning. And ok, I have a hard time getting out of my warm bed *every* monday but today it was nearly impossible. I did it though. Still, it is snot freezing weather out there. BRRRR

Otherwise, I have spent the last few days pretty much at home. I have had some interesting discussions about how gay employees at public institutions such as the UofM (this area's largest employer) are going to lose their benefits because a bunch of jerks voted to amend the state constitution to define marriage as being between only a man and a woman. Does anyone remember the people supporting this amendment specifically saying that no one's benefits would be taken away? What a bunch of liars.

I have watched a bunch of episodes of The Sopranos. I think one of the reasons I like that show is that the characters are so complex. Most of them are total dirtbags but often there is something sympathetic about them too. I like how the writers can make me start to think, 'that guy isnt soooo bad' only to have the character turn around and do something really horrible. Oh yeah, that guy IS so bad!

So that has pretty much been my life for the last week or so.

Nancy Pelosi is sworn in as Speaker of the House

I am quite happy that a woman is finally top dog in the House of Representatives. I think that is great. It kind of reminds me of some t-shirts a lot of moms in my neighborhood wore when I was growing up that said “A woman’s place is in the House….and Senate” Yay women.

I had to laugh at some of the commentary I have heard about this business of Nancy Pelosi being sworn in because some people have suggested that this marks the end of discrimination against women in the political arena. Uh-huh. I figure that women are around 50% of the population of this country and I figure that there are nearly as many women who would like to be in Congress as there are men who would like to be in Congress so I figure that if there were no discrimination, Congress would be have between 45% and 55% female members. I don’t know exactly how many women are in Congress right now (and yes, I could find out but I am too lazy) but it is no where near 45%. I know that out of 540 members of the 109th Congress, only 82 were women. Now having around 15% of the Congress be female is an improvement over times past when the figure was pretty much 0%. But it also means that the fight for equality for women isn’t over. So Nancy Pelosi’s confirmation as Speaker is a milestone but really it is just one more (important) point on the journey.

November 7 - Election Day 2006 (How I am voting)

Governor – I think that Jennifer Granholm has done a very good job as our governor. I think she has been fiscally responsible during hard times. She hasn’t done anything terrible like the previous governor did. I think she works hard for the state. She will be getting my vote. I want to point out too that sometimes she says things that are soooooo stupid that I find myself cringing. I think she means well though and I think she is like a lot of people and just not all that great at off the cuff witty repartee. I used to think that she was stupid but then I started paying closer attention to what she was doing and what she was saying that wanted to do. No, she is not stupid. She is probably the best governor this state has had in my lifetime. Plus DeVos is connected to Amway which is one of the only corporations in the world I think might be more evil than Walmart what with their pyramid scheme marketing that scams their own customers and all. Maybe if we elect him we can call up Ohio and tell them that if they can sign up West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania in our new Tax Revenue pyramid scheme, they can be rich (assuming of course that each of those states signs up two or three others). Soon Michigan can be funneling tax revenue from ALL 50 STATES into our coffers and we will be RICH RICH RICH! (or not)

Attorney General – Only vote for Michael Cox if you hate gay people. If you want to know just what I mean by that, read THIS

U.S. Senator – I will admit that I don’t know much about Michael Bouchard. I will also admit that I am going to be very lazy about this race and vote for the incumbent because she hasn’t done anything that I didn’t like or at least I haven’t noticed her doing anything that I haven’t liked. So, Stabenow gets my vote for sure.

15th District Representative in Congress – I’ll vote for John Dingell although I am tempted not to. I don’t have any particular reason not to except that I liked it better when he was someone else’s representative in Congress and we had Lynn Rivers.

18th District State Senator – Liz Brater. I get literature and pamphlets from her once in a while. I always think her views on things are pretty close to mine and when they aren’t, she seems to have good reasons for taking the positions she takes.

54th District State Representative – Alma Wheeler Smith for pretty much the same reasons as I like Liz Brater.

In the local races, I guess I am voting for Paul Schreiber for mayor and Brian Robb for City Councilmember since no one is running against either one of them. I guess that election really happened in August since there are no Republicans to speak of in Ypsilanti apparently.

And here are some opinions I have about the proposals.

Proposal 1 – This is the first of a couple of proposals to amend the state constitution to put budget constraints on the state government. Generally I think that is a bad idea because who knows what the needs or desires of the people will be in the future? Still, I value conservation and recreation and keeping those programs. So I am kind of on the fence about this one although honestly I am leaning towards voting no on it. I would support, however, regular old laws made by the regular legislature and signed by the governor that would earmark money for state parks and the DNR and whatever else.

Proposal 2 – The one that would ban affirmative action programs. This was a hard one for me, believe it or not. When I first heard about this one, I thought that it sounded like a good idea. I think I thought this because I wish we lived in a world where affirmative action programs are no longer needed. But then I took a long hard look at things and I have decided that discrimination still exists and so as a State, we are not quite ready to give up on affirmative action programs. But maybe someday we will be.

Proposal 3 – Part of me wants to vote no JUST TO PISS OFF The Nuge. Part of me wants to vote no because I don’t like hunting. But I figure that since I love eating the flesh of dead birds myself, far be it from me to stop others from catching their own. So, I’ll be voting yes on this one.

Proposal 4 – This is the one that will keep the government from using eminent domain to seize property that they will then turn over to a private business. I can understand why it is sometimes desirable for governments to do this. However, I also can understand why a home owner might not like it when that happens. I mean I wouldn’t like it. So the main reason I like this proposal is that it still gives the government a way to seize property but it requires them to pay 125% of the value. I think this will provide some disincentive for governments to use this power and I think that is a good thing. But if the project is important enough, there is still a way to get it done. So, this one gets a yes vote from me.

Proposal 5 – This is the one to give money to the schools. I hate schools and I hate teachers too. Oh and kids. And puppies. Just kidding. I am still going to vote no on this one for pretty much the same reasons I am going to vote no on proposal 1. I think that schools are important but I also think that other things like police departments, fire departments, public health departments, community mental health agencies, etc are important too. I fear that this proposal jeopardizes all of those other programs.

The Same Thing We Do Every Night, George

My friend Henry sent me this picture he drew recently. And even though I did not really get the joke until it was explained to me because I have never seen Pinky and the Brain, I still thought that the RAT reference was appropriate.

Ypsilanti Elections Follow Up

Well, the big local election is over. Brian Robb appears to have won the council seat in the third ward which makes me pretty happy because I know he will do a good job. Plus, last night while I was out walking my dogs, I ran into him and his SO, Kate. Kate was especially nice to my dogs which might be the new "kissing babies" political move. Or it might be just that she is nice to dogs. What can I say? People who are nice to dogs and people who live with people who are nice to dogs are alright with me.

Paul Schreiber will be our new mayor. He probably wont help me as much personally as his predecesor has in the past. You see, a few years ago current mayor, Cheryl Farmer, came by my house to campaign. While we were on the porch talking, she asked me if I smelled gas and I didnt. I think I must have become used to the smell or something. Anyhow, I called Michcon and sure enough, there was a gas leak in my house. So you see Cheryl Farmer SAVED MY LIFE. But just to be fair and to give Mr. Schreiber an opportunity, I will be swimming ALONE and DRUNK at NIGHT in Sandy Bottom Lake in South Lyon sometime later this summer.

Ypsilanti Primary Elections – WARD 3 Council Race

I am going to be voting for Brian Robb for City Council

In the ward 3 city council race, there are two very good candidates, Rod Johnson and Brian Robb. Both are very involved in the community. Both are nice enough. Both live close to me so I would imagine that they understand the needs of the neighborhood. Both seem to be intelligent enough to handle the job without doing anything crazy. I like to think that if my lawn were to be inappropriately mowed, I could send either one an email and have them take me seriously at least to my face. I can honestly say that no matter which one of them wins, we will have a good person to represent us on the council (assuming there isn’t a surprise upset during the November elections where an independent or republican wins).

But, in this primary, one can only vote for one person for this seat. I am voting for Brian Robb and let me tell you all why. While both candidates are involved with the neighborhood association, Brian has made me feel like I would be welcome at a neighborhood meeting. While both candidates are involved with city government, Brian is the only one who regularly attends city council meetings and then, on top of that, provides an invaluable community service by posting about such meetings on his blog. He also did that YpsiCrime website which I have to admit I stopped reading after I realized how boring it was. There was hardly any crime at all on my block!

Brian also seems to have a great understanding of a lot of issues facing our city. I don’t know if Rod Johnson does or not because when he came by house, I was in the middle of grooming my dog on my bed (and I KNOW that was a dumb place to brush the dog), and I had practically brushed enough hair for a whole ‘nother dog. I had it all piled up on the edge of my bed all nice and neat. Anyhow, when Rod Johnson knocked at my door, my dog saw it as the perfect opportunity to escape from the brush torture and pretend she had more important things to do like guarding my house from politicians. She jumped up and ran RIGHT THROUGH the pile of dog fur. It went flying all over the room and all over me. I was so annoyed that I swore like a sailor without thinking about who might be at my door. When I finally answered it, I was wearing my "Sunday Clothes" which in my case means I was wearing my oldest rattiest outfit and I was covered with huge clumps of dog hair. Anyhow, I was annoyed at the dog and annoyed at myself for grooming her inside when I could have easily done it outside and I was embarrassed to have been caught off guard so I just took his little brochure and didn’t ask any questions.

I was going to call him up later and ask some questions but then when I really thought about it, even if he gave all the right answers to my concerns for the city, I would still vote for Brian Robb and I didn’t want to waste his time. But I will say that based on his brochure, he would have given all of the answers I would want to hear.

Lethal Injection

Last November I had to have my elderly dog, Crissy, put to sleep. It was a painful choice but the one part of the experience that I found comforting was how peaceful the process actually was. They gave her an overdose of a barbiturate and she simply let go of life in the most peaceful and painless way possible. I remember wondering at the time why our prison system doesn’t use a similar method for carrying out the death penalty.

It seems, however, that is just the question others have and are bringing before the Supreme Court. Our current method is terrible. It is bad enough in my mind that our government even uses capital punishment at all. I would prefer that they didn’t but on a day to day basis, it isn’t the biggest issue to me. This is mostly because I live in a state that does not have capital punishment and I feel reluctant to involve myself in the politics of states where I do not live. Nevertheless, any improvement in that area is a positive in my book. And if states are going to insist on continuing to have a death penalty, I think that the very least they can do is to use the most humane method possible.

If a method of putting people to death isn’t considered good enough for dogs, we might want to rethink the method.