First, I'm sure I'm not the first one to point this out, but why is it that every time Dallas has a referendum, "No" means "Yes" to the project planned and vice-versa? Makes my head hurt.

My personal view on this is complex -- I don't think the hotel is a good idea, but I do think we need to either operate as a representative democracy or a direct one, not picking and choosing issues as we go.

That said, the mailer I got yesterday from Vote No Dallas! (with whom I think I agree, because they are saying no to overturning the thing that I'm against by changing the charter, which I'm also against -- ugh!) is one of the tackiest and most fallaciously fearmongering campaign pieces I've ever seen. (Click to enlarge)

Wow. Mad Max beyond ReunionBall. That could actually be fun. Except that it's all a plot by them damn Yankees to render Our Beloved City into nothing more than a scrapheap. (Funny, I didn't know Harlan Crow was from New York.)

The leaning Tower of Reunion isn't a horrible idea. I've never gotten the Reunion ball as an attraction, so mark that one as an improvement.

Clearly, this shoots down the arguments of the Vote Yes (no to the hotel) folk that a Convention Hotel is detrimental to the hotel business. Hell, those New Yorkers knocked out half the windows in the Hyatt!

Those damn Yankees apparently even feasted on the cattle at Fuel City. I bet they even used a vinegar-based sauce and then left the skull to taunt us.

And I, for one, welcome our gigantic vulture overlords.

If I thought there was a wink or a punchline in this piece, I'd tip my hat. But reading the copy inside, I'm led to believe that my very freedom to shop in cowboy boots and drink wine at racially-mixed upscale events is threatened by an alliance of Freemasons, Stonecutters and Skull-and-Bonesers trying to punish us for our participation in the Confederacy. (You get your hyperbole, and I get mine.)

Come on y'all -- I'm your audience, and my (limited) intelligence is insulted by this campaign. I still don't believe in the hotel or in the charter changes proposed, but propaganda like this makes me question everything coming out of the campaign. (One good ad-hominem deserves another.)

Note: I'm not saying that the Vote Yes so we can say no to the hotel side is any better. I just haven't been treated to their postal propaganda yet.