What’s new in Flyer staff blogs? In the Bluff: Overton Demolition must be approved by council; BruceVblog: Herenton is Memphis’ Hugo Chavez; Sing All Kinds: Free Mariah Carey movie screening; Political Beat: House overrides Bredesen, passes gun bill.
The Memphis Flyer wants to send you to a free screening of the new film Tennessee this Thursday, June 4th. No purchase necessary. All you have to do is pick up your free pass at our offices.
We’re located downtown at 460 Tennessee Street on the 2nd floor. Just stop by and tell the receptionist you’re here to pick up your free movie pass.
Limited to one 2-person pass per visitor. The screening for the R-rated film, starring Mariah Carey, Adam Rothenberg, and Ethan Peck, is at Malco’s Ridgeway Four at Poplar & 240 at 7:30 p.m. Tennessee opens in multiple locations around town this Friday.
NASHVILLE — It took all day, until almost 4 o’clock, for the Tennessee House of Representatives to get around to voting on an override of Governor Phil Bredesen’s veto of a bill permitting holders of gun-carry permits to bring loaded guns into bars and restaurants. But such suspense as the wait might have generated was dissipated quickly as it became evident that the House was in a mood to rebuff Bredesen.
Last-minute speeches supporting the veto were mounted by Representatives Jimmy Naifeh of Covington and G.A. Hardaway of Memphis, both of whom quoted remarks critical of the bill from Shelby County Sheriff Mark Luttrell and Memphis police chief Larry Godwin.
If the reception given Naifeh, the body’s former longtime Speaker, was at least polite, there was palpable restlessness of members as Hardaway spoke. Speaker Kent Williams of Elizabethton grew visibly impatient himself as Hardaway was speaking, and, as soon as the Memphian terminated, Williams addressed the membership with a statement of the obvious.
“You know how you’re going to vote,” he said, and asked for a vote without further ado.
The final tally was 69 votes in favor of the measure, 27 opposed. That meant that the bill, which passed the House originally by a 66-23 margin, actually gained adherents in the interval.
Representative Curry Todd, who represents a Collierville district and was the principal House sponsor of the gun bill, was in no mood afterward to be conciliatory. Asked if he felt like apologizing to Bredesen for his widely criticized remark that the governor knew “where he can put” the veto, Todd responded, “I’m still waiting for his apology.”
Dismissing the fact that the state’s major law enforcement and restaurant associations had come out against the bill and that several uniformed lawmen had stood behind Bredesen at the veto ceremony, Todd noted that, as he stood in the dock and asked for an override, he, too, had been flanked by former law enforcement officers. There had been six in all, it appeared, all in plain clothes.
And Todd said that restaurant owners had never campaigned seriously against the bill. “I know. I talked to a lot of them.”
The override was characterized as a practical response to crime by both Todd and Chris Cox, a former Memphian and the National Rifle Association’s chief lobbyist, who was in Nashville and was introduced on the floor by Todd as the House convened Wednesday morning.
Soon after the House vote, the governor’s office released this statement: “Governor Bredesen said last week when he vetoed this bill that he expected an override. He’s disappointed with this action but that doesn’t change his belief that we can exercise our second amendment rights and common sense at the same time. He believes guns and bars simply don’t mix, and this legislation doesn’t provide the proper safeguards to ensure public safety. Governor Bredesen stands by his decision to veto the bill.”
A veto override vote is expected in the state Senate “first thing in the morning,” said Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey of Blountville, the Senate Speaker. A similar outcome is expected there.
In a world of media and news overload, some stories grab you and plenty of others that should get your attention slip away instead. The pained re-ignition of the seemingly insolvable abortion debate following the heinous murder of Kansas late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller grabbed me, though I’ve been disappointed by the tenor of so much I’ve read and heard.
What I’ve found rattling and at times revolting about the rhetoric of anti-abortion-rights advocates from Operation Rescue’s Randall Terry to Fox News talking head Bill O’Reilly isn’t their fundamental anti-abortion position, which I respect and find ultimately rational; it’s the utter unwillingness to acknowledge — much less sympathize with — the tragic circumstances that bring women and families to the question of whether to terminate a pregnancy, especially one late in the gestation period, which is often a wanted pregnancy stricken by severe complications.
For a civil and serious take on this issue, I’ve turned to The Daily Dish, Andrew Sullivan’s terrific blog for Atlantic Monthly. Sullivan is a Christian, self-described conservative, and has expressed an opposition to the legality of late-term abortions that he is starting to second-guess. Over the past few days, he’s opened a significant portion of his blog space to a detailed, open-minded discussion of the issues surrounding late-term abortion, letting people tell their own stories in a series of anguished but illuminating “It’s So Personal” posts that are gripping, essential reading, and allowing space for readers to dissent from both ends of the abortion debate.
Another oasis of cultural seriousness amid the noise is Lake of Fire, a colossal 2006 documentary from British filmmaker Tony Kaye (American History X) that deserves renewed attention in the wake of Tiller’s assassination. Kaye shot his film (on black-and-white celluloid) over the course of 18 years, winnowing his material down to a two-and-a-half-hour epic that nobody saw.
In all the excitement yesterday, this sort of flew under the radar: The City Council passed a resolution requiring council approval for any demolition in Overton Square.
Live in Memphis long enough (say, two weeks or so) and Mayor Willie Herenton will do something to tick you off or, at least, confound the hell out of you. I’ve been living in Midtown Memphis since 1993, long enough to have been ticked off and confounded dozens of times.
Herenton is the media’s go-to guy for a good story — and has been for more than 20 years. His angry naivete (or arrogance), his unbridled willingness to play the race card when it suits him, his proclivity for surprise announcements (“Hey, let’s build a stadium.” “Hey, I’m resigning.” “Hey, I wanta be the director of Memphis City Schools.” “Hey, I’m running for Congress.”), his pugnaciousness (Actual, as in the case of his boxing match with Joe Frazier, or potential, as in the cases of former councilmen Brent Taylor and newsman Cameron Harper) all make Herenton a lightning rod for controversy — and a sure ratings/readers magnet for local media.
His is a cult of macho personality. He is our Hugo Chavez, our Kim Jong Il, our Castro — seemingly destined to stay in power as long as he chooses. His statements this week to the City Council on the MSARC issue are just the latest examples of a man so confident (or delusional) that he was almost daring the council to confront him. For example (as quoted by Mary Cashiola in her blog):
“I was not moved by the television appearances of some of the council members. I was not moved by the private interests groups. I was not moved by any segment of this community.”
“I do regret that my office was not shown proper respect. I don’t care about people liking me but I care about people respecting me.”
“Only a few of the people involved give a damn about rape victims.”
The mayor also played the race card, suggesting white members of the council didn’t do anything last summer when three black children drowned in city pools (not true), and that that “influential” (read, “white) groups were behind all the controversy at the MSARC.
There’s little doubt in my mind that in a one-on-one race with almost anybody, black or white, Herenton would lose a mayoral election if it were held today. He’s ticked off too many people for too many years. His cronyism is overt and in-our-faces — the appointing of former bodyguards to high-paid administrative positions, which, of course, includes Yalanda McFagdon, a former bodyguard who served time on a drug conviction and was subsequently rehired and promoted by Herenton to run the city agency in charge of MSARC.
Is Herenton a clever provocateur or an angry, insecure megalomaniac? Is he in over his head and past his prime, or a smart politician who knows that if you spell his name right, even “bad” publicity will appeal to some of his constituents? No one seems to know the answers, but everyone has an opinion.
The long-lingering FBI “investigation” just adds to the puzzle. Is Herenton a crook or just a businessman with solid-gold connections? Which leads to the biggest mystery of all: Will he ever leave office? Or are we destined, like Cuba, to have a leader for life?
First off, local hero Jack Oblivian and his group the Tennessee Tearjerkers — still celebrating the release of The Disco Outlaw — are playing a free show at the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale Street at 7 p.m.
Jack-O will be the perfect warm-up for former Flat Duo Jets frontman Dexter Romweber, who is in turn opening up for the Detroit Cobras at the Hi-Tone Cafe later tonight. The Flyer‘s own Chris Davis is a big fan of the Cobras, but my money’s on the utterly raw — and extremely talented — Dex, a North Carolinian who has performed at nearly every “alternative Memphis” venue over the last two decades, including the Antenna Club, the Loose End, the Pyramid Club, the Hi-Tone (where he opened for Cat Power a few years back), and Murphy’s.
John Branston offers his take on the U of M’s defense strategy in the NCAA/Derrick Rose imbroglio at his City Beat blog.
Flyer writer Chris Davis’ stories about local Burger Kings’ “Global Warning is Baloney” signage lands the Flyer on national television. Greg Akers has the story — and the video.
Regular readers of SING ALL KINDS know that the Flyer‘s Chris Davis has reported on the Burger King imbroglio (imbroilglio?) — with the Mid-South franchisee, Mirabile Investment Corporation, of the BK fast-food brand putting up signs reading “Global Warming is Baloney” — on May 27, May 29, and June 2.
I’ve enjoyed watching the story ripple out to newsmedia around the world. (To date, to my knowledge, no one else in Memphis has covered this story.)
The coverage got its biggest showcase on last night’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC as he declared the BK franchise owner’s the day’s “worst persons … in the world!” See video below. (The clip starts with an ad touting Applebee’s “Realburger.” Unintentional schadenfreude?)
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
But MSNBC is hardly the only news vendor to pick it up. I threw a google lasso around Burger King and Memphis in the news search and came away with a few quick hits. It’s interesting to read the variations the story takes depending on who’s telling it.