Richard Cohen says the health care reform bill is the first step in a long journey.
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Month: April 2010
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Do Say Gay
Bruce VanWyngarden’s editor’s note takes on Fred Phelps and other misguided bigots.
Whitton Farms’ Keith and Jill Forrester held a meet and greet Saturday for a sneak peek at their Trolley Stop Market on Madison Avenue and guess what? The market is located where the Complex once was.
The club’s stage is still in the back, and “we’re keeping it,” said Keith Forrester, laughing. “We hope to eventually have some music in here.”
For now, the Forresters are focused on transforming the former rock club at 704 Madison into a community market and restaurant, pulling together dozens of farmers and vendors who sell locally grown food.
Last week, a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Maryland man, Albert Snyder, had to pay the court costs of the Rev. Fred Phelps, who protested at the funeral of Snyder’s son, Matthew, a Marine lance corporal killed in Iraq. Phelps is the minister of the Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas, whose members picket the funerals of slain soldiers with signs reading “God Hates Fags” and other despicable slogans.
Snyder sued Phelps and his church for invasion of privacy and intentionally inflicting emotional harm on his grieving family. A lower court granted him damages of $11 million. The Fourth Circuit Court overruled that decision and ordered Snyder to pay Phelps’ court costs. Snyder is appealing the ruling, and the case will go to the Supreme Court this fall.
Phelps is also pushing for a “Matthew Shepard in Hell” monument, and he and his flock of “Christians” have also picketed the funerals of victims of the Virginia Tech shootings. His “logic” is that since the United States allows gay people to exist, those who serve our country in its military should fry in hell. Of course, it’s not logical. It’s sheer lunacy.
But twisted logic and lunacy abound, and Tennessee isn’t immune. Republican state representative Stacey Campfield of Knoxville, for example, has reintroduced his infamous “don’t say gay” bill, which would prevent teachers from giving out “any instruction or materials discussing sexual orientation other than heterosexuality” in elementary and middle schools. So, if a seventh-grader asks his science teacher a question about homosexuality, that teacher would be forbidden to answer. Great thinking, Stacey.
It’s become a cliche because it happens so often: Those who squawk loudest about the “evils” of homosexuality — fundamentalist preachers, conservative legislators, anti-gay-rights politicians — are “outed” for acting on their repressed desires. I’m not saying Phelps or Campfield is gay. I am saying they are troglodytes who demean their profession with such misguided behavior. They are fighting a losing battle.
Polling shows that younger people are more accepting of homosexuality, and it shows in their popular culture. They are more likely to know and accept friends and acquaintances who are gay. A majority of them don’t see gay marriage as a threat to their own lifestyle.
No sane person believes God hates gays. But as long as some people do, we are destined to fight this lunacy.
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Fly On the Wall
Picture This
The mystery of Fire Station 16 has been solved, but does the punishment fit the crime? Forty-six-year-old firefighter Samuel Locastro Jr. was demoted from lieutenant to driver after admitting that he was responsible for hanging pictures of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and genocidal maniac Adolf Hitler next to a photograph of Memphis mayor A C Wharton. Memphis Fire Fighters Association president Larry Andrews defended Locastro’s behavior, calling it a joke and suggesting that the loss of income constituted excessive punishment for a 24-year department veteran with a spotless record. Perhaps in exchange for having his rank restored, Locastro would agree to having his picture hung in Memphis fire stations between these two guys:
Pecksploitation
Considering the plight of America’s daily newspapers, one might think that Commercial Appeal editor Chris Peck would devote his “In The Newsroom” columns to actual problems inside the newsroom. But this week Peck tells Memphis museums how to do their job.
“Be nimble. Be quick. Get shows up and ready at a pace that connects with events of the day,” Peck writes. As an example, Peck suggests Alex Chilton, “the just-departed” lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star. “Americans are humming ‘Gimme a ticket on an aeroplane,'” Peck noted, encouraging museums not to let Chilton’s body get too cold.
Weather or Not
The New York Times reports that the debate over global warming has created tensions between two groups that might be expected to agree on the issue: climate scientists and meteorologists, “especially those who serve as television weather forecasters.” Help us, Dave Brown. You’re our only hope.
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Between the Lines
After more than six years without a contract, negotiations between The Commercial Appeal and the Newspaper Guild of Memphis appear to be winding down, according to Guild representatives.
Last month, the CA‘s bargaining team put what was described as its “final offer” on the table, a proposal that included a 4 percent employee raise the first year, a 3 percent raise the second, and a 2 percent raise the third.
“That might seem like good news, especially in a weak economy,” said CA reporter and Guild president Daniel Connolly. “But the bad news is that the company wants the right to … outsource everything. And a 4 percent raise on a salary of zero is zero.”
The Guild’s now-expired contract, which has remained in effect due to an evergreen clause, allows the newspaper to outsource any job but ensures that employees cannot be replaced by outsourcing. The CA’s latest offer would give management the right to fire any employee and outsource any job.
The CA has seen numerous layoffs in recent years, as the newspaper’s parent company, E.W. Scripps Co., has engaged in a steady process of outsourcing and consolidation.
Already, workers in India design some of the ads that appear in the newspaper and perform accounting work.
The Scripps chain also is centralizing its copy editing and design operations, an area the Guild sees as particularly vulnerable to outsourcing. Those areas have been hit hardest by layoffs, and the Guild believes that those positions haven’t been outsourced yet because of the current contract.
Though the Guild has yet to craft a formal response to the offer, it is working to educate the public about what the final offer could mean for newspaper employees, readers, and advertisers.
“Every time you see the phrase ‘special to The Commercial Appeal‘ in a reporter’s byline, you’re reading work by someone who doesn’t receive health insurance,” Connolly said, adding that the company’s use of freelancers is pushing “the outer limits” of what the current contract allows.
“Special to The Commercial Appeal” may also indicate that an article has been submitted by a reader or a publicist. Those contributors are unpaid.
“We believe that the outsourcing of news work to freelancers would accelerate if the company receives the unlimited right to do so,” Connolly said. “Staff reporters like me would likely be laid off, lose our health insurance and other benefits, and be told that we could continue as freelancers.”
Connolly suggests that those interested in what’s happening at The Commercial Appeal should join the Facebook cause “Save Local News and Local Jobs.”
Recently, some subscribers to the CA also were asked by phone which edition they would miss the least if the newspaper were to begin publishing fewer days a week. It has long been rumored that the daily might resort to such a measure to cut costs.
“Vance Lauderdale,” who for years in the Flyer and in our sister publication, Memphis magazine, has served as the ultimate chronicler of Memphis institutions, put it succinctly on Sunday: “Charlie Vergos, who turned a cluttery
barbecue restaurant tucked away in a downtown alley into a Memphis — no, I’d say a national — institution, passed away this week.”
Just how national was indicated by the attention paid this innovative restaurateur after his passing — in The New York Times, for example, which eulogized the late barbecue king, the child of Greek immigrants, as the inventor and perfecter of the “dry rub” style of barbecue and as an entrepreneur par excellence, whose delectable wares made the Rendezvous Restaurant truly world-famous.
Many are the celebrities who have insisted on a stop by the Rendezvous over the years to munch down on some dry ribs, and many, too, are the venues and occasions, at home and abroad, to which Rendezvous ribs and barbecue sandwiches have been transported by special request.
Many, too, we would hazard, are the deals that were consummated during the Rendezvous’ famous Friday lunch hour, and we know for sure of couples whose resolve to tie the knot was enhanced by comfortable evenings in the subterranean confines of the original Rendezvous in the alley called November 6, 1934, as well as in the current building in another alley a block away.
What was unique about the personable Mr. Vergos is that his best memorials are not in granite or in print but are served daily and can be savored in present tense as well as in memory. He will be missed.
On Public Decorum
Given the possibility that a political race or two this year may further exacerbate tensions that already exist in the community at large, we subscribe to a sentiment expressed in Monday’s unusually contentious public meeting of the Shelby County Commission by Commissioner Steve Mulroy, who took note of “the tone of the debate” during a heated discussion concerning the potential sale of surplus property on Lamar Avenue. “On all sides of the debate, people have been getting nasty,” Mulroy said, “I’m going to ask that we just stick to the merits.”
In reality, Mulroy understated the case. Monday’s acrimony stemmed largely from undercurrents of racial sensitivity which were made overt by Commissioner Henri Brooks, an African-American member who sees herself as a champion of her community, and may well be. However, Brooks’ suspicions regarding race-based double-dealing in the property matter and another matter, that of the availability of preparedness training, were exaggerated in our view.
Insensitivy and over-sensitivity are two edges of the same sword, of course, and undoubtedly the best way of avoiding both, on the commission and on the equally volatile City Council, is indeed to “just stick to the merits” of an argument.
Mitch McConnell is right. The Republican Senate leader, a man whose vision is to deny others theirs, told The New York Times that President Obama’s health-care proposal was part of an attempt to “turn us into a Western European country,” which, the good Lord willing, is what will now happen.
I, for one, could use a dash of Germany, where there are something like 200 private health insurance plans and where everyone is covered and no one goes broke on account of bad health. It’s great to be healthy in America, but for too many Americans, it’s better to be sick somewhere else.
I would also take France or Switzerland, but mostly I’d like Japan, where medical care is as good (or better) than it is here and much less expensive. What all these countries have in common is the recognition that health care, like food or education, is a universal right. The United States, to McConnell’s evident chagrin, is now moving this way.
Do not underestimate the importance of last week’s House vote. It was momentous, and it will not be repealed by the results of the November elections. Just as, against the hopes and insistence of the GOP, America did not reverse Social Security or Medicaid. The worth of these programs became evident, and thus they became politically sacrosanct.
When Americans figure out that insurance companies can no longer deny them coverage because, as it happens, they urgently need it, and when they discover that their kids can remain covered until age 26, and when they can for the first time afford health insurance themselves, this law will become untouchable. Self-interest usually trumps ideology.
This battle was never entirely about health care. The fury of the opposition — not a single Republican vote — is as historically significant as the passage of the legislation itself. There is something cleaving this country, something represented by the election of Barack Obama — the change he either promised or threatened, take your pick — and the hyper-exaggeration of the ideological threat the man represented. Caricatured as a socialist, a radical, a hard-left liberal, and even an alien, he is actually the very soul of center-left moderation, cautious to a fault.
It is the same with the health-care package itself. Whatever it is, it is not socialism. For all the fulminations about the American free enterprise system, private insurance companies are retained. The government will not do what governments all over the world do — provide either health insurance or health care itself. Does the legislation provide for a government role? Yes. But there is a government role in virtually everything — or haven’t you noticed the tag on your pillow?
The reason this fight took so long is that the culture is about evenly divided. It’s not that the political system is broken. On the contrary, it’s not supposed to work without consensus. It did as designed — marched in place and bided its time until Sunday, when it moved just a bit. Consider how long it has taken. Harry Truman wanted this bill.
Anger comes from fear. What was once a white Protestant nation is changing hue and religion. It is no accident that racial epithets were yelled at black lawmakers on Saturday in Washington and a kind of venom even gets exclaimed from the floor of the Congress: “You lie!” “Baby killer!” The protesters were protesting health-care legislation. But they fear they are losing their country.
Ever since the New Deal, the GOP has been the Party of the Past. It said no to the New Deal. It said no to Social Security. Important leaders — Barry Goldwater, for instance — said no to civil rights, as they now are saying no to gay rights. The party plays the role of the scold, the finger-wagger who warns of this or that dire outcome — not all of it wrong — and then gets bypassed by progress. The GOP then picks itself up and resumes its fight against the next innovation. Usually, it wins some battles; usually, it loses the war.
McConnell had his point. Europe is way ahead of us in compassion for the sick. Its systems, though, are hardly perfect, and government debt is always a concern. Still, we know which way we are going. The culture wars will continue, but the outcome, Mitch, is no longer in doubt.
Richard Cohen writes for the Washington Post Writers Group.
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Play It Pretty
Through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light,
Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home. — “Take My Hand, Precious Lord”
This is a story Memphians know all too well: 42 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr., the leading light of the American civil rights movement, stood on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel with a small cadre of his closest friends and supporters. In the moments before tragedy struck, he caught the attention of saxophonist Ben Branch and made his final request. “Make sure you play ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord’ in the meeting tonight,” King said. “And play it real pretty.” Then the crack of gunfire filled the air, an assassin’s bullet found its mark, and the life’s work of a peaceful warrior came to an abrupt and untimely end. This week Memphis remembers that life.
On Saturday and Sunday, Hattiloo Theatre joins forces with local playwright Ruby O’Gray to present The Liberal Mrs. Price, about the relationship between an African-American maid and her white employer in the aftermath of King’s assassination.
On Sunday, the National Civil Rights Museum honors King with “A Moment of Reflection,” a free program featuring song, spoken word, and prayer. The day will include performances by Kevin Davidson & the Voices and the changing of the wreath at room 306 at 3:45 p.m.
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Girl Talk
Amy Wilson, the 36-year-old Yale-trained artist whose solo exhibition “The Space Between Us” opened last week at the University Museum on the University of Mississippi campus, has returned home to Jersey City, but her recent travels in the South have made an impression.
“The trip has really provoked a lot of thoughts in my head about insider vs. outsider art, art vs. craft, and small towns vs. the big city,” Wilson writes on her personal blog. “The upshot is, I’m more confused than ever.” Another upshot is that the ideas in Wilson’s head very often find their way into her acclaimed compositions, which typically take the shape of small-scale watercolors featuring images of talkative girls and massive amounts of text.
Wilson, whose images are often described (in a positive sense) as naive, says her work is a kind of self-portraiture. She likes to explore the tension that exists between her interior world and the exterior one by sharing personal stories. Although the work on display at Ole Miss does depict some of her famous chatty Cathys, much of it is a departure. I Remember Swimming in the Lake at Night in the Summertime depicts a mysterious landscape where a river pours into a lake in the middle of a forest beneath a vast sky where constellations are composed of hundreds of tiny people. Other works seem to be illustrations that escaped from an unwritten children’s book, where young girls confront ladders to nowhere or become bound up in giant, terrifying spider webs.
“The Space Between Us” is a wordy place where impressionism meets childhood fantasies and phantasmagoria. It’s on display at the University Museum in Oxford through June 12th.