Author: Flyer Readers

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s article, “The Origin Story” …

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Memphis Flyer. Congratulations. However, I have to say, as a founding staff member of the Dixie Flyer, that I highly resent editor Bruce VanWyngarden’s reference to our publication as “a hippie paper that was published in Memphis for a time in the 1970s.”

It wasn’t a “hippie” paper, the inference being that it was an inferior product put together by a bunch of pot-smoking losers. In addition to myself as music editor, executive editor Sara Van Horn, and art director Eddie Tucker, we had many other talented people working very hard to produce a paper of which the community could be proud. And none of us got paid a dime. Contributors included Joe Mulherin, John Fergus Ryan, David Less, Phyllis Tickle, Gordon Osing, and many other fine writers, as well as photographers Ebet Roberts, Richard Sidman, Elbert Greer, and other talented people.

I would venture to say that a lot of our features and commentaries were much superior to anything the current Flyer had in its infancy. “Hippie paper” indeed. The truth is that the Flyer put big bucks behind our idea and, 25 years later, they are doing quite well. A little respect for the Dixie Flyer, Bruce. We blazed the trail in the 1970s and your organization turned it into an eight-lane expressway.

Gordon Alexander

Greg Cravens

About the article, “25 Who Shaped Memphis” …

I can’t believe you left out Adrian Rogers, given the religious and political effect that Bellevue Baptist Church has had and continues to have on many Memphians — religious, nonreligious, straight, gay, etc.

Brunetto Latini

Bellevue Baptist is emblematic of why I and so many others have disdain for the suburbanite mob. They hit that sweet spot between ignorance and righteous indignation.

MidtownOnly

You left out Jesus.

CL Mullins

About Chris Davis’ post, “Commercial Appeal Metro Columnist Wendi Thomas Has Been Reassigned” …

Perhaps we can now have a more balanced approach to race relations in the CA. The divisiveness that was Wendi’s M.O. was particularly unsettling to this northern transplant.

Smitty1961

Since when is pointing out the obvious being “divisive”? Oh, that’s right, when you want to pretend that we are in a post-racial world, got it! Oy.

LeftWingCracker

There is much prejudice in the hardcore white commenters in the CA, and it is hard to go against that tide. She will probably go and make an impact somewhere else within the next couple of years. What I can say with certainty is that she always treated me with respect and she helped me in my time of need. Wendi has helped Memphis in many ways and I hope one day she will be more appreciated in the community than she has been.

TruthBeTold

Every kid will be named “Trevon” in Wendi’s articles.

HomerSimpson

Is this only being posted to attract the CA comment trolls?

Nobody

About a visit to Memphis …

My wife and I, with our daughter and son-in-law, visited Memphis to celebrate my 70th birthday with a visit to Graceland, as I have always been a big fan of Elvis. While we were there, we decided to go to the BBQ fest. Having never seen it or even heard about it before, we didn’t know what to expect, but what a surprise! The contestants made us feel really welcome and even gave us T-shirts to remember them (along with a few beers and food). So, we would like to say a very big thank you to all the friends we made in Memphis that day. We truly have never met more friendly people.

Jack, Cindy, Mandy and Choo

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

About Bianca Phillips’ story, “License to Wed” …

As a Christian, I won’t ever accept gay marriage as valid. As an American, however, I find it appalling that anyone should be either provided or denied a benefit because of their marital status or sexual preference. The only perversion in the entire gay-marriage process is in the IRS/government having a say one way or another in who has a right to leave their money to whom.

If the thought process is that stable couples promote family and community values and should be rewarded with tax and benefit breaks, then what the hell difference does it make if two people are heterosexual, homosexual, married or otherwise? A citizen should be able to leave his estate to any significant other he chooses without government getting its nasty hands on the property a second time. Had the IRS been set up properly to favor households in the first place, most of the venom, energy, and cruelty surrounding the entire homosexual partnership issue would have never become such a passionate and vicious protest in the first place.

Tommy Volinchak

About recent mass shootings …

How many of the shooters study music and the arts? Schools keep removing music and the arts from their agenda and yet that is what brings out the goodness in people. How many of the mass shooters were musicians? Probably none.

Dagmar

About Toby Sells’ post, “Riverside Gets a Road Diet, Bike, and Pedestrian Lanes” …

Really bad idea! We need more traffic lanes and more parking downtown, not less! The reason why there was little negative impact on traffic when Riverside was down to two lanes [for Memphis In May] was because so many people opted to go to restaurants in either Mississippi or Germantown/Cordova/Collierville in order to avoid the traffic nightmare on Riverside.

Babybabybaby

In a few months, people are going to forget there were ever two lanes each way on Riverside. It’ll be like the great scare about Madison Avenue: Some people will freak out and then it’ll be fine. Relax people.

TennesseeDrew

Greg Cravens

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter from the Editor on politics in a convenience store …

Bruce, if the couple at the store were attractive Eddie Bauer types, would you have been willing to engage them in discourse?

crackoamerican

When engaged in checkout line political discussion, I find that holding my quart beer by the neck lends itself to civil debate.

CL Mullins

Maybe he meant the situation in Ukraine or Libya or Syria, or maybe it was the immorality of drone warfare, or the Edward Snowden revelations. But I’ll go out on a limb and say it’s because the president is black.

Jeff

About Kevin Lipe’s post, “Grizpocalypse Now Redux: Nine Questions About Where We’re At” …

All the people who rave about the Levien acquisitions always conveniently ignore the Prince trade, which ranks right behind Thabeet as the second worst acquisition in Griz history.

Sailinstuff

I think the Grizzlies reputation angle has been way overstated by the media, both here and elsewhere. This saga doesn’t help the organization’s reputation, but it wasn’t as if big name free agents were dying to play for the Griz before this.

Iggy

About Jackson Baker’s post, “Act Two for Pablo Pereya — This Time as a Republican Activist” …

I am sure that the Latino community will forget how the rest of the GOP has fought to deport all of them, even the ones who are naturalized citizens. To paraphrase an old saying, not all Republicans are xenophobes, but 99 percent of xenophobes are Republicans.

Leftwingcracker

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

About Jackson Baker’s post, “Putting the Clamps On” …

Excluding the networks from any control over the GOP presidential primary debates is controversial? The networks might actually have to report the news rather than make it.

When the presidential debates were going to finally include a Libertarian candidate, the Democan/Republicrats decided the League of Women Voters would no longer make the rules. The Republicrats decided to make the rules and chose to NOT include the Libertarian candidate. Guess they can’t handle the competition.

FYI, the Libertarians are the only political party that actually believes the national government (we haven’t had a federal government in many decades, but that is another subject) should follow the U.S. Constitution. Harry Taylor

About the Flyer‘s editorial, “The New Politics of Black, White, and Brown” …

If by magic or unbridled lust, we become a perfectly dun society, who are we gonna get to do the shit jobs for sub-poverty wages? People who are in more desperate circumstances than our own huddled masses, that’s who. And if they and we all look alike, then will the liberal guilt be assuaged?

CL Mullins

CL, I think that’s the point. If we could get past the race issue, maybe we could actually focus on the real issues driving things like poverty and not waste so much energy on race debates.

GroveReb84

About Toby Sells’ cover story, “$outh Main”…

I moved downtown two years ago and the front doors of my apartment building open onto South Main.

I have a wonderfully small studio apartment, am within walking distance of Beale Street, The Orpheum, the Redbirds stadium, and just about anything else interesting in Downtown Memphis. The energy level down here is awesome, the people are always friendly, local visitors and tourists have a great time, and I have a good time mingling with them.

I’ve lived in several states and cities, in the suburbs and several apartments and, all in all, Downtown Memphis is the best place I have ever lived. It’s really exciting knowing what is being done and planned for the area. At this point, I can’t even imagine wanting to live anywhere else.

RD

About Toby Sells’ Newsblog post, “Update: Memphis Zoo Apologizes to Mayor for ‘Personal Attack'” …

Where are all of these hippies when Tom Lee Park (Riverside) gets trampled and torn up every Memphis In May? It turns to a mud hole for months, and no one complains. This logically means that if we bring horrible music and lots of hot chicks and BBQ to Overton Park, it will resolve the issue.

Greg Cravens

People who support the zoo and those who support the park should be natural allies. This fight is petty, unnecessary, and probably a great source of amusement to those who support neither the park nor the zoo.

JDM

Why wasn’t extra parking/new parking lot or garage put into the equation when the zoo started expanding, many years ago. Common sense would tell you if you make something bigger and more attractive, more people will come. The zoo is now one of the city’s main attractions. There have been many times that I have skipped going due to the traffic alone and just went to the Pink Palace or the Children’s Museum.

Kimbrlyrut

As long as cars are being left in the middle of our public parks; we should treat them accordingly as public playground equipment.

Count Dracula

Me thinks it’s high time to show the zoo that opposition to parking on the greensward comes from more than just a “small group of protestors.” I’ve been silent on this issue up until now, but no more. When does the Get Off Our Lawn group plan to hold its next meeting? I’ll do my darndest to be there to lend my support. Maybe it’s time to for us to rally, picket, protest or do whatever it takes to get the message across to zoo officials.

Strait Shooter

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

About Bryce Ashby and Michael LaRosa’s Viewpoint on requiring state legislators to take remedial civics classes …

I entirely agree with the Bryce Ashby and Michael LaRosa that our state legislators should be required to pass a civics test in order to hold office. That would certainly reduce the laughing-stock potential of Tennessee nationally.

But why stop there? Equally important to the functioning of our representative republic is an informed electorate. Let’s require a simple civics test at the polls on each election day. (My parents had to do this back in the 1950s, along with a $1 poll tax. Both measures have since been declared unconstitutional.)

But just think about it: If voters even had to come up with one correct answer regarding the fundamentals of our government, there would never be a Democrat elected in Tennessee again!

Bill Busler

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s column on Obamacare …

The Affordable Care Act was drafted in a Senate committee chaired by Max Baucus of Montana. Years ago, I considered moving to Montana, so I took the Billings Gazette for a long time. I followed the career of Baucus from the state legislature to Congress to the Senate. He was a Democrat in a Republican-leaning state.

His Senate committee quickly discarded the single-payer system, like Medicare, when it met resistance. They switched to a plan that originated in a conservative think tank and was the basis of the Massachusetts health-care plan. Baucus took nearly 200 suggestions from Republicans to be bipartisan. It got no Republican votes, and Republicans have zealously tried to impede and repeal it, yet they have no replacement plan for the 7.5 million now signed up.

Why is Governor Haslam afraid of Tenncare being defunded after expansion? If he’s really concerned about the state’s finances, he wouldn’t have let more than $100 million in money already taxed and collected go to other states. No one has seen the alternative to Tenncare that the governor is supposedly proposing to Health and Human Services. There is a kicker in a provision in the law called the “shared responsibility tax” on employees that could run as high as $72 million. What will they do if the the governor and the legislature don’t act?

Greg Cravens

Raymond Skinner

About Jackson Baker’s post, “Whalum Slams Joe Brown’s Pretensions to Party Leadership” …

TRUTH !!!!!! “How in the world, how on God’s green earth, can a person be literally gone from Memphis and Shelby County for 20 years and come back and claim to be the Democratic boss?”

Tom Guleff

About Bianca Phillips’ post, “House Resolution Seeks to Defend Tennessee Marriage Amendment” …

Soon Joe Carr and his sorry ilk will be in the trash heap of history along with the segregationists of yesteryear. Meanwhile, they will waste our tax money passing useless resolutions and defending discriminatory laws that will soon be void. Marriage equality is winning!

Chris in Midtown

About a post titled “What’s Wrong With Zach Randolph’s Defense?” …

He’s slow and can’t jump. I’m prone to brevity.

38103

About a Toby Sells News Blog item, “Halbert: State is to Blame for Untested Rape Kits in Memphis” …

We can thank the Tennessee Republicans for not funding the testing of rape kits. And they call themselves “Christians” … only if Charles Manson is the Pope. Let us not forget it was these same Republicans who tried to pass a bill that would have redefined rape to make it legal. Vote Republican and you vote to support rape of women and children.

Sam Cardinal

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

About Toby Sells’ cover story “The Pension Crisis” …

All financial security markets are much higher now than they were pre-recession. All “paper losses” experienced via the recession should have been more than recovered by now, unless some dumb moves were made. So the fall the funds took during the recession is no excuse.

What it boils down to is they took absolutely no action when it became apparent they were way underfunded. They did some very dumb stuff under Mayor Willie to make sure his appointee buds would get fat. Remember the “retire in 12 years giveaway” for appointees? This just made it worse. Also, the legions of police and firemen drawing disability pensions while they work other city jobs is an amusing sideline to this mess. They could have taken action years ago to change the fundamentals of the plans, but nothing was done.

The fixes are going to be painful for retirees, because there will be major increases in the amounts they will pay for health insurance. There will also be major cuts in the amounts current workers will receive in retirement benefits. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see current retirees’ pensions reduced. They refused to look at the problem or even consider doing anything about it until the state told them they had to get real with their financial statements.

The city’s credit rating is about to take a nosedive too. It was real clever becoming a stadium owner a few months ago, eh?

JuliusJones

Clearly, mistakes were made, but no one is to blame as we look forward, not back, and try to resolve this issue by redefining it. Thank heavens Memphis has Beale Street Landing or we’d be in serious trouble.

Jeff

About Bianca Phillips’ story on animal fighting, “For the Birds (and Dogs)” …

I find it interesting but not at all surprising that the penalties are stiffer for dog fighting than for cock fighting. After all, I’m betting a good number of those in the majority in the legislature either have attended a cock fight or have constituents who are heavily involved in cock fighting.

Both are pretty disgusting things to do in my opinion. Of course, maybe another part of the reason cock fighting carries lighter penalties is the fact that we eat chickens, and we make pets of dogs. Just showing a bit of favoritism for one species over another.

GroveReb84

Greg Cravens

A last-minute amendment has been added by Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) to allow the trunking of poor gay uninsured schoolchildren. I’m not sure how that will affect passage.

Chris in Midtown

A very good idea to try to punish those who are barbaric enough to want to watch such atrocities for sport. And though I will likely not agree with Chris in Midtown on much of anything, I have to say his post above is hysterical.

Niles 4334

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter from the Editor about President Obama and the Affordable Care Act …

It doesn’t matter how high the Marx-Obama Healthcare Act is lauded by media and the O’Regime. The people won’t be forgetting the intrusive fiasco before the first Tuesday in November 2014 arrives.

Nightcrawler

I love how Nightcrawler is spewing the same tired warnings he did before 2008 and 2012. Some folks never tire of foaming at the mouth.

B

Not bad for a Muslim who wasn’t even born in the U.S., especially when you consider the you-know-what storm he inherited. Maybe we need to look for other Allah-worshipping, socialism-touting “aliens” out there who may want to run the country.

Miejep

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

About “Get Off Our Lawn,” Toby Sells’ story on a group seeking to keep parking off Overton Park’s Greensward …

The argument from the Citizens to Preserve Overton Park should be, “stop playing golf on my lawn.” The zoo is a treasure for the city, as is the park itself, and it is a good thing that it is so well visited. If you consider land usage density per area of Overton Park as a measure of success, it would seem that the best uses of land are the new playground, the dog park, the zoo, and the Greensward. The most inefficient use of land is the golf course.

Judging by Google Earth, the golf course is roughly three times larger than the Greensward. At most, it can accommodate 30 to 40 players at a time. That is a very poor usage density. The time has come to grow the Greensward and eliminate the golf course. Then the occasional overflow zoo parking won’t be such a nuisance. Mark Mazzone

About Bianca Phillips’ story, “For the Birds and Dogs,” regarding a law tightening restrictions on dog- and cock-fighting …

I predict that if this passes the General Assembly of Tennessee Hillbillies, cock-fighting will first be stripped out of it so as not to offend them that brung them to the General Assembly dance.

Jeff

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Editor’s Letter regarding red state versus blue state dependency on the federal government …

One only needs to look at Mississippi’s current budget for 2014 to see how dependent they are on the Feds to take care of them. The general fund budget from the state was $5.03 billion. The federal government sent $7.89 billion to the state.

Charlie Eppes

About Toby Sell’s post, “Victims of Serial Rapist File New Lawsuit Against Memphis, Shelby County” …

The statue of limitations is very important when talking about lawsuits for negligence and lack of due diligence in regard to rape and what harm the women say it caused them because of it.

oldtimeplayer

OTP seems very, very focused on the “statue (sic) of limitations.” Why is that?

Hadji

I think he’s referring to a bronze likeness of himself, “The Statue Of Limitations,” that sits next to his Dell PC.

Dave Clancy

About Jackson Baker’s post, “Reporter at Judge Joe Brown’s Post-Jail Press Conference Was a Plant” …

She did not violate any journalistic ethics. She asked questions. You can’t decide who can ask questions and who can’t. I don’t remember seeing her questions aired on local media, only on the campaign page. I think she did a good job … I know that’s not a popular opinion here, but I think you guys are beating a dead horse. You have a very weak argument. She wasn’t pretending to be anything. She wasn’t wearing any fake credentials, didn’t claim to belong to any news outlet. She asked questions that are probably on the minds of a good many Memphians. You are not the gatekeepers of media. Get over yourselves.

Indy Lucy

Indy Lucy, ya think? Journalists should:

—Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.

— Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.

— Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office, and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.

— Disclose unavoidable conflicts.

— Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.

— Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.

— Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.

And that’s just some of ’em.

Mia S. Kite

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

About Chris McCoy’s review of the television series Cosmos …

McCoy writes: “Tyson opts to tell the specific story of the evolution of the eye (which even Darwin said was the biggest hole in his theory) as a way to both educate the audience about the nuts and bolts of natural selection and to preempt a common counter-argument.”

The sentence on the whole is true, but the parenthetical is not. Darwin never said that the evolution of the eye was the biggest hole in his theory. In On the Origin of Species, Darwin said that it “seems” to be a problem and then goes on to explain how it isn’t, the way Tyson did in Cosmos, except without as much detail. 

Creationists have repeated the sentence with the word “seems” in it so may times that people often believe that Darwin thought it was a problem. He did not; he nailed it.

Bill Runyan

About early school times for Shelby County high-schoolers …

I am a senior at White Station High School. As many parents, students, and early work go-ers know, the school times of Shelby County Schools have shifted. No longer does every school start at the same time, which in theory sounds convenient. In reality, the changed school times are just the opposite.

High schoolers are late by 7 a.m. In my first period, I seldom see a day when the morning’s first lessons are anying but a joke. The struggle for a full night’s sleep was already a challenge from homework, extracurricular activities, family time, etc. Now, it’s futile. Frustratingly enough, elementary schools start at a fantastic 9 a.m. These are usually the kids who are awake and running around at 6 a.m. anyway. Couldn’t SCS switch the school times for elementary and high schools? 

Not only is a successful sleep pattern now harder to attain, but this new system proves to be more expensive for parents of multiple children. Many parents have complained that they now have to enroll their younger children in a before- or after-care program in order to get their older children to school on time. 

Sasha Braus

About Jackson Baker’s recounting of the Judge Joe Brown brouhaha and arrest …

That mugshot deserves a caption: “We don’t need no stinking badges!”

Poots

About Frank Murtaugh’s story on the Tigers, “Who Was This Team?”…

Josh actually isnt that bad of an Xs and Os coach. His problem is his stubborness and arrogance. He’s prepared for this his entire life. Even Ray Charles can see the adjustments that he needs to make on a game-by-game basis. I think he over-committed to this senior class, and he rode with them come hell or high water.

KD’edrick Lewis

About a 2012 Flyer cover story “Wild Memphis,” which somehow resurfaced as a topic for our commenters …

To all the naysayers here, Shelby Forest has a breeding population of cougars and has had for years. Even some of the TWRA folks will admit to it.

Doug Webb

About Greg Akers’ post “When American Pickers Met Prince Mongo …”

Excuse me, while somebody is in the Mongo warehouse, would they mind looking for the chimpanzee skeleton …

CL Mullins

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

About Jackson Baker’s Politics column on Alison Lundergan Grimes …

Why is Grimes doing that half-fist, Bob Dole thing with her hand? Who teaches that? It makes one come off as a bit of a clone. Is she? Rand Paul is getting standing ovations at Berkley. How is Grimes different from run-of-the-mill Democrats? I mean Bill “NAFTA” Clinton for chrissakes.

Mia S. Kite

About Bianca Phillips’ story, “Knocked Up and Locked Up” …

Healthy and Free TN is glad that Representative DeBerry is reconsidering the bill, but we’re concerned that the current bill is moving ahead, as it passed in the Criminal Justice sub-committee and is scheduled to be heard in the full Criminal Justice Committee next week. Please contact the members of the committee and tell them that we do not want TN to be the first state to pass a law criminalizing women and we ask that they vote NO on HB 1519.

Allison Glass

About Toby Sells’ web story on the decline in homelessness in Memphis …

Thank you for doing this story! I want to clarify that MIFA no longer operates Estival Place. MIFA donated 73 units of transitional housing to Promise Development Corporation which repurposed them as permanent supportive housing. Promise (formerly North Memphis Community Development Corporation) is the property owner/manager for the Memphis Strong Families Initiative. 

Katie Foster

About Alexandra Pusateri’s story on a McKellar Lake clean-up …

People stopped caring about McKellar Lake when the surrounding industry poisoned it. Nobody is going to fish or ski in it, even if you clean up all the trash.

Jeff

Greg Cravens

Jeff, how coy and deceiving you are. People stopped caring about McKellar Lake when integration came about and the neighborhood changed.

I remember the good ole days when whites used to gather in the park at the marina and pavilion, dressed to the nines in their tuxes and the women in their ball room gowns. They danced away the evening and night where no blacks were allowed except for serving the white guests.

That is the true story of what happened to McKellar Lake. After integration and the changing demographics of the neighborhood, the city administration, which was white, abandoned the park and the lake.

oldtimeplayer

When the white folks were swinging down at McKellar Lake, I was like, oh, I don’t know, probably not alive. If I was alive, I was swinging in a diaper. Full disclosure — it was a white diaper.

I’m talking from a fisherman’s point of view. I’ve fished every large body of water in this area. I’ve never fished McKellar. Back in the day, when the Commercial Appeal carried the weekly fishing report, McKellar wasn’t even on the list. Are we now suggesting that’s because of 200 years of racism?

Jeff

Would ya’ll consider stopping this argument and coming out to McKellar this Saturday (and April 26th) from 10 a.m. to noon? In two hours, you can easily pick up 100 pounds of trash that we will recycle. We could really use your help.

Colton

About Jackson Baker’s web post, “Wilkins Formally Announces Bid for 9th District Seat” …

In order to have a chance at unseating a Congressional incumbent, there has to be a groundswell from the electorate to replace that incumbent. Other than the same old group of people that have always opposed Steve Cohen, plus Randy Wade, what indication is there that the electorate wants to replace him? As long as Cohen runs on his record, he gets 75-80 percent just to start off. It doesn’t matter who is running against him, that’s how it’s going to be.

Leftwingcracker

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

About a letter referencing mayoral candidate Steve Mulroy’s pursuit of a petty thief…

Brunetto Latini sarcastically mocks an anecdote in Jackson Baker’s Politics column about County Commissioner Steve Mulroy. Let me help Mr. Latini understand why Steve Mulroy chasing a thief is “indicative of something mayoral that should elicit” his voting for Mulroy for mayor. I doubt Mulroy did a financial calculation before he took off running after this petty thief. Mulroy’s instinctual act demonstrates a man of individual courage who will not let himself or this county be ripped off, and demonstrates a man who wants to combat all levels of crime in Shelby County. We may know Steve Mulroy as a brilliant law professor and legislator, but now we know he is also a man of action …

Joseph Weinberg

About Tim Sampson’s Rant on quitting smoking…

“The first thing that happens is you suddently hate everyone you know, including those you love, and you hate everything everyone says and does, and you even hate people you don’t know.” So quitting smoking turns you into a Tea Partier?

GroveRebel

About Frank Murtaugh’s webpost on the Tigers’ loss to Uconn…

Josh Pastner is a wonderful human being and a good recruiter. However, we have reached the ceiling of his abilities, and we are not where we want to be as a program. The question is this: Can we find anyone who can take us to the level we want that won’t make us feel queasy in our guts, the way Calipari made us feel? Is it reality to think that we can compete at the highest level without running a dirty program? That is something to think about.

Leftwingcracker

Greg Cravens

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s letter from the editor on an email comparing President Obama to Russian President Vladimir Putin…

I received the very same email and was shocked (something I am seldom accused of being) by the venality of it. It was forwarded by a man I deeply respect and find fascinating, but for his political beliefs and Old South mind-set. Thanks for sharing and adding your touch to the contemptible deep-ditch last gasp of this political faction.

Bill Butler

I’m afraid the American conservative movement has been taken over by those who favor homo-eroticism and stupid good-looking women. The two, figuratively, go hand in hand, as successful closeted males require a substantial gullibility level amongst their women, and the smart ones of this ilk know it.

CL Mullins

Obama thinks before he acts; personally, I really like a thinking president, for a change. I can see why Putin is Palin’s idol — two of a kind…

Brenda Beasley Berretta

About Bianca Phillips’ webpost: “Medical Marijuana Act Gains Entry to TN Senate”…

So funny, most of the people that I know that want it passed are fundamental Christian conservatives like myself. We are about less government, not more government. You have us confused with liberals who think they know better than you what you need. We know God put certain plants here for our use. I even believe in the legalization of all substances from plants used as medicines. The war on drugs should only be about poisons like meth, bath salts, and crap with zero natural origins.

Spyz

Legalizing pot is an excellent way to bring down crime, because it will reduce the number of people convicted of possession/sales charges who are then sent to crime school — aka prison — by the state.

GW Carver

About “Setting the Stage,” Bianca Phillips’ story on a new stage at Dixon Gallery & Gardens…

The writer mistakenly referred to me as a landscape architect. A landscape architect is a design professional who is licensed to practice by the state of Tennessee. My academic training is in art, and I work as a professional garden designer and artist.

Tom Pellett 

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

About the editorial, “Basar’s Choice” …

Commissioner Basar is to be commended for his practical and reasonable actions regarding the School Board districts, but the Flyer editorial perpetuates misinformation.  

The county commission was advised several times by the Shelby County Election Commission (SCEC)over the course of months regarding the urgency and necessity of timely drawing their district lines before the 2012 elections.

State law prohibits precinct lines from crossing county commission lines or state Senate lines (precincts must be wholly within those boundaries, not partially in one district and partially in another). This means that those lines need to be identified before precincts can be accurately drawn. 

In the editorial, it was suggested that the county commission lines were not needed, “because their election was not until 2014 and SCEC could have bypassed the issue … gotten the maps that counted in shape for an error-free election cycle.” There are multiple interdependent steps, each calibrated by the one before, required before precinct designations can be accurately drawn. The editorial further states that “a state investigation and county audit found other reasons.” There was nothing in the county audit regarding this issue. The state, vendors, and consultants worked long hours to unravel the redistrict problem, which was finally completed November 6, 2013.

Dee Nollner

Shelby County Election Commission

About Greg Akers’ article “Civil Discourse” and writer Ta-Nehisi Coates’ call to engage in conversations concerning racial politics …

How many discussions have been successfully avoided through the use of one term — “race card.” When President Obama stated, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” critics claimed he was exploiting the race card. It seems anytime someone attempts to confront a racial problem, they are said to be using this card. The phrase is not only a way of dodging a discussion, it belittles difficult situations and cheapens conversations.

The race card acts as both a red herring and ad hominem attack. First, as a red herring it distracts from an individual’s actual argument. So instead of talking about the original topic, the discussion becomes about how someone is using the race card – again! The next time a Republican brings up taxes or the national debt, one could simply say they are employing the “conservative card,” and completely circumvent any of their conclusions. As in, “don’t listen to Ted Cruz; he is only using the conservative card.”

I propose that 2014 is the year we stop using the term “race card.” This phrase stands as a road block to civil discourse and real attempts to engage racial politics.

Brandon Chase Goldsmith

Greg Cravens

About ubiquitous Flyer commenter, oldtimeplayer (OTP) …

I think OTP is absolutely brilliant. He is a composite of all the self-absorbed, no-life CA commenters from years past, merely plucking the more controversial statements like petals from a flower. He has created his own web image, the Flyer‘s Max Headroom.

Dave Clancy

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter from the Editor on low pilots’ pay …

They are applying the reverse principle to teaching. Insert cheap recent grads who stay on average 18 months in place of experienced, seasoned teachers with more education.

Homer Simpson

About Chris Davis’ post, “Tom Waits and a Topless Dancer at the Ritz Music Hall in Memphis in 1977” …

I arose from my death bed to attend this show and was healed.

James T. Davis

On Chris Davis’ post, “Pantless Man Cooks Meth in McDonald’s Parking Lot” …

It started with Benghazi!

–Stoopid Guy