Category: The BruceV Blog

Just got this press release from Jennifer Donnals (DA Bill Gibbons’ PR person) and thought I’d share it:

Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons and Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin will hold a news conference this afternoon at the Marina Cove Apartments to announce a public nuisance action filed against the owners. The sprawling property has essentially been abandoned for more than 5 years and has fallen into disrepair. The complex is not only an eyesore in the Hickory Hill community; it has become a public safety and health concern. The dilapidated complex has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, rats and snakes; it’s been burglarized, vandalized, and burned; litter, trash, and debris have been illegally dumped throughout the property.

Gibbons and Godwin will describe in detail the problems at Marina Cove and will take media on a tour around the complex. I’ve attached some photos taken by MPD to illustrate just how bad this place is! Shelby County Commissioner Steve Mulroy and Memphis City Councilman Harold Collins will also be at the news conference. Both represent the Hickory Hill area.

Memphis’ Law and Order tag-team is at it again. One question: Is this really necessary? Really? What purpose is served by this dog-and-pony show — other than the obvious: fluffing the careers and public image of Godwin and Gibbons? Shutting down an apartment complex is a public health issue, not a reason for the city’s top law-enforcement officials to hold a press conference. I hope the rest of the local media don’t fall for this silliness. They trot out this routine all the time — for closing a topless joint, for announcing an arrest, etc. It’s getting tiresome. Remember the old adage about crying wolf once too often, fellas.

Maybe I’m old. I remember a time when DA’s didn’t have PR people on the public payroll. (Nothing against Jennifer, who’s the hardest-working agent in local show-biz.)

Well, that didn’t take long. President Obama nominated federal judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court this morning and you’d have thought he’d named Osama bin Laden, judging from the frenzied reaction by some on the conservative side. Rush Limbaugh, the Republicans’ titular party head, led the charge, saying Obama was practicing “reverse racism.”

Reverse racism, in Limbaugh terms, I suppose, would be the practice of selecting someone on the basis of race who isn’t white. Because, if you selected a white person, that wouldn’t be racism, ever? Right? I’m so confused. On the other hand, in Limbaugh-land, the reverse of racism would be selecting a person solely on merit, who is white? Or selecting a person of color who he agreed with — like Clarence Thomas? Was that reverse racism, or can this RR only be perpetuated by someone who is not white? This is so stupid. Either Sotomayor is qualified or she isn’t. Bringing in race is a straw man that can only backfire.

The bottom line is, Obama’s choice will be confirmed eventually, unless there are REAL issues with Sotomayor beyond her race. The Republicans fight this losing battle at their own peril. Alienating the growing Hispanic vote without offering real, fact-based reasons (beyond alleged reverse racism), will only serve to further shrink the GOP’s already shrinking base. Hailey Barbour in 2012, anyone?

Most media organizations played the dueling speeches on national security by President Obama and Vice President Cheney yesterday as political theater — he said/he said — without bothering to, you know, actually analyze the content of what was said. One organization, however, performed journalism: McClatchy Newspaper writers Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Stobel, deconstructed Cheney’s speech line by line and — surprise — it was a steaming sack of recycled lies.

Read it for yourself.

Hey, guess who wrote this:

“Limbaugh hasn’t had a natural erection since the Nixon Administration; think he’s compensating for something? Now, I wouldn’t pick on him for any of this stuff, not his blubbiness, not his man-boobs, not his inability to have a natural erection—none of that stuff—to me, off limits until! until! Mr. Limbaugh, you turn that sort of gun on somebody else—once you start doing that, you’re fair game, fat boy. Absolutely, you jiggly pile of mess. You’re just fair game, and you’re going to get it, too.”

Nope, not Chris Davis. Ronald Reagan. Yep, the son of the late Great Communicator is peeved at El Rushbo and is no longer playing nice. Seems RR heard Rush bash Nancy Pelosi’s looks one time too many and decided to fight back on Nancy’s behalf (since Nancy’s lips no longer move. KIDDING!)

Read more at Dan Savage’s Slog blog from the Seattle Stranger.

From CQ Politics: Barbour Won’t Rule Out Presidential Bid

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) will not rule out a 2012 presidential bid, CQ Politics reports. Instead he dodged the question.

Said Barbour: “Any Republican who’s not focused on the 2009 and 2010 elections doesn’t have his eye on the ball. I’m going to keep my eye on the ball.”

The 61-year-old Barbour cannot seek re-election in 2011 because of term limits.

For the record, I am also not ruling out a presidential bid in 2012. Nor is Fergie. Or Snoop Dogg. Or Carrot Top.

Be sure and check out the comments.

My daughter and Hollywood star Ginnifer Goodwin went to high school together at Lausanne Collegiate School back in the late ’90s. Ginnifer was a couple of years ahead of Mary, and my daughter later transferred to Ridgeway, but they were in a play together, Grease, I think. Ginnifer had the lead; Mary was in the chorus. I remember thinking at the time, that that Goodwin girl really had a spark of talent. Hollywood agreed, as evidenced by her blossoming movie career and recurring role on HBO’s Big Love.

Throughout her career, Goodwin has been cast mostly as the ingenue, the sweet cheated-upon wife, an innocent among wolves. She was a cover girl for Memphis Magazine last year, and few months back the Flyer interviewed her when she returned to speak at her alma mater, Lausanne. She assured writer Shara Clark that she was “just like you.” And we believed her — until we saw this month’s W magazine. Yowsah. The cover is spankin’ naughty, but the pics inside are almost creepy weird. She’s come a long way from Memphis, that girl.

The Associated Press has published an interactive “Economic Stress Index” map. You can scroll over it and get “stress” levels (unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcies) for any county in the U.S.

The western Tennessee area is being hit a little harder than the national average, though, surprisingly, Shelby County is doing relatively well in comparison to some nearby counties. Perry County in west-central Tennessee, for example, is the state’s most “stressed,” with an unemployment rate of more than 25 percent. By comparison, Shelby County’s unemployment rate is listed at 8.9 percent. Shelby’s foreclosure rates and bankruptcy rates are higher, however.

Upstate Michigan appears to be the region suffering the most, along with certain counties in California, Oregon, and Alaska. I hope the AP updates this graphic periodically. It’s a useful comparative tool.

I journeyed to West Memphis yesterday afternoon for my 12-year-old’s basketball game. The spring flooding is pretty impressive this year, with standing water all the way to the levee, just east of the West Memphis city limits. It’s a good thing this doesn’t happen in July, or you’d need waders to get to Jerry Lawler’s fireworks stand.

I have a friend who owns land along the river just south of West Memphis. Every year, when the floods come, his place gets surrounded by water and he has to park on high ground and take a boat to his house. It’s inevitable, and he’s learned to take it in stride (big, wet strides). He’s also taken to letting a few of his friends know when the water from the river’s about to pour over his land and into his lakes. I went over earlier this week to check it out.

It’s a crazy thing to watch: All the fish that have been trapped in his lakes since the previous year’s flood, stack up where the water first begins to pour in, waiting their chance to escape. Huge gar, carp, and buffalo are easily visible in the shallows. It’s become something of a ritual for my friend to gig a few and take them to a soup kitchen in West Memphis, where they are cooked and eagerly consumed by the customers. I didn’t gig any, but a pickup bed filled with thumping fish is quite the sight. Though I gotta admit, when I see fish like the big fellow pictured here, my reaction isn’t “Mmmm, yummy!”

For the past couple of days, “two” posters have apparently spent every waking hour at their keyboard(s) insulting other posters on MemphisFlyer.com, making allegations and personal attacks against our staff, and generally being self-righteous jerks. We welcome civil postings from any point of view on the political spectrum, but we will not tolerate bozos. (These two were so over the top they were attacking conservative posters who usually bust our chops. 38103, I’m talkin’ to you.) At any rate, you won’t be hearing any more from Lumbergh and Freethoughthalfprice. If he/they reappear under new names and pull the same crap, they’ll be booted again.

Wow, my last little post on the potential opposition to Tennessee’s newest gun laws got some folks stirred up. Which, let’s be honest, every blogger wants. Of course, now the question arises: How do you follow it up?

I was thinking maybe I’d ask: Which is the one true religion? Or maybe just: Which religion does God prefer?

But, nah. Too easy. How about: Should gay concealed-carry permit holders be allowed to carry guns into your church?

Nah. Too complicated. Might make some wingnuts tie their brains in knots trying to figure which is the greater evil: being gay or restricting gun rights.

I’ve got it: Which restaurant in Memphis has the BEST BARBECUED RIBS? The Flyer‘s cover story this week tackles that controversial subject, and there are a couple of surprising top-finishers. I’ll be curious to see the reaction.