Greg Cravens
About the Flyer’s cover story, ”Spring Brews” …
Local craft beer is one of those rare issues that Memphians, regardless of political affiliation, can come together on. Right now, a David-versus-Goliath fight is brewing in Washington between two competing beer bills. The big guys are pushing the Small Brew Act, which essentially benefits four brewers by redefining the “small brewer” as 6 million barrels. On the other side is H.R. 767, the Fair Brewers Excise and Economic Relief (Fair BEER) Act, which cuts the federal excise tax to zero for brewers who produce less than 7,143 barrels.
The Fair BEER Act will help small craft breweries survive and grow and will make it easier for future entrepreneurs to pursue their craft-beer dreams. If you love local beer, then it is time to support your local breweries and encourage Tennessee’s delegation to co-sponsor and support the Fair BEER Act.
Brandon Chase Goldsmith
A terrific piece. Thanks, gang. A whole bunch of new reasons to day drink.
Dave Clancy
About the Flyer’s editorial, “No to Vouchers” …
I hate to keep beating a dead horse here, but people really don’t seem to grasp the point of education in the state of Tennessee. No one is getting properly educated because it costs too much. But that money still has to be spent. Do you really want to give it to all those unionized school teachers so they can teach (destroy the minds of Tennessee youth with) their socialism and evolution theory and feminazi tolerance fascism?
So if you’re not going to actually educate anyone, but you still have to spend the education money, why not give it to your pastor and his private school, or to your friends and retired mayors who are trying to get a piece of that sweet, sweet charter school grift? The money has to be spent. So spend it in the right places, not the wrong places.
That’s the whole point of charter schools and school vouchers. The longer we continue to pretend the voucher proponents and the representatives of charter schools have a legitimate desire to educate the children of Tennessee and that we merely disagree on the best method to accomplish this goal, the quicker they will accomplish their goal of destroying public education altogether. Because that is their goal. Jeff
I don’t know that you will get much agreement that “no one is getting properly educated.” We are sure that a lot of our suburban children are getting educated pretty well. At least standardized testing says so, and they do seem to succeed when they move on to college.
Teachers are not allowed to unionize in Tennessee, either. They can have educational associations, but without the possibility of striking, these are pretty much advisory rather than adversarial relationships with their school boards.
The legislature is determined to fix the educational system in Tennessee. So far, they have tried the ASD which, let’s face it, has produced mixed and uneven results. Charter schools have been tried, with perhaps more success. We shall see as time passes whether the charter school experiment will pan out.
I think the voucher bills in the legislature are headed for passage, and we shall see what comes of it. Proposing an ulterior motive for all these efforts is just wrong. Ill conceived, foolish, wasteful, (add your adjective of choice here), maybe. But an intentional effort to enrich some at the expense of public education? Nah.
Arlington Pop
About Jackson Baker’s Politics column, “Bobby Jindal Talks Tough on Islam” …
After reading this, I have to wonder if Bobby Jindal has ever been to Louisiana.
Autoegocrat