Congressman Fincher
Eighth District congressman Stephen Fincher, like so many in the GOP, wants to cut assistance to the poor, including the food stamps program that feeds millions of poor children (Politics, May 23rd issue). Government waste, he calls it. But, of course, Fincher has no problem whatsoever in accepting $3.2 million(!) from the federal government in the form of crop subsidies for his own family farm. That’s not waste. That’s just large checks going to Fincher for not growing certain crops. And he even has the nerve to justify his position by citing the teachings of Jesus. This guy has absolutely no shame. And no clue. And we in the Eighth District are much the poorer for it.
J.C. Jackson
Covington
Tom Tomorrow
I imagine you already know this, but Dan Perkins has won the 2013 Herblock Prize for excellence in political cartooning. I’ve been reading the Flyer for as long as I’ve lived in Memphis (about 20 years) and never miss “This Modern World.” I know it’s available online, but as a codger (get off my lawn!), I really appreciate being able to pick up your paper and see my favorite cartoon in print week after week. So, thanks so much for making that happen. I really appreciate it and bet a lot of your other readers do too.
Geoff Hopkins
Memphis
It’s the Liberals’ Fault!
Jackson Baker’s interview with Mitch Landrieu was fantastic (May 23rd isue). Giving Landrieu a platform to once again tell the liberal lies about Katrina and New Orleans was the best. We all know that the one and only reason the levees in New Orleans broke down was liberal Democrat corruption. But you can’t say that, can you? The liberal Democrats were stealing money hand over fist from the levee commission, which caused shoddy levees to be built. Landrieu blaming it on some mysterious government entity is brilliant.
Liberal Democrats have run NOLA for 80 years, but you can always blame someone else. Just keep repeating this crap, and the numbskulls out there will go for it. See you on Bourbon Street.
Mike Crone
Piperton, Tennessee
Justin Fox Burks
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Just read Jackson Baker’s review of the Paul McCartney concert (May 30th issue). The subhead, “Paul McCartney enthralls at FedExForum,” nailed it. The word “enthrall” means to hold spellbound, to enchant, or to captivate. It was all that and more. Not sure about anyone else, but I never took a drink or bathroom break from the opening song to the last encore. I didn’t want to miss a minute of it.
Baker wrote that “there was no oldies-show aura to any of it.” Prior to this concert, I had never seen McCartney, so I was really curious about that part. After all, most of the songs in his catalog are 30, 40, or even 50 years old. But McCartney played for three hours with no intermission, looked nothing like a 70-year-old rock-and-roller. And I was close enough to feel the heat from the flame jets on “Live and Let Die.”
I like Baker’s description of “honorably withered old soldiers” when referring to Robert Plant and the Jagger/Richards duo, in comparison to the Dorian Gray-like “cute Beatle” and his refusal to age. He wasn’t jumping around onstage like a 20-year-old, and I wouldn’t expect him to, but he sure made me happy. His guitar, piano, and voice were all he needed to enthrall, indeed.
Mike Williams
Germantown
Club 152
John Branston nailed it with his column (City Beat, May 23rd issue) about the over-hyped Club 152 affair. The DA wanted some publicity for cracking down on crime. The club owners wanted to get their bar back open in time for Grizzlies playoff home games. Wrist slap. Deal made. Win, win. Now it’s back to business as usual. I, for one, am just shocked that a three-story dance club on Beale Street would have any illegal drugs on the premises. Shocked, I tell you.
Robert Winston
Memphis