• God hates Elvis?

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, best known for their "God Hates Fags" protests and picketing at the funeral services of soldiers, are planning to demonstrate in front of Graceland on Friday, May 17th at 4:45 p.m.

According to their website, Westboro members view Elvis Prelsey as a false idol and a drug addict. Here's their bizarre explanation:

God hates your Idols, so Westboro Baptist Church will picket one of the many major idols of Doomed USA, to wit: Graceland. Former home of Elvis Presley. ALL the evidence suggests that his present home is HELL.

Ask the Question: How did Elvis die? The Internet gives this: Elvis died on August 16, 1977 in the bathroom at Graceland. After being found on the bathroom floor, Elvis was rushed to the hospital where he was officially pronounced dead.

The coroner recorded the cause of death as cardiac arrhythmia. While true in the strictest sense (cardiac arrhythmia means that the heart was beating irregularly), the attending physicians deliberately omitted the fact that what had apparently caused Elvis' heart to beat irregularly and then stop was an overdose of prescription drugs. These drugs included codeine, Valium, morphine, and Demerol, to name a few.

Some people believe that Elvis Presley is still alive. It is an interesting idea to explore. (WHAT?! You people need something to do with your time!!)

Assuming you do believe that Elvis died, you can visit his grave at Graceland. (YES, gotta worship the rotting carcass of that lecherous, adulterous, pervert and drug addict!) I did NOT ask the Question: What happened in the Jungle Room! My stomach is only so strong.

Oh, and of course they have to work homophobia in somehow. After a listing a few Bible verses, this little nugget is thrown in at the end of the post:

GOD killed your idol, Elvis.

For ALL this, God has cursed you with Same Sex Marriage, a thing that will be your final undoing! Praise God!

Westboro is also planning to protest Ole Miss on May 18th. Though we can't quite make out the reason by reading the ranting post, it appears to have something to do with their football team as a false idol and something to do with the movie, The Blind Side.

Memphis In May has released their free 2013 smart phone app, and it's a vast improvement over their apps in years past (thanks Paul Ryburn for letting us know). The app is available for iPhones and Android phones.

The app features the lineup of bands for the Beale Street Music Festival, and users can highlight favorites to create their own personal schedule within the app. There are two general maps of the park tailored to the music fest and the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, each highlighting where stages and vendor tents are located for the events. And there's a separate map highlighting the disability-accessible viewing areas for music fest.

Additionally, the app includes information for where to take or locate "lost and found" items during the festivals, a list of events throughout May celebrating Memphis In May's 2013 honored country of Sweden, and a list of barbecue teams participating in the cooking contest.

Perhaps, most importantly, the app includes themed photo booths for music fest, the barbecue contest, and Sunset Symphony. In the spirit of investigative journalism, we've tested them out.

• Flyer intern Chris Shaw sings for the band, Ex-Cult by night. But we just can't get him to stop singing ... like ever.

• We can't believe Contemporary Media executive assistant Michael Shelton actually stopped eating to pose for this shot. He's such a pig! Okay, we kid.

• Ernie Alexander

Members of Save Our Shelter-Memphis (SOS) will be holding a peaceful demonstration on Saturday, April 27th at noon at the corner of Poplar and Highland to protest the district attorney's office's decision to drop animal cruelty charges against former Memphis Animal Services (MAS) director Ernie Alexander and supervisor Tina Quattlebaum.

The DA's office announced last week that it would not prosecute Alexander and Quattlebaum for charges that stemmed from a 2009 Shelby County Sheriff's Office-led raid at Memphis Animal Services that revealed dogs dying of starvation.

According to a statement from the Shelby County district attorney's office, the charges were dropped due to lack of cooperation of key witnesses, a lack of direct evidence of the defendants’ contact with the animal victims, budget constraints that were placed on MAS by the city administration at that time, and because both Alexander and Quattlebaum made attempts to notify their supervisors about shelter conditions. Based on those factors, the DA's office determined that prosecution would not have a "reasonable likelihood of success."

Members of SOS wants the former administrators to be held responsible: "SOS Memphis implores the City of Memphis and the Shelby County Attorney General to prosecute all documented animal cruelty cases to the full extent of the law and to request the Courts to sentence the full terms of imprisonment and fines allowed by Tennessee Law with regard to aggravated and misdemeanor animal cruelty."

They're also asking the city to implement an employee review process for workers at MAS. According to SOS's press release about the protest, "Due to lack of documentation and lack of action taken, two MAS employees are still on the job despite watching animals being tortured and doing nothing. Mistakes attributed to 'clerical errors' continue to occur, resulting in animals that are missing or unnecessarily dying while in the care of MAS."

The Tennessee House voted in favor of a bill that would require anyone who shoots video or takes pictures of animal cruelty to submit those images to law enforcement within 48 hours. UPDATE: The Senate has now also passed the bill.

Known as the "Ag Gag" bill, it was one of many being considered by state governments across the country. Proponents of the bill, which was heavily favored by animal agriculture lobbyists, claim the requirement to turn over cruelty images protects animals.

But the bill's critics, which includes the Humane Society of the United States and the Humane Tennessee Political Action Committee, claim the legislation is designed to prevent thorough investigations of animal cruelty. Many undercover cruelty investigations at factory farms can take several weeks of documenting footage, and such bills would prevent animal activists from carrying out those investigations.

The bill was one vote shy of being voted down.

East Tennessee's Knoxville News Sentinel is taking a brave stance against the bill. In an opinion column written before the bill's passage, the paper states, "If the Ag Gag bill happens to pass and the News Sentinel records images of animal cruelty, we will not consider ourselves bound to turn those images over to law enforcement. We will assume that the [state's] shield law, and more importantly, the First Amendment, will pre-empt such a law. I'd recommend that anyone else who believes in freedom of expression take the same position, too."

Flyer editor Bruce VanWyngarden has more on the First Amendment implications of "Ag Gag."

Last year, Lausanne Collegiate School added optional meditation classes for its middle school students. Kids could choose to opt out of recess one day a week in exchange for a guided meditation class led by Peddler Bike Shop founder Daniel LaMontagne.

Those sessions have been so successful, Lausanne is now beginning meditation classes for its high school students. Starting last week, those students had the option of skipping their daily 35-minute advisory period — the time they meet with their academic adviser — in favor of finding some inner peace.

The six-week meditation course for high school students is also led by LaMontagne, and the first session of 25 students is already at maximum capacity.

Greg Graber, the principal at Lausanne, said he's been traveling the world to talk about Lausanne's successful meditation program. He's led talks in Philadelphia, Des Moines, Iowa, and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

"Our students today live in this accelerated culture. Everything is done at hyper-speed, at the touch of a button. It seems like they're always plugged in," Graber said. "This is way for them to relax and focus."

Graber said, since the school began implementing meditation for its middle school students, he has noticed a big change in some students' abilities to focus on school work.

Last week, the Memphis Flyer reported on Knox County Senator Frank Niceley's support of cockfighting on the (likely historically false) grounds that Abraham Lincoln was down with cockfighting as well.

Niceley was urging fellow Tennessee senators to vote against the Animal Fighting Enforcement Act (SB285), which would have increased penalties for spectators at any animal fight to a Class A misdemeanor and would have made cockfighting a Class E felony. Cockfighting is still a misdemeanor in Tennessee. That bill failed to pass a Senate vote yesterday.

No senators from Shelby County voted against the bill, but two passed on voting. Jim Kyle of Memphis, Brian Kelsey of Germantown, and Mark Norris of Collierville voted in favor of strengthening penalties against animal fighters and spectators. Ophelia Ford of Memphis did not vote, and Reginald Tate of Memphis passed on voting. The bill was only two votes shy of passing, so had Ford and Tate (or another of the many senators who passed on voting for this) taken a stand, the bill would have passed.

• Frank Niceley

The Animal Fighting Enforcement Act, SB285, was put up for a vote this morning in the Tennessee Senate, but it was rolled over until next week.

In discussions about the bill, which strengthens penalties for spectators at animal fights, Senator Frank Niceley of Knox County, a long-time opponent of punishing cockfighters, said the following: "I'm gonna vote against this bill, and I'm gonna tell you why ... it's out of respect for Abraham Lincoln, the founder of the Republican party, who was fighting cocks on the White House lawn when he was accosted by an irate woman. He said, 'Ma'am, as long as the good lord allows civilized men created in his own image to fight wars and kill each other while the civilized world stands by and watches, it's not my place to deny the lowly chicken the same opportunity.' "

The Tennessee Humane Political Action Committe sent Niceley's remarks around in their email newsletter today.

It would seem though, according to Thomas F. Schwartz, curator of the Henry Horner Lincoln Collection, that Niceley's information on Lincoln is incorrect. Schwartz sent a letter to the Humane Society of the United States that says, according to his research, Lincoln was never involved in cockfighting, and in fact, was a lover of animals. In Lincoln's autobiography, he wrote that he gave up hunting after shooting a turkey, and he was the first president to pardon a turkey on Thanksgiving.

But Niceley knows people who attend cockfights, and he has previously stated that he doesn't think cockfighters are "bothering anybody." In 2011, he was quoted as saying: "They pay their taxes. They're not bothering anybody ... It's been going on for centuries; I don't know what the big deal is. ... They buy food, they stay in hotels, they buy gas."

The Tennessee Humane PAC is also focusing on the state's "ag-gag" bill, which would protect animal agriculture facilities from activists attempting to document animal abuse.