Comment Archives
Re: “Stretch of Madison Avenue Downtown To Open By Fall”
Funny, I've had the opposite experience. I've never seen the Madison Avenue trolley without at least one or two passengers and I drive down Madison everyday.
Re: “"Erased Voters' Gaffe May Force Changes by Election Commission”
Grove, I forgot to expain what I meant about operating costs. The states funds education based on the ADA. This is just a formula that gives everyone the same amout, equality in state funding. It has nothing to do with the operating cost of a school district. That cost is set by the district's board of education. Any shortfall in what the state allocates and what the board sets as its budget is made up by the distric's, counties taxpayers. So, it is not true that since you will lose the students, it will not have a negative impact on the cost of operating the district. So, by taking 1/3 of the SCS operating budget, you will be causing great harm to the rest of SCS. Btw, that funding scheme was brought about by the Small Schools vs McWhirter lawsuit to equalize state funding of all school districts.
Thank you
Re: “Chumney Gets Party Boost in D.A.'s Race”
I'm a fan of Carol's in her various legislative capacities, and think she would have made an excellent mayor, but putting her in charge of criminal prosecutions when she's had no experience with that is the equivalent of putting a hospital orderly in charge of its surgery department. And please don't cite Bill Gibbons' similar lack of experience for the job; he's got a history of holding positions he was unqualified for, including the one he currently holds. Political hackery is not (or at least shouldn't be) an acceptable substitute for experience in a job like the DAG's.
Re: “Flyer Nails”
Nice design of nail Polish...
Re: “"Erased Voters' Gaffe May Force Changes by Election Commission”
Grove, on the school referendum issue, I don't think a challenge is even needed at this time nor even after the vote.
For one thing, under the state constitution the general assembly cannot delegate their law making authority to locals in the form of a referendum. All an affirmative vote on the referendums would mean a preference for msds. The state would still have to be the entity that empowers it. That is the target, the state, not the municipals.
However, the referendums do bring the 14th amendment, one man, one vote into play. I know you want to know how?
With Judge Mays ruling, all of the schools in Shelby County, including MCS became the responsibility of the SCS. Memphis' school charter was successfully surrendered when the paperwork reached the secretary of state. From that moment on their was one unitary school district. The physical operation was just delay until later, but they are as one immediately. There is one unified school board which represents all of Shelby County. That means that the entire county votes for who is on that school board.
Now, if the municipals break a way from the district, for they are already a part of the SCS, why can't the rest of the county, which clearly has an interest, be allowed to vote. The interest is breaking up a district and taking 1/3 of the operating cost with them. Breaking up the district taking diversity and making the new msds racially inditifiable as white vs african american instead of one unitary school district. You can't sy that you will diversify by taking the unincorporated students, mostly minority into your msds. That is not codefied by statue. It is something that the municipals will not be mandated to do.
The state can very well create msds, however, if it is done by referendums, then all parties with an interest should be allowed to vote. If they just make the msds allowable everywhere, at the same time, it could pass muster, I think.
This explains why Mark Norris wanted the ban lifted state-wide and a general law making msds possible immediately state-wide.
One cannot say the money follows the students because that is simply how the states fund education. The bottom line is that is still operating money for the entire SCS.
I am no lawyer and can't put this into a legal way, but, I think you see the gist of what I am trying to say.
You can't say that Memphis had a msd for all of those years for the courts have ruled that Memphis had, indeed, a SSD, not a msd. It is so noted in Judge Mays ruling. I would imagine that at the time this SSD was formed, all parties was given a chance to vote. During this time, of course, the county was sparsely populated and it would not have mattered if 100% of the suburbs voted against it, there was not enough votes to stop it. I think a lot of it will hinge on how Memphis became an SSD and if there was, either a referndum or a 2/3 vote of the commissioners. I am sure that the lawyers will research this.
Re: “"Erased Voters' Gaffe May Force Changes by Election Commission”
Grove, a lot of republicans are just like you. They hold their noses as they vote. The problem with the gop is that their ideas, if presented plainly are not acceptable to the majority of Americans. What they do is disguise it with other issues, social, and with clever slogans. In the south, it is the recrimminations of the civil war and the rights of minorities getting their equal rights. The republicans are clever in this. They cloak it into , us against them. In other words they equate giving minorities their full equal rights as taking away something from the whites. They also use subliminal messages that if the former downtrodden get in power, the former masters, whites will be made to pay. If you study their dogma very carefully, you will see what I mean.
Let us take the flat tax as an example. The gop says that a flat tax is the fairest, simplest way to go. Sounds good on the face of it, but if you study it closely, it is a scheme to lower the tax liability of the rich while offsetting it with tax payments from the poorest of us. Any flat tax rate would give the wealthy a huge tax deduction, while at the same time, causing the lower income brackets to pay more. It is a classic example of bait and switch.
You say you don't like national government dipping into local affairs. You say that starting from the bottom, city and county, state and then federal is the way to go. That again sounds good. Grove, if you go to history, you will see that this has been tried before and it was a dismal failure. When the railroads were first built, look at what happened. Different states and corporation there built their railraods with different gauges fro the adjoining states. This was done to be able to charge huge interchange fees and to keep interstate shipments from moving unless one of that states corporations moved the goods. Restrictions were not put on Wall Street and/or banks. You see what happened, the biggest depression the world, U.S. had ever seen. But hey, I can make it simpler than that. Go to any city in the U.S. and you can tell where the mority communities are. Just look at the differences in the state of the infra-structure. It is always remarkedly worse in the minority neighborhoods. So, yes, if the local governments did everything equally, it would be an ideal system, however history tells us that this has never happened.
The gop tell you that government, national, is intrusive and has no business in local affairs and it sounds good. The only problem with this is, the local governments don't and haven't treated everyone fairly and they don't have the resources to do the job. Yes, the federal government supply the funds, however, they have guidelines and rules as to how to spend the funds. No one is going to give you a large amount of money, no strings attached. If you want the federal government completely out of your life, except for truly federal issues, all you have to do is not accept the money. The federal government didn't intrude upon you, hell, you invited them in when you took their money.
Re: “Chumney Gets Party Boost in D.A.'s Race”
I've always liked Carol, despite her blinking problem.
Re: “Stretch of Madison Avenue Downtown To Open By Fall”
Madison Avenue was once a pleasant street on which to travel. That was before Herenton ruined it with his ghost trolley to nowhere. I have yet to see a single passenger on it.
Re: “"Erased Voters' Gaffe May Force Changes by Election Commission”
To address your comment on the school thing OTP, that would be interesting if that's the route taken.
I have been expecting some resistance or some sort of play following the call for referendums. I've anticipated that the Election Commission, or someone would try to block or delay the August 2nd vote. I assume if there is a play that's going to be made there, we will start to see that play made this week, especially with the suburbs all flocking to the Election Commission this morning.
I'm hoping that no actions are taken until after the applications are sent to the state. I would at the very least like to have it on record what the suburbs think about MSDs, even if there are going to be challenges to come after that.
Re: “"Erased Voters' Gaffe May Force Changes by Election Commission”
You may be surprised to hear this OTP, but I'm against it when the Republicans bail out big business just as much as I'm against the over-expansion of social programs to prop up the welfare state we've created.
I'm not a Fox News watcher. I don't buy all the right wing propaganda. I have to hold my nose when voting either Democrat or Republican, because there are aspects of both parties I really dislike.
I'm for small government period. I'm for minimal government intervention in business. I'm for minimalist, simplification of tax law. I'm for allowing the citizens to make the majority of their own decisions as long as those decisions don't impact others. In other words, I'm pro-gay marriage for example. I'm pro-choice too.
Right now, basically, the difference between Democrats and Republicans are the areas where they think government should be interfering. Republicans want government control and interference or "help" in certain areas. Democrats want it in other areas. I would prefer it if they'd all take a step back and let the people live with less regulation overall. In my opinion, the government should exist primarily for the purpose of providing a safe place to live for its people. You need a police force. You need SOME social programs (not many, very limited). You need laws that protect citizens from being directly harmed by the actions of other citizens. You need the government to help fund the infrastructure of the country (roads, bridges, etc.). Other than that, get the heck out and let the lowest levels of government take control.
Ultimately, the smallest level of government is the individual, but for the issues the individual can't control, let the smallest level of community government handle decisions (towns, cities, etc.). For those issues they can't handle, handle them at the county, then at the state level, and then at the national level. You get my point. Push the power down to the bottom as much as possible. Unfortunately, neither party believes that on all issues, so I get to hold my nose while I vote, and I typically vote for the party that agrees with me on the issues that are most improtant to me at that time. I have to be willing to accept not being able to vote for any party that agrees with me completely.
Re: “"Erased Voters' Gaffe May Force Changes by Election Commission”
Still waiting to hear what happened at the Election Commission yesterday. The slience from both papers is puzzling. Were these African-Americans' voting records intact or were they not? Is the Election Commission up to no good or was all this just bull shit? Who has the 'spalining to do, the Election Commission or the Democratic Party activists? Come on, JB. Follow up and tell us.
Re: “Memphis Redbirds Not Looking So Hot”
The Redbirds won the AAA not too many years ago. Since AAA is only one rung lower than the majors, this was a good accomplishment and the first time that a Memphis team, college or professional has won a championship.
To me as a casual observer, the Redbirds have been a success in the city and it is a beautiful ballpark.
All teams do well and all teams suck at some point.
Re: “"Erased Voters' Gaffe May Force Changes by Election Commission”
Arlington, you have always shown, in the face of overwhelming facts, that you believe in the status quo.
Why would you say it is BS? Because the CA or Flyer didn't report it? Those newspaper people can't even get the correct labeling of neighborhoods in the African American Community, what makes you think they are going to report anything posite for our neighborhoods and/or our politicians.
The reports of the going on at the election commission is probably true. Actually, I believe that a careful examination of the commission will turn up some interesting tidbits, all designed to thwart the vote of democrats, specifically African Americans.
While I got you, pop, a referrendum for msds does not yet make the issue ripe. That is just a preferace. The actual legislation and the submitting of the application and creation will be the time that the issue is ripe. I suspect that, then is when you will action. There are numerous cases in the tennessee courts that have ruled referendums, after they have been held, as unconstitutional because the underpinnings of the laws that allowed them was ruled invalid. Just thought you would like to know.
Re: “"Erased Voters' Gaffe May Force Changes by Election Commission”
I heard that a group of voters who were on the list of African American voters whose records were allegedly purged descended on The Election Commission office this morning to confront Election Commission officials. I was told Edmund Ford was in the lead.
There was nothing on the news tonight about that, and I don't see anything in the CA or Flyer. Does anyone know what happened? If our liberal press is not reporting it, it makes me think the allegations were proven to be BS.
Re: “Memphis Redbirds Not Looking So Hot”
A wonderful ballpark, which we all need to support. I love our Redbirds, and hope for better results going forward. X O Redbirds
Re: “Memphis Beat: The Last Farewell”
This sucks, my family and I loved this show we always sat down and watch this show. I think you should talk to them and convince them to do the show again, I believe that you would have lot more viewers than before
Re: “Neshoba Unitarian Universalist Church”
Coffee House is a fun way to spend a Wednesday night..... (1st Wed. each month) Come check it out and bring something artsy to share!! Hugs, Debi
Re: “"Erased Voters' Gaffe May Force Changes by Election Commission”
Grove, et al, you have finally hit the nail on the head.
First of all, the government is not the same as an individual household and can't be run the same way. As a matter of fact the government is not an entity, it is us, collectively. We spend the money through our elected officials and we repay the same way. If the tax code was right, the repayment would be negilible for each of us individually each year.
Second, I don't know where you learned people took history, but, governments don't fall because of debt, paper debt. Governments fall because a portion, it does not have to be the majority, can't supply their basic needs. Any other words they get hungry and lose hope. This is agrravated by seeing a small minority of people hogging all of the wealth. This is why governments fail.
It is like my mother said about the great depression. She said, what depression? We never had any money, we grew our own food, made our own clothes, etc., so the depression never really impacted us.
Corporations and captains of industry are completely different from government. Corporations exist primarely for the purpose of enriching the owner and/or the investors. Goverment exist for the welfare and the common good of the people. So, please let us dispense with the false comparison.
How is debt going to crush us? If we don't pay, how will it be collected? How will the most powerful nation, militarily, the world has ever seen be forced to pay? You can't starve us, hell, we have so much ariable farm land that we feed the world. We have more forrest land than we had at the founding of this country. In other words, we are the only industrialized country in the world that is fully self sufficient. We might have to do without some exotic things, however we won't starve, freeze or have no clothing to wear.
It is precisely the domestic spending, the safety net that keeps our government from collapsing. If you, say for instance, have just 15% of shelby countians starving and losing all hope, the entire county would go up in flames. People, please read your history!
It must be percieved that the wealthy pay their fair share along with the corporations. You owe it to the less fortunate sons and daughters that will be called upon to shed their blood to protect your foreign holdings. Without that threat and resolve, foreign countries would be grabbing America's foreign holdings left and right.
The ideaology that you and others are using is precisely why the republican party is becoming extinct nationally. You need to look at the big picture and stop aligning yourself with selfishness and greed.
Re: “"Erased Voters' Gaffe May Force Changes by Election Commission”
I'll just point to the last statement:
"Bottom line, the majority of the taxpayers has a right to spend their tax dollars anyway that they seem fit. There is no right or wrong about it, for this is the way our government operates. But, just as they spend it, they are obligated to pay for it."
I don't disagree with that, but I'm also telling you that democracy is destroying our economy. I'm not anti-democracy. I'm just recognizing the inevitability of the people to destroy their own economy.
We are obligated to pay for how we choose to spend our money as a government. The problem is, we can't pay for it, and no one is getting re-elected on a platform of figuring out how to pay off our debts. That's why we'll eventually just collapse as an economy. I am confident I will live to see the day. It's an inevitability.
Lifted from the following http://worldsavvy.org/monitor/index.php?op… :
"democracy and capitalism are also fundamentally in conflict with each other. True free market capitalism inevitably results in unequal distributions of wealth. These inequalities are inherently undemocratic and tend to produce tensions that are destabilizing to democratic regimes"
More or less you have two things going on. Large corporations have put out the small and medium sized businesses because they take advantage of economies of scale when it comes to production. Meanwhile, we've become so reliant on the major corporations that the government has been bailing out some of these entities when they threaten to fail, instead of letting them be. On the other end of the spectrum, you have growing social programs. You rarely see social cuts. All of that is spending and anti-capitalist, and it eventually will send our country to bankruptcy. No one is even threatening to put an end to either practice, because it won't get you elected.
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Re: “"Erased Voters' Gaffe May Force Changes by Election Commission”
Losing students to the MSDs will actually HELP the Unified System.
The TCP has already run the budget numbers, and even with the cuts they propose (many of which won't be accepted by the USB), the system will cost more combined than SCS and MCS cost separately.
By making the Unified District smaller, even though MSDs will be taking away funding, they will make the Unified District more affordable, because you'll be able to eliminate some of the need for layers of management. You'll be able to operate leaner than a Unified County District, more like the former MCS operated.
Sounds like a pretty good deal for the Unified District.
To clarify, I fully comprehend what you're saying about operating costs and the argument that can be made against ADA funding, but I'm just giving you the counter argument that it's being proven now that the Unified System brings diseconomies of scale, or penalties of scale, not economies of scale, so the smaller district will be more affordable for the county on a scale basis. I'm assuming a good lawyer for the state will bring those numbers forward if a lawyer for the county tries to use the budget argument against the MSD formation.
More or less, when you get over a certain size of school district, the more students you add, it increases the amount of cost per pupil required to operate. By decreasing the number of pupils in the county system, the cost per pupil required will go down as well. You may be talking about $11,000 per pupil to run a 150,000 student district and $10,000 per pupil to run a 100,000 student district.