No one can say that we were lax in urging Governor Bill Haslam to find some way to come to terms with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Tennessee, with its large lower-income population and a financially threatened hospital network, needs to take advantage of the billion or so federal dollars that come annually with Medicaid […]
Posted inLetters To The Editor, Opinion
What They Said (January 8, 2015) …
Greg Cravens About Chris Shaw’s “Interview With Hi-Tone’s New Owner” … Just please keep it weird. If that place starts stinking of patchouli, I’m gonna be ticked. Devron About Bruce VanWyngarden’s column, “A Merry Little Christmas” … Humbug! Given the assumption that this incident should inform us of something, I wonder if “Christmas spirit” prevailing […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Call Us Pollyanna …
Attentive readers will have noticed that the current issue of the Flyer is devoted to variations on that annual chestnut, the New Year’s resolution. Our staffers have searched their souls (and reserves of will power) to provide examples of this eternal urge to be made new and better than ever (and to expunge undesirable habits) purely through […]
Posted inLetters To The Editor, Opinion
What They Said (December 25, 2014) …
Greg Cravens About Joe Boone’s music feature, “Venerable Studio Changes Hands” … What did they do with the hundreds of pictures of Sai Baba that were hanging everywhere? Yeah Man About Steve Steffans’ Viewpoint, “Southern Democrats: Down, Not Dead” … I’m going to get this article tattooed to my forehead so I don’t have to […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Light in the Legislative Tunnel
Okay, so what happened to gridlock? In Washington, there was the passage of the so-called “Cromnibus” spending bill, which provides safe passage for $1 trillion in federal expenditures through 2015. No showdowns, no filibusters or cloture battles, no threats to shut down the government. Granted, there are some objectionable provisions, and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) […]
Posted inLetters To The Editor, Opinion
What They Said (December 18, 2014) …
Greg Cravens About Toby Sells’ story, “Tracking Trolleys” … Dear Santa (All We Want for Christmas) It’s our most favorite form of public transport, Not a carriage horse with a whinny or a snort. Not an Uber or Lyft or even a cab, Scampering to hop in after paying a tab. We could cruise along […]
Posted inLetters To The Editor, Opinion
What They Said (December 11, 2014) …
Greg Cravens About Jackson Baker’s Politics column, “State Democrats Down But Not Out” … Oh, what a sad, sorry spectacle is the Tennessee Democratic party. No doubt, they realize now they need to be even more conservative if they have any hope of delivering the first absolute majority in the Re-unreconstructed Confederacy. But I do […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Good Start for Lee Harris
Say this for Lee Harris: The man gathers no moss. The University of Memphis law professor and state senator-elect from District 29 is still keeping his City Council seat warm, a participant in every significant debate and hands-on in every decision reached there. And, though he doesn’t formally begin his new job as state Senate […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Preaching to the Choir
As they do annually at year’s end, the members of the Shelby County legislative delegation held their annual meeting with city and county officials and with representatives of other local interests, Tuesday. This year’s venue was the Pink Palace on Central Avenue — a gorgeous reminder of Memphis history that, appropriately (or ironically) enough, began […]
Posted inLetters To The Editor, Opinion
What They Said (December 4, 2014) …
About Derek Haire’s Viewpoint, “Playing the Bike Card” … Thank you for a very well-written rebuttal to Wendi C. Thomas. I didn’t know what “intersectionality” was until I read your article. I am not a sociologist. The only thing I came away with from Thomas’ article is the same thing I’ve come away thinking from […]
Posted inLetters To The Editor, Opinion
What They Said (November 27, 2014)…
Greg Cravens About Toby Sells’ story, “West Memphis Plans for Big River Crossing”… The exhibit will include a trailer park, a working Walmart, and real live tornado damage. Jeff About Wendi C. Thomas’ column, “Bicycle Bias”… This is what the discussion on bicycles has boiled down to? Race? CL_Mullins About the continuing lack of trolleys […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
After Ferguson …
St. Louis Public Radio We are tempted to say there are no easy answers. Or is that too easy an answer? As we go to press, in the wake of a Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, chaos has descended once more on Ferguson, […]