Look Out, Herenton

In the wake of the arrest of Birmingham mayor Larry Langford, Gawker offered these words of wisdom:

"We're not saying the Bush Justice Department has been politicized, but the Bush Justice Department has been politicized. Also Langford is obviously corrupt as hell but so is Norm Coleman and no one will put him in jail, no matter how many impassioned, profanity-laced comments we leave on StarTribune.com.

Look: Black Democratic mayors across the country should just stop being corrupt for a while, until the new administration takes over and Justice transitions to caring about reading terrorists their rights or whatever."

Their headline: "With Just 50 Days to Go, Bush Still Collecting Black Democrat Indictments".

For more, click here.

Early voting Wednesday

Early voting starts tomorrow!

Generally, I don't use exclamation points (I prefer semi-colons, elegant dashes, the tried and true period), but that's how much I think of early voting. You can go when it's convenient for you; if you forget one day or it's raining, you can go the next; and the lines are nonexistent. Usually.

I like to head down to the Election Commission — might as well go straight to the source — but then again, I work downtown so it's very convenient.

Need a list of early voting sites? Click here.

Charter Changes?

Yesterday, I learned one thing very clearly: You do not mess with older women voters.

Or maybe just women, in general.

I went to a forum on the proposed amendments to the Memphis City and Shelby County charters (and sponsored by the League of Women Voters, Hadassah, and The Public Issues Forum). If you're interested in the proposals or, I don't know, going to be voting anytime soon, you should go to Change Memphis and read the explanations of each proposed change.

(I know that Flyer senior editor Jackson Baker has also written about some of the charter proposals, but I can't seem to unearth them on our website.)

The city charter amendments have to do with the sale of MLGW, instant run-offs, city residency requirements, and possible ethics violations by elected or appointed officials. Important stuff.

And the crowd at the forum was, for the most part, very respectful during the event. (There were a few people passing notes back and forth, which I take to be the exception.) But most people wrote their questions on index cards, passed them to the front, and listened quietly as forum organizers read them aloud and tried to answer them.

But then, when organizers tried to end the forum, all Hades started to break loose. Apparently, the index cards — once they made it to the front — were being sorted to weed out any duplication.

And one woman, not hearing her question asked, wanted it read and answered. Now. She was told she could come up to the front and ask it privately, but I guess she wanted all of us to hear the answer.

There was quite the hubbub. It was like the Picadilly had run out of lima beans during early bird hour.

Council AND Charter Commission Chair Myron Lowery, being a veteran of listening to the public, suggested her question be taken ... which, luckily, it was.

And then another woman spoke up to say that her question hadn't been read aloud or answered.

Finally, they decided to extend the forum to take any other questions. I'm not faulting these women: They had questions; the event was designed to answer questions; and dangit, their questions were going to be answered.

But I, for one, am not going to look at public forums the same way ever again.

Goodbye Republicans?

I don't generally talk politics at all (hi, Mom and Dad!), but I thought this piece on the "Vanishing Republican Voter" in the NYTimes magazine was interesting. In it, David Frum posits the more inequality a place has, the more to the left it leans.

And in a country that is becoming more and more unequal, that spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E for the G-O-P.

Here's a sample:

"My fellow conservatives and Republicans have tended not to worry very much about the widening of income inequalities. As long as there exists equality of opportunity — as long as everybody’s income is rising — who cares if some people get rich faster than others? Societies that try too hard to enforce equality deny important freedoms and inhibit wealth-creating enterprise. Individuals who worry overmuch about inequality can succumb to life-distorting envy and resentment.

All true! But something else is true, too: As America becomes more unequal, it also becomes less Republican. The trends we have dismissed are ending by devouring us."

Of course, Frum is trying to be warn Republicans before it's too late, but it's still interesting.

a new hope?

Fans of Greg Cravens, check out your local Flyer. His illustration for this week's "What They Said" is awesome. I don't want to ruin it, but let's just say he used the force.