See the CA article here for the story.
In short, the Shelby County Commission has decided to choose a religious group to provide family planning. A religious group that not only won’t provide abortions, or refer patients to someone who will perform an abortion, they also won’t administer “emergency contraceptive”, meaning the morning after pill.
I’m honestly dumbfounded that the so called leaders of this city have decided that people in need of family planning should be preached at, as opposed to educated and cared for. I’m the kind of illogical asshole that likes my medical care without dogma, how silly was I to assume that public policy would reflect that? Impregnated by a rapist? Well, we won’t give you an abortion, but we will suggest that you ask our sky fairy for magic help.
Public policy needs to be based on reason and fact, not feelings and faith. Abortion is a legal medical procedure. Any organization that aspires to hold a government contract in the area of family planning needs to present all options and perform all medical procedures, not just the ones it agrees with or likes. Not just the ones that make them feel warm and fuzzy inside. Not just the ones that fit into the narrow world view defined by their archaic religious beliefs.
I wonder how worked up people would be if the contract had gone to Jewish Community Health Services or Islamic Community Health Services.
Organizations funded by public money, especially in the area of health care, should fucking never be religious organizations with an agenda. This is the kind of backward shit that makes the population of the south look like a bunch of waterhead fuckarounds.
Posted by Sig on 10.18.2011 at 1:54 am// Tagged: Memphis, rant //
12 Comments »
And they are awesome, I’m absolutely addicted. The flavor is kinda hard to explain, so I can only suggest you give them a try yourself, you won’t regret it.
City Market
66 S. Main (at Union)
Posted by Sig on 10.02.2011 at 11:18 pm// Tagged: Food, Memphis //
2 Comments »
The facebook page is up, but I don’t believe they have a proper website yet. Excerpted from a message he sent me:
The Grand Opening will be Trolley Night September 30th. The Cuisine will be southern inspired diner fare with my fine dining twists and interpretations. Lunch 11 to 2:30 Tuesday through Friday. Dinner 5 to 10:00 weeknights Monday through Saturday, 5 to 11 Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday Day. I see no one is open Monday night down here so i want to offer all the people I have seen pulling on doors and looking in windows a opportunity to dine somewhere. The price point at lunch will from $6.00 to $11.00 range most items right at $8.00 with a few sandwiches, meat & 3 options and healthy salads. Dinner will be more on the elegant side of diner style cuisine but with a price point of $16.00 dollars to $22.00. House made desserts. We will have a wine and beer permit in the month to come.
Now, I think my track record of blatant (ok, maybe sometimes I’m an asshole) honesty speaks for itself, but I’ll be blunt; I don’t suggest you go to Rizzo’s because I like Michael Patrick (I do). I don’t suggest you go there because he’s been the head chef of the best restaurants in Memphis (he has), and I don’t suggest you go there because it will be the next “Hot new place” (it will).
I suggest you go eat there because Chef Patrick has, in recent memory, always worked for someone else. He’s always been somewhat limited by the vision and theme of someone else. He’s had to craft a menu to fit the theme of someone else’s restaurant, and he’s made some fucking amazing food in spite of those limitations. Now he has none of those constraints. It’s his vision, his menu, his food, as he wants it to be, without any meddling from anyone else.
If that’s not worth trying, I don’t know what is.
Posted by Sig on 09.25.2011 at 2:17 am// Tagged: Entertainment, Food, Memphis //
2 Comments »
From : http://whitehaven.wmctv.com/news/people/60395-census-data-memphis-ranks-poorest-city-united-states
(WMC-TV) – Sobering new statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau rank Memphis as the poorest city in the nation. The data characterizes metropolitan Memphis as a socioeconomic nightmare.
In fact, according to the data, one in every five people in metropolitan Memphis lives in poverty.
“My understanding is that we’re actually better than we were last year, it’s just that other cities improved more,” said Dr. Jeff Wallace, an economic expert at the University of Memphis.
The survey covers more than 40 topics, including education, income, health insurance coverage, occupation and living expenses.
Memphis’ poverty ranking is a full two percentage points ahead of second place New Orleans and the three remaining communities that make up the top five.
Wallace said the city is feeling the long term effects of decades of segregation within government and schools.
“It’s not necessarily the fault of the schools, but it is a community-wide problem and one that we’re going to face for many years to come,” he said.
Wallace also cited a low cost job market with an undereducated workforce.
“If you are only offering cheap labor, there’s always somewhere else in the world that offers cheaper labor,” he said.
And while Wallace believes the data identifies the problem, the solution could be decades away.
“We definitely have to improve opportunities one way or another for our minority population here,” he said. “If we don’t do that we’ll never succeed.”
10-year census figures will be out soon, and Wallace expects those to reflect the same poor ranking.
You can read the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey here:http://www.census.gov/acs/www/
Photo courtesy Flickr user Sean Davis.
Copyright 2011 WMC-TV. All rights reserved.
It’s time to either fix shit or burn it down. If we don’t want to be the next Detroit, we need to invest heavily in education. If we can’t come up with an education system that is capable of offering a competitive education, we’re fucked.
So we’re probably fucked.
Posted by Sig on 09.24.2011 at 2:18 am// Tagged: Memphis //
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gplus.to/mikelsigler
I’m about to redo the look of this site as well as add some features when I get a chance, until then, add me on google plus.
Posted by Sig on 09.21.2011 at 8:14 pm// Tagged: Internet //
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Yes, yes it is. I had to test it again last night, you know, just to be sure.
Posted by Sig on 09.16.2011 at 2:01 pm// Tagged: Food, Memphis //
2 Comments »
Resizing and cleaning up pics, I’ll post a ton hopefully tomorrow.
Posted by Sig on 08.26.2011 at 3:48 am// Tagged: Uncategorized //
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Why have I never tried this before? It’s the basic club fare on a croissant, but for some reason it’s way better than it should be. I’m guessing the freshness and quality of ingredients plays a big role in that. Either way, give it a shot.
Posted by Sig on 06.18.2011 at 7:15 am// Tagged: Uncategorized //
1 Comment »
Yesterday’s storm took down the tree outside Sam’s Burgers.
Posted by Sig on 06.14.2011 at 3:33 am// Tagged: Memphis //
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In a revision to a previous bill regarding harassment, the new law would make it illegal to “transmit or display” an image that would be “reasonably offensive” to a person. I had intended to address the constitutionality of the law, pointing out how it’s far too broad and far reaching, but I decided that this was a better way to express my feelings:
Fuck you.
Posted by Sig on 06.12.2011 at 5:18 am// Tagged: Uncategorized //
10 Comments »
