OPINIONS
Lynn Spruill: Maggie's journey
Her name is Maggie and she is my oldest. She got her name from the street of her first home in Atlanta; Margaret Mitchell Drive. She is as independent and cantankerous as can be and has been accused of being just like me which all in all is OK with me.
Voice of the people: Cameron Triplett
Our view: City's policies are an insult to the people
A few months ago, we paused to reflect on the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which included the inspiring line: "...this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Our view: Less-intrusive when it suits them
If you were to poll our state legislators, you would find that the vast majority embrace the conservative tenets of small, less-intrusive government based on a strong belief in individual liberty.
Susan Estrich: So much for the new Russia
It didn't take very long for the smiling sports fan cheering in the Olympic stands to revert to his true nature. I'm referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the former KGB leader whose idea of diplomacy is sending in the troops.
Froma Harrop: Who belongs downtown?
Many American cities now enjoy an amazing reversal of fortune. Once hollowed-out shells mainly for those too poor to move -- or those so rich they didn't have to deal with the poor -- cities are again filling up with educated and aspiring young people.
Thomas Sowell: Freedom is not free
There may be something to the claim that all people want to be free. But it is a demonstrable fact that freedom has been under attack, usually successfully, for thousands of years.
Slimantics: Skin in the game
February was a big month for me. On Feb. 3, I became a grandfather. Lily Elaine Smith weighed just four-pounds, four-ounces. She came three weeks early. If she were a fish, we probably would have released her.
Our view: Say 'No' to non-quorum meetings
There was likely nothing sinister involved in the series of four non-quorum meetings the city council has held over the past month. The meetings, divided into two separate meetings with different council members attending each, allow the city to meet without advising the public and without either the public or media present.
Charlie Mitchell: Cochran camp taking lessons from Indiana ambush
Two years ago, citizens of the great state of Indiana had every reason to believe that Richard Lugar, their U.S. senator for 36 years, would be re-elected. But an ambush took place in the primary. The veteran Republican went down in flames. What happened?
Froma Harrop: Take me to the Mardi Gras
This year, two big dress-up events fall in the same week. But the Academy Awards and Mardi Gras couldn't be more different. At the Hollywood party, the common people are supposed to venerate the stars. In Mardi Gras, the commoners are the stars.
Ask Rufus: The magnolia flag
Last week a magnolia flag was posted on a Columbus Facebook page with a question about its history. Several people commented on what an attractive flag it was but knew nothing about it. What is the Magnolia Flag?
Possumhaw: Crushing cracker boxes
The first time we met I was mesmerized by the whiteness of his hair and the blueness of his eyes. The corners of his eyes drifted into tiny lines that caused his eyes to sparkle, though no more so than his smile.
Leonard Pitts: Welcome to the new normal
President Clinton? Maybe, if Democratic voters have their way. While the Republican faithful are split between a number of contenders and not particularly enthusiastic about any of them, a new poll finds Democrats overwhelmingly united behind a Hillary Clinton candidacy for 2016. A commanding 82 percent of the party, according to the CBS News/New York Times poll, wants to see her run.
Hob Bryan: Pay increase for teachers should be priority
As the state budget works its way through the Legislature, the news is not good for Mississippi taxpayers. As things stand, we risk losing our best teachers and state workers, all the while giving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to everyone from shopping centers to multi-state corporations.
Birney Imes: To wake a sleeping bear
Not everyday do you run up on someone who has crawled into a bear's den, roused its hibernating inhabitant, jabbed him with a sharp stick ... and lived to tell about it. Craig Jamison is one such person, and if you were among the 800 or so folks at the wild game dinner at Fairview Baptist Thursday night, you heard his story.
Kathleen Parker: Obama's best hope for change
President Obama's new outreach initiative to help at-risk boys of color -- "My Brother's Keeper" -- is cause for cheer. It isn't that we haven't known for some time that minority boys are in trouble. Poor school performance, truancy, delinquency and, ultimately, high incarceration rates cannot be separated from the absence of fathers in many homes. Out-of-wedlock births are at 72 percent in the African American community and 53 percent among Latinos, compared with 29 percent among non-Hispanic whites.
Charles Krauthammer: Putin's Ukraine gambit
Henry Kissinger once pointed out that since Peter the Great, Russia had been expanding at the rate of one Belgium per year. All undone, of course, by the collapse of the Soviet Union, which Russian President Vladimir Putin called "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century."
Our view: City, LINK should have learned from their break-up
Columbus City officials and LINK officials agreed Wednesday to work together in bringing retail development to the city, a partnership that can best be described an "off again, on again" relationship.
Most Viewed Opinion Stories
1. Our view: City's policies are an insult to the people DISPATCH EDITORIALS
2. Lynn Spruill: Maggie's journey LOCAL COLUMNS
3. Voice of the people: Cameron Triplett LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (VOICE@CDISPATCH.COM)
CATFISH ALLEY MAGAZINE
Catfish Alley Magazine features the
people, places, food and events we
all love about the South. Visit
catfishalleymag.com for details.
READ OUR SPECIAL SECTIONS ONLINE
(Publications will be opened in a new window)
Holiday Shopping Guide 2013
Best of the Triangle 2013
2014 Auto Preview
Catfish Alley Magazine | East Mississippi Jobs
662-328-2424 | PO Box 511, Columbus, MS 39703-0511
Copyright 2010 The Commercial Dispatch Publishing Company
Privacy Policy & Terms of Use
