Love-Hate Mail

Twice in one year!
A few months ago, I picked up a Scene and flipped right to the restaurant reviews section because I really like knowing what's going on with our local restaurants and chefs. Instead of anything local however, there was a review about Ruby Tuesday's menu change ("Tennessee-based Ruby Tuesday gets a makeover, and the results are surprisingly good," May 7).

Although I was pretty irritated, I just rolled my eyes and thought to myself "Carrington Fox is probably the worst food writer ever. I mean really, who writes about chain restaurants?"

Now however, I am not going to keep quiet.

Shoney's ("Once a beloved brand, Shoney's takes aim at a comeback with new look and menu," Aug. 27)?! Are you kidding me?

There are so many amazing restaurants and chefs in Nashville and you are writing about a corporate chain restaurant?

Local (non-chain) places are closing left and right because of the bad economy, and I really feel the least thing Nashville's "food writer" could do is review them, remind the public that these places are all over our town, and really good food is coming out of them.

Reviewing Shoney's is an embarrassment to yourself and reflects extremely poorly on the entire Nashville culinary scene, which struggles enough as it is.

Now chefs around town can't even rely on the local free paper to help bring out-of-towners (or in-towners for that matter) to their restaurants.

Ms. Fox, I would like to give you some advice, if you expect anybody in the Nashville restaurant/culinary scene to respect you at all, you should probably stop writing about chain restaurants and make people believe you actually care about your local non-chain restaurants and chefs.

A Nashville Chef Supporter

Naming names
Thanks for getting to the heart of the Blue Dogs phenomenon ("Even as theater, town-hall shouting matches over health-care reform are turning into a major pain," Aug. 27). Real Democrats are truly reaching a point where they indeed seem "disloyal." Obviously, insurance companies don't want the public option, and I believe they will use all the money and influence they can to stop it.What about an interview with Congressman Steve Cohen to get another point of view? He is not in Nashville, but he has spent lots of time there as a longtime member of the Tennessee State Senate and certainly would offer a different view as the only non-Blue Dog representative from Tennessee.I would also reference the comments in the "Love/Hate Mail" relative to Blue Dogs, but I continue to object to the use of opinion pieces in your publication without a real name attached. If I can't sign my name to my own opinion, it is not worth much, if anything.

Steve Cates
Murfreesboro

Right-wing damage
These far-right wingers disrupting the Town Halls (Town Hells) don't even realize they are being used as corporate shills ("Even as theater, town-hall shouting matches over health-care reform are turning into a major pain," Aug. 27). I'm pretty sure none of them are very wealthy, have insurance, or if they do, haven't been denied care if or when they get gravely ill. They do not realize that they are acting like idiots against their own self-interests.

This goes a long way to show that our educational system is in deep distress.

It also goes to show that the FCC needs to put up some tight regulations on the corporate MSM owners who spew forth hateful, scare-mongering propaganda. What a mistake it was to deregulate the MSM and let them have a monopoly on all that some people choose to watch or listen to. I suppose when they did deregulate, they never realized they'd get a monster like Murdoch and his cronies.

Is it even possible for the right wing to act like Christians (they always claim they are) and do what Jesus would do? That is, help the least among us. Give to Caesar what is his, give to God what he commands.

What a bunch of hypocrites!

Mary B.
Antioch

Politician, heal thyself
"Wouldn't you think you'd be a little more educated about your own profession?" —Jim Cooper ("What's the Uproar, Docs," Aug. 27).

I spent 12 years getting educated about my profession. Four years of college, four years of medical school, and four years of training and residency prior to private practice. Much of that time was 60 to 90 hour weeks. And it wasn't like those TV shows either.

In addition to the 12 long years of education, physicians in Tennessee (myself included) do at the minimum 20 hours of continuing medical education a year. But honestly, most of do more.

We subscribe to and read our specialty journals and attend meetings and conferences throughout the year. And before anybody starts talking about luxury trips to Hawaii, I'm talking about meetings in hospital conference rooms and lecture halls.

You do have the option of combining family vacation with out-of-town medical education, but I'd rather devote my vacation time to friends and family. But enough about me, tell me about your education about my profession, Jim Cooper.

Dave
Nashville

Tell it like it is
I think that maybe [Jim Cooper] could have phrased things a little differently. At the same time, some of what he said was true. I think that there's a major problem as far as people not telling it like it is. Everyone is so afraid. It's time to wake up people and see things for what they really are. I do think it will hurt his campaign because people don't know how to react to those kind of things. Everyone is kind of robotic. There's too many people out there who are afraid to be so honest. They take it wrong.

April
Clarksville