tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post6106709938713409262..comments2024-02-17T05:13:24.552-05:00Comments on Tommy's Table: Start me upUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-71618179949046390922009-07-01T19:42:44.346-04:002009-07-01T19:42:44.346-04:00Maybe you could get together with Ann D. Helms and...Maybe you could get together with Ann D. Helms and interview some of the teachers who lost their jobs with CMS...especially the first year teachers who worked after school as tutors, earned standard and above standard on their performance evaluations, whose students raised their achievement scores, who have proper certification/licensure(In other words, did everything right). Find out how they feel about Teach for America "teachers" coming to work in CMS for 2 years without teaching credentials or education credits from college. Find out how they feel seeing teaching vacancies on the CMS website which are open to the public. Maybe ask them how they feel about losing their health insurance and paycheck, but still having to pay for their college loans for their education degree.<br />Just a thought...<br />PS Welcome back from Beantown!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-76333356506428971112009-07-01T14:55:47.907-04:002009-07-01T14:55:47.907-04:00Irish Stew: First, it's great to hear your voi...Irish Stew: First, it's great to hear your voice... second, I think the issue isn't infidelity as much as hypocrisy. Of course there's an undercurrent of moralizing that's part of all this, but to me, it's about breaking promises. If you can't keep the vows you made on your wedding day, how can people trust you to keep the promises you make to get into office? That's where I think a lot of the anger is coming from.<br /><br />On the other hand -- and there's always at least one other hand -- this is another case where you have to, so to speak, separate the artist from the art. If Mark Sanford were a truly effective governor, I suspect he'd have a lot better chance to survive. In a weird way, it's sort of like Michael Jackson -- at his death, most of us were willing to put aside his (possibly criminal) weirdness and focus on how good the music made people feel.<br /><br />There. I've now managed to merge the Mark Sanford story and the Michael Jackson story. I should probably just go ahead and retire now.tommy tomlinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11752617938310916911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-27088327648666668922009-07-01T10:10:00.140-04:002009-07-01T10:10:00.140-04:00Hey, Tommy, i'm hanging out at your table, in ...Hey, Tommy, i'm hanging out at your table, in between writing a rant about bluebottles and looking out of the window towards the west, where Boston lies, far over the Atlantic Ocean. Loving the columns. What i'd like to read about, from the perspective of being a European, is why the issue of fidelity is such a hot potato with the conservative American public? I can understand the hyprocritical angle - politican preaches family values blah critises Clinton blah - and is then caught out, but really, why does it matter? What has it got to do with the ability of a person to do their job? It's a little extreme as an example, but look at the circus unfolding right now in Italy, where Berlusconi is still surviving, depite being allegedly active in the romance department with women not his wife. And Mitterand, whose mistress and "love child" attended his funeral, along with his wife. Why is sexual fidelity in the US for people in the public eye apparently a requirement of office?Irish Stewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11116497375470122858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-76170874135635159202009-06-30T07:56:26.442-04:002009-06-30T07:56:26.442-04:00Tommy, help us understand why all the state cuts s...Tommy, help us understand why all the state cuts seem to be in education. Who else is towing the line, where are the other cuts, certainly there are other places the state can make some cuts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-79359510156143509652009-06-30T07:30:53.717-04:002009-06-30T07:30:53.717-04:00YEA, ANYBODY SICK YET OF ALL THIS MEDIA 24/7 BLITZ...YEA, ANYBODY SICK YET OF ALL THIS MEDIA 24/7 BLITZ OF THE DEAD BEANPOLE MJ TO SELL HIS TIRED WORN OUT CRAP? THOSE 3 SURROGATE WHITE KIDS WHO ARENT EVEN GENETICALLY HIS ARE FINALLY SAFE.<br />AND WHAT ABOUT MAMA JACKSON RUSHING OVER ON HER CELL PHONE DEMANDING TO THE NANNY "WHERE DID MICHAEL HIDE ALL HIS CASH?.. I KNOW HE GOT A BIG WAD HID IN THAT BIG HOUSE" ?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-4353293246618796592009-06-30T07:14:49.483-04:002009-06-30T07:14:49.483-04:00I was the very blessed recipient of a "poundi...I was the very blessed recipient of a "pounding" many years ago. I've also been lucky enough to be on the giving end. This in when a bunch of people get together and every gives a pound (or several pounds) of whatever they have. It can be to a new couple starting out, or a family having a hard time. Flour, sugar, canned goods, meat, oil, paper products, you name it. Mine were all in my small home-town Rock Hill church. There were a way of us loving and looking out for each other. I'm sure God smiled on them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-54402311225356949482009-06-30T06:42:44.600-04:002009-06-30T06:42:44.600-04:00Welcome back! What about Organ Donor Awareness? ...Welcome back! What about Organ Donor Awareness? With high profile folks getting them (Jerry Richardson, Steve Jobs), you would think donation would go up, but people are so cynical when someone wealthy is transplanted - suggesting they bought their way to a life saving miracle. We have been working and waiting for a year for a liver transplant for my husband. We need more donors!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-38773521603359573052009-06-29T21:26:06.282-04:002009-06-29T21:26:06.282-04:00Glad to see that more men are growing beards these...Glad to see that more men are growing beards these days (mee too!)...the clean "business look" is so bland. The Good Lord put hair on a man's face for a reason, and it wouldn't be growing there, if He didn't want us guys to show it off! Keep your beard, Tommy, it looks great. Maybe our next President will sport a beard as well....Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00499737006540662444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-25262412066774293972009-06-29T19:56:58.807-04:002009-06-29T19:56:58.807-04:00Another vote for how much your life has changed fo...Another vote for how much your life has changed for the better since you grew a beard. <br /><br />Imagine a world where we could drive down North Tryon Street and see men with beards instead of the feminine metrosexuals who get manicures and dye the tips of their hair.<br /><br />Actually, imagine a world where we could make a left-hand turn on to North Tryon Street.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-43632234972731918122009-06-29T16:55:44.641-04:002009-06-29T16:55:44.641-04:00These are some great ideas -- the Great Charlotte ...These are some great ideas -- the Great Charlotte Theory (growth conquers all) is definitely being put to the test now. Well worth writing about and I'll figure out some ways to get a hand in.<br />To some specific thoughts/questions: <br />11:48 -- We don't have to bring our own TP, but no doubt, it's quieter in our newsroom. A newsroom should never be quiet.<br />2:02 -- I'm pretty sure we've been going pretty strong on the David Cerullo story... check out our coverage here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/inspiration/<br />3:53 -- I'm not sure what a "pounding" is... none of the ideas I can come up with are appetizing.<br />2:58 -- "You were gone?" Best line of the day.tommy tomlinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11752617938310916911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-29386031333086463152009-06-29T16:52:11.337-04:002009-06-29T16:52:11.337-04:00good stuff in your previous articles..nice followi...good stuff in your previous articles..nice following as well, duly bookmarked column<br /><br />poke some fun at Barney Frank,<br /><br />uh no pun intended.<br /><br /><br />Looks like you have been gone awhile <br />tell us how things have changed in your opinion since you've been gone.Algernonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15295015805726494828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-8994147225301140942009-06-29T16:40:30.001-04:002009-06-29T16:40:30.001-04:00Tommy,
Welcome back. Why not write about how ang...Tommy,<br /><br />Welcome back. Why not write about how angry people are because of the back-breaking taxes we already have and our idiot governor trying to add $1.5 billon more. Clueless.<br /><br />The story above the fold in Sunday's Gaston Gazette was that they are going to start having cops in the tax office because citizens are so angry and irate they are threatening and cursing the Zaccheus crowd in the tax office there. <br /><br />Bet the same thing is going on in Mecklenburg.<br /><br />People are angry and frustrated and they feel so powerless against a government that appears to have turned on its own citizens.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-65593439767868114922009-06-29T16:29:47.569-04:002009-06-29T16:29:47.569-04:00from one bearded man to another - how about writin...from one bearded man to another - how about writing how your decision to grow facial hair has affected you...esp now that you're back down south. i swear you and i are the only two people in charlotte with facial hair.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-60533323097475705742009-06-29T16:05:58.334-04:002009-06-29T16:05:58.334-04:00Tommy:
I'll join the chorus in welcoming you ...Tommy:<br /><br />I'll join the chorus in welcoming you back. As for topics, I always enjoyed how you alternated between writing about people & things that were in the headlines, and people & things that weren't in the headlines. Call out the people who need to be called out and give cudos to those who deserve them.<br /><br />For a more lighthearted fare, write about your time in Boston vs. life in the South.<br /><br />Welcome back.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-88553721481917278342009-06-29T15:57:57.465-04:002009-06-29T15:57:57.465-04:00So glad to see you back! I want to know when your...So glad to see you back! I want to know when your book based on your columns is being published - my scrapbook is getting full. You can write about big stuff, you can write about small stuff, but your viewpoint is one I will always want to read. Sorry, Boston, he's ours!smoky scouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08142614926628949343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-87865083504135292442009-06-29T15:53:08.815-04:002009-06-29T15:53:08.815-04:00Tommy,
Apparently a lot of folks aren’t aware tha...Tommy,<br /><br />Apparently a lot of folks aren’t aware that Mary Newsom, Fannie Flono and other Observer staffers already cover in their own blogs or in the printed newspaper many of the topics mentioned above. Instead, we need you to explain Southern Culture to us newcomers. For example:<br /><br />1. Why do Southern kids call their grandmas “MeMaw”? (Where did that come from? Is that name reserved for the maternal or paternal grandparent? Is the proper name for a great grandmother MeMeMaw? Is a MeMaw the same thing as a Ya-Ya?)<br /><br />2. My neighbors have invited me to a “pounding” for their newlywed daughter and son-in-law. I realize they don’t care much for the jerk who married their sainted daughter, but why ask me to watch him get his comeupance?<br /><br />3. My boss told me he has a place on the river, and that I’m welcome to come there fishing anytime. That’s nice, but I’d much rather go to one of the lakes around here. I mean, how does one troll for muskies on one of the tiny rivers around here? There are muskies here, aren’t there? And what the heck are crappies? We had croppies where I came from, and theye were good eating.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-73163582309377215772009-06-29T15:43:34.740-04:002009-06-29T15:43:34.740-04:00How about what's going on with the visual arts...How about what's going on with the visual arts scene this past year with the downturn the economy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-36843546451684749352009-06-29T15:33:14.726-04:002009-06-29T15:33:14.726-04:00While there are many perspectives that could be di...While there are many perspectives that could be discussed about the unemployment situation, I'd be interest in how boomers are having to reinvent themselves due to inability to find a job in the former field.Bobby Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07905986425954078467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-7896043459362236522009-06-29T15:25:32.933-04:002009-06-29T15:25:32.933-04:00so far, it looks like there are at least a few of ...so far, it looks like there are at least a few of us who are in favor of looking into the charlotte equation: development + lower taxes = increased tax base and better quality of life which equals a more appealing environment to attract businesses.<br />C'mon, who thought that up and how long is it going to be force fed?!?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-57715379462657459302009-06-29T15:12:03.475-04:002009-06-29T15:12:03.475-04:00http://www.geofftech.co.uk/iblog/2009/06/29/8-real...http://www.geofftech.co.uk/iblog/2009/06/29/8-realityAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-81505212302402726592009-06-29T15:09:39.641-04:002009-06-29T15:09:39.641-04:00Welcome back. Now rip that new Jim Bakker, the Ins...Welcome back. Now rip that new Jim Bakker, the Inspiration networks guy with the 2,000 foot screen porch. Unbelievable; it's happening again!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-44534460413548324362009-06-29T15:05:18.675-04:002009-06-29T15:05:18.675-04:00I'd like to see a column on why Charlotte city...I'd like to see a column on why Charlotte city and county government officials are always pushing for growth as a means of "growing" our tax base; yet we are continually told that, because of "growth," new infrastructure requirements, etc., necessitate increased expenditures and higher taxes and fees (example: water and storm water run-off rate increases). Since increased population also results in other costs such as reduced air quality, more traffic congestion, noise polution, etc., how about a column explaining why growth is good if it does not carry with it reduced costs to the taxpayers as a result of economies of scale. Or, why Charlotte never realizes economies of scale that would result in lower taxes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-61318600893948303052009-06-29T14:58:39.639-04:002009-06-29T14:58:39.639-04:00You were gone?You were gone?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-39424766970382699552009-06-29T14:50:07.699-04:002009-06-29T14:50:07.699-04:00It would be great to do an update on the Southend ...It would be great to do an update on the Southend projects that were going to make Charlotte blossom into something more than a little southern town (sarcasm) and now have left us with eye sore after eye sore of banners for condos. Silos at Southend, Dharma Lounge. Local Dive Bar are just a few.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25620415.post-63232314856780171612009-06-29T14:44:45.885-04:002009-06-29T14:44:45.885-04:00To loosely quote from the the Movie, "Escape ...To loosely quote from the the Movie, "Escape from New York"; "Tommy Tomlinson, I've heard of you! I heard you were dead!" No lie, imagine my surprise, to see you back on the Observer. I mean it's really good to see you back on the paper. Wow. I'm going to try and remember who told me that damned nonsense.......Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com