Last week's Lexington column on The Economist's Web site explores President Barack Obama's growing problems with white male voters. To find some white male voters to illustrate these problems, the columnist went to a shop in Millington and asked the "white gentleman behind the counter" for his opinion of the president.

"He's a f------ n-----," came the reply. The shopkeeper then helpfully explained that he was "not bashful" about expressing his opinions.*

Mediaverse points out a related Lexington blog post in which the writer actually identifies the man who used the epithet.

The original post has plenty of interest besides that one quote, including a mention of the 8th District congressional race, in which the seat looks ready to flip from Democratic to Republican control for the first time in a couple of centuries.

* Caution: Lexington actually spells out the F- and N-words.

The Huffington Post has an interview today with Memphis indie filmmaker/actor Kentucker Audley, whose latest film, "Open Five," is set to screen in April. Audley is a leading figure in the so-called mumblecore movement, which the article describes as a "nascent film genre made by, about, and for navel-gazing, semi-articulate urban twenty-somethings." Audley produces his films on a shoestring budget, with little in the way of an actual script. He discusses his process and the mumblecore movement with Teddy Wayne of HuffPo.

I think I'll get sick of focusing on my life and the life of my peers, but maybe not. If my films stay as personal, I think that'll be an incredible process to watch all of us get older and deal with other issues. Marriage, family, health; getting to the age of marriage and family and not having them; to put my 35-year-old self under the microscope, my 45-year-old self.

The Detroit News reports today that Ron Banks, a member of '70s Stax/Volt act The Dramatics, died today at age 58. Though they were from Detroit, home of Motown, The Dramatics signed with the Memphis-based Stax family and recorded a handful of unforgettable hits, most notably "What You See Is What You Get" and "In the Rain." The former tune played over the opening credits of the 1973 documentary film "Wattstax," in which the Stax roster invaded the Los Angeles Coliseum for a concert that became known as the black Woodstock.

The other Dramatics say they will carry on without Banks:

"It caught us by surprise," said fellow Dramatic, L.J. Reynolds of Detroit. He said the group has gigs to fulfill, and they will perform, including a concert Saturday at the Westbury Music Festival in New York.

"We still have to go to New York tomorrow night," Reynolds said. "We have to go. The show must go on. If it was me I'd want them to go ahead and I'm sure he'd feel the same way. It'll be a long, silent ride there. But we'll take Ron's mike and put it up onstage, and let it stand there."

Via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Get Schooled blog:

The New York Times carried today a takeout on the Romeikes, the evangelical Christian family from Germany who sought and were granted* political asylum in the United States by a federal immigration judge in Memphis. The reason: They were homeschooling their children, and that's a no-no in Germany -- violators can face thousands of dollars in fines and even lose custody of their kids.

The Times reported on the contents of the decision by immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman of Memphis:

In a harshly worded decision, the judge, Lawrence O. Burman, denounced the German policy, calling it "utterly repellent to everything we believe as Americans," and expressed shock at the heavy fines and other penalties the government has levied on home-schooling parents, including taking custody of their children.

Describing home-schoolers as a distinct group of people who have a "principled opposition to government policy," he ruled that the Romeikes would face persecution both because of their religious beliefs and because they were "members of a particular social group," two standards for granting asylum.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has appealed the decision, according to The Times story.

Here's a story from the German news magazine Der Spiegel, though it appears most of the story was clipped from various wire services.


* Scroll way down to the last item.

The name Malcolm Fraser might not ring a bell for Memphians at first glance. But if I were to describe him as the former Australian prime minister who was involved in the notorious "Memphis Trousers Affair," that might help jog the old memory.

Fraser was about three years removed from his political career when he showed up in the lobby of the seedy Admiral Benbow Inn in Memphis in 1986. He was wearing only a towel, and was confused as to what had happened to his pants. The incident was widely reported, but was never explained. Now Fraser, who is 80, has released a new political memoir, but while there is plenty in the book about his controversial rise to power in 1975, there is nothing about the "Memphis Trousers Affair."

The incident was such a laugh in Australia that it actually inspired the name of a long-running TV show: "Roy & HG's Memphis Trousers Half Hour." Here's another little anecdote about the imbroglio from a veteran Australian journalist, writing in 2002:

It is 16 years since I last wrote about Malcolm Fraser. It was after he lost his trousers, and a lot more, at the Admiral Benbow Inn in Memphis, on October 14, 1986. Back then, when I called the former prime minister to tell him I had the Memphis story, there was a silence, then, after a few exchanges and another long pause, he said: "I wish I'd never been to bloody Memphis."

The region of Ayrshire in Scotland will celebrate next week the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley's only visit to the United Kingdom. It was only an hour stopover as Elvis flew from his military service in Germany back to the United States. The Herald has a story about the occasion, including some quotes from the official British Air Ministry photographer who was there that day:

"Every time I see or hear Elvis I'm immediately transported back to that night," says (Ian) Ghee, 75, who lives in Kilmarnock. "I really feel an affinity to him, although that's maybe slightly misplaced. I've had a lot of mileage out of that particular night."

The article notes the controversy over theater producer Bill Kenwright's revelation a couple years ago of Elvis' supposedly secret visit to London in 1958, and says a spokesman for Elvis Presley Enterprises denies that such a visit ever took place. That suits fine the town of Prestwick, which takes some pride in being the only spot of British soil on which The King trod.

In re. the fracas last week at a Chuck E. Cheese in Memphis, Richard Montenegro Brown of the Imperial Valley (Calif.) Press is not surprised:

It's not difficult to understand why a near riot broke out in a Memphis Chuck E Cheese this week after a man punched a woman in line at the photo booth. How there isn't some kind of violent assault at each and every restaurant throughout the country each and every minute it's open to the public baffles me.

UPDATE: I never imagined what a phenomenon this is. Violence is widespread at Chuck E. Cheese locations. A commenter passed along a link about a shots-fired brawl at a Chuck E. Cheese in Toledo, and my friend E.J. Friedman sent me a link to a 2008 Wall Street Journal story about fights at Chuck E. Cheeses all over the country ("Calling All Cars: Trouble at Chuck E. Cheese's, again").

Fights among guests are an issue for all restaurants, but security experts say they pose a particular problem for Chuck E. Cheese's, since it is designed to be a haven for children. Law-enforcement officials say alcohol, loud noise, thick crowds and the high emotions of children's birthday parties make the restaurants more prone to disputes than other family entertainment venues.

The New York Times had an interesting takeout Tuesday on Abdulhakim Muhammad, the Memphis native and convert to Islam who will stand trial in June for the deadly shooting at a military recruiting center last year in Little Rock.

This is the first story I have seen on the topic that delves into Muhammad's earlier years as Carlos Bledsoe, as well as his family. His parents reportedly were displeased by his conversion to Sunni Islam, and his father set up Muhammad with a job in Little Rock after the son returned from Yemen, where he had been jailed. The father, Melvin Bledsoe, wants shine a light on his son's radicalization, The Times reports:

Though he has hired a lawyer for his son, visits him in his cell in Little Rock on weekends and contributes to his defense, Mr. Bledsoe, 54, says he has no illusions about his son's guilt.

"My heart bleeds for the families of the victims," he said.

What he wants, Mr. Bledsoe says, is to understand how "evildoers" brainwashed his son, as he puts it. And he wants the F.B.I. held accountable for what he considers its negligence in preventing the attack.

"They didn't pull the trigger, but they allowed this to happen," Mr. Bledsoe said. "It is owed to the American people to know what happened. If it can happen to my son, it can happen to anyone's son."

As you ease your way into Valentine's Day weekend, consider this item from The Daily Beast, where a rating of America's 104 largest cities finds Memphis second from the bottom of the best "Cities to Find Love." Memphis got a D in the social life category -- measured by dividing the number of restaurants and bars by the number of over-21 adults -- and a big fat F in something called "emotional health." It's as silly and arbitrary as these city rankings come, but it's something to converse about this weekend.

So which hapless city came in dead last? Lexington, Ky., tarred with an F in each category except "divorce," in which it gets an A-plus. If you actually do find someone in Lexington, you won't be able to get rid of them, presumably. At Technorati, former Lexingtonian Todd Wright is glad that he now lives in Italy. But he's still ready to throw a little smack Memphis' way:

And you, Memphis, Tennessee: stop laughing! You weren't that far ahead of us. And we got your basketball coach.

Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee chairman and unsuccessful 2009 candidate for the Virginia governorship, is bidding with Memphis-based International Paper Corp. to buy a paper factory and turn it into a wood-fired power plant. This comes from the Washington Examiner via the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

IP plans to close the mill this year, throwing about 1,100 people out of work. McAuliffe hopes to create hundreds of green jobs, a point of emphasis in his bid last year for governor.

It was not immediately clear how many jobs the McAuliffe-led offer might generate. However, there was speculation it could ultimately produce about 1,000 jobs -- not just at the plant, but in related areas, such as harvesting trees as fuel.

Further, such a plant could link up with the power grid, perhaps selling electricity to Virginia's vast information-technology industry.

"I am interested in moving (the state) forward in green power ... to preserve and create jobs," said McAuliffe, who also is the head of an electric-car company that is considering building a factory in Virginia.

For more news about green jobs, sustainable living and more, check out Going Green, a new section of the digital edition of The Commercial Appeal. You can explore Going Green -- and the rest of the e-Appeal -- at no charge through the end of April. After that, the digital edition will be available for free to subscribers to the paper editions, or for just $10 a month for online-only access.

UPDATE: Anita Kumar of The Washington Post has more on this story. McAuliffe would be eligible for job-creation tax credits available under the administration of new Republican Gov. Bob McConnell.