Election Results ::

There will be run-offs in October in both New Hope and Huntsville.

Tommy Battle and Loretta Spencer will go at it again. Although I was pulling for Tommy Battle I expected Spencer to handily win so I guess my major endorsement of Battle must have done some good!

I voted around 6pm at New Hope city hall and I was surprised at the size of the crowd out front when I rounded the curve. Apparently friends and relatives of those running for office were out in force. Jason Smith will face John Lee Howard in October.

Election Day ::

Time for voting in local elections. I've been watching this young guy, Jason Smith, running for mayor of New Hope. I've lived down here for about 15 months so I don't know much about the local politics, but this kid (he's pretty young, at least compared to me) seems to have heart. Yesterday evening I had to run J.to work and he was standing out by the road, in the pouring rain, campaigning.

Yep, Jason Smith in New Hope gets my endorsement for mayor!

Of course, I can't vote in Huntsville any more, but I will endorse Tommy Battle for the office. Maybe that would signal an end to the "good old boy" politics in Huntsville although I doubt it.

No matter what, get out and vote. I make it a point to vote in all elections no matter how trivial or inconsequential!

Dining Out ::

We don't get out often, but yesterday I had a few extra bucks and I had a hankering for some crawfish so we took off for Crawmamma's in Guntersville. The appetizer was fried alligator tail and the entree was crawfish, steamed oysters, steamed mussels, corn and cajun boiled potatoes. It was good!

I hadn't eaten there in years and it used to be called Crawdaddies. Crawdaddie opened a second location up at Goosepond outside Scottsboro and somewhere along the way there was a crawdivorce with Crawmamma getting the location in Guntersville while Crawdaddie kept the Goosepond location.

The food didn't suffer!

Troy King: Kill The Wabbit, Kill The Wabbit ::

h/t to Loretta for leading me to this bit on Huffington Post about The King's crusade against sex toys. Here are a couple of excerpts:

Mr. Troy King, Republican Attorney General of Alabama, will soon be out rabbit hunting himself, by his own testimony, and he doesn't have to worry about it being the off-season. The rabbit he will be gunning for is a mechanical one, namely, the vibrator Rabbit.

What is the habitat of this rabbit, and why does this attorney general (who has, among other things, an extremely high rate of violent crime in his state to worry about) have it in his sights? For those of you who may be unfamiliar with such matters, it is essentially a vibrating dildo atop which sits a small rubber rabbit, complete with tiny, upright ears, which also vibrates when the device is running. The little rabbit's purpose, to be direct, is to stimulate the clitoris, while the other part of the device provides internal pleasure. The device produces intense orgasms, and it produces them quickly, and, if desired, in rapid succession.

[snip]

To what else may Mr. Troy King devote his time and energy if his rabbit hunt comes a cropper? Well, for one thing, since his days in college (when he frequently wrote impassioned letters to the student newspaper on the subject) he has been a dogged and rabid anti-homosexual agitator, and continuing that effort could be consuming. For another, revealingly, his wife recently caught him in bed--their bed--with a younger, rival sex partner (and banished him from their home, reportedly). King had to resign from his position as John McCain's Alabama campaign chair.

Now, to be fair, the allegation that The King is gay is an unfounded rumor at this time although he has not seen fit to comment on the allegation one way or another, but I'm a firm believer in the old adage that "where there's smoke there's fire!"!

Come on Troy. 'Fess up!

Yard Sign

I was driving through a subdivision in the northeast section of the county yesterday and what did I see but a Vivian Figures yard sign! I hadn't considered it before, but I got to thinking that I don't remember seeing a Session sign anywhere which means that for the next couple of months I'll have to exercise my peripheral vision while driving.

The Friday Afternoon Redneck Survey ::

Once more I drove through the lanes of the Sutton Rd. Wal-Mart (Hampton Cove area) and I saw no McCain bumper stickers. I also saw no Obama bumper stickers, but I have been trying to watch the traffic in the past few days and I only remember seeing 1 McCain sticker.

Is it just too early or is there just so little enthusiasm here in north Alabama?

I plan to be out of town for a few days, but I'll try to do the redneck survey in Camden and Columbia, South Carolina when I'm up there. Given the time I'll make a day trip to Gastonia, North Carolina to see the middle daughter, but I'm going to keep my eyes open for bumper stickers for either candidate and keep some sort of running count. Stay tuned for the rest of the story!

Parker Griffith Event Reminder

[update from Jason]

We have canceled the yard sign distribution as a courtesy to our municipal candidates. We will reschedule for later in the month, following the municipal elections. Thanks for your support.

Hi to everyone. We are organizing a district wide yard sign distribution for next Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th. I am still working out all of the details, but I wanted to get the word out quickly to all. We will need an immense volunteer effort to really make this a reality. We would like to paint the district red with Parker Griffith signs in one weekend. Please call me or email me and let me know your availability for next weekend. We appreciate any amount of time you can give us. Also, please help us spread the word to others who wouldn't mind putting a few yard signs up in their neighborhoods or communities. Thanks again for your help and your support. I look forward to seeing you all.

Contact information:

justin@griffithforcongress.com
www.griffithforcongress.com

Dan Calls It Quits! ::

The Daily Dixie is shut down for now, but I'll bet that Dan will be back before November. I certainly understand how he feels and I have felt the same as the enthusiasm and content waned in the ups and downs of blogging. My energy level has been low lately and I have a great deal of respect for Mooncat who seems to have a boundless blogging energy level.

Take a rest and recharge, Dan. We'll be waiting!

Web Outage? ::

I'm having trouble connecting to a host of web sites although some are fine.

Looking For McCain Bumper Stickers ::

I noted last Sunday that I had just seen my first McCain bumper sticker, but a commenter said that I must be driving around with my eyes closed if I had not seen more so I did a redneck survey this morning in the local Wal-Mart parking lot. I drove up and down each lane of parked cars and never saw a McCain bumper sticker. Truth be told, neither did I see any Obama bumper stickers, but that was not the challenge.

Maybe it's just too early in the election season, or, perhaps, everyone is already jaded.

Obamaroo In Huntsville ::

As usual I missed Thursday's mention of this in The Huntsville Times. Here is information:

Obamaroo, a fundraiser for the Illinois senator, will feature nine acts that range from bluegrass to folk to rock 'n' roll.

Bimini Road, Married in a Fever, The National Trust, Group 6, Jay Plizer, Tim Tucker and the Uh Huh's, Zac, Dragon Master and Andrew Michael are set to play.

Tickets are $10. The music starts at 4 p.m.

All proceeds will go to the Obama campaign.

I think I will be able to make some of the early hours showing my support for the Obama campaign. Hope to see you there.

[update] As it turnes out I think I overdid weekly yard activities and overheated myself a bit. I felt poorly and stretched out on the couch for a while, but I hope that this is not the last of the local Obama festivities!

Parker Griffith Campaign Looking For Some Volunteers ::

Next Saturday and Sunday, August 9th and 10th.

Hi to everyone. We are organizing a district wide yard sign distribution for next Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th. I am still working out all of the details, but I wanted to get the word out quickly to all. We will need an immense volunteer effort to really make this a reality. We would like to paint the district red with Parker Griffith signs in one weekend. Please call me or email me and let me know your availability for next weekend. We appreciate any amount of time you can give us. Also, please help us spread the word to others who wouldn't mind putting a few yard signs up in their neighborhoods or communities. Thanks again for your help and your support. I look forward to seeing you all.

I should be able to give some time as I have already been in touch with the campaign looking for yard signs. If you can help out contact Justin at:

justin@griffithforcongress.com
www.griffithforcongress.com