Those Greedy Schoolteachers ::

in Alabama:



Wow, Rep. Lynn Greer blames underpaid teachers for a good portion of Alabama's fiscal crisis. The above video is a production of the Alabama Democratic Party based on the following speech by Rep. Greer:



I don't have any children in school in Alabama anymore, but I do have one very smart granddaughter attending class here and I want the very best possible education for her and I want her to have teachers who inspire her to reach for more and I want those teachers to be adequately compensated for their dedication!

Huntsville city schools has recently announced the lay-off of principals in hopes of alleviating their budget shortfalls, but I have to wonder how a school can operate without leadership! Who steps in to fill that void?

Next up will be consolidation of schools with some being closed and I am looking forward to the fights this will engender in different parts of Huntsville.

The Keebler Elf ::

Jeff (Beau) Sessions, one of our senate embarrassments, will be on Meet The Press this morning. I hope someone else TiVo's and shares this as I cannot bring myself to listen to his bile!

Where'd My Header Go?

I had a photograph up there! Well, let me run off to another server somewhere and see if I can find it.

[update] As you can see, I found my header! I re-did one of my web sites without thinking that that this photograph was hosted on that server, but, luckily, I found my back-up files and restored it. Now I can sleep in peace tonight!

Been Away Too Long ::

I can't believe that it's been so long since I posted here, but since I'm about the only one who ever looks at the site I guess that's ok.

Not much in the way of news, but I will say that the county sheriff's deputies have been having a field day here in New Hope for the past couple of weeks. I've seen quite a few people in handcuffs, but I have no reason for what although I would presume that the arrests are drug related. It's often hard to get local news around here!

A Party Switch In Marshall County ::

And the hilarity that followed. Seems that Judge Howard Hawk made the decision back in December to switch from the Democratic party to the Republican party. Now, this would hardly be the only such party switch after the November elections, but the aftermath has been very interesting. It seems as though Judge Hawk's attempted change of political affiliation was met with a less than enthusiastic welcome from the local Republican party. From al.com:

In a special meeting Monday, the 27 members present of the 29-member Marshall County Republican Executive Committee voted unanimously to ask Hawk to "reconsider switching parties and remain as a member of the Marshall County Democratic Party."

Jean Brewer, chairwoman of the county Republican Party, said Hawk made the party switch without consent of the local party and that he turned down an offer to meet with them prior to the switch.

Do you see what I mean? Here's just a bit more:

In a prepared statement, Brewer said several members of the executive committee cited Hawk's strong opposition to Republican candidates and work against them in the 2010 election as the reason they were against the party switch.

Interestingly, Judge Hawk's wife, Kathy, is still listed as a member of the Alabama Democratic party executive committee from house district 27. Sounds like conflicts of interest for both the Democratic and Republican sides!

Happy New Year! ::

I wish I could be as optimistic as apparently the majority is!

Merry Christmas!

And Happy New Year to all!

Happenings At Lowe Mill ::

I plan on dropping in tonight.

Alice In Wonderland ::

brought up-to-date:

A Tom Toles Cartoon ::

Negotiation ::

Does it look familiar?

Veterans Day-2010 ::

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

A Cartoon Panel ::

A panel from a Tom Tomorrow cartoon from the election cycle 10 years ago:



You can see the entire cartoon here.

Sad, but true!

Today Is The Day ::

TO VOTE! Get out there and do it!

Sally Elizabeth Hurt ::

From the Washington bureau of McClatchy:

Sally Elizabeth Hurt was born on Oct. 27, 1901, in rural Alabama. She has always remembered her childhood as a happy one, going barefoot in the summer, picking flowers and making mud pies. Later she graduated from the Tuskegee Institute, worked for decades as a public health nurse, and helped the elderly prepare tax returns until she was nearly 100 years old herself.

Amazingly, the story of Sally's life is still being written. On Wednesday afternoon at the James L. West Alzheimer Center in Fort Worth, her relatives joined staff members and other residents in a lobby decorated with balloons. Sally sat in her wheelchair, frail and drowsy but very much alive. Several times in the past decade, Sally has begun to fail, only to perk right back up.

"Did you know it's your birthday today?" said Kay Sharp, the West Center's director of resident services, as she bent over Sally's chair. "You're 109 years old."

Sally herself didn't seem that impressed, but she was probably the only one at her party who wasn't. There was a big birthday cake that an aide helped Sally eat. Her family gathered around, paging through a photo album that contained a note from President George W. Bush on the occasion of her 100th birthday and photographs going back a century.

Her parents were George and Pleasant Hurt, who lived on an Alabama plantation. Sally, the youngest, followed two older siblings into the woods to pick berries and nuts and carried their books home from school until she was old enough to go herself. By then her father had taught her to read, write and do arithmetic using a slate and chalk.

In 1919, her parents sent Sally to the Tuskegee Institute, where she finished high school and three years of nurse's training. She administered typhoid inoculations after a flood in Arkansas, before returning to Alabama to work as a public health nurse among the rural poor.

"In many of the back rural areas, some of the people had never seen a nurse before," she wrote in the 1940s. "Mid-wives were still being used in large numbers. My objectives were ... to see that all school children were vaccinated against smallpox, typhoid and diphtheria, and to organize home hygiene classes. ... Many of the parents would object to having their children inoculated. But we were able to sell the people the idea that health work was to prevent disease rather than to cure one."

Her work earned her a scholarship to study at Columbia University. In 1936, she began a decades-long career as a public health nurse in Washington, D.C. Though she never married, relatives recall a profound love of children, which inspired her to establish clinics for unwed mothers, supervise school nurses, organize clubs for foster children, and teach Sunday school at her church.

"She always encouraged others to do better, to strive to improve themselves," longtime friend Cassie Cundiff wrote when Sally turned 100. "When she retired, she did private duty in homes and hospitals. There was no limit to her achievements."

Sample Ballot For Nov. 2 ::

The sample ballot for the upcoming election can be found here for all alabama counties!

A New Watering Hole In New Hope ::

I haven't stopped in yet and I'm not sure that it's even open yet, but New Hope certainly needs a small intimate little bar!



[update] I stopped in yesterday to check on opening date and guess what? It's today! I plan to stop in this evening and see what's happening.

It's Cotton Picking Time ::

It looks as if the cotton harvest will be down in Madison County this year just based on what I see in the fields I drive by every day. I was over in Limestone County last weekend and the fields I saw there were much fuller with much larger plants.



Farmers have begun harvesting in the past few days and I'm constantly seeing cotton hauling trucks taking the huge bales to the gins every day. I'm going to try to pick up a pickup truck load of cotton seeds to till into my garden.

Another Ernest Nunley Update ::

I got this comment on a previous post earlier today:

Earnest, with three horses and a rubber tired wagon, spent Sept. 30 thru Oct 3 at Brady Lake Park, in central Texas. This coincided with the "Texas Muzzleloading Rifle Club" Fall Shoot. The club members were welcoming and he received hospitality and company during some beautiful weather. Good luck as Winter appraoches. ALR

From This Morning's Huntsville Times ::

Noted without editorial comment!

A 76-year-old man was severely burned in a Thursday morning home explosion, officials said.

Donald Page suffered external burns to his face and torso as well as internal burns following an explosion in his garage around 7 a.m., said Don Webster, chief operating officer for HEMSI.

Emergency officials said Page was smoking a cigarette while using an oxygen tank when the explosion happened at his home in the 100 block of Alpha Lane.

Page was transported by HEMSI to Huntsville Hospital's trauma services and is expected to be transported to the UAB burn center in Birmingham.