I’m just glad I didn’t need my voter registration card, which arrived in the mail on Friday, November 16.

Now, I can’t blame the Postal Service for late delivery, because the postage wasn’t printed on the card until November 15.  Take a look for yourself…

It became a lesson on the ”lesser of two evils”.

The Republicans, he told me, tend to favor “for profit” institutions, which most liberal arts schools are not.

The Democrats, he said, would like to see an expansion of the two-year community college system, which would impact the enrollment (and cash flow) of four-year traditional institutions.

With research showing that 1 in 5 households faces student loan debt, can graduates of 4 year schools pay off their ever growing debt while earning entry-level salaries–providing they can find work at all?

Except I hadn’t.

My wife did vote by absentee ballot and someone working for the court wrote the information for my wife, next to my name.

That’s when was sent to the corner to enter the World of the Provisional Ballot.

I had to give information dating back to where I was born (I was tempted to write “next to my mother”, but didn’t), when I was born, etc., then seal that in an envelope, and seal that envelope in another envelope before inserting my now, double-sealed ballot in a yellow cardboard box with a slit in the side.

But at least I did get a lot of personal attention and an “I Voted!” sticker.

I can’t imagine another occasion where I could have had a one-on-one conversation with Florida Governor Rick Scott for 10 minutes (I found out his wife comes from Mobile).

I sat and talked with former Alabama Governor Bob Riley (who said he feels fine after his motorcycle wreck in Alaska).

Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward thought it was important to make the trip to London–spent a good deal of time speaking with him. Also talked with Mobile Mayor Sam Jones and County Commissioners Connie Hudson of Mobile and Tucker Dorsey of Baldwin.

I also discovered that Congressman Jo Bonner is a pretty fine photographer.

On a crowded train to Farnborough now, ready for the first day of the International Air Show.

A former Alabama gubernatorial candidate and staunch opponent of gay marriage has reportedly been donating sperm to women in New Zealand–some of whom were lesbian couples.

According to the New Zealand Herald, Bill Johnson, a conservative Republican who unsuccessfully campaigned for the governor’s spot in 2010, used an online alias, advertising his “services” to couples who were unable to conceive on their own.

Johnson allegedly met with at least 9 women who received sperm donations from him, 3 of whom are now pregnant. At least one of those couples were lesbian couples.

“When I married (my wife) I knew we couldn’t have any more children,” Johnson told the Herald, acknowledging that he donated sperm because “having children of my own was a need that I have.”

The Birmingham native has been in Christchurch, New Zealand since this spring, helping with earthquake relief efforts.

The newspaper says it spoke with Johnson while he was dining with one of the women he helped impregnate, saying “There is nothing my wife would want to give me more in the world than a child of my own.” The couple, who have been married 8 years, are unable to have their own children because Johnson’s wife, Kathy, has had a hysterectomy.

Kathy Johnson, a former two-time Miss Alabama and Miss America Finalist, was not as supportive of her husband’s decision, telling the paper “My heart is broken.”

“He assured me I was everything he wanted and my children would be his,” she told the paper.

Kathy Johnson has three children from a previous marriage.

“My heart is broken,” she said. “I have no idea what life holds for us in the coming days.”

When Johnson was asked whether his wife knew about the sperm donations, Johnson replied simple: “she does now.”

After the initial story broke, Johnson claims the paper used unethical and illegal tactics, including phone and internet hacking. The paper claims it received an “anonymous” tip via email.

The two Johnson’s both have long histories working in state government and charity organizations.

Bill was a former Birmingham City Councilman, director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, and an education advocate for the company Ceres Environmental, who is helping rebuild Christchurch and Haiti after devastating quakes there.

His wife, along with her pageant career, has directed organizations including The Alabama Campaign to Prevent Teen pregnancy, Children First Foundation and the Alabama Broadband Initiative, as well as working for the state finance department as a public affairs director.

One lesbian couple, who are now pregnant, said that Johnson gave them permission to come forward with their story. Johnson did not respond directly whether his feelings on gay marriage had changed or whether he felt same-sex couples should be allowed to raise children.

The paper also asserts Johnson could face trouble in New Zealand, as state law only allows one donor to provide sperm to no more than 4 families. It is also unclear whether Johnson followed that countries guidelines on private-party assisted pregnancy.

I was in grade school, and had just come back from lunch (in those days, we left to walk home at 11:20 and had to be back in class by 1:00).  It was a normal day, except for the sight to our teachers unexpectedly huddled around transistor radios.   Nothing unusual was said during classtime, but as we left for the day at 3:30, the sixth grade teacher Mr. Egan looked sternly at all of us and told us to “go straight home”.  It was an odd message, and within minutes, I knew why.

Our hometown newspaper had already published a special edition and the black and white television, sitting on the sewing machine cabinet in our kitchen, broadcast the news about the assassination of the President in Dallas, Texas.

To those of us from New England, John Kennedy wasn’t just the President; he was our President.  He was a New Englander, and like so many in my hometown, he was a Catholic New Englander.

The idea that someone would shoot and kill our President was truly unthinkable.  These were the days before excessively violent video games and movies and non-stop crime coverage gradually desensitized the country.

In the days that  followed the assassination, our little television was on all the time, even as we were gathered around the kitchen table for lunch on Sunday.  That’s when I watched the murder of the President’s accused assassin live.  I remember Tom Pettit’s professional reporting as the country watched Dallas police wrestle nightclub owner Jack Ruby to the ground, and heard Lee Harvey Oswald groan as he died.

For my generation, November 22, 1963 was the day where innocence was lost.

Don Siegelman

Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman has postponed a seven-year sentence for three years, only serving 9 months in a federal prison.

Why? Because the 11th Circuit Appeals court says that not is all as it may have seemed in his 2006 corruption trial.

Siegelman’s lawyers are back, after successfully having some charges dropped in a 2009 appeals hearing. This time, Siegelman says that one of the key witnesses in his case, aide Nick Bailey, was coached by federal prosecutors.

In question is a three-ring binder that, according to Siegelman’s attorneys, contains proof that Bailey was heavily coached by prosecutors. Bailey said that government prosecutors told him to use the notebook in question to help him “keep up” with his testimony.

Bailey says he turned the book over to his attorney at the time, George Beck. Oddly enough, Beck is now a U.S. prosecutor himself. Beck said he has recused himself from the Siegelman case since he is now a federal attorney.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Coody ordered the notebook be turned over so that he could examine it “in private.”

Bailey testified against Siegelman in exchange for a lighter sentence in his own trial of extortion. Bailey testified in the trial against Siegelman that he personally witnessed former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy write a check to Siegelman as a bribe, a check that turned out later to have been written days later.

Whether this notebook provides any steam to Siegelman’s or his co-conspirator, Scrushy, is still unknown. Siegelman has been appealing his conviction from day 1, and in 2009 his appeal was mostly struck down.

But there was some light at the end of the tunnel for Siegelman: the same court in 2009 who denied his request for a new trial did strike down two of the seven charges Siegelman was found guilty on, and ordered a new sentencing hearing. That sentencing hearing has not yet taken place, pending the appeals process.

According to a 2008 Time Magazine article, prosecutors were alleged to have had “unusual” and “suspect” contact with the jury in the case. And a federal prosecutor who recused himself after agreeing to run Bob Riley’s gubernatorial campaign—Siegelman’s opponent in 2003—continued to direct emails to other prosecutors, instructing them on how to handle the case.

Numerous outlets have cried foul in Siegelman’s prosecution, namely 60 Minutes, The New York Times, a congressional oversight panel and nearly 50 former states attorney general. Yet, Siegelman still fights on, slowly but surely winning small victory after small victory.

His co-defendant, Scrushy, still remains in a federal prison in Beaumont, Texas, serving four years of his nearly seven-year sentence. It is not clear whether or not Scrushy hopes to ride on the coat-tails of Siegelman’s appeal.

If nothing else, Siegelman may end up walking away without spending another day in jail. But all bets are on the little three-ring-binder.

Dawn Quarles says there’s no way she could have gotten them mailed to the Supervisor of Elections office in time.

The Pace High School teacher may be the first person fined for violating Florida’s new election law. The old law gave third parties 10 days to turn in applications.

The Republican-sponsored law has drawn fire from critics who say it will suppress voting by minorities, young people and the elderly who often tend to vote Democratic.

Quarles agrees.

She called the new law “crazy” and said it’s an example of why the United States has the worst voter turnout among the Western democracies.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Lowell Krumnow, 54, who has been mayor of the Village of Elmore since 1992, is being challenged by his older brother, James “Jim” Krumnow, 58, in the city’s non-partisan election November 8.

According to village councilperson Rick Claar, Lowell Krumnow served on the village council from 1982 until 1992, ultimately becoming its chairman. In 1992, he was appointed Mayor after the incumbent resigned his seat to move to a neighboring town.

Lowell’s brother, Jim, was elected to the village council in 2002, essentially to “cancel out” what his brother was doing, Claar said.

“They are polar opposites, Jim and Lowell,” Claar said. “Jim hates politics, and the only reason he got into the council was to counteract what his brother was doing.”

According to Claar, Lowell has been a major supported of industry recruitment and infrastructure upgrades. Lowell has said he supports installing a new $1 million power substation to prevent outages and increase power output to help recruit industry. The town suffered a major power outage recently, and the subsystem is necessary to keep up with population and business growth, Lowell says.

The city is also facing an almost assuredly mandatory sewer and waste-water plant system upgrade, and Lowell’s plan is to join the city’s own 4 water wells with a nearby water system. The total cost of the regional water system upgrade would cost about $4 million–a plan to Jim is vehemently opposing.

“With Lowell’s push to get more business here, we have a problem with some of our water treatment as far as how we can serve some of the new businesses coming to the area,” Claar said. “Lowell really wants to get some new business in here, and Jim is saying we don’t need any of that stuff. If people want to keep our rural atmosphere then we don’t need water systems, we don’t need to spend the money on that substation.”

Lowell is also working with the council and neighboring city and county governments to develop a Joint Economic Development District, another proposal his brother is fighting tooth and nail.

“Jim doesn’t want anything to do with it because he things this whole area should stay as it is: lots of farm land,” Claar said.

While the two brothers have remained “mostly civil,” Claar said, it is clear that the gloves are off in this political street fight to govern a village of no more than 1,400.

“It’s been kind of fun, seeing all the attention going on about this rivalry,” Claar said. “They really haven’t gone at each other too much, they’ve been pretty civil.”

Even so, Claar and other media outlets report the relationship between the two brothers can be described as “distant.” Even though they live less than five doors down, the two communicate through others, and when in public together rarely speak to one another.

Lowell, who has served for almost 30 years in village government, seems confident about his chances of re-election. But Claar and others in town have warned him not to declare victory just yet.

“When you serve that long, you’re bound to end up making someone mad,” Claar said. “And from my standpoint, everybody is trying to embrace what Jim is wanting to do: expand.”

The two even differ on one of the town’s highlight events: motor casket racing. Each year near Halloween, village citizens attach caskets to motorized chassis and race them around the town. The tradition, started by Lowell some years ago, is unpopular with his older brother.

“Jim’s not really keen on it,” Claar said.

—

Sources: The Blade, AP, Politico.com