by Glynn Wilson

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Oct. 30 - For the better part of the past month, it’s been a blast on the road “cowboying” in the Chevy van enjoying the fall weather and taking a break from television and politics out in nature - twelve days on the Gulf Coast and then four days taking in the peak color in North Carolina.

The elections coming up next Tuesday, Nov. 7, however, are too important to ignore for any serious newsman.

Alas, I almost fell asleep trying to concentrate on the televised political debates tonight on Alabama Public Television.

Governor’s Debate Episode 2006

Gubernatorial candidates Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley and Gov. Bob Riley exchanged viewpoints in this live one-hour event presented by Leadership Alabama, the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama, Alabama Public Television and the Alabama Press Association.

Unfortunately, according to APT’s Website, the show is also sponsored by a few of the most corrupt corporate polluters in the state, including Alabama Power, Vulcan Materials and Entergen. It is also sponsored by one of the worst corporate spies in the country, BellSouth, which is about to merge with AT&T, now owned and operated out of George W. Bush’s Texas by Southwest Bell.

Oh, you didn’t even know about the debates? Why would you, since none of the corporate television news stations or newspapers in this state did much to promote public involvement in the show.

And let’s face it, the race may already be a done deal anyway. The latest polls show Riley leading the governor’s race by a margin of 57 percent to 32 percent.

According to an article out today in StateLine.Org:

Republican Bob Riley is vying to become the first Alabama governor to be re-elected and to serve two full terms since George Wallace in the 1970s. Incumbents have lost the last three gubernatorial elections in Alabama, and Gov. Guy Hunt (R) won re-election in 1990 only to be removed in 1993 for an ethics violation.

In a state where voters have demonstrated their willingness to split tickets, Riley appears headed for a second term with a strong lead in the polls over Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley, the Democratic nominee. In an Oct. 8 poll by the Press-Register/University of South Alabama, Riley led with 57 percent of voters, compared with 32 percent for Baxley.

Baxley, elected lieutenant governor four years ago after two terms as state treasurer, is trying to become the state’s first female governor in four decades. Wallace’s wife, Lurleen, was elected in 1966 when state law barred her husband from succeeding himself.

Riley, a former three-term congressman, has benefited from little scandal, a strong economy and the state’s efficient reaction to several hurricanes that hit Alabama and neighboring states in 2004 and 2005. Top issues in the race include property appraisals, minimum wage levels and tax cuts.

With the state now enjoying a budget surplus, Riley is pushing for more than $300 million in personal income and business tax cuts to be phased in over five years. Early in his administration, when state revenues were down, Riley had proposed a $1 billion tax plan that would have been the largest tax increase in state history. But voters defeated the proposed increase 2-1 in a special election.

Baxley said she opposes Riley’s proposed income tax cuts and prefers that extra state funds go towards education and other government services.

But both candidates favor abolishing annual property appraisals in favor of appraisals every four years. During his tenure, Riley instructed his revenue commissioner to order annual appraisals, a move he said state law required. Baxley has criticized the Riley administration for this, noting that her first business as governor would be to do away with annual appraisals, which she describes as a de facto tax increase on Alabamians.

Baxley is pushing for the state to set a minimum wage of at least a dollar more than the federally mandated rate, now $5.15 an hour. Riley is opposed to a state-mandated increase.

Historic Election Year For Governor’s Races

According to an early AP story out on the main debate:

Baxley, Riley Debate Differances On Tax Cuts, Credibility

And of course the Alabama bureau of AP put out this story a couple of days ago, which just struck me as funny.

Washington Scandals Don’t Touch Alabama’s GOP Governor?

So why have the Washington scandals not touched Bob Riley? Because the pathetically weak Alabama press corps did nothing to investigate the stories. Riley’s connections to Bush and his lobbyist cronies have been on public display for any reporter willing to look and connect the dots. Unfortunately, since Sen. John McCain is now courting the conservative base in his obvious run for president in 2008, his staff would not cooperate with our own attempt to investigate all the connections.

So the best we can hope for is a change in the power balance in the U.S. House and Senate.

Also according to the latest polls:

Democrats Hold Double-Digit Lead in Competitive Districts; GOP Troubles Extend into Home Territory

With less than two weeks to go before the midterm elections, the Democrats not only continue to maintain a double-digit advantage nationally, but also lead by the same margin in the competitive districts that will determine which party controls the House of Representatives, according to the latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Nationally, the Democrats hold a 49 percent-38 percent lead among registered voters, and a nearly identical 50 percent-39 percent lead among those voters most likely to cast ballots on Nov. 7.

An oversample of voters in 40 competitive districts - identified by a consensus of political analysts-shows that voting intentions in the battleground districts are about the same as they are in the “safe” House districts. Among registered voters, the Democrats lead by 11 points in competitive districts (50 percent-39 percent) and by the same margin in safe districts (49 percent-38 percent).

So even though none of the Alabama races will make a big difference in the Congressional elections, we can watch from here and have some hope that there is a good chance the power balance will change in D.C.

Sources in Washington indicate to us that the Senate could end up in a 50/50 split, putting the tying vote on many issues into the hands of Vice President Dick “Shooter” Cheney. What a wonderful prospect.

We will leave you with this final point. It is a point which we tried to get Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley to embrace in the last three weeks of the governor’s race, but she was obviously too afraid of being labeled a liberal to reach out to the most intelligent and progressive voters in this state who see no candidates with any creativity at all in their political platforms.

To demonstrate this point, just turn to the group Birders United.

According to estimates from the National Geographic Society, there are 15 million or more voting age Americans who have a serious interest in the welfare of birds. Huge numbers of adults in our country watch birds, feed birds, keep lists of birds, and give large sums of money to organizations that protect bird habitats.

In the United Kingdom the formidable political force of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is frequently compared to the powers of the Teamsters Union in the United States. But most of the millions of bird people in America do not realize that they have the potential voting power to control the outcome of many elections in our country.

This is not just a utopian dream. In recent presidential contests, a swing of just a few thousand votes would have changed the outcome in a number of key states.

For example, if only 270 Republican bird watchers in Florida had shifted their votes in the 2000 presidential election, President Bush would not have won the election. In many states the number of adult bird enthusiasts is so large that an organized bird watcher vote could control the outcome of almost any election.

It is a big mystery to me, and a number of my closest friends, why some people who support conservation efforts continue, for other reasons, to vote Republican.

Hey, if you really think it is more important for a president to bash gays openly than to support sensible public policies on environmental issues, by all means vote Republican. But now that you know there is a such thing as a gay Republican (thanks to the Foley page scandal), maybe it would be worth reconsidering which party you vote for - or if not, why not just consider staying home on election day?

Better yet, go bird watching. Let the rest of us decide…

I will not be happy voting in a church thanks to the Bush Justice Department’s policy tearing down the wall between church and state. But I will be voting there anyway. And I will be voting for Ms. Baxley and any other Democrat worth checking on the electronic ballot.

Let’s just hope Diebold doesn’t steal the elections for all these so-called Christian Republicans. It’s not really all that funny what corruption and hypocrisy is supported by some people in the name of Jesus Christ.

Photo by Glynn Wilson

A wood thrush banded and released on the Ft. Morgan peninsula, with old Bob Sargent out of focus in the background…

by Glynn Wilson

CLAY, Ala., Oct. 27 - Amateur bird expert Bob Sargent is now back at home in Clay, Alabama, east of Birmingham, after spending a couple of weeks on the Gulf Coast tracking the migration of birds south for the winter.

His team banded 2930 birds, 73 different species, and he says he is “thrilled” with the count this year, which came in a bit higher than expected.

Photo by Glynn Wilson

Bob Sargent delivers an impromptu lecture on the wood thrush’s declining habitat…

In an average year, they would catch, band and release 1500 to 2500 birds and 70 to 75 species, although they have done as many as 4500 and as few as 600 during the spring migration count.

“We caught a lot of birds. Overall, it was really a good session,” Sargent said in an interview. “The influx of birds was pretty much what we would have expected.”

Although overall, the trend has been and probably will continue to be a general decline in many of the bird species, he says.

“The answer for that is fairly straightforward,” he said. “It’s either degradation of existing habitat they require to breed in, in the states and Canada, and to winter in in the tropics. Degradation or outright destruction of habitat.”

It’s a human population-based reason for most of the decline.

“It’s the continued requirement humans place on the land. Birds are typically not a priority in that. They are low on the totem pole,” he said. “Without pointing the finger at any country in particular, it’s just that we have so many human beings on earth that these birds are just losing out in the long run.”

The other side of that is, the public, due in part to the conservation movement, is becoming more involved in protecting habitat, he said.

“That’s a wonderful occurrence. That’s something we’ve been seeing for the past four or five years anyway. It even starts in the schools,” he said. “I think there is a trend now for the public to be more aware that essentially, what we do to the birds we do to ourselves. I think we are realizing we’ve got to take better care of this earth.”

This year’s totals were higher than normal, but at the Gulf Coast location it is difficult to understand that increase, he said.

Photo by Glynn Wilson

A wood thrush about to be released…

“We can expect a lot more migrants to stop and rest at our site when the weather is stormy and wet. This apparently was the case at Fort Morgan,” he said. “We suspect that there’s been some sort of change in the migration pattern of birds.”

They caught and banded 235 wood thrushes this year, for example, a high number, even though records for the decline of the species go back at least 40 years.

“On breeding grounds we see them less and less,” Sargent said. “But on migration we continue to see them in record numbers each year.”

That may seem like a conflicting statement. And it is, he admitted.

“But it appears that this species, for whatever reason, has changed its migratory pattern. It could just be a chance thing. The subtle change in migration routes could be a normal occurrence.”

What they do is not an exact science, he concedes, and we have a lot still to learn about bird populations and their migratory patterns.

The wood thrush (catharus mustelinus) is one of the most melodious songbirds in the world. Its beautiful, fluted song echoes through eastern North America’s woodlands, yet it is close to endangered status and conservation is critical to prevent its decline to extinction, according to experts.

Photo by Glynn Wilson

A female magnolia warbler (dendroica magnolia) being measured, weighed and banded…

In the words of Arthur Cleveland Bent, author of a series of authoritative life history studies of American birds, “The nature lover who has missed hearing the musical bell-like notes of the wood thrush, in the quiet woods of early morning or in the twilight, has missed a rare treat. The woods seem to have been transformed into a cathedral where peace and serenity abide. One’s spirit seems truly to have been lifted by this experience.”

The wood thrush is also useful to forest ecosystems, consuming vast amounts of insects. Unfortunately, its populations have declined in recent years from 40 to 80 percent, depending on the area, according to the Endangered Species Handbook.

Major causes include the destruction of both its nesting and wintering forests, combined with parasitism on its nests by the brown-headed cowbird, which lays its large eggs in the nests of other birds. While the wood thrush is related to the American robin, today it is rarely seen in suburban yards and breeds only in undisturbed forest tracts. The problem is its forest habitats have become fragmented into smaller and smaller blocks, causing the species to disappear from many areas.

Wood thrushes, like hundreds of other bird species that stop to rest and feed on the Ft. Morgan peninsula each year, migrate to Mexico and Central America each winter where they seek out old-growth rainforests from southern Mexico to Panama. During the past 40 years, their forests have been logged and converted into grazing land. Researchers tracking them to their wintering grounds have discovered they stay in the same area, even though it has been destroyed, and usually die within a short period from starvation or predation.

Sargent and his team are not professional ornithologists. They are referred to as “field ornithologists,” and they are just one of many disciplines that study the decline of birds, from those who study insects to plants to the weather.

“But that’s just fancy words,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got a degree or are non-professionals like we are. A great deal of what we do is speculation.”

Photo by Glynn Wilson

A ruby-crowned kinglet (regulus calendula) caught in the net

The question is, what to do about the overall, general declines in species on the planet?

“Human beings have the option of sitting on our duffs and letting nature take its course, or we can get involved in some kind of protocol that we think can be beneficial in monitoring these birds to determine what kind of plans to make,” he said. “As bird banders that’s what we’ve done.”

They caught, banded and released 74 house wrens this year, a particularly large number.

“The huge numbers of birds we caught this year are a product of range expansion and perhaps some weather events as well,” he said. “It’s so difficult to draw firm conclusions from a season’s total. You really have to look at a bigger picture over a long period of time.”

As food resources dwindle, birds shrink into their historical ranges, he said. It’s just a product of birds pushing to the edge of what they can do as a species.

“Mother nature takes care of that,” he said. “If she doesn’t kill them off with bad weather, she deprives them of the food it takes for that species to survive.”

Sargent says he doesn’t think there are long-term, lingering effects from all the hurricanes of recent years, from Ivan to Dennis to Katrina.

“These horrible storms that are so destructive to our human friends along the coast are a normal part of the lives of wild creatures such as our neo-tropical migrant birds,” he said. “This scenario is much different for resident bird populations, since they are usually severely affected by hurricanes and their populations are greatly reduced. They too will recover as long as we can keep their habitat pretty much intact.”

One resident bird of the Alabama coastal area is the brown pelican, pelecanus occidentalis, which is endangered in many areas except the Atlantic coast. It is on the way back in coastal Alabama due to government mandated conservation efforts, mainly the banning of the pesticide DDT by the Environmental Protection Agency in the early 1970s.

The brown pelican is being honored in the Eastern Shore township of Fairhope with art and during the Alabama Coastal Birdfest.

Photo by Glynn Wilson

A brown pelican along Mobile Bay in Fairhope…

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On a somewhat soft SEC grid schedule this weekend, there are two top games, while the rest of the lineup falls into the interesting-only-if-you-are-a-fan-of-the-school category. The two big games are No. 9 Florida (6-1 overall, 4-1 in league play) at Georgia (6-2, 3-2) and No. 8 Tennessee (6-1, 2-1) at South Carolina (5-2, 3-2).

Most of the pre-game talk in Jacksonville, Fla., where the Florida-Georgia game has been played every season since 1926, has been about the nickname of the game rather than the game itself. In an attempt to spin the reputations of their schools and fans, the University of Georgia and the University of Florida requested the networks broadcasting Saturday’s battle for the Eastern Division lead not to use the games famous moniker – the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Amazingly, CBS and ESPN caved, promising their announcers would refrain from using the nickname and, apparently, to ignore or not mention the copious drinking going on at the famous and prolific tailgate parties prior, during and after the game.

The question at the Tennessee at South Carolina game is: Can Steve Spurrier make it two in a row? Before Spurrier arrived and the Vols lost to the Gamecocks last year, Tennessee owned South Carolina, having won all 12 of their meetings since S.C. joined the SEC. The matchup between the Vols’ pass-happy offense and the Cocks’ tough defense will be interesting to watch. Tennessee, behind AB Erik Ainge, ranks eighth nationally in passing offense, while S.C.’s secondary ranks eighth nationally in passing defense.

Other league games on tap this week include No. 7 Auburn (7-1, 4-1) at Ole Miss (2-6, 1-4), Florida International (0-7) at Alabama (5-3, 2-3), Vanderbilt (3-5) at Duke (0-7), Kentucky (3-4, 1-3) at Mississippi State (2-6, 0-4) and La.-Monroe (1-6) at Arkansas (6-1).

This week’s college football TV schedule kicks off tonight with Texas El-Paso at Tulsa at 7 p.m. on ESPN. Saturday’s weekend TV lineup, other than pay-for-view is as follows:

Oklahoma at Missouri, 11 a.m. (ABC)
Notre Dame at Navy, 11 a.m. (CBS)
N.C. State at Virginia, 11 a.m. (WB)
Michigan St. at Indiana, 11 a.m. (CSS)
Northwestern at Michigan, 11 a.m. (ESPN)
Illinois at Wisconsin, 11 a.m. (ESPN2)
Northern Ill. at Iowa , 11 a.m. (ESPNU)
Auburn at Ole Miss,11:30 a.m. (JEFFERSON PILOT)
BYU at Air Force, 1 p.m. (VS)
Miami at Georgia Tech, 2:30 p.m. (ABC)
Georgia at Florida, 2:30 p.m. (CBS)
North Texas at Troy, 2:30 p.m. (CSS)
Southern Cal at Oregon, 2:30 p.m. (FSNS)
Wake Forest at N.C., 2:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Texas at Texas Tech, 6 p.m. (TBS)
Florida St. at Maryland, 6 p.m. (ESPN2)
La.-Monroe at Arkansas, 6 p.m. (ESPNU)
Tennessee at South Carolina, 6:45 p.m. (ESPN)

Photo by Glynn Wilson

If we are not mistaken, this is a view of Grandfather Mountain from one of the Blue Ridge Parkway overlooks. Now we know why they call them the Blue Ridge mountains…

by Glynn Wilson

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY, N.C., Oct. 21 - We caught a perfect day on Saturday to tour the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is sometimes hard when on the road to find the space and time to write, especially when the pictures are almost too good to be true.

To highlight a couple of stops and point out a few facts about the place, in case you want to visit yourself, try stopping by the Museum of North Carolina Minerals at Milepost 331. The visitor center and educational museum highlights the geology of the region and the rich mining heritage of the area.

Photo by Glynn Wilson

The Eastern Continental Divide bridge with the fall colors in the background.

According to the National Park Service Web page highlighting the parkway, the Grandfather Mountain corridor serves as a refuge for relic populations of plants, and the remote natural areas and dramatic views are less affected there by a human presence south and east of Asheville.

“Biological diversity is best understood here as a product of varied geology and topography and cultural history stories also come into play with isolated cabins and magnificent country estates in close proximity,” the site claims.

We can attest to that.

I met a woman park ranger who would serve perfectly as the female lead character in an unfinished novel I started about 14 years ago. A classic brunette.

I had some fun with her and tried to buy her official National Park Service uniform cap. She refused, of course, since it would constitute a federal crime. She did smile, laugh and say I could probably find one on ebay, the property of a disgruntled former ranger, maybe, or a lost or stolen one.

I needed a new hat on the trip anyway, so I picked up a blue Blue Ridge Mountain cap at the visitor center and supported the National Park Service at the same time. It’s part of the Interior Department and worth supporting.

Interestingly and dangerously, the parkway is lined with poisonous sumac, a relative of poison oak. It turns a stunning red in the fall, though. Just don’t touch it.

The museum is right on the Eastern Continental Divide.

Just up the parkway, there are a number of overlooks where you can stop and take in the breathtaking views. These are only a few samples. Now we know why they call them the Blue Ridge mountains.

Photo by Glynn Wilson

If we are not mistaken, this is a sample of the red sumac that lines the Blue Ridge Parkway, right across the way from the Museum of North Carolina Minerals at Milepost 331.

Editor’s Note: Robert Penn Warren’s All The King’s Men is routinely listed in the top five novels in American literature, although it appears to have dropped off the radar screen of the masses in today’s so-called “conservative” TV-driven American culture. It is still available in book stores and worth the read, especially for the middle class and working poor who are often misled by politicians who really do not have their economic interests in mind. It may be “the culture stupid,” but the remake of this movie should be at the top of their list to see before the Nov. 7 election.

Movie Website and Trailer

Key Quote: “If you don’t vote, you don’t matter.”

by Henry B. Rosenbush

Charismatic, controversial and mendacious best describes the life of Huey P. Long, whose political career included tenures as railroad commissioner, state senator and finally governor of Louisiana (1928-35). His assassination in the State Capitol building on the evening of September 8, 1935 has historically been attributed to Dr. Carl Weiss, although evidence culled in the 1990s suggests that Dr. Weiss was framed. Trained in law, Long’s journey to the gubernatorial mansion was filled with personal corruption, but on the other side, Long brought numerous benefits to his dirt-poor state.

Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer winning novel, All the King’s Men, was a scathing examination of Populist Southern Governor Willie Stark’s rise and fall. The novel inspired four films, the 1949 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Actor (Broderick Crawford) and Mercedes McCambridge (Supporting Actress), a 1953 version produced by James Cagney, the 1989 Paul Newman version “Blaze,” a comedic retelling from the point of view of stripper Blaze Starr, the recent 2006 film with Sean Penn, two made for television adaptations, a TV special, an opera, and an excellent Ken Burns documentary in 1987.

While the 1949 film remains the best of the lot the most recent version at least was released during the upcoming election season. It’s a shame that this one has slipped quietly away, dropping off the top 50 list last week. Roundly panned by critics (of 134 national reviews it only received 14 positive nods) for myriad reasons; casting numerous Brits in the roles of Southerners, murky subplots, a shaky narrative, well, you get the idea.
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