So I haven't written for a while in the middle of campaign season

One, I have been sick as a damn dog for 3 weeks now, even at my family wedding in Illinois and at last week's social event of the season, the wedding of Steve Ross and Ellyn Daniel, and I can't hear out of my left ear and am on steroids and antibiotics at the moment.

That was pretty run-on, wasn't it?

My beloved Susan has taken good care of me and has not beaten me, so there is that.  :)

We have suffered losses, with the passing of our beloved Zippy the cat, and we also mourn the greatest dog we never owned, Mabel Sharp-Sturgis, whose campaigns inspired us to vote for her for Governor in the 2010 Democratic primary.  So, in this season where the leaves turn and fall, I suppose that is all sadly appropriate.

This morning, I got a tweetout from restauranteur and entrepreneur Taylor Berger with a link to his latest blogpost.  As Trace likes to say, we need to start a conversation, and this post should do that.  If you will, go read that post and comment over there, and then, if you so choose, comment here as well.

I hope that this wakes up some folks in the Democratic community here, because they need to wake up and understand why we're not winning County elections.  It's not the fault of any one person, and it has been going on for a long time now, so there's no need to bash any one person for any of this.


Oh, and Early Voting has started.  If you live in House 96, go vote for my friend Dwayne Thompson, who won't try to sell Cordova to the highest bidder as the incumbent, Steve McManus has done over the years.

NO on all state Amendments, One is self-explanatory, Two because I have come to the conclusion, as my Congressman has, that John Jay Hooker is right as usual, Three because we NEED an income tax for all the reasons they say we don't, and Four because I lived through TENNESSEE WALTZ, which you need to Google if you don't know what I am talking about.

Locally, vote YES on Wine In Grocery Stores.  My wife was stunned when we went to Illinois and found that A) you could get wine, beer AND booze in a grocery store, B) that locally-owned liquor stores were THRIVING and C) that prices were lower that back here.  Truth is, NO stores are going to close, that is just not true, we need to blow up our liquor laws and re-do them, especially regarding wholesalers, who have a racket here the Mafia would envy, with help from the churches.

One final thought:  I saw where my Congressman received criticism from other Democrats because he asked people to vote for John Jay Hooker for Governor rather than Charlie Brown, our nominee-because-we-couldn't-find-a-real-candidate-to-run.

Really?  One iconoclast endorsing another??  You're shocked?  Give me a freaking break.  Some of the same people who bitched about this HELPED Don Sundquist when John Jay was our REAL nominee in 1998.  Go read Taylor Berger and then think about it.

Peace, love and vote Democrat (and for Hooker!),

Steve