I was hoping to be able to shut this blog down, but a majority of Hartselle’s voters didn’t have the courage to stand up to the preachers and other moral busybodies who hope to equate Hartselle’s “brand” with horses and buggies. To be sure, they were still twisting arms at the polling place, telling voter [...]
Atypical for me, I had a lot of trouble titling this post. Part of me wanted to write “Cognitive Dissonance” in the “Enter title here” space. The other part of me wanted to run with “Let the free market decide” regarding our vote about whether Hartselle will will finally repeal local alcohol prohibition tomorrow. In [...]
As folks make up their minds about how to vote tomorrow about alcohol sales in Hartselle, some people in town keep saying (more-or-less) that the founding fathers gave us representative government so we can prohibit the freedoms of others. One of the thought leaders from the people who wish to prohibit alcohol sales in Hartselle posted the following [...]
One of the more interesting tacticsof Hartselle’s Vote No crowd has been the “wreck simulations” they’ve used during this and their previous campaign. What confuses me is why they would use something which logic dictates would be counter-productive for their cause. To be sure, plenty of people die each year in accidents caused by drunk [...]
“I voted Yes last time and was planning to vote Yes this time,” explained one Hartselle gentleman. “But the folks at church have pretty much talked me into voting No this time.” From the tales I’ve been hearing, strong armed is a better description of the process being used by certain churches in town. I’m [...]
I’ve mentioned that a lot of people in Hartselle feel as though they are being intimidated by the Vote No crowd, especially from certain religious leaders in town. Threats have been made that people may lose their jobs. I was personally told of such a case, but can’t provide more detail because the family in [...]
A Better Way [*originally incorrectly reported as Families for a Safe Hartselle, my bad] sent out a mailer today and this one was just as absurd as the last one [opponents of alcohol sales sent out]. This time, they tried tugging on our heart strings by highlighting a couple of recovering alcoholics who suggest that the convenience of [...]
“Voting to bring public legal sales of alcohol to Hartselle makes you just as guilty and accountable as if you opened your own store and sold it to your neighbors and your neighbor’s children,” begins one letter to the editor in the incredibly-biased-on-the-issue Hartselle Enquirer. Of course, if I owned a restaurant in town I’d [...]
The other day, I mentioned that the leaders of Hartselle’s alcohol prohibition movement are chickening out of debate invitations. While their representative did appear on the cable community channel program (I missed it, but will watch it on DVR as soon as I get a chance), I’m told they won’t be at the upcoming radio [...]
The folks in favor of alcohol prohibition in Hartselle keep talking about how local alcohol sales won’t boost the economy a bit along with describing the moral decay which will fall upon us if we go wet. However, a lot of nearby cities are wet. If going wet doesn’t improve the economy or if it [...]
As a political consultant, I’ll be the first to attest that the line between political spin and outright lies can be blurry at times. Over the years, I’ve written for candidates from city council level to congressional races to gubernatorial and presidential races. Naturally, every cause or campaign tries to put out the most favorable [...]
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the “Vote No” folks for this series of signs they’ve been putting out. To be sure, they aren’t quite as good as putting out “progress” signs around closed-down businesses in Hartselle, but if Hartselle goes wet by a slim margin, we’ll have these signs to [...]
Update: An out-of-town reader noted that some of these pictures require a bit of explanation for those not from the area. The signs which read “Progress” (you can’t tell on some of them until you click twice) are posted on, near or by vacated lots or businesses which have gone under. As everyone in town [...]
“How come the preachers want to outlaw premarital sex,” begins an old joke. “Because it might lead to dancing.” This mentality about dancing led to the popular 1984 movie Footloose, which was released 51 years after alcohol prohibition was repealed in America. Another 28 years have passed since Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer and John Lithgow [...]
A couple of days ago, I tried to bait WVNN’s talk show host Dale Jackson into covering the upcoming Hartselle wet/dry vote on his program. It worked, as Jackson referred to the Vote Yes folks as “the ones who tried to bait me into responding to them.” “Which maybe they did,” he continued (you can [...]
Let's Make Dale Jackson's Head Explode!: If you live around Hartselle, you've seen the two (that I know of) wrecked cars with signs around them which insinuate that all vehicle accidents occur because of 'that demon rum.' The last time around, they ran with the burma-shaved caption of "DUI... posted on September 24, 2012 
Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics:
In pretty much every debate I've encountered regarding Hartselle's upcoming vote on alcohol sales, both sides seem to be arguing over two key factors: whether local business would benefit or suffer and whether the crime rate would increase or decrease i... posted on October 11, 2010 
Stupid Arguments Deserve Stupid Replies:
"Liquor sales are not good for the people," Henderson said. "It leads to higher crime, violence, DUIs, and alcohol related deaths."
Amen, Brother Henderson. Liquor bottles keep running around robbing banks and wrecking cars. Obviously, individua... posted on October 21, 2010 
"About half of the class snickered while the other half had blank looks upon their faces":
When I was in grade school, I remember one of my Sunday School teachers telling our class that the wine mentioned in the Bible was in fact non-alcoholic grape juice. This wasn't too surprising to me, as I had seen my grandfather prepare communion be... posted on October 11, 2010 
alcohol "does nothing but cause corruption": That's what one lady said on TV, at least. As I'm sure that most of you can think of at least one additional thing alcohol does, I won't belabor the point. It does illustrate the frame of mind of the abolitionistas, though. Incapable of much more than p... posted on September 22, 2012