Tuesday's Primary...and the Alabama Sturgeon

I will be surprised if this post ends up on Bessemer Opinions because, at least at this end, the "internets" (to quote our president) is acting funky.

Tomorrow is the Alabama Primary, and although we already had the presidential portion of our state primary, the rest of the offices are up for grabs Tuesday. Believe it or not, I only have a couple of comments.

Number one, if voting in the Democratic Primary, which everyone should, vote for Dan Weinrib for tax assessor. He is the incumbent, and even though his office slipped up a bit when assessing opponent Gaynell Hendrick's tax liabilities, he took full responsibility. Dan came and spoke with us at an Alabama Stonewall meeting, and certainly is the most qualified candidate.

His opponent, Ms. Hendricks, you remember, played the race card and tried to prevent Patricia Todd from assuming the office she had won at the ballot box. We are moving past race based politics (one can dream, again) so we should move past her as well.

On the Republican side, there is not much to crow about, except for the Public Service Commission President race. Here there are three candidates. One is Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, who has the endorsement of Mike Huckabee. That in itself is reason enough to vote against her, but in the ad he stresses that she is pro-life. Of course, that is the expected position of republicans, but does being pro-life have anything to do with the public service commission?

Then there is Matt Chancey, whose ads make me laugh every time, still, that I see them: "Radical environmentalists have stopped nuclear power and are the leading cause of our high energy bills."

The leading cause of our high energy bills? Radical environmentalists? Which oil field covered desert sand does this guy have his head buried in? TVA may be interested in building a nuclear plant, and there are pros and cons of this type of alternative energy, but Matt...the Public Service Commission has no oversight over TVA and neither will you.

Also, Matt seems upset that the Alabama Sturgeon is being protected, saying "Recently, Alabama Power and others lost a lawsuit in federal court to remove a certain type of fish from the Endangered Species List. The fish in question is genetically identical to other fish not on the endangered list. But this did not stop environmental extremists, who care more about the habitat of one type of fish than they do about the habitat for human beings" on his web site.

But he fails to mention that Alabama Power Company's customers are paying for both sides of the lawsuit, as our tax money funds the government side of the case and your (in Bessemer we don't use Alabama Power) rate payments paid for Alabama Power's side. A waste of your money, just like those stupid bird advertisements.

article about that.

As for the claim that the fish are genetically identical, Chancey needs to read this article, Genetic distinction of pallid, shovelnose, and Alabama sturgeon: emerging species and the US Endangered Species Act , by Donald Campton et al, published in Conservation Genetics in March 2000 ISSN 1566-0621 (Print) 1572-9737 (Online).

From the abstract: "Overall, these mtDNA results indicate significant reproductive isolation between pallid and shovelnose sturgeon in areas of natural sympatry, and recent evolutionary divergence of Alabama sturgeon. These mtDNA results provide the first molecular genetic evidence for distinguishing the three Scaphirhynchus species and, coupled with morphological and biogeographic data, indicate that pallid and Alabama Sturgeon should be evaluated as distinct species under theESA."

"Recent evolutionary divergence." Something that Chancey may not understand. But what it means is these three fish have/are in the process of becoming distinct species. OMG! Evolution, right before our eyes!

About the fishies

So, just don't vote in the Republican primary, that is the solution to this problem.