By the time last Tuesday rolled around most of us probably felt like that old Jerry Clower joke.

The late comedian from Yazoo City, Mississippi told a story about going hunting for coons one night with one of the Ledbetters, probably Marcel since that's who Clower seemed to pick on the most in that clan. After the dog treed the varmint Jerry's relative went up into the tree to shake it loose.

Clower, in his best voice, began to imitate the hollering and screaming coming from the top of the tree.

"Shoot that thang," came the cry from the tree.

Clower tells how he and the others aim their guns, but hold off on shooting for fear of hitting their relative.

The commotion goes on for several more minutes getting louder and a more desperate plea is heard, "Aw, shoot that thang."

The hunters on the ground call out that they are afraid to shoot for fear of hitting Marcel.

"Just shoot up here amongst us," Marcel called out, "One of us has got to have some relief."

It was time for some relief last Tuesday.

Some things changed last week, some did not.

First of all, congratulations to Tom Todd for his victory in the 163rd District. With all the negative ads bombarding us it was nice to see Tom and Keith Mitchell keep focused on ideas and issues.

Several years ago laws were passed to cut down on telemarketing. "Do Not Call" lists were posted in every state. The rash of phone calls from telemarketers dropped noticeably. There were some exceptions, non-profit organizations, some prior business relationship between the company and the caller, for example. Another exception was phone calls by political candidates and political parties.

That isn't surprising since we see politicians exempt themselves from other laws they mandate for the rest of us to follow, but it may be time to address this exemption.

Caller ID is good but, as we all know, every number doesn't show up and if you've got relatives out of state or kids that might be anywhere most of us are going to answer the phone when it rings. I think getting interrupted 10 to 12 times day, every 30 minutes, while trying to get something important accomplished, like an afternoon nap, is reason enough to decide not to vote for a candidate or a particular issue.

The divide between urban and rural voters is becoming even more apparent, I think. That divide seems to be more along the lines of political thinking than political party. Consider that in Missouri Jim Talent carried the outstate vote, but lost in the urban areas by huge margins. The stem cell issue followed a similar voting pattern. Although, it is worth noting that Claire McCaskill did better in the outstate voting than her last time in a statewide race.

The divide between the South and North also appeared to grow with border state Missouri swinging to the Democrats. Virginia also elected a Democratic senator, but one with conservative and Republican ties. Jim Webb, according to one story I read, actually wore combat boots on the campaign trail and he was secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan.

I heard some rumblings last week that the Democrats would begin looking at raising taxes, or at least allowing some tax cuts passed to expire. I think that of all the messages sent last Tuesday higher taxes was not one of them.

Case in point. Missourians again defeated a call for raising the taxes on tobacco. In fact, voters defeated the proposal by a slightly higher margin than they did in 2002, the first time a tax hike was sought by a ballot initiative.

Change was sought, but newly-empowered Democrats need to be sure where voters want to see change. I don't think they're wanting to see smaller paychecks.

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Every voter

Did anyone campaign harder than Terry Swinger, D-Caruthersville, who represents the 162nd District? I don't know how many eyeglass cleaning cloths the good doctor handed out during this election cycle, but the salesperson who got the commission on Terry's order is probably going to have a very merry Christmas. It's hard for me to imagine how hard Terry would campaign if he had an opponent.

Terry also proudly proclaimed he is number one by at least one measuring stick in Jefferson City, other than being the only optometrist in the General Assembly.

"I get the biggest mileage check," Terry said when he stopped by the office for a visit. Of course, that also means he drives the farthest of any legislator. At the price of gasoline it's pretty safe to say Terry's not making any money on his mileage check.

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Cotton Market update

The Memphis cotton market was quoting 1-1/16" cotton at 36.75 cents per pound, according to a report that came across my desk last week. Cotton in Little Rock and Greenwood was slightly better at 37-cents per pound while the New Orleans market was paying 36.35 cents per pound.

The report also stated that "Harvesting made good progress but was hampered for a few days by showers in the northern sections of the area. Prices paid labor for picking continued to range from $2 to $3.50 per hundredweight and the supply of labor was adequate."

That report comes from the December 8, 1958 edition of the DDD. Maybe I should have said that at the beginning of this blurb to save some poor farmer from an anxiety attack.

Thanks to Vivian Helton, the DDD's unofficial historian, for passing along that information.