mssql – odbc – python hell

I am using python. Hooray for new fangled scripting glory. 
My business is an mssql shop.  meh.
I set up pyodbc. I run a simple insert statement. Sql Server Profiler logs the following (among other tidbits).

declare @p1 int
set @p1=1
exec sp_prepare @p1 output,N'@P1 VARCHAR(11)',N'insert into schemax.iptable (IPAddress) values(@P1)',1
select @p1

Very simple insert me thinks.
I want to try new orm hotness that is SQL Alchemy.
Again with the very simple test. SQL Server Profiler logs the following:

declare @p1 int
set @p1=13808
exec sp_prepare @p1 output,NULL,N'',1
select @p1

See the subtle difference?

No errors are ever thrown. It runs its little heart out. But no data is every actually inserted into the database.

I loathe odbc.  

Also, if your ever perusing the sparse documentation available on pyodbc, and see all those helpful quick examples be sure to call the commit() method which they do not show or set the autocommit flag to true.

update: my woes on the sqlalchemy-devel list here.