Execute a SELECT COUNT(*) ... query
    and return the number of rows.

def namedb_select_count_rows( cur, query, args, count_column='COUNT(*)' ):
    """
    Execute a SELECT COUNT(*) ... query
    and return the number of rows.
    """
    count_rows = namedb_query_execute( cur, query, args )
    count = 0
    for r in count_rows:
        count = r[count_column]
        break

    return count