R.O.C.K. on, One Southern Indiana ... but first, please answer these inconvenient questions.

Jim Morrison’s stone dead, but he still gets it right:

Strange days have found us
Strange days have tracked us down
They’re going to destroy
Our casual joys
We shall go on playing
Or find a new town

Having concluded a revealing week during which One Southern Indiana unabashedly promoted a partisan Republican campaign stop conducted by sitting and failed president, the combined “economic development” agency has inched further down a very slippery slope by aligning itself publicly with an anti-pornography lobby group.

As you read these extended excerpts from the Tribune’s coverage, understand that I’m making no attempt to blithely dismiss the hidden costs to human dignity that are inherent in the substantial business of adult entertainment, but know that if I’m asked to select which of two videos is “pornographic” – the first depicting sex between adults and the second surveying the carnage on any battlefield – my choice falls squarely on the latter.

And, when religious groups take the field over matters like this, check the locks on the public library. Literature and other manifestations of free thought are sure to be next, and accordingly, what part of economic development does censorship enhance ... unless, of course, one lives in China or Zimbabwe.

Group fighting adult businesses with ‘someone’s daughter’ campaign, by David Mann (News and Tribune).

A Louisville-based group is continuing its campaign against adult businesses with a new billboard along Interstate 65.

The group — Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana, or ROCK as they’re commonly known — held a press conference and unveiled the new sign Wednesday morning …

… Kerry Stemler, board chairman of economic development agency One Southern Indiana, was at Wednesday’s event. He commented that his organization is on board with ROCK because what it is working for effects economic development and the group is doing it in a very appropriate way.

“We do see the value of good, quality communities,” he said. “(ROCK) really works towards the end goal that we are trying to achieve.”

However, he added that because of the religious implications that ROCK carries with it, One Southern Indiana will not be “on the front lines” with them.

Adult businesses can be barred from joining the chamber of commerce, Stemler said. If such a business wanted to join, it would be a board decision and he would recommend that they not be allowed.

Stemler believes that adult businesses do hinder economic development because “not everybody wants to be right next to that.”

“I think it’s had a negative impact on that Veterans Parkway corridor” where adult video store Theatair X is located. He said few businesses have located near the theater and that most of the development has been the other side of the parkway.

Stated simply, chairman Stemler’s responses raise far more questions than they answer.

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What are the components of “good, quality” communities?

Are these components dependent on a specific religious or cultural perspective, or is there room for other perspectives?

If the chairman is able to perceive “religious implications” to the group’s activities, why does this suggest that 1SI should refrain from the “front lines” and not suggest that it should refrain from participating, period?

If 1SI is to introduce a moral perspective to economic development issues, couldn’t it be that there a moral perspective to exurban development issues, whether from a Christian or any other religion’s point of view?

For adult businesses to “hinder” economic development, shouldn’t we as residents of Southern Indiana possess a shared view of what economic development means?

If we must discuss what economic development means, is there a chance that this discussion might proceed at odds with 1SI’s primarily exurban definition?

Might is not be possible that for an adult business, a strip mall, an greenfield development and a downtown bridge alike, that “not everybody wants to be right next to that?”

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Kerry Stemler and 1SI apparently have little sense that they’ve embarked on a messy pratfall down these slippery slopes, and that absence of awareness is what I've found appalling throughout the current week.

Perhaps absolute power does corrupt absolutely, but be that as it may, wouldn’t you think that someone else or some other organization (hint, hint … I belong to such a group) purporting to support economic development might subject 1SI to just a bit of the same public scrutiny that we’re pursuing here at this otherwise lowly blog?