Has Pogo's axiom ever been better illustrated?
Last night, I ended up taking more notes than intended, and the coverage is spread out over six postings.
On the road to Steve Price's vision of defeat and doomsday (6)
Quite simply the best Coffey demagoguery ever, bar none (5)
Aw-Dit, Aw-Dat, Aw-Ticky Tack (4)
Another wrong turn at Albuquerque (3)
I've got the geriatric, Kochertatric, working at the car wash blues (2)
Let's get forensical, forensical (1)
Remember also to visit Twitter for all4word's coverage.
The usual suspects weigh in:
Courier-Journal: New Albany City Council rejects sewer rate hike
Tribune: Sewer rate increase defeated
Later today, I suspect Shirley Baird will post a report at her blog. After all, King Larry needs a place to vent anonymously.
Finally, I'd like to link to Matt Nash's Friday column, but the links currently are fried. The Tribune site and the Dubai skyscraper's elevator system are as one today.
One more thing. Just in case someone asks, here's the definition:
mo·ronYep. I'll stick with that.
n.
1. A stupid person; a dolt.
[From Greek moron, neuter of moros, stupid, foolish.]
While I do not consider myself naive, I am having trouble digesting this or believing any of actually took place. For some reason this morning, my cynicism, hyperbole, and sense of humor are not kicking in.
ReplyDeleteI am glad I could not attend the meeting last night. Going to NA city council meetings makes me feel like a teenager who has ingested too much acid and is forced to listen to drunken rednecks converse for hours. Horrible nonsense.
In short, I am gripped by fear. This morning I realized that I brought my wife and kids to a place, invested in a place where my local councilman has an obsessive, twisted vision where freedom fighters like Bobby Knight and Andy Griffith are locked in an epic battle against the evil forces of Chairman Mao in the skies over downtown.
I have lived in crime-infested neighborhoods all over the country with all sorts of bad meanness taking place at any given time. But there are certain elements here in NA that I genuinely fear. And I mean fear on a deep, soul level. Like the two city officials I spoke with about the possibility of Spring St. being two-way. "Never work," they said, "too confusing." I then mentioned that the bike lanes on Spring have possibly saved the lives of my children, to which they each laughed. As I was leaving, one of them said, "tell your kids to be careful on Spring St.," but there was an egregious element to their concern that they didn't even attempt to mask. I almost expected them to add, "because we WILL run them down."
Tell me I am being paranoid.
Paranoia, perhaps not.
ReplyDeleteA reason to fear, definitely. Though perhaps not for personal safety, at this point, but for the sanctity of fair representation in local government.
Though this particular situation seems to be taking shape the way it should, the willingness of council persons to cave in to small special interest groups, and not taking one moment to consider the impacts their decisions or indecisions could have years down the road is becoming sickening.
The people who are going the extra mile to produce REAL tangible data to support their positions are generally railroaded out of meetings and proceedings.
Those who would cast unfounded assertions, offering now real proof to their stance, are treated like oracles, revered, and anyone who differs from those opinions are considered disruptive.
Though not all in government behave in such a manner, there are enough of them who do to create an atmosphere where any type of real progress has to made by dragging the entire city belly down through broken glass being pulled along by our bloodied, raw nail beds.
The recent fiasco has risen to an all time high of the willingness of elected officials to willfully spread disinformation, half-truths, and incomplete data in order to spread fear regarding everything the administration does.
In this they see the ability to garner future votes by those who are too timid to seek the information for themselves. I had been harboring hope that we as a city had started down a path towards a better political future, but with this latest circus of events, I fear we have only regressed despite the best efforts of many people to bring in some new blood into the council and appointed offices.
The ugly truth, as long as a selected few downtown remain in elected positions, we are stalled along the side of the road.
With out any real alternatives coming forward to represent a chance for replacing those particular individuals, the light at the end of the tunnel, for now at least, remains just a pin prick.
The posting is buried beneath the council coverage but I thought your recent column was one of your best.
ReplyDeleteMe personally, I think you are the best Trib column writer when you are at your best and one of the worst when you try and not be your best.
Thanks. But who tries not to be his best? It depends on the mood, although some bands play ballads better than other, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get to say anything to you last night but I "think?" I notice quite a physical change in your appearance but I never paid that much attention before. I have only noticed you biking around town. We would have probably passed each other, on bikes, if my family’s bikes were not stolen.
ReplyDeleteI tend to pick up weight in winter and lose it when biking season is in full swing. Buy another bike and you can join me in confounding Larry Kochert's "I'm a dumbass old man" criticisms of people who exercise.
ReplyDeletePicking up weight is not what I meant. I thought you looked leaner. It just shows that I don't pay that much attention to your appearance. I just thought a little positive commit could be used for motivation if your goal was to become healthier.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard enough time communicating with you through your blog without feeling like I’m compromising myself let alone give you a compliment in an elevator.
RAB: I understand your haircut (and mine) doesn't meet muster. Shall we create a support group?
ReplyDeleteNothin's any meaner
ReplyDeletethan a hairstyle in-betweener
in the moooornin'
BTW, You mentioned that I had a dispute between the paper and them printing articles.
ReplyDeleteThe presumed dispute wasn't that they didn't print my articles one person told me one thing and another group of people did something different. My articles were a series of arguments and counter-arguments. I would have gladly attempted to rework them in a more coherent order if I was given noticed. The reason I wrote that many articles was because I wanted to address questions I knew would come.
There is no and has never been any ill feeling towards the paper. You have assumed so.
I merely mentioned what I'd heard about submitting articles en masse to the newspaper. Naturally, I've no idea what they told you or who did it.
ReplyDeleteThe newspaper staff seems to be actively soliciting columnists, but in general terms, it would appear that those most likely to complain about the current lineup are also those least likely to take word processor in hand and redress the imbalance, if any.
As I noted over at Voice when this came up, the gig isn't easy. 900 words, once a week, no matter what else goes down in your life. It probably works out to about $10 an hour for me -- barely enough for a haircut. Of course, it's more interesting than ditch digging, because there are far more sidewalk superintendents in column writing than manual labor.
zampano - I do not think you are paranoid. There are high rates of poverty and abuse, poor schools, and an economic elite that likes it that way. Any sociologist could see this. People are meaner here than any place in the world I've lived. I think it's the poison in the ground and the alcohol abuse in the veins and the lack of options other than church or prison.
ReplyDeletePoint taken R
ReplyDeleteI was feeling a little negative yesterday after reading about the council meeting. I've since been restored to sanity and optimism. Some have taken my comment too seriously, I generally love it here. There is just a certain political element that I recognize as being impenetrable to rationality, and that frightens me b/c it allows for no flexibility of thought or discussion.
ReplyDeleteWe moved here b/c of the potential of the area, and that potential is not going to be subjugated by Coffey, Price, and their ilk. I have lived in neighborhoods that have experienced great change, for better or worse, and that change is always a process that manifests very slowly.
In the meantime, I am working on seeing if Bobby Knight or Andy Griffith would be willing to come to NA and chat with our councilman about democratic representation and fiscal responsibility.
I like you, Josh. Glad you're here.
ReplyDeleteJosh and his family are a great addition to our community and the type of people we want to encourage to move here, be involved, etc...now if we could just get the key to that park in the west end and get that cleaned up...
ReplyDelete