ROCK's slope gets even more slippery, and Carl Booth sticks around ... with some help.

Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana's latest website update yet again confirms that the supposed anti-pornography group has a far greater interest in espousing a specific vision of evangelical Christianity than in defining pornography in any substantive way apart from its own narrow religious perspective.

The update has nothing whatsoever to do with pornography, but instead trumpets the exaltation of mass delusion in interpreting American history through the dubious proposition that the nation’s founders, if resurrected today, would all be worshipping at the same exurban megachurch as ROCK's community pillars.

We strive to inform and educate regarding America's true history and foundation so that it might be preserved for generations to come. Our modern culture has, in many instances, forgotten that our founders relied on Providence and acknowledged its role when fashioning our republic form of government. Our national motto - IN GOD WE TRUST - is an historical acknowledgment and accurate portrayal of America's heritage and what our founders deemed critical to the model of liberty and freedom the American experience has become throughout the world.

As others before me have noted, the proper question to ask any time an ecstatic theocrat introduces “In God We Trust” is this one:

"Trust in which God?"

In like fashion, the proper question to ask any time an ecstatic theocrat purports to “reclaim” culture is this:

“Reclaim which culture?”

As still others before me have noted, “reclaiming” the culture of the Founding Fathers strongly implies embracing slavery, withdrawing a woman’s right to vote, pouring sewage in a trench dug down the middle of the street and treating mental illness by chaining the patient to the wall of an asylum.

Need I point out for the benefit of One Southern Indiana members who may be reading that not a jot of ROCK’s most recent pronouncement about trusting one of the other God has the slightest relevance to the struggle against pornography – much less to economic development?

Has 1SI’s chairman Kerry Stemler yet conceded this point, one that CEO Michael Dalby at least had the grace and courage to acknowledge?

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Speaking of Kerry Stemler, did anyone read the article in Saturday’s edition of the Tribune relating the story of the Carl Booth/DeCrane Aerospace veneer company’s relocation to River Ridge in Jeffersonville?

Carl F. Booth Veneers leaving New Albany for Jeffersonville, by Eric Scott Campbell.

Carl Booth announced Friday he’s moving his growing specialty-manufacturing business to Jeffersonville’s River Ridge Commerce Center. He’ll inhabit an amount of vacant industrial space that his hometown currently lacks.

None of this comes as a surprise. It had been known for quite some time that a projected expansion of New Albany’s industrial park would come too late to keep Booth in town. Although dismayed at losing the business, elected and appointed officials in New Albany were quoted in the Tribune article as expressing happiness that Booth’s company would at least not be leaving the state of Indiana, a sentiment seconded by Governor Mitch Daniels. In particular, One Southern Indiana was singled out for effusive praise pertaining to its role in keeping Booth around.

Dan James, interim executive director of River Ridge, commended One Southern Indiana for its persistent recruitment.

“They promote this piece of property as an equal partner. These guys are great,” James said.

So, what then were the terms of the deal that drew Booth to River Ridge? The usual package of economic incentives and abatements were cited, as well as this:

… Booth’s and developer Kerry Stemler’s company, Bridgeway Development, struck a deal to build a 100,000-square-foot building at River Ridge, then lease it to DeCrane for $6 million over 15 years. Booth will add $2 million in new equipment, he said.

That's the same Kerry Stemler who is the chairman of One Southern Indiana, and it has caused me to undertake a long overdue search for deep metaphysical meaning.

To wit: Does one trust God or 1SI for that kind of bottom-line-boosting Providence?