DNC chair aftermath: "Quick, Adam, to the Batmobile."

Oops.

On Saturday the Democratic National Committee selected a new chairman, and observer Charlie Pierce (a longtime personal favorite) says it's time to move forward.

Perez and Ellison took questions together from the press after the balloting was done and both of them seemed to get along quite splendidly. (They both called for an independent investigation into the ties between the Trump campaign and Russia with equal fervor.) And if the whole exercise this weekend accomplishes nothing else except to lay forever the ghost of the 2016 Democratic primaries and to salt the earth so its poxy memory never rises again, then the DNC Winter Meeting will have done American politics an incalculable good.

Perhaps, especially when there's nothing to see. As a progressive, I'm more inclined to view it like my friend Steve:

Well, now that the CorpoDem Party just committed suicide, what are we going to do for 2018 and 2020?

The answer is alcohol and drugs, though I haven't yet decided which ones, and in what order.

My conclusion: I've spent enough time watching the national party fail and flail, so it's back to the usual time-honored means test, and I'll be looking to the local Democratic Party for signs of an ideological pulse.

There is little indication of content or succor within Adam Dickey's creation, which should make it even easier to continue drinking. As always, I'd be delighted to be proven wrong.

ON THE AVENUES: They're coming to take me away.

ON THE AVENUES: They're coming to take me away.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

I was raised to give a damn, and it isn’t easy stepping away from that.

Conversely, I taught myself to self-medicate in times of extreme duress – and staying upright while inside a bottle is no picnic, either.

This year it’s been harder than ever.

I gaze longingly at those nice, clean receptacles of gin, bourbon and rum, and dream about blissful weeks drinking breakfast by dawn’s early light – or after lunch, whichever comes first.

For the most part, I’m sidestepping temptation. I may need a hobby, or a job.

Gads. It's come to that?

This year there have been numerous sources of dissonance worthy of attribution, and yet they’re little more than blips of background noise compared with the 800-lb simian’s source of unrelenting daily pressure: Trump, Clinton, and the deplorables on all sides of the most offensive exercise in so-called democracy I’ve ever seen in 56 years of near certainty that the only Americans who aren’t certifiable lunatics are those who remain oblivious to the idiocy, whether through drugs, alcohol or sheer cantankerousness.

I’d dearly love to join them, except I just cannot seem to succeed in tuning out the clatter. Why was my upbringing so oppressively responsible?

My parents weren’t deep readers. They perused the daily newspaper, watched television news and listened to the radio during a forgotten age when worthwhile chunks of genuine information sometimes penetrated the advertisements.

Perhaps my father’s keen interest in news and current affairs was compensation for the absence of formal education. He joined the Marines, went off to war at the tender age of 17, and later completed his G.E.D., but I always had the sense he felt something was missing.

At any rate, whatever the motivation, he taught me to care about the world at large, and for this I’m appreciative.

My maternal grandfather was involved in civic affairs in Henderson, Kentucky, and my mother inherited his interest in politics, generally referring to herself as a “Yellow Dog Democrat,” which means she’d sooner vote for a yellow dog than a Republican.

Vulgar talking yams (to quote Charles P. Pierce) are another matter. My mom just turned 84, and when I went to see her earlier today at Silvercrest, she was watching Donald Trump speak in Florida.

Mother: What do you think of Trump?

Son: He’s an idiot.

Mother: You don’t think he’ll win?

Son: Doubtful. He’s an idiot.

Mother: I sure hope he doesn’t.

Her absentee ballot rested on the coffee table, and my guess is you can chalk one up for Hillary Clinton. After all, my mom would sooner vote for a yellow dog than a surreal absurdity.

---

As for me, I’ve been examining the sample ballot in a desperate attempt to spot viable options, whether local or national.

As previously noted, I’ll be voting for Dennis Roudenbush (Floyd County Commissioner) and Ed Clere (State Representative). Because I can trust Randy Smith (at-large) and Rebecca Gardenour (District 4) to reject the “good old boy” network of acolytes eager to shine Superintendent Hibbard’s shoes, they’re my choices for NA-FC school board.

I met Dale Bagshaw for the first time last year, and he’s both earnest and honest. Moreover, it’s been fascinating to see his position on two-way streets evolve. Dale has my vote for County Council.

Beyond these races, the labored mulling continues as the liquor cabinet beckons.

For President of these Disunited States, I simply will not waste my vote on a major party candidate. The most likely choice remains the Green Party’s Jill Stein as a write-in, although I’ve toyed with the idea of writing in Bernie Sanders, Jeff Gahan, David Duggins, Max the Wonder Chimp or even me.

If you detect notes of sarcasm, disdain, derision, contempt and disgust, you’re about halfway there, and I’m not sure the second half is traversable without more martinis than my liver is prepared to ingest.

---

Of course, this is the crux of it. As with the music I can’t avoid hearing at the supermarket or the road signs I am unable to stop reading, it seems impossible for me to ignore the Great Electoral Train Wreck of 2016.

I want so badly to push it aside – to digest edifying novels, not installments of Five Thirty Eight; to imagine Mike Pence playing outfield for Rockheads (I mean Rockies); and to pretend that the Democratic Party is sufficiently progressive for me to support it.

Alas, I’m condemned to pay attention, reel in revulsion, take a second glance, vomit, gaze at the peanut gallery, and remain frozen unhappily into place, destined for further and unceasing punishment. Waking every morning to a news cycle guaranteed to insult the intelligence of our concrete retaining wall feels like a sledgehammer to the cranium.

And yet, I keep coming back for more. Is it a braindeath wish? Hypnotic suggestion? Misguided sobriety?

Two weeks ago, addressing New Albany’s maddening, protracted gavotte with those gold-paved Disney-endorsed two-way streets running through Jeff Gahan’s head, I wrote that it has become wearying to know that if I don't publicly rebut malarkey-spreaders and civic has-beens, no one else will.

I’ve managed to refrain. Don’t ask me how. Going to Wisconsin for the weekend helped – the Badger State has its own problems, but at least escaping the stifling inanity of Harvest Homecoming had a calming effect on me.

So will our Sicilian holiday during Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to seeing Mt. Etna close up and personal, drinking wine, and eating the local pasta dish made with anchovies and fresh sardines. There may be pistachio gelato, and a day trip to Malta.

Knowing the mafia is busy wetting beaks should make the city of Catania feel just like a Redevelopment Commission meeting, albeit one where the language is more sensible to innocent bystanders.

Pardon the digression.

It is tremendously frustrating to keep one’s counsel when misinformed community pillars dispense propaganda about two-way streets that's so distorted Trump would blush, but I’ve managed, and maybe this is a turning point.

Yes, it’s excruciatingly hard to disengage from something this passionate – and as noted, it’s someone else's turn, at least for a while.

Did I mention we brought home three and a half cases of beer from Wisconsin? If you’ll pardon me, it’s time to put the hammer down and inventory those tasty sedatives.

---

October 6: ON THE AVENUES: His nose knows tolls and polls (2010).

September 29: ON THE AVENUES 3-PK, PART THREE: Survey says … Irv’s street grid agitprop won’t be putting Diogenes out of work any time soon.

September 29: ON THE AVENUES 3-PK, PART TWO: Inkem binkem notamus rex, protect us all from the city (still) with the hex (2014).

September 29: ON THE AVENUES 3-PK, PART ONE: Chocolate covered frozen banana republic, or "understanding" Harvest Homecoming, our peculiar institution (2014).

September 22: ON THE AVENUES: On two-way streets, a modest proposal for the consideration of my disoriented one-way counterpart.

Drinking Progressively is on "pause" as I use the time for campaign planning -- also progressively.

Lest I haven't yet made it clear, please know that my Drinking Progressively experiment is on hiatus.

I enjoyed doing it, and learned quite a lot. However, ongoing remodeling and the forthcoming reboot of Bank Street Brewhouse have made scheduling iffy. At the same time, I feel the time can be better used to plan for my independent mayoral campaign.

As an aside, the work at BSB seems to be coming along (progressing?) nicely. There are events scheduled for Thursday and Friday this week, so I'll guess that reopening for beers and weenies (still gotta have 'em) may occur prior to the Earth Friends occupancy being ready for launch.

Thanks for your support and patronage. Lots of things are changing, and change is good.

Keep Drinking Progressively -- just not tonight.

First the weather, and now other pop-up issues ... sighhh.

I'm going to be forced to cancel Drinking Progressively again tonight. I promise that it isn't the end of the local chat experiment. Rather, the problem continues to be unexpected problems.

Thanks for your patience.

No Drinking Progressively tonight at BSB.

Let's take a sick day. There'll be no Drinking Progressively this evening.

I plan on returning next Tuesday (February 24) at 6:00 p.m.

Drinking Progressively tonight at 6, at Bank Street Brewhouse.

Permit me to stress that if you have a local issue you'd like to discuss, come on down and join in the conversation. 

Drinking Progressively is tonight at Bank Street Brewhouse from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the WCTU Reading Room, so named because temperance advocates used to meet in the house once standing on the spot to discuss ways to artificially induce sobriety.

Drinking Progressively is a brief weekly meeting to discuss local issues in an informal atmosphere -- with beer. We're keeping it local, and surveying a non-partisan program to improve New Albany progressively.

Happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step.

Drinking Progressively hopes to answer the question: Can we make New Albany a place where we want to stay, not leave?

Drinking Progressively is about the development of the ideal civic platform for progress, as opposed to regress, and it is open to all. The intent is ecumenical, so party affiliations (or none at all) are irrelevant. Come and go as you please; no mandatory anything.

Drinking Progressively returns this evening: 6:00 p.m. at Bank Street Brewhouse.

Drinking Progressively is tonight at Bank Street Brewhouse from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Reading Room.

Drinking Progressively is a brief weekly meeting to discuss local issues in an informal atmosphere -- with beer. We're keeping it local, and surveying a non-partisan program to improve New Albany progressively.

Happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step.

Drinking Progressively hopes to answer the question: Can we make New Albany a place where we want to stay, not leave?

Drinking Progressively is about the development of the ideal civic platform for progress, as opposed to regress, and it is open to all. The intent is ecumenical, so party affiliations (or none at all) are irrelevant. Come and go as you please; no mandatory anything.

Drinking Progressively is OFF for tonight (Tuesday, January 27). Back next week.

It's been quite instructive so far, but I'm giving Drinking Progressively the night off. I must be at BSB for a few minutes at 6 to meet a client, but I won't be staying long. It's a busy week for me, with much to tend to before Winterfest in Indianapolis this weekend.

AND there's a special city council meeting tonight to hear the city's Pillsbury proposal. You may even get to see the mayor in person at a council meeting for the second (gasp) straight week, equaling the three-year total. Is it live, or is it the hologram?

AND on Thursday night, there's the first Speck street network meeting at the library. Be there, be heard. Streets need revamping now, not later.

AND on Friday night, you can attend the re-enthronement fashion show ad hear 11 reasons why reading comprehension eludes the Gahan team. The Old Gahanians chose the Culbertson Mansion on Main Street because it's the only place downtown they could find for a photo-op without block-long semi rigs thundering past to shake their cameras. Anyway, the noise would drown out the merry clinking of their long-necked swill.

By then, we MIGHT have a declared Republican candidate for mayor. Now all the GOP needs is a coherent massage.

Tonight is Drinking Progressively -- now with too many syllables.

Drinking Progressively is tonight at Bank Street Brewhouse from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Reading Room. There is much to discuss: The school corporation's referendum, the Speck study and Pillsbury's probable closure, among other topics.

Drinking Progressively is a brief weekly meeting to discuss local issues in an informal atmosphere -- with beer. We're keeping it local, and surveying a non-partisan program to improve New Albany progressively.

Happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step.

Drinking Progressively hopes to answer the question: Can we make New Albany a place where we want to stay, not leave?

Drinking Progressively is about the development of the ideal civic platform for progress, as opposed to regress, and it is open to all. The intent is ecumenical, so party affiliations (or none at all) are irrelevant. Come and go as you please; no mandatory anything.

Drinking Progressively on Tuesday at BSB, and NABC's holiday hours this week.

On Tuesday evening at Bank Street Brewhouse, we'll be drinking progressively and chatting about local politics in the run-up to 2015.

Drinking Progressively returns tonight to Bank Street Brewhouse at 6:00 p.m.

NABC's business hours for the holiday are as follows.

Wednesday, December 31 (New Year's Eve)
NABC's Pizzeria & Public House will open for daytime hours of 11 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Bank Street Brewhouse will be closed on New Year’s Eve.

Thursday, January 1 (New Year's Day)
Both NABC locations will be closed on New Year’s Day. Regular hours return on Friday the 2nd.

On Friday, January 2nd, we'll be holding the second annual Hoptimus Inception Reception at Bank Street Brewhouse. It's the birthday party of Hoptimus, NABC's classic Imperial IPA. Stay tuned for further information on special tastings.

Taco Punk will be serving at BSB on Friday and Saturday, January 2 & 3, beginning at 5:00 p.m. both nights.

Drinking Progressively returns tonight to Bank Street Brewhouse at 6:00 p.m.

We're keeping it local, and surveying a non-partisan program to improve New Albany progressively.

In November, I first mentioned the idea of brief weekly meetings to discuss local issues in an informal atmosphere -- with beer. In short: How do we make New Albany a place where we want to stay, not leave?

Is it possible?

The gist of this notion is not unlike the Drinking Liberally groups, although we'd be drinking progressively according to definition:

Happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step.

Drinking Progressively will be an informal open discussion about what is to be done locally, in any and every sense, in preparation for city elections next year. It's the development of the ideal civic platform for progress, as opposed to regress. Anyone is welcome to attend, and the intent is ecumenical, so party affiliations (or none at all) are irrelevant. Come and go as you please; no mandatory anything.

What we're looking for is a shovel-ready platform. In the process of writing, quite a few seemingly mundane considerations will be examined, and this is the point.

Time: Tuesday evenings, each week, roughly 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at the WCTU Reading Room at Bank Street Brewhouse. I'll pledge to be there as often as possible, but these gatherings needn't depend on the presence of any one person.

As an added bonus, on Tuesdays we offer inexpensive pint specials from our session series.

In addition, there's this:

ON THE AVENUES: Why not a progressive movement in New Albany? It sure beats a two-party debacle.

And check here, too: Greater New Albany blog.

Drinking Progressively: Tonight at BSB, 6:00 p.m., but no tacos until Friday.

In November, I first mentioned the idea of brief weekly meetings to discuss local issues in an informal atmosphere -- with beer. In short: How do we make New Albany a place where we want to stay, not leave?

Is it possible?

The gist of this notion is not unlike the Drinking Liberally groups, although we'd be drinking progressively according to definition:

Happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step.

Drinking Progressively will be an informal open discussion about what is to be done locally, in any and every sense, in preparation for city elections next year. It's the development of the ideal civic platform for progress, as opposed to regress. Anyone is welcome to attend, and the intent is ecumenical, so party affiliations (or none at all) are irrelevant. Come and go as you please; no mandatory anything.

Last week, we kicked off this series with a far-ranging chat about platform planks. We'll return to them tonight, because the idea is to integrate ideas, not merely spew them.

Consider the negative example of the Main Street Improvement Project, funded (and as reported last evening, with the pavement already decaying) prior to the completion and presumed application of a street and traffic study that likely will illustrate how bad an idea the Main Street project really was when politically conceived in such a way, in the complete absence of connectivity.

What we're looking for is a shovel-ready platform. In the process of writing, quite a few seemingly mundane considerations will be examined, and this is the point.

Time: Tuesday evenings, each week, roughly 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at the WCTU Reading Room at Bank Street Brewhouse. I'll pledge to be there as often as possible, but these gatherings needn't depend on the presence of any one person.

As an added bonus, on Tuesdays we offer inexpensive pint specials from our session series.

In addition, there's this:

ON THE AVENUES: Why not a progressive movement in New Albany? It sure beats a two-party debacle.

And check here, too: Greater New Albany blog.

Drinking Progressively: Tuesday evenings, beginning on November 25.

I've been trying to get the word out to those expecting Drinking (and Thinking) Progressively to begin tonight ... I made a change until next Tuesday.

Drinking Progressively: Let's make it Tuesday evenings, beginning on November 25.

Drinking Progressively: Let's make it Tuesday evenings, beginning on November 25.

Last week I mentioned the idea of brief weekly meetings to discuss local issues in an informal atmosphere -- with beer.

In short: How do we make New Albany a place where we want to stay, not leave?

Can we?

The gist of this notion is not unlike the Drinking Liberally groups, although we'd be drinking progressively according to definition:

Happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step.

Drinking Progressively will be an informal open discussion about what is to be done locally, in any and every sense, in preparation for city elections next year. It's the development of the ideal civic platform. Anyone is welcome, and the intent is ecumenical, so party affiliations (or none at all) are irrelevant. Come and go as you please; no mandatory anything.

Time: Tuesday evenings, each week, roughly 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at the WCTU Reading Room at Bank Street Brewhouse. I'll pledge to be there as often as possible, but these gatherings needn't depend on the presence of any one person.

Kickoff: Tuesday, November 25.

As an added bonus, on Tuesdays we offer inexpensive pint specials from our session series.

In addition, there's this:

ON THE AVENUES: Why not a progressive movement in New Albany? It sure beats a two-party debacle.

And check here, too: Greater New Albany blog.